Love Interest

Character Role Analysis

Bert? Maybe?

What's going on here? Do Mary and Bert have the hots for each other? They go on a date in the animated English countryside, where Bert dances with penguin-waiters while singing, "It's a Jolly Holiday" with Mary:

BERT: When Mary holds your hand
You feel so grand
Your heart starts beatin'
Like a big brass band

Is it Bert's heart that starts beating like a big brass band? It must be, right? Then, Mary sings something that also compliments Bert while being a little ambivalent:

MARY: Oh, it's a jolly holiday with you, Bert
Gentlemen like you are few
Though you're just a diamond in the rough, Bert
Underneath your blood is blue!
You'd never think of pressing your advantage
Forbearance is the hallmark of your creed
A lady needn't fear when you are near
Your sweet gentility is crystal clear!
Oh, it's a jolly holiday with you, Bert

She's saying Bert is a true gentleman, yet she's also stating "forbearance is the hallmark of your creed." Does that just mean she wants to take it slow with Bert? Or is she really trying to keep him in the friend zone? And how does Mary know Bert in the first place? Is it some sort of on-again off-again relationship?

These are questions that might not even have answers. The true nature of the relationship between Mary and Bert is a classic puzzle—up there on the shelf with that half-solved Rubik's Cube.