A Surprise 'Bluey' Season 3 Finale Just Dropped On Disney Plus

Bluey

A surprise episode of the beloved family cartoon Bluey dropped on Disney+ today. The episode also aired on Disney Junior and the Disney Channel as well as internationally on the BBC and elsewhere.

The episode, titled “Surprise”, follows what everyone previously thought was the Season 3 finale last week. “The Sign” was a full half-hour long episode that had fans speculating that the Heeler family’s story might actually be coming to an end.

This new episode certainly leans heavily into that notion. (Spoilers ahead).

In this episode, a grown-up Bluey visits her parents, Bandit and Chilli, at her childhood home. And she brings a special guest: Bluey’s own pup. The question is: Will Bluey’s next season feature grown up Bluey and Bingo, grandparents Bandit and Chilli, and a new batch of pups or was this just a brief glimpse into the future?

The Australian animated show began airing in 2019 after my own kids were well past childrens’ cartoons, and as I’ve watched the series and its lovely bite-sized episodes recently, I’ve felt a sense of sadness, because they will never be little again. Those years are gone (both my kids are teens now) and I think a lot about how I could have made better use of them. It’s a bit ironic, I suppose, that this episode should deal with that very thing. It’s also interesting because so many cartoons never age-up characters.

Of course, just because my kids are too old for kid shows doesn’t mean they don’t watch them. My nearly 17-year-old daughter told me that she watches Bluey and “it’s the only good kids TV show that’s out right now” before throwing in a dig at shows like CoCoMelon that seem to exist only to hyperstimulate.

In any case, it’s interesting how the biological prerogative works. Once your kids aren’t cute little kids anymore, you start thinking about what fun it will be to be a grandparent, though your logical brain hopes that won’t happen for quite some time (when your kids are teens, at least).

We parents so badly miss those (admittedly chaotic and stressful) times when our children were little that we can’t wait for more babies, especially since we won’t be the ones in charge of them 24/7. It’s like a second chance, but this time you can be a little less stressed out and just enjoy the kiddos. Maybe spoil them a bit more than you would your own kids.

In any case, Bluey is lovely even if your kids are too old to sit around watching it with you anymore.

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