I never used to cry. Like Patrick, not as a macho thing, I just didn't react emotionally to anything. However after my daughter was born, I became much more susceptible to quietly weeping when presented with emotional subject matter. Several episodes of Bluey have made me tear up, but I read a bit about this mega episode, so I thought I was prepared (spoiler: I was wrong). I was keeping it together as the sad song swelled towards the end of the episode, but then my five year old, who was laughing all throughout the episode but had suddenly gone quiet, turned around with tears in her eyes and yelled "I don't want them to move!" Seeing my little girl have such an emotional reaction was too much for me. Never thought I'd be sobbing through a kids cartoon with my daughter. Bluey really is special.
My brother passed away a couple weeks back, he's the one who told me to check out Bluey with my son years ago, his daughter is a year older, so he was already in the know, and Bluey was a daddy, daughter thing for them. Shame he didn't get to see this one, but I know his wife and daughter watched and cried their eyes out just like the rest of us. For me I think the bit that got to me wasn't the sadness of the move, or the kids, but the other storyline that was going on throughout. *Spoilers ahead* The zen nature of it all, the subtle and not so subtle tales of love and loss, like Chili's sister being pregnant, the classmate's parents finding each other, Grandpa coming back from his trip, of course the wedding/complications themselves, all of that.
And then in the end, the not so subtle point with the music, that all of life's hardships can be blunted, and all of life's joys can be heightened. if you have a trusted friend, or loved one to share those times with with. The loving supportive couples on display, to me were the real focus of the episode. They struggle, make mistakes, and bad choices sure, but in the end they are there for each other and their families and together they'll see how it works out. Of course given my own experiences in life I'm obviously a bit primed for that sort of interpretation.
I have cried at the series finale of Lost, the series finale of Scrubs, the ending of Furious 7, and during Avengers: Endgame. Not sure what that says about me.
We're on the same wavelength, minus Furious 7, simply because I haven't kept up with that series. I'm simple. (I also adore the final season of Lost, and for a while after my dad passed, watching that finale was a form of catharsis.)
Every character moment in that finale hits. Jack and his dad, Sawyer and Juliet, Hurley and Ben. Every time someone complains about how “Lost dropped the ball” and how it “didn’t answer anything”, I’m just like “I’m sorry you were only watching it for the mystery box aspect, because you missed out on some of the most memorable and well executed character arcs of all time.” I remember getting so preoccupied with the theorizing and the unsolved mysteries in that final season, and then they aired “Across the Sea” and I hated it. It taught me that some mysteries are better left unsolved, and it freed me up to fully enjoy the beauty of that finale without having to worry about “answers”. I almost wonder if that wasn’t somewhat intentional on the part of Lindelof and Cuse. “You want answers? Here they are. Be careful what you wish for.”
As for Furious 7, that one was just a special circumstance. It’s not every day that a movie is specifically designed to say goodbye to an actor (and character) who passed away. Everyone has a final role, but it’s rare that that final role is also a meta-eulogy from the franchise and its creators. That, combined with the themes that the movie was already working with before Walker’s death, mixed with that stupid song - it wrecked me.
My whole family loves Bluey. My daughter is the same age as your oldest, Patrick, she has been watching Bluey since it started, and she still loves it.
What I love about it is that it has managed to not lose what makes it so special, over all these years. The delicate balance between deep insight and levity, the bite-sized stories that make it ideal for children while having so many subtle undertones that make it so very interesting and emotional for adults. My own emotional moments, the episodes that will leave me sobbing on the best of days, are spread all throughout its history, like 'Bike', 'Camping', 'Cricket' to name just a few. My daughter cried every time she watched 'Sleepytime'.
'The Sign' tugged at all the heartstrings it could get hold of, not least because, in my opinion, it managed to very delicately telegraph its outcome at several points. And I agree with John, the music is fantastic as always - Joff Bush, the primary composer is a great hand at scoring the episodes perfectly.
I hope this wasn't it for Bluey, and I anticipate whatever there is to come.
I do think it's fascinating how it's managing to straddle kids aging, and one option is for the show to never actually age the two kids, and they can probably continue to mine all sorts of stories. But the show is basically written by one guy, and I suspect he'll have ambitions beyond that. What they are...I'm not sure.
Yep also cried here. The music is always top notch, but this episode just turned everything up to 11. I'm not ready, nor is anyone else in my house, for the end of Bluey, but if that's how it goes out, damn. They really nailed it.
I would be fine if this was a series finale, because eventually, even Bluey is going to run out of ways to be clever. Selfishly, I'd love for them to do a big budget movie, and it feels like this episode is them trying to figure out if it's even possible.
