My Thoughts - Stuart Fails to Save the Universe: Spoiler: Bert is Magic (8/6/2026)

Synopsis: Stuart (Kevin Sussman) and friends arrive in a universe where magic is real, and science is something that can get you burned at the stake. Fortunately for them, Bert (Brian Posehn) ends up with magical powers. Unfortunately, before they learn that, they unwittingly unleash a demon version of Bernadette Rostenkowski (Melissa Rauch).

My Thoughts:

Going back to what I mentioned before, the episodes are just too short. A half hour just isn't enough time to give any depth to the alternate reality they are visiting or the plot that results from it. By the time we reached a point Bernadette was putting their lives at risk, Stuart and company were transporting to a whole different universe.

If we're going to be seeing a new universe every week, the episodes really should be about twice as long.

Bert is the breakout character from this series. It may be Stuart's show, but I'd argue Bert is the most entertaining character. He's also the person who saved the day in two of the first three episodes while staying a person who seems to be able to quickly adapt to any situation. I was glad he was the one with the magical powers.

Meanwhile, Barry (John Ross Bowie) seems to be losing steam. He went from being a cunning, murderous tyrant in the first episode to just being a cowardly jerk who is just along for the ride by episode 3.  I hope the series has more evil things in mind for him and is just biding its time until he shows his true colors (and, no, I don't count him leaving Bert to die in this episode because it wasn't as though he had any way of saving him).

How do you have a "magic is real" episode and not have Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg)? The man was a wannabe magician on The Big Bang Theory. This would have been the perfect episode for him to have a cameo in. 

And yes, I know he's one of the people who built the device and may be the person they are looking for as a result. But the whole advantage of having alternate versions of people Stuart knows is they don't necessarily need to be the right version.

Speaking of which, the whole Stuart and Denise (Lauren Lapkus) thing seems problematic. She's Denise, but not the Denise from Stuart's reality. There's no shared history; Denise has a completely different past and just isn't the same person. It just doesn't sit right with me he was so quick to replace his Denise with the first alternate version he met. This is a character we're supposed to like.

Final Opinion: I still like the overall premise, despite being a bit too similar to Sliders. I just wish the series would let us see more of the alternate universes and a bit more plot/character development.

My Grade: C

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