One thing that makes Bluey compulsively watchable, even for grownups, is its relatable adult characters. Case in point: in the beach episode “Stickbird,” something is clearly eating at Bandit (David McCormack). But what? Did something happen? Are we supposed to know what’s going on with him?
To recap: the family is vacationing at the beach, but while Chilli (Melanie Zanetti) is teaching Bluey and Bingo how to throw sticks, Bandit sits by their umbrella, staring pensively into space. “Let it go,” Chilli calls to him. “You’re missing all this!” Bandit tries, but he’s clearly upset about something.
Later, after Bandit and Bingo build a bird out of sand and beach debris, a bunch of kids run by and take the stick that forms the bird’s head. Bingo is crushed, but Bandit gently encourages her to let it go. “When you put something beautiful into the world,” he says, “it’s no longer yours, really.”
The moment is a lovely little look at creativity. You pour your heart into making something, release it into the world, and entrust it to the audience who will experience it. Once you share something you’ve made, you can’t control it anymore.
Could that have something to do with whatever’s troubling Bandit? After all, after Bluey teaches Bingo to metaphorically throw away her troubles, Bandit does the same. There are some fan theories floating around the internet that something may have happened to Bandit at work. He’s an archaeologist (yes, really!), so maybe a paper he wrote didn’t get a good reception? Maybe his research was debunked? That would explain Chilli’s admonition to stop letting it get to him. Whatever happened is outside of his control—just like the boys who stole the stickbird’s head.
Theories are great, but is there a definitive answer about what’s bothering Bandit?
Yes and no.
On the podcast Behind Bluey, series creator Joe Brumm shed some light on Bandit’s state of mind. “It’s not important what [Bandit’s] worrying about,” Brumm said. “I mean, take your pick, right? … it could be a health thing, it could be a work thing, it could be a relationship thing, it could be something with the kids, any number of things. So it wasn’t really important that we ever got into what his issue was. It was more about not even solving what his issue is, but at least stopping the rumination.”
A lesser show might have succumbed to the urge to give Bandit’s problem an easy solution—or, even worse, portray Bluey and Bingo’s parent with no inner lives at all. What makes Bluey so sophisticated is that it portrays Bandit and Chilli as real people with flaws. That portrayal is relatable for parents and kids alike. Sometimes, mom or dad is sad or upset. You don’t always know why, there’s often nothing you can do about it, and that’s actually normal and okay.
If it makes you feel better, Brumm did share the inspiration behind the episode, even though we’re not supposed to know why Bandit is troubled. In the same podcast, Brumm explained that, like the stickbird incident itself, Bandit’s rumination came from real life.
“That line [about putting something out into the world] happened right at a time when, with Bluey, I was getting a lot of notes about particular episodes,” Brumm explained. “I was finding it a little difficult with some of the notes to really do what I wanted to do with certain episodes, and eventually, [letting it go] was the only thing that helped me. It’s like, look, once I make it, and I try to make it as beautiful as I can, it doesn’t belong to me. But yeah, it’s interesting putting something into the world. Some episodes work for some people and some episodes don’t, and you kind of have to detach from all that.”
Those are words to live by—and it sounds like Bandit took them to heart.
(featured image: Disney+)
