A very compelling theory about who Bluey ends up with.

After all the hype, emotions and opinions generated by the Bluey 28-minute special episode ‘The Sign’ (and the controversial ending), you would expect Bluey’s creators to maybe lay low for a while. 

But no — just one week later ‘Surprise’ dropped, an episode that well and truly lived up to its name. 

The episode sees Bandit trying to please both daughters by playing contradicting games at the same time, when really he would love to just be watching the race (of para-athletic dogs) on TV. There are the usual chaotic shenanigans and giggles, and then Bluey overhears something important. 

While waiting to ‘surprise’ her dad with her blaster that shoots plastic balls, she hears Bandit talking to the pretend baby from Bingo’s game. Bandit reassures the tennis ball perched precariously atop a stubby holder that the whole family is behind him. Bluey jumps out but instead of shooting, offers to watch the baby so Bandit can help Bingo with the other kids. It’s a moment of Bluey surprising her dad with her selfless surrender of her preferred game, even though she only has the blaster for a weekend. 

But the real surprise is yet to come. 

Watch: Why parents and kids alike are loving ABC Kid's Bluey. Post continues after video.

We see a shot of the Heeler house but it looks... different. Polished. Futuristic even?

In a time jump, the doorbell rings and Chilli answers to a grown-up Bluey who has just dropped by. Chilli greets Bluey and informs her Bingo is out the back. Bandit also appears, and the show gets to make a joke about how Bandit almost sold the house. "Are you ever gonna let that go?" he quips. 

Now here’s the real surprise — not the time skip, not grown up Bluey, or the Roomba sadly zooming back and forth in the corner (you have to wonder how tough these Roombas are to deal with so much dog fur). It’s the second ring of the doorbell, which Bandit answers... to a small child dog waiting with a toy blaster. 

The implication is that the little dog is Bluey’s future child. 

The episode starts with Bluey asking her mum what having children is like. This is the biggest clue that the small dog is not a late surprise child of Chilli and Bandit, or a neighbour or cousin, but in fact the newest generation of Heelers. 

Which leaves the question the whole internet is asking: who is the father? 

Yes, this is still Bluey and not Neighbours, you haven’t gotten lost. 

The two main contenders (in the discussions anyway) are Jean-Luc or Mackenzie. 

Jean-Luc is, according to the official Bluey website, a dark blue labrador who is visiting Australia with his family all the way from Canada. He and his family speak French, but that doesn't stand in the way of him playing with Bluey when the two of them meet on a camping trip in the episode called... you guessed it... 'Camping'. 

Mackenzie is Bluey’s friend from school. He and his family are border collies who moved to Australia from New Zealand. Bluey and Mackenzie's classmate Winton has even joked about the pair being boyfriend and girlfriend before.

Of course there are a thousand other possible fathers, including (gasp) a dog we haven’t met on the show yet. 

But why do we care so much about who a blue cartoon dog ends up with? Why are so many adults so invested in a kids’ show? Why did last week’s ending cause so many emotions, so much disagreement?

Well, because Bluey is art, and art is meant to be viewed and loved and interpreted. Art makes meaning. And when we view art, and think about it and discuss it, we aren’t just looking at someone else’s meaning. We start making meaning for ourselves. 

Do we want the Heelers to move away or stay put? Well, the answer probably lies in our own experiences of growing up and developing a sense of home. Do we want Bluey to end up with the school friend or the romantic chance meeting of an acquaintance from childhood? Again, the answer we choose probably says more about us and our experiences and disappointments, hopes and dreams, than it does about the show.

Do we want Bluey and Bingo to have the idyllic, happy, settled life we perhaps dreamed of having or dream of for our kids? With a stable community and loving family? Or do we want to see that loving family go out into the world and face problems similar to what so many Australians are facing today? Do we want comfort or bravery? 

Do we want Bluey to have the magical romantic reunion with a childhood playmate, or the steady familiar unfolding of a friendship into love as they grow up together? Do we want a fairytale or heartwarming familiarity? 

The art isn’t really meant to answer these questions, but it is meant to make us ask them. 

So who do we think the father is? Jean-Luc or Mackenzie? 

Mackenzie and Jean-Luc. Image: ABC. 

The end of ‘Camping’ is the only other significant flash-forward we have seen so far (excluding the series of photos at the end of ‘Daddy Drop Off’ that show Bingo and Lila growing up together). This is where a grown up Bluey is sitting under a tree reading, and is greeted by a grown up Jean-Luc, who has learnt English and returned to Australia. They both wag their tails in a sweet way at this long awaited reunion. The general consensus seems to be Jean-Luc is most likely to be Bluey’s future romantic partner.

Youtuber Aussie Girl Margie disagrees, putting forth her theory that this is Mackenzie’s child, including evidence such as the similarities between the new Heeler pup and the flashback we saw to Mackenzie as a toddler in ‘Space.’ 

She argues that Mackenzie is a important childhood friend, and ‘Barky Boats’ shows Mackenzie and Bluey as a mirror image of Captain and Mia, their Year Six buddies who are working through their feelings about leaving for high school as well as their feelings for each other.

For the record (and I can’t believe I am typing this) I think the dad is probably Jean-Luc. The colouring is too similar, as pointed out by TikTok creator, Lorie. 

@babypaulij Replying to @Crystal Stark what black?! Where are you seeing black?! #bluey #jeanluc #fyp #greenscreen ♬ original sound - Lorie 🩵🦋

She notices that while both Mackenzie and Jean-Luc have a floppy ear, the new pup is distinctly blue and navy coloured — NOT black and white. 

“The rest of this child is all kinds of shades of blue,” she argues. 

Even more than that convincing colour analysis, Jean-Luc being future Bluey’s partner and father of her kid fits with the creators’ style of almost fairytale-like storytelling. 

I don’t think the show is ending or doing a time jump to the future, but I am excited to see where it goes next. And I’ll be here online with everyone else, ready to make meaning from the art that is created. 

Feature image: ABC iView. 

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