The multiverse is broken, reality is unraveling, and somehow the fate of existence falls to the least likely heroes imaginable. Brand new HBO Max show Stuart Fails to Save the Universe picks up sometime after the events of The Big Bang Theory. The series follows shy, socially awkward comic book store owner Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman) as he teams up with geologist Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn), one-time girlfriend Denise (Lauren Lapkus), and jerk physicist Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie). Together, they attempt to fix what went wrong, or at least time a universe chill enough to hang out in. Warning: Spoilers ahead for Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Episode 1.
It’s the end of the world as we know it…
The series opens with the only store in all of post-apocalyptic Pasadena that appears to still be standing: The Comic Center. Stuart is now bartering necessary survival items such as cans of Fancy Feast for copies of Batman #608 just to stay alive. And with him is Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn), his best customer.
Life is terrible. Sure, they’re surviving, but between the constant barrage of the undead, scavengers, and the random mysterious voids that keep appearing, every day is a fight to stay alive. Things only get stranger when another Stuart appears.
According to Stuart 2.0, the apocalypse can be traced back to a malfunctioning quantum entanglement device created by Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), and Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) at Caltech, which has fractured reality and opened dimensional rifts. Sadly, as Stuart 2.0 explains how to fix the machine, a dimensional glitch creates a garbled message, so the boys decide to wing it.
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end
With alternate versions of familiar characters and an apocalypse that all traces back to a Big Bang Theory, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is easily the franchise’s most ambitious—and bizarre—story yet. So TV Insider asked co-creator Chuck Lorre So whether the series always started this bizarre or got even more outlandish over time.
“I think it started as a crazy idea and stayed one,” said Chuck Lorre.
But it was an idea that Lorre had for a long time before he acting on it. “Ten or 12 years, towards the end of The Big Bang Theory, I proposed an idea of Stewart having a portal in the back of the comic book store that leads to other universes, and we would go on adventures with him, and I pitched it to some people at Warner Bros. and they were entirely unimpressed, so it just kind of lay dormant for many, many years,” said explained Lorre. “Then a couple years ago David Zaslav bought Warner Brothers, and said, ‘Yes, do it.’”
Somebody that I used to know
Heading to Caltech, the group hopes to reverse the damage caused by the malfunctioning quantum device. Along the way, they encounter even more bizarre sights, including Penn and Teller juggling small feral animals in exchange for cans of food.
At the Rose Bowl, Stuart and Bert are about to be attacked by road bandits, only to discover that the thug is Denise (Lauren Lapkus), who has been staying alive robbing people but is still working on her screenplay. She is now with Gary (Michael Urie), so the four travel to Caltech, where they come under sniper fire. Gary is shot almost immediately, and Stuart, Bert, and Denise are captured.
Reunited, and it feels so good
Inside Bert’s classroom, they encounter Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), who is not doing so hot. Sporting a full beard and in need of human contact, Raj explains that Leonard, Sheldon, and Howard’s quantum interference device changed the universe, history, and reality when it malfunctioned. He also recounts that he was briefly married, but a large moth ate his wife, as such things happen in the apocalypse. Currently, he lives in fear of the Supreme Leader who rules over Caltech with an iron fist, who turns out to be…
Hail to the king
Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie), who quickly took control after the world changed, seizing guns, food, and women. When Kripke tries to take Denise, she refuses, prompting him to order her execution. He separates Denise from the lads, but makes the mistake of putting the boys in Bert’s old classroom. Harassing the power of geology, Bert makes grenades from materials in the classroom, and they blast their way through the halls.
Kripke later attempts to convince Denise to join him, telling her that ruling a post-apocalyptic fiefdom is lonely, but she demands to be killed instead. After asking to be untied, she immediately attacks him. Denise later reunites with Stuart, and the group reaches Sheldon’s machine. Raj discovers its calibration is off and begins trying to repair it, but Kripke shoots him, saying he doesn’t want the universe restored. Raj dies, taking the instruction sheet with him. Denise and Stuart manage to get the machine working, but when it appears ready to explode, Denise takes cover while Stuart, Bert, and Kripke are pulled away in the next dimension.
The three arrive in what appears to be a normal Comic Center of Pasadena. Admiring the lack of zombies, giant moths, and road bandits from the window, they all fail to notice a green crystal embedded in the back of their necks. That can’t be good.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, Thursdays, 9/8c, HBO Max