Surprise! is the fiftieth and final episode in the third season of Bluey.
Synopsis
Bluey and Bingo want Dad to play different games, so Dad tries to play both at the same time.
Now Dad must babysit all Bingo’s pretend babies made from stubby holders and tennis balls while running from Bluey who keeps surprising Dad with a ball blaster!
One of Bingo’s babies’ body is too big for his head and Dad has to take him to the pretend hospital near the tree outside – where Bluey is waiting to ambush!
But when Bluey hears Dad telling the baby that his family will always support him, Bluey drops her game and decides to help instead.
Bluey and Bingo want Dad to play two different games, so Dad plays both at the same time.
Episode Recap
The episode opens with Bluey, Bingo and Chilli all in the kitchen. Bingo is reaching for the stubby coolers on top of the fridge, as she is about to play having children. Bluey asks her mother if she will have any children, though Chilli understandably tries to answer the question. At that moment, Bandit enters the kitchen, with an empty glass in hand, but Bluey and Bingo both stop him, asking him to play. However, Bingo wants to play Mums and Dads, but Bluey wants to play Surprise! The girls talk over each other explaining their games - but it seems that Bingo is the mum, and Bandit is the dad, and will need to take care of their baby (a stubby cooler with a tennis ball in it). Bluey has put on an elaborate ball blaster, complete with futuristic armor. She's going to hide around the house, and will jump out and shoot Bandit until he can make it back to base.
Bingo tasks Bandit to sing their baby to sleep. Bluey yells that she's ready, so Bandit wanders the house, singing to the baby. He stops in front of the TV to watch a wheelchair race, when Bluey jumps out from underneath a beanbag and starts pelting him with balls. She chases him through the house, until he makes it back to the playroom and declares himself safe. Bluey runs off to hide again. Bandit hands Bingo back the baby - only for her to announce that she's had two more that also need to be sung to sleep, and also he needs to drop one off at daycare.
Bandit, now juggling three babies, returns to the living room to watch a few more moments of the race, leaving one baby on the beanbag as a daycare. Then, the doorbell rings. He answers the door, and it's Bluey, shooting him with more balls. Once again, she chases him back to the playroom. He calls safe and begins to gloat, but then Bingo points out that he forgot a baby at the daycare.
Bluey chases him through the house again, as he picks up the last baby from daycare. As he runs through the kitchen, he trips over a bucket of water. As he sails through the air, he grabs the babies and holds them protectively against his chest. He curls up on the floor, singing, as Bluey continues to pelt him with balls.
Chilli, sitting at the kitchen counter, tells Bluey "That's what having kids is like!" Bandit limps back to the playroom and collapses onto the rug. Bingo presents him with a fourth baby. Bluey announces she's going to go hide again. Bandit asks her if she can't just play the same game as him and Bingo - she says no, because Chucky has only loaned her the ball blaster for a day. Bingo tells Bandit that this baby needs to go to the hospital - his head doesn't fit on his body. Bandit offers to get her a smaller stubby cooler, which Bingo refuses.
Bandit takes the baby to the hospital (under the tree out back). When Bingo prompts him to talk to the baby, he explains that there's something wrong with his head... and his body... but he'll pull through, because his siblings and parents will support him. Bluey, who has been lurking behind the tree, comes out and announces that she's the baby's sister, and she'll look after him while Bandit takes the others to daycare.
We see Bandit getting to watch the end of the race, while Bingo feeds another baby, and Bluey shows hers how to fire her ball blaster.
The episode flashes forward. An older Chilli answers the door - it's Bluey as a grown-up. She calls for Bandit, and invites Bluey in. As Chilli and Bluey head out back, Bandit closes the door, only for the doorbell to ring again. He opens the door, but doesn't see anyone - but he hears the sound of a laser rifle charging. A child is waiting just out of sight with a ball blaster.
Appearances
Trivia
- Fittingly, the air date for this episode was not announced beforehand. After Cricket, this is the second episode aired without a prior announcement.
- This is the only episode to have an exclamation mark in its title.
- This is the first episode in which the map on the playroom wall is in focus. While appearing in other episodes it had not been the focus of a shot. It highlights the State of Queensland within Australia, and the location of Brisbane (the show's setting) within that.
- In the playroom, the toy cupboard and shelves have swapped places.
- The wheelchair race on TV, while it seems to take place in the UK, is based on the 2006 New York Marathon. Australian racer Kurt Fearnley's wheelchair struck a pothole and overturned midway through the race, but he got back up and finished first, setting a race record with a time of 1:29:22.[1]
- Not by accident, Kurt Fearnley is the commentator for the wheelchair race.
- This episode was aired and released on the same day as The 2024 London Marathon, where over 50,000 participants took part.
- Joe Brumm stated that Bluey's suit and tennis ball blaster references RoboCop and a cartoon called Spartakus.[2]
- Her blaster hand bears a striking similarity to Mega Man's.
- In the flash forward scene:
- The back garden trees (the poinciana and palm tree) are taller, as are the neighbours' trees.
- The transmission tower in the background has been replaced with wind turbines, while new developments have sprung up.
- This includes some of the neighbours' houses, which have been redeveloped to include taller stories.
- Drones can be seen everywhere around the neighbourhood.
- The Heelers now have a third bin with a blue lid.
- Bluey has white hairs, showing her as a parent, which was first shown with Bandit and Chilli in Baby Race.
- Additionally, Bluey has a visible lower-lip, unlike her younger self where only the top is visible.
- On the tablet near the door, the lock screen shows a photo of a beach - perhaps showing Currimundi Beach (from Stickbird).
- A small black circle can be seen on a footrest by the door, similar to an Amazon Alexa.
- The photo frame next to the door shows three photos in sequence:
- Bingo posing in front of a row of mo'ai on Rapa Nui.
- The family seen at Bluey's graduation ceremony, with Bluey wearing a traditional cap.
- A younger Bluey in a white background holding an orange heart.
- This is in reference to r/Place 2022, an event in which hundreds of people placed Bluey onto a virtual pixel canvas.
- Bandit seems to be slightly wider than his younger self; this could be because some dog gain weight as they get older.
- The front door has a video doorbell, but both Chilli and Bandit open the door without checking it.
- The child's parentage is ambiguous - while the flash-forward is an implied answer to Bluey's question about having children; both Bluey and Bingo are present and could be the mother. No mention is made of the father; Mackenzie and Jean-Luc are popular candidates.
- The child's blaster toy seems to be an upgraded model of the one Bluey was using; with a red eye patch and three barrels instead of one.
- As Bandit holds the door, he looks disapprovingly at the robot vacuum, which is running back and forth, unable to enter its charging station.
- Chilli references Bandit trying to sell the house, as implied by the ending of Ghost Basket, and expanded on in The Sign.
- Long Dog Easter Egg:
- The usual fridge dog can be seen at the start of the episode.
- A long dog can be seen next to the tablet in the flash forward, wearing goggles that have green on them, as if a futuristic design.