My Thoughts From Stuart Fails to Save the Universe: Spoiler: Gary Dies (7/23/2026)

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Synopsis: In a dystopian Pasadena ruled by Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie), comic bookstore owner Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman) is visited by an alternate version of himself and learns an accident with a device invented by his friends has caused an alternate reality. He, along with geologist Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn) search for the device and with help from his former girlfriend, Denise (Lauren Lapkus), try to bring the world back to its normal state.


My Thoughts:

This should have been a movie. Not necessarily a feature-length Hollywood-budgeted film but maybe a 60-to-90-minute pilot that deep dives into the main plot and sets up the story for the rest of the series. There was an awful lot being crammed into the 30-minute episode, making it seem rushed and making it difficult to become invested.

I have so many questions about dystopian Pasadena. For one, when did society collapse? The episode suggested it happened during Stewart's lifetime but at the same time, everyone seemed to think the giant man-eating bugs were normal. Were the bugs there before the collapse? Were they the cause? Again, had this been longer than 30 minutes, perhaps there would have been time to explain some of it.

Not to mention, how is Stewart even alive? The world collapses and the man who had a suitcase full of pills for various health issues is perfectly fine and still running an un-looted business? That seems a bit farfetched. Of course, since he is in the exact same place he's always been, that also raises questions about why Denise thought he was dead.

The Penn and Teller cameo was funny but also a bit confusing considering the latter played Amy's (Mayim Bialik) father on The Big Bang Theory. Is this a universe where Teller exists and her father just looks exactly like him or does Teller exist and her father (and possibly Amy herself) doesn't exist.

I'm surprised to say this, but Bert was the most entertaining character. In addition to being the muscle, he was proving to be deceptively clever, even saving the day by making grenades out of rocks (I haven't checked to see if that is even possible). Some of his lines are even funnier than expected. I especially liked the one about human meat not being kosher.

The alternate version of Raj (Kunal Nayyar) showed some of the show's potential. Among other things, the multi-verse narrative might be able to clear up some of the continuity errors from TBBT by making them part of an overlapping universe narrative.

Final Opinion: The concept is intriguing but this premiere episode, hindered by just being 30 minutes, didn't really do it justice. I won't give up on it after just one episode but do hope future episodes help establish the story a bit better.

My Grade: C

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Here are some similar entries:

My Thoughts - The Traitors, Season 4

My Thoughts - Star Trek: Arena (1967)

My Thoughts - Young Sheldon: Future Worf and the Margarita of the South Pacific (10/6/2022)

Thoughts From the Gilligan's Island Episode The Invasion (1966)

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