Here’s My Best Attempt at a ‘Bluey: Surprise’ Ending Explainer

Surprise! The internet rumors were right: “The Sign” wasn’t the finale episode of Bluey season 3. One week after “The Sign” dropped, we got a bonus episode, fittingly called “Surprise.”

But that ending is legitimately a little confusing—and yes, I’m aware that I’m talking about a show for preschoolers here. So what exactly happens at the end of “Surprise”? Here’s my best guess.

Warning: spoilers for the Bluey episode “Surprise” ahead!

Here’s a quick recap. Bluey asks Chilli what it’s like to have kids, just before she and Bingo both ask Bandit to play with them. Bluey and Bingo want to play two different things, though. Bluey wants to play “Surprise!” with a cyborg tennis ball gun toy she’s borrowed from a friend, while Bingo wants to play children. Bandit tries to do both at once, frantically putting Bingo’s babies to sleep while Bluey pelts him with tennis balls. Turns out that’s what having kids is like!

At the end, we flash forward to the future (as evidenced by drones, robot vacuums, and other electronic gadgets chugging around everywhere). A grown-up Bluey has come to visit her aging parents, and as Chilli (now wearing glasses, to show that time has passed) takes her to join Bingo in the backyard, there’s another knock at the door. Bandit opens it to discover a kid with an even more advanced tennis ball gun.

How sweet! We get to see Bluey all grown up. But whose kid is that!?

It’s not clear whether it’s Bluey or Bingo’s kid. No one asks about a kid when Bluey shows up, so it’s possible it’s Bingo’s, and they slipped around from the backyard to the front to ring the doorbell. But maybe it’s not unusual for Bluey to show up sans kid, and she agreed not to tell her parents that her tyke had come along, so that the kid could surprise them.

There’s also the matter of the father. There are already theories emerging that Bluey had a kid with her old friend Jean-Luc or McKenzie, but there’s really no evidence to support any one candidate. We have no clue who the dad is.

Finally, you may be wondering why Bingo is in the backyard. Does she still live at home? Is she visiting, too? Again, unclear.

The episode also plays with themes of disability (the race Bandit’s watching on TV, Bingo’s baby Fernuken) and the challenges of childrearing, but all of that stuff seems to fall away at the end. It’s just a fun little flash forward.

But don’t worry! That last scene doesn’t mean Bluey is ending. Both Ludo Studio and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have clarified that there are no plans to end Bluey, so hopefully there will be plenty more of our favorite little blue heeler to come.

(featured image: Disney+)