Family Meeting is the 23rd episode of the third season of Bluey.
Synopsis[]
When Dad's accused of fluffing in Bluey's face as he climbed out of bed, he's put on trial with Mum as the judge, and Bluey and Bingo as witnesses. Bluey might also have to explain what she was doing there.
Episode Recap[]
Warning Spoilers!
An argument in the breakfast counter has Bluey saying Bandit fluffied (broke wind) into her face at the morning. So to break it, Chilli organises a family meeting to discuss.
Bluey gives her initial recall on how everything went down: she was doing something at Bandit's bum level when Bandit stood up and fluffied. Bandit too gets to recall, but the kids call him out for leaving out the part when he fluffied. He attempts to justify, saying that it's not something that he'd do, but fails (cue a flashback to when he did a "pull my finger" gag on Bingo).
So Bluey has an idea; she presents three food items that Bandit has eaten the day before: baked beans with wheat bread, some sauerkraut, and a leftover pie tin he ate en route home after a nut roast dinner at Indy's. All of which contributes to Bandit's at-the-top "fluffy level".
With Bandit still not convinced, Bingo is called and testifies that she did witness it happening, despite Bandit saying that she wasn't there. And sure enough, it turns out that she was bribed by Bluey with a lollipop. Called out by her mum for doing so, she is then told "that the truth will set (her) free."
Bandit insists that Chilli gets called, so she gives her witness: while she was dozing, she did notice that sometimes Bandit drops the tablet charging on the bedside when he wakes up and that he would slide the bedside to reach it. And when Chilli tries to recreate what she heard, she then realizes that it wasn't just skidding that was heard. Panicked, Bandit makes a run for it. The kids finally catch up on him. At their custody, Bandit admits that he did fluffy on Bluey's face. The truth does set her free, as Chilli confirms to Bluey.
Just as he is sentenced to one hour of horsey ride, Bandit makes one last question. The question of whatever Bluey was doing at his bum level that morning; she admits that she was playing games on the tablet even if it's not the weekend. At that revelation, Chilli gives the sentence to Bluey as well.
Bluey and Bandit give their apologies and hug it out, but Chilli hastily asks them to leave the room. It doesn't take long for Bluey and Bandit to realise what is going on; Chilli fluffied.
Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- The timeline of events, according to each Heeler, the roles of each family member, and the outcome:
- Bluey:
- The plaintiff, who, prior to the meeting, was in an argument with Bandit about the situation.
- Earlier that day, she was in her parents' bedroom, "doing something", and Bandit got out of bed, turned around and fluffied right in her face. She had a brief pause before she said that, so it was clear she was hiding something.
- After Bandit was subjected to an hour of horsey rides with her and Bingo, and faced with the fact that the truth will set one free, Bluey admitted she was playing computer games - the aforementioned "something" - which she was forbidden from doing until the weekend.
- She herself would be sentenced to horsey rides.
- Bandit:
- The defendant and the instigator of the incident.
- Got up and went downstairs, only to find himself accused of fluffing in Bluey's face. (Refuted by Bluey, who exclaims that he had missed the part where he fluffied.)
- The day before, he had baked beans on wheat toast for breakfast, sauerkraut for lunch, and vegan nut roast for dinner. On the way home, he picked up a meat pie on the petrol station. Chilli comments that he was "ready to blow." He would do such the next day... at Bluey's face.
- Bandit had dropped his tablet off the bedside table, and moved it to pick it up. Chilli heard a scraping sound (which she thought it was that of the table), though that was confirmed to be Bandit making a fluffy right at Bluey's face. Getting nervous by the minute, he said that it was impossible to avoid due to Bluey's face being at bum level, after a failed escape attempt due to breaking under pressure from being questioned further.
- Got sentenced to an hour of horsey rides for fluffing in his child's face.
- Bingo:
- Was present, allegedly. Refuted by the others and revealed to have fibbed to get a free lollipop. (The lollipop was taken away.)
- Ultimately, Bingo had no part in the incident.
- Gets to play horsey rides with Bandit, and later Bluey.
- Chilli:
- Was the judge, so she also had no part in the incident.
- Was dozing, though she heard Bandit move the bedside table. The scraping sound she vocalised was claimed, by Bluey, to be the fluffy. When confronted about this, Bandit tries to escape the scene, but fails.
- Chilli ultimately sentenced Bandit to an hour of horsey rides with his kids.
- Chilli herself would fluffy after Bluey and Bandit shared a hug.
- Bluey:
- In one scene, there seemed to be an animation error causing Bluey’s eyes to glitch when standing next to Chilli at the table.
- Bluey's middle name is revealed to be Christine. This is the first time a character's middle name was revealed.
- Coincidentally, the very next episode would reveal Muffin's middle name.
- Chilli wearing curlers in her hair during the family meeting is a reference to how members of the Judiciary in Australia wear curly powdered wigs while court is in session. Unlike in the United States, gavels (like the improvised one Chilli uses made of a wooden spoon) are rarely used in Commonwealth countries and never in courts of law.
- Bandit did a classic dad-joke where on the elevator scene, Bandit asks Bingo to "pull his finger".
- Chilli actually "fluffied" (farted) in the end of the episode, as pointed out by Bandit and Bluey. This makes Chilli the first character other than Bandit to fart (fluffy) in the show (although she covered the sound by scraping her chair).
- The term "fluffied" might come from the fact that in an earlier episode (Circus), Winton plays a clown called Fluffy, who's main trick was making a farting sound with his mouth. It might also come from the expression "letting Fluffy off the chain", which is a dog-based expression meaning to fart.
- The term would come into use again in "Smoochy Kiss".
- Bandit mentions that he had sauerkraut for lunch, even though in Chickenrat he has an allergy to sauerkraut. It's likely, though, that his allergic reaction wore off in the morning since Bandit didn't sneeze (or burp) at all in this episode.
- This episode reveals the following:
- Although it didn't happen this particular morning (despite what Chilli originally thought), Bandit charges his tablet on the bedside table and sometimes drops it.
- Baked beans, sauerkraut, nut roast, and meat pie all give Bandit gas.
- Bluey (and presumably Bingo as well) is only allowed to use tablets on weekends.
- This marks the first time toilet humour is used in season three, though this time, the term "fart" is replaced with less obvious ones due to complaints[citation needed] that the show uses too much gross-out humor for a kids' show, particularly Disney.
- When this episode aired on Disney Channel in the US, it was paired with Barky Boats and Smoochy Kiss.
- This is the only episode to have been paired with a season two episode when aired on Disney Channel.
Censorship/Controversy[]
- This episode was banned for toilet humor in countries where Disney distributes the show. It was also not originally included on Disney+ when the first half of the season was released in the United States.
- Many users complained about this all over social media, wanting the episode to be on Disney+ and pointing out that other episodes from season 1 and 2 involving farts aren't banned from Disney+. As a result, Disney finally released the episode on their platform (along with Smoochy Kiss) on October 10, 2022.