Fairytale is the twenty-sixth episode of the third season of Bluey.
Synopsis[]
Dad tells Bluey and Bingo a real-life fairy tale about growing up in a wild place called the 80s, about a boy who was cursed when he was mean to his little brother.
Episode Recap[]
This episode begins with Bandit finishing reading the fairytale Hansel and Gretel to Bluey and Bingo. After a short conversation about fairytales being real or fake, Bandit starts telling the girls a real fairytale which takes place in a caravan park in the 80s. Bandit and his brothers are all riding bikes and doing skids. Bluey somehow knows her dad wasn't wearing a helmet despite not seeing the physical flashback herself. Bandit tells her it was the 80s then talks about everything that there was in that time period. Back to the story, Bandit is impressed by Rad's skid then mocks Stripe who has a little difficulty pulling a skid off and falls. Bandit tells Stripe that Nana was calling him, which Stripe being the naive little dog he was turns round. It cuts back to the girls who scold Bandit for teasing his little brother. Bandit reassures them that he was about to learn his lesson.
Rad asks Bandit to stop teasing Stripe, which he ignores and makes Stripe fall off his bike again, except this time Rad jinxes Bandit. The girls inquire about what "Jinx" was, so Bandit explains it to them whilst in the flashback he runs after Rad down to the beach and then after 10 seconds he's "Skint" which prevented him from talking.
Shortly after, Stripe and Rad use this as an opportunity to give Bandit a taste of his own medicine, Nana asks her kids if they want their fish battered or crumbed. Stripe and Rad want their fish battered, Nana prompts Bandit to speak up so Rad answers for him and says Bandit wants his fish crumbed to which he gestures "No" so Stripe mocks Bandit about it, pretending to say his name. A while later Nana finds that someone's eaten all the mini cereals so naturally she confronts the boys about it, Rad and Stripe simultaneously say it was Bandit (without saying his name). Nana takes off one of her sandals and chases Bandit with it, which makes Stripe and Rad laugh. Cutting back to the present time the girls point out that Nana was mean. Bandit reminds them this was the 80s.
Then, we see Grandpa Bob for the first time in two seasons, and even now it's just a flashback. Rad and Stripe are both trying to yell loudest and somehow Bob has forgot his own son's name. But then is happy that Bandit can't talk and says he should jinx Rad and Stripe too so they can't talk.
That evening Bandit is sitting at the beach feeling down that he can't speak, Nana comes over, Bandit's excited for a brief moment but that disappears when Nana lets her son know she won't say his name, but she helps Bandit realise that this is a good lesson to improve his behaviour towards Stripe.
The next morning, Bandit is going to the showers himself (Yes, by himself, it was the 80s.) when he sees Stripe struggling to move in a prickle bush, Bandit's kids seen this was an opportunity to blackmail Stripe into saying Bandit's name. However, Bandit didn't do that, instead he just helped Stripe, who didn't say his brother's name afterwards! But Chilli in her She-Ra costume comes to the rescue and reads out Bandit's name from his hat. Chilli playfully denies being that girl, while Bandit pretends to be offended his wife can't remember. After a short playful argument and the girls are tucked into bed, Bandit and Chilli part ways in the flashback and the episode ends
Appearances[]
- The Heeler Family
- Rich J. (flashback and debut)
Trivia[]
- "Hansel and Gretel", compiled by brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812, details the story of two children who lose their way in a forest before finding a small cottage made of treats and being lured inside by a witch who intends to eat them. Many of Grimms' fairy tales include content that could be considered questionable by modern audiences (in "H&G"'s case, cannibalism) and could be the reason that Bandit and Bluey agree that the story was a "wild ride."
- Younger versions of Bandit, Stripe, Rad, Nana, Bob, and Chilli are seen in this episode via flashback.
- Chilli may not have been present in the real version of these events.
- This marks Bobs' first physical and speaking role since Grannies, 101 episodes earlier. This is the longest absence a returning character has had in Bluey.
- The dispute mentioned in The Show about how Bandit and Chilli met is a result of Bandit believing that he saw a young Chilli while on vacation with his family, as shown in the episode. Although Chilli admits she and her family would used to go on vacations when she was younger, she has no memory of this occurring, leaving the current situation ambiguous. One popular fan theory is that Bandit actually met Chilli's sister, Brandy.
- The kid who Bandit speculates to be Chilli is wearing a "She-Ra" costume.
- In the 80's, Nana had a perm, which means that she had permanent wavy hair.
- This episode shows that Bandit, Stripe & Rad prefer their fish battered, rather than crumbed.
- This episode provided the first firm evidence of Bandit's age. Bandit stated that he was ten years old at the time of the flashback, and that it was the 1980s.
- Bandit and Stripe are seen playing a dog version of the video game Double Dragon, which was released in 1987. This places the events of the episode sometime in 1987-1989, and his birthday in 1977-1979.
- During a montage, a cassette tape labeled "Bad Medicine" references the Bon Jovi song of the same name released in 1988.
- The ending theme music was inspired by When It's Love, a 1988 power ballad by American rock band Van Halen[1].
- Later, the minisode Browny Bear would reveal Bandit's precise birthday: 25 October 1978. As he was ten years old at the time of the flashback, it must have occurred between 25 October 1988 and 24 October 1989.
- Until the release of Smoochy Kiss, this was the most recent episode available to stream on Disney+.
- The device Bob was using on the beach is a yabby pump[2]. It's a piston that sucks up sand, with the goal of digging yabbies[3] out of their burrows to use as bait.
- When this episode aired on Disney Channel in the US, it was paired with Faceytalk and Ragdoll.
- This is the second time Bandit was known as 'Diddums' in the series, the first being Kids.
- This episode's page on the official website shows all the characters as their younger selves on the character section, with the exceptions of Chilli (because it is unknown if the girl Bandit thought was her really was) and the girls (because they were not born yet in the '80s).[4]
- Also, Bandit's name on this page is "Bandi-shwasher".
References[]
- ↑ When It's Love by Van Halen:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uhMCzTvV9Y
- ↑ https://www.huntsmarine.com.au/blogs/latest-boating-news/why-you-need-a-yabby-pump
- ↑ A number of crayfish-like critters are called yabbies, most famously Cherax destructor, but here he's digging for ghost shrimp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trypaea
- ↑ https://www.bluey.tv/watch/season-3/fairytale/