"We're gonna flog ya!"
Bluey and Lucky's families get together at Bluey's home to watch The Decider: a big rugby game between the Maroon team and the Blue team. Bandit, Pat, and Lucky are all-in for the Maroons. On the other hand, Lucky's mom Janelle is from out of town, and is supporting the Blue team alone back at Lucky's house. Lucky's little brother Chucky is having a tough time, as his parents are at loggerheads over the rivalry. Chucky's desire to see both of his parents happy causes him to switch back and forth between both teams, and Bluey is stuck trying to land with the team that seems to be having the most fun. Lucky ultimately insists that it's not fair to only support the winning side and that every one has to choose only one team to support. Reluctantly, Bluey and Chucky choose the Maroons, leaving Janelle to support the Blues all by herself.Meanwhile, Chili and Frisky get to see the game live, and Bingo tries to stay up long enough to see her mom tell her good night on the TV.
Later on, Chucky is excited to learn that there's a gold team that everyone supports (except Mackenzie and his family), and his family is able to unite in their support.
This episode provides examples of:
- Big Game: The centerpiece of the episode. As noted below, the game is part of the State of Origin series, one of the biggest games in Australia.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The episode's theming and the physical separation between Lucky's parents watching the game has caused some viewers to draw an analogy with the experience of having divorced or separated parents.
- Friendly Rivalry: Janelle and Pat are extremely passionate in their sports rivalry, but it's all in good fun. The two sides are hanging out and bantering at halftime, and Pat even makes a point to kiss Janelle before going back to the game. Chucky, however, is too young to pick up on this and spends the episode worried about his mom, who is by herself.
- Opposing Sports Team: Janelle and the rest of her family are openly hostile to each other in the episode, owing to the massive rivalry between their two rugby teams. However, there's no real malice behind it, and both parents are OK with Chucky trying to support both teams.
- Pun-Based Title: "The Decider" is a colloquial term for the game that decides the outcome of a series, but also references Chucky's difficult decision between his two parents' teams.
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Reality Subtext:- The game taking place in this episode is the deciding match of the State of Origin Rugby League series, an annual best-of-three match between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues. This is considered one of the most important derbys in all Australian sporting, which is why tensions are running so high in Lucky's household. The episode premiered during the 2020 series, and the Maroons win in the episode just like they did in the real-life series.
- The gold team that everyone supports is very clearly intended to the the Australian national Rugby Union team, which of course explains why Mackenzie's family — who are from New Zealand — don't support it. Instead, they support the Black team, clearly meant as a reference to the New Zealand national team, the All-Blacks.Mackenzie's Dad: Go The Kiwis!
- Special Guest: Longtime NRL play-by-play man Ray Warren and former Queensland MVP Johnathan Thurston play the broadcast team for the title game, and longtime Union commentator Gordon Bray voices a broadcaster of the game at the end of the episode.
