What Is Blue Trying to Do?

"What Is Blue Trying to Do?" is the 19th episode of Blue's Clues from Season 2.

Characters[]

Elements[]

Question: What is Blue trying to do?
Clues:
- 1. A Finished Picture of Steve and Blue
- 2. A Pencil
- 3. Blue
Answer: Write Her Name
Living room picture: The train at the bottom of a hill, then racing to the top of a hill, then at the top of a hill, then at the top of a hill (later zoomed in a little bit)
Skidoo location: Baby Bear's room
Felt Frame picture: Felt Friends cheer and Freddy wins the race (Similar to What Was Blue's Dream About?)
Letter: Green
Snail Appearances: (1. on the bookshelf) (2. behind the right side of the bed)

Summary[]

Steve and Blue teach the viewers some words of encouragement.

Recap[]

Blue colors Steve & Blue with colored crayons, but Blue is trying to write her name with a pencil. We play Blue's Clues to figure out what Blue is trying to do. Blue leaves a paw-print on the screen. Steve sings to the viewers that they were gonna play Blue's Clues. He explains the Blue's paw-print will be on the clues, Blue's Clues that is. The pawprint runs away. Sidetable Drawer opens up her drawer. Steve reaches in and grabs his notebook. Sidetable Drawer closes her drawer. Steve tells the viewers that to play Blue's Clues he has to find a paw-print because that is the first clue and then he has to put it in their notebook because they are Blue's Clues. Steve and Blue had to find another paw-print, that is the second clue, they had to put it in their notebook because they are Blue's Clues. Steve and Blue had to find the last paw-print, that is the third clue, they had to put it in their notebook because they are Blue's Clues, and they had to sit down in the thinking chair and think.

Blue went in the direction of the bedroom. Steve finds the first clue on a finished picture of Steve & Blue and draws it in his notebook. Slippery Soap blows 3 bubbles, but Slippery Soap blows the biggest bubble in the world. Steve finds the second clue on pencil and draws it in his notebook. Steve is trying to finish the puzzle, but it is Mailtime. The letter is about a boy playing basketball and a girl building blocks. Blue & Steve skiddoo into Baby Bear's room. Steve & Blue help Baby Bear find her picture in the living room. Blue & Steve skiddoo back home. Steve finds the third clue on Blue and draws it in his notebook. Steve goes to the thinking chair and is ready to put all 3 clues together. The clues are a finished picture of Steve & Blue, pencil, and Blue. The answer is write her name. After figuring out Blue's Clues, Blue writes her name with a pencil that said "BLUE". Steve and Blue get ready to finish the puzzle. With Slippery and Baby Bear's encouragement, they succeed. It's a picture of the Blue's Clues House. Steve sings the So Long Song and the episode ends.

Trivia[]

Blue becomes a clue in this episode. This is the first time that happened.
- Steve recalls the time he became a clue from Magenta Comes Over, which was 20 episodes before this one.
- The toys in the area (where Blue later hid as a clue) are the white-spotted puppy, a blue version of the pink toy hippo, the toy giraffe, a tiny aquamarine rubber duck with a dark blue bill, Sock Monkey, a purple doll with blue overalls, a green book, and the blue teddy bear.
  - Although Sock Monkey appears in this episode for the second time (the first time being in "Blue Wants to Play a Song Game"), she appears in inanimate form.
This marks the last and final time where a question is asked as the name of the episode.
This is also the last time the backgrounds, and the picture frame have more shadows.
This was the 13th episode to use the usual "No, it's a clue!" line from Adventures in Art. It wouldn't be heard again until Blue’s Big Musical.
The Mailtime Song footage was the same footage as What Game Does Blue Want to Learn?.
This is the 1st episode where the viewers see Slippery Soap's mad face.
There is no Kevin or Duarte version produced for this episode.
When Steve gets to Sidetable to get the Notebook, his hair from the beginning of this season and late Season 1 is used (probably a deleted scene from Blue's Senses), this also breaks tradition of the episode which should not have done.
This was the last time Steve says "Now what do we do?", after finding the clue (3rd one). In the next more episodes Steve will stop saying "Now what do we do?", after whenever he finds any of the clues. In Season 4's Joe Gets a Clue, Joe says "Now what do we do?", which was the only time Joe says it, because Steve teaches Joe how he can play Blue's Clues until the next future episodes.
- This is one of the three episodes of Season 2 in which breaks tradition which should've been done, the other two are Blue's Senses and Blue's Birthday.
This is the sixth time Steve finds out the viewer tells him that they found a clue after using his listening skills. The first was Mailbox's Birthday (before finding the first and third clues), the second was Blue's Favorite Song (before finding the third clue), the third was Blue Goes to the Beach (before finding the second clue), the fourth was Pretend Time (before finding the second clue), the fifth was Math! (before finding the second clue), the seventh was Anatomy (before finding the first clue), the eighth was Pool Party (before finding the third clue), the ninth was Magenta Gets Glasses (before finding the second clue) and the tenth was Adventure (before finding the third clue). Joe also did this in Bedtime Business when he finds a toothbrush after the video letter and picks it up.
This is the last time the "Pawprint" and "Clue" from What Story Does Blue Want to Play? voiceovers are used in the Play Blue's Clues song.
- Starting in "Mechanics!", they were permanently replaced by the "Pawprint" and "Clue" voiceovers from "What Does Blue Want to Make?".
At the end of the episode, Steve refers to The So Long Song as "The Goodbye Song" by saying "Do you want to sing the Goodbye Song with me?". This will happen again later as that in Season 6 starring Joe.
At the end of the letter, the kids said, "Bye!" instead of "Bye, Steve." or "Bye, Joe.". This happened for the first time in Snack Time, as said by Morgan, Perry, and Brent. This will happen again later in Signs after the kid says "Have a wonderful day!" after saying "Good morning, Blue!", which is the last thing they did when he did it, and "The Alphabet Train" starring Joe as said by Zoe as the last kid. That was when Steve copied kids and Joe did, too.
The living room picture is a reference to the story of The Little Engine That Could.
In the VHS version, the Video Letter segment does not begin with "Hi, Steve" nor does it end with "Bye, Steve" at all.
In this episode, Steve imitates Slippery, who says his catchphrase. The first time he did it was in Blue's News, which was when he moved the letter back and forth and he put it down when he stopped, but only after he said, "Let's go see him.".
The cheering music for Slippery plays in the credits.

Goofs[]

After Steve draws the third and final clue, the pawprint is still seen on Blue's stomach.
The children in the video letter said "Hi, Steve and Blue." although Blue wasn't anywhere near the Thinking Chair around that time.
- This also happens in The Lost Episode!.

Gallery[]

Watch Episode[]

This episode is available for streaming on Paramount Global's video streaming service Paramount+.

Blue's Clues Season 2