Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Season 1 Episode 1-3 SPOILER Review
The Big Bang Theory franchise is back on the smaller tv, with Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. If you don’t know, The Big Bang Theory is one of my favorite tv shows of all time so any time there’s a new show in this universe, I’m inherently curious to check it out and this show had a concept that intrigued me but also made me nervous. I have now seen the first three episodes, so here’s what I thought about them!
NOTE: This will be a SPOILER packed review of the first three episodes of the show. If you haven’t seen the show and are planning to watch them, then do not look at this.
The Review
With this show, it follows Stuart, Denise, Bert, and Kripke on this adventure across the multiverse where they must save it after dealing with some technology created by Leonard and Sheldon. When I first heard this concept and saw the first trailer for this film my big concern with the show is how it will work when they are taking side characters from The Big Bang Theory and promoting them to leads. We have seen this done before with Cars 2 and Minions and neither one of those projects really works because they are following characters who are not designed to be leads. So, the question becomes does Stuart Fails to Save the Universe full victim of those same issues? Unfortunately, yes, it does. Stuart, Denise, Bert, and Kripke are fun side characters on The Big Bang Theory, and they all have something about them that sticks out. But the reason the work as characters is because they are fun side characters, they are not given arcs. When you watch this show, there are some laughs here and there and some fun moments, but it is with characters that you do not care about or care enough about to lead a show. What is weird about these characters is it is such a weird set of characters because most of these characters do not really know each other. Stuart and Denise of course have romantic chemistry from the main show. I am sure Stuart met Bert and Kripke at some point in the show. But it is not even like it is a fun set of characters to see interact, because they do not really have chemistry with each other. It feels like the creators have the show found out who the most popular side characters were and wrote this show based around whoever won the vote. On a character level, there are just some issues here that make it a show that is hard to connect with.
Beyond that, it is another multiverse adventure, and this gimmick feels overused by now. On paper, it is fun to see characters and actors from The Big Bang Theory return, but it does not really do anything interesting with them. It feels like all fan service and moments of “look who it is” without having a story that makes sense or feels earned. The reason Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine were able to work was because they delivered on the multiverse fun but also had a story to tell with character arcs and emotions. This show has a story, but it is just a setup with a series of events happening. So far in each of the episodes, we get a fun guest star whether that’s Raj in the first episode, Penny in the second, and Bernadette in the third but they all play the same. Where each character gets a 5–10-minute sequence and then we move onto the next bit. But when Raj appears and when Penny appears there is no reason that it must be those characters, it is those characters because they are returning characters and the creators think audiences want to see them again. You could swap Raj and Bernadette in their respective sequences with each other and they would not change. It is frustrating when there is plenty of other examples of multiverse adventures that do work and do earn the fan service and you watch something like this, and it completely fails at the multiverse gimmick. Even Will Wheaton shows up out of nowhere and the sequence feels like it only exists because they wanted to have Wheaton return but could not figure out how to properly do it.
Beyond that, I just have not really found this show all that funny so far. There are some moments in the episodes that do work and put a smile on your face. But a large majority of these show’s humor does not work because it is not funny or they overdo it. In the second episode, our characters go to this universe where they must be nice and calm to each other or else they get electrocuted. With Kripke being this obnoxious character, he is the one that gets electrocuted the most and they repeat this bit multiple times throughout the episode to the point where it becomes less funny and more annoying and cringy. A joke is funny at first and reoccurs the joke a few times in the episode, but the episode does that too much that the jokes become tiring. There are other attempts at humor where Bert is always excited for Stuart when he makes a move on Denise. It is funny at first in the first episode, but it keeps on happening and it feels like the showrunners do not know when to stop telling a joke.
Final Thoughts: Overall, I just do not think Stuart Falls to Save the Universe works all that well. There are some fun moments here and there, the characters are fun and charming. But with so many multiverse focused projects releasing recently, this one does not find a way to cut through and be unique and when it does the multiverse stuff, it does not earn the surprises and the big surprise guest stars don’t end up working. If you are a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you might enjoy this but go in with low expectations.
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