It was 4x the length of a normal episode, so that's pretty much the Bluey movie there. But I also didn't think the Bluey play was necessary and we LOVED that - so I'm down for whatever they've got planned. But if they wanna call it here and give those awesome anonymous child voice actors a normal life, that seems like a fine choice too.
I'm still not convinced my 4-year-old cried because she was sad, or because she picked up on cues from the people around her and responded in kind. It was still very touching.
If I may ask, are your complicated feelings related to the narrative decisions the episode made to get to that point, or to the real life process of reversing the sale of a house?
Oh the real life process of reversing the sale of a house! Like I think the thing the episode was reaching for is its okay to not be sure about decisions you're making and it's okay to change your mind. But selling a house is a very real thing that a kid may not want and expecting a reversal is hard
Not sure how it works in other countries, but here in Australia such a reversal is fully possible, although very dependent on timings, and certainly not something that happens regularly. But because contracts for the sale of a house have a phase that could best be described as a cooling off period for both parties, it can happen. Funnily enough I've seen a DOLD sticker go up on a For Sale sign at a property near me, and then a week later the sticker was gone again.
You generally wouldn't start moving out of the house before the end of the cooling off period, but for the sake of what the episode is trying to tell us, I can find plausible explanations to make it make sense in my head canon 😁
Oh! Not that the other family changed their mind but that the kids didn't want it bad enough and it worked out that they didn't have to move. That's a thing that doesn't usually happen
I remember my mom trying desperately to console me when I watched "Pikachu's Goodbye," the episode of the original Pokemon anime where Ash looks like he's about to abandon Pikachu. (Memorably: "it's okay!! he came back, right? right??" me: *continues bawling anyway*)
My son's a little too young to get really into Bluey, but it's a good reminder that the tables are already turning ...
Amazing. The first time my oldest cried at something was a few years back, watching Hotel For Dogs. You can imagine that, at some point, it seems like this fabled Hotel For Dogs is going to fall apart. My daughter fell for this plot point, cried on the couch, before we watched the end together when, naturally, the Hotel For Dogs survived.
I never used to cry. Like Patrick, not as a macho thing, I just didn't react emotionally to anything. However after my daughter was born, I became much more susceptible to quietly weeping when presented with emotional subject matter. Several episodes of Bluey have made me tear up, but I read a bit about this mega episode, so I thought I was prepared (spoiler: I was wrong). I was keeping it together as the sad song swelled towards the end of the episode, but then my five year old, who was laughing all throughout the episode but had suddenly gone quiet, turned around with tears in her eyes and yelled "I don't want them to move!" Seeing my little girl have such an emotional reaction was too much for me. Never thought I'd be sobbing through a kids cartoon with my daughter. Bluey really is special.
My brother passed away a couple weeks back, he's the one who told me to check out Bluey with my son years ago, his daughter is a year older, so he was already in the know, and Bluey was a daddy, daughter thing for them. Shame he didn't get to see this one, but I know his wife and daughter watched and cried their eyes out just like the rest of us. For me I think the bit that got to me wasn't the sadness of the move, or the kids, but the other storyline that was going on throughout. *Spoilers ahead* The zen nature of it all, the subtle and not so subtle tales of love and loss, like Chili's sister being pregnant, the classmate's parents finding each other, Grandpa coming back from his trip, of course the wedding/complications themselves, all of that.
And then in the end, the not so subtle point with the music, that all of life's hardships can be blunted, and all of life's joys can be heightened. if you have a trusted friend, or loved one to share those times with with. The loving supportive couples on display, to me were the real focus of the episode. They struggle, make mistakes, and bad choices sure, but in the end they are there for each other and their families and together they'll see how it works out. Of course given my own experiences in life I'm obviously a bit primed for that sort of interpretation.
I have cried at the series finale of Lost, the series finale of Scrubs, the ending of Furious 7, and during Avengers: Endgame. Not sure what that says about me.
We're on the same wavelength, minus Furious 7, simply because I haven't kept up with that series. I'm simple. (I also adore the final season of Lost, and for a while after my dad passed, watching that finale was a form of catharsis.)
Every character moment in that finale hits. Jack and his dad, Sawyer and Juliet, Hurley and Ben. Every time someone complains about how “Lost dropped the ball” and how it “didn’t answer anything”, I’m just like “I’m sorry you were only watching it for the mystery box aspect, because you missed out on some of the most memorable and well executed character arcs of all time.” I remember getting so preoccupied with the theorizing and the unsolved mysteries in that final season, and then they aired “Across the Sea” and I hated it. It taught me that some mysteries are better left unsolved, and it freed me up to fully enjoy the beauty of that finale without having to worry about “answers”. I almost wonder if that wasn’t somewhat intentional on the part of Lindelof and Cuse. “You want answers? Here they are. Be careful what you wish for.”
As for Furious 7, that one was just a special circumstance. It’s not every day that a movie is specifically designed to say goodbye to an actor (and character) who passed away. Everyone has a final role, but it’s rare that that final role is also a meta-eulogy from the franchise and its creators. That, combined with the themes that the movie was already working with before Walker’s death, mixed with that stupid song - it wrecked me.
My whole family loves Bluey. My daughter is the same age as your oldest, Patrick, she has been watching Bluey since it started, and she still loves it.
What I love about it is that it has managed to not lose what makes it so special, over all these years. The delicate balance between deep insight and levity, the bite-sized stories that make it ideal for children while having so many subtle undertones that make it so very interesting and emotional for adults. My own emotional moments, the episodes that will leave me sobbing on the best of days, are spread all throughout its history, like 'Bike', 'Camping', 'Cricket' to name just a few. My daughter cried every time she watched 'Sleepytime'.
'The Sign' tugged at all the heartstrings it could get hold of, not least because, in my opinion, it managed to very delicately telegraph its outcome at several points. And I agree with John, the music is fantastic as always - Joff Bush, the primary composer is a great hand at scoring the episodes perfectly.
I hope this wasn't it for Bluey, and I anticipate whatever there is to come.
I do think it's fascinating how it's managing to straddle kids aging, and one option is for the show to never actually age the two kids, and they can probably continue to mine all sorts of stories. But the show is basically written by one guy, and I suspect he'll have ambitions beyond that. What they are...I'm not sure.
Yep also cried here. The music is always top notch, but this episode just turned everything up to 11. I'm not ready, nor is anyone else in my house, for the end of Bluey, but if that's how it goes out, damn. They really nailed it.
I would be fine if this was a series finale, because eventually, even Bluey is going to run out of ways to be clever. Selfishly, I'd love for them to do a big budget movie, and it feels like this episode is them trying to figure out if it's even possible.
It was 4x the length of a normal episode, so that's pretty much the Bluey movie there. But I also didn't think the Bluey play was necessary and we LOVED that - so I'm down for whatever they've got planned. But if they wanna call it here and give those awesome anonymous child voice actors a normal life, that seems like a fine choice too.
I cried, my 3 year old who barely understand human empathy was distraught. We had to put on one more episode to cheer her up.
I feel complicated about the reversal on selling the house. Life does not generally work out that way. But we'll see.
I'm still not convinced my 4-year-old cried because she was sad, or because she picked up on cues from the people around her and responded in kind. It was still very touching.
If I may ask, are your complicated feelings related to the narrative decisions the episode made to get to that point, or to the real life process of reversing the sale of a house?
Oh the real life process of reversing the sale of a house! Like I think the thing the episode was reaching for is its okay to not be sure about decisions you're making and it's okay to change your mind. But selling a house is a very real thing that a kid may not want and expecting a reversal is hard
Not sure how it works in other countries, but here in Australia such a reversal is fully possible, although very dependent on timings, and certainly not something that happens regularly. But because contracts for the sale of a house have a phase that could best be described as a cooling off period for both parties, it can happen. Funnily enough I've seen a DOLD sticker go up on a For Sale sign at a property near me, and then a week later the sticker was gone again.
You generally wouldn't start moving out of the house before the end of the cooling off period, but for the sake of what the episode is trying to tell us, I can find plausible explanations to make it make sense in my head canon 😁
Oh! Not that the other family changed their mind but that the kids didn't want it bad enough and it worked out that they didn't have to move. That's a thing that doesn't usually happen
That's fair.
I remember my mom trying desperately to console me when I watched "Pikachu's Goodbye," the episode of the original Pokemon anime where Ash looks like he's about to abandon Pikachu. (Memorably: "it's okay!! he came back, right? right??" me: *continues bawling anyway*)
My son's a little too young to get really into Bluey, but it's a good reminder that the tables are already turning ...
Amazing. The first time my oldest cried at something was a few years back, watching Hotel For Dogs. You can imagine that, at some point, it seems like this fabled Hotel For Dogs is going to fall apart. My daughter fell for this plot point, cried on the couch, before we watched the end together when, naturally, the Hotel For Dogs survived.
The music that played during the final sequence made it so much more emotional
Oh god, yeah. That was just twisting the knife.