Though Chuck Lorre’s legacy is often, and rightfully, tied to the biggest sitcoms he created, the last decade-plus has seen the most fascinating era of his career creatively. Since 2013’s Mom (arguably the last great network sitcom, though a conversation for another day), Lorre’s work has been much more than just Young Sheldon, the spinoff-of-the-spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage and Disjointed: with series like Bob Hearts Abishola, the underrated Bookie, and Leanne, Lorre’s carried the legacy sitcom torch with a surprising amount of creativity – and with his other Netflix series, The Kominsky Method, offered one of the more salient, touching stories of aging, grief, and fatherhood this side of Men of a Certain Age.
So while Stuart Fails the Universe, HBO Max’s action-ish sci-fi spinoff featuring a few select members of Big Bang Theory‘s B (and C) squads, might feel like just another cash-in on the lumbering hulk of The Big Bang Theory‘s expansive, two-decade old franchise, it really represents the next creative leap for Lorre, finally breaking himself free of the couches and contained sets of his iconic sitcoms, continuing the trend with The Kominsky Method and Young Sheldon in leaving the three-camera setup, and its laugh track, behind. And while Stuart Fails the Universe‘s first episode certainly lacks some of the pathos his late-era series have benefited from, its first episode “Spoiler: Gary Dies” is surprisingly laid back, albeit a bit too stiff and comfortable in its pointlessness to build any kind of narrative or emotional tether to its audience.
Set at some point in a future (that may or may not be in the same timeline as The Big Bang Theory, though thankfully the show give not appear to care about that), Stuart Fails to Save the Universe begins when a post-apocalyptic Stuart (still running his comic book shop, trading in Batman issues for cat food and throwing his garbage into an interdimensional tear in the middle of the store) is visited by a version of himself, who tells him that the original Big Bang trio of scientists broke the world, and he’s the only one who knows how to fix it. So alongside Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn’s character from the OG series) and his now ex-girlfriend Denise (and her new boyfriend, the titular Gary), they set off on a multiverse-spanning adventure to somehow save time and space itself.
Thankfully, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe seems more interested in the journey than its destination, which frees the 25-minute “Spoiler: Gary Dies” from drowning itself in sci-fi logic or referential material. However, anchored around Stuart (arguably the best recurring character in the pantheon of BBT underlings), Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is as passive and unassuming as its protagonist, which kind of makes it feel like early seasons of Futurama, but if Kip Krofer was the star. That’s not to say Kevin Sussman is miscast, or Stuart Fails to Save the Universe lacks any kind of propulsive energy – but in its willingness to just kind of passively hang out with its main characters as they spend the first episode trying to escape from the reign of Supreme Ruler Barry Kripke, makes “Spoiler: Gary Dies”, with its big explosions and surprise guest appearance from a very game Kunal Nayyar (who’s gone a bit wacky since he broke the world with Leonard and Sheldon), feel surprisingly disengaged and distant from itself.
This slight feeling of flatness is not only in the show’s writing, which runs the gamut from being fairly straightforward to being oddly metatextual (the show’s opening credits are.. incredibly strange, though somewhat fitting for Lorre, who is still ending each episode of his shows with his signature diary-like tags): “Spoiler: Gary Dies” suffers a bit from its incredibly bland visual palette, desaturated and grayed out to the point the entire pilot feels muddy and slow, even when its showing its characters throwing grenades at bad guys or traversing between realities. It makes for an incredibly odd combination, a series with a very clear, confident sense of itself, delivered with a strange, almost apathetic approach to its own material.
This isn’t to suggest “Spoiler: Gary Dies” is a bad pilot episode; it is just strangely calibrated, almost becoming more laid back and detached as its plot begins to pick up speed, and even sneaks in a couple surprises (in the death of Raj, and the end of the pilot, which sees the guys accidentally leave Denise behind as they traverse to a new reality) before its cliffhanger-ish ending. But even that ending, which reveals the “normal” world they traveled to is really some kind of Matrix-esque hellscape, is almost delivered with a shrug – which, for a series that appears to be a creative exercise packaged as a franchise spinoff, feels incredibly weightless, especially for a story about a reluctant, emotionally stunted underdog undertaking a grand adventure.
Despite its listless delivery, there’s still some obvious promise in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, both as a fun summer diversion, and a Lorre-flavored meta comedy. Though I’d honestly hoped for SFTSTU to be a bit less superficial and a bit more engaged with its characters, there’s undeniably something about this incredibly strange, unnecessary series that is intriguing. Perhaps it is only in ginning up the curiosity of a grizzled TV critic hungry for something different, and it will be a series more interesting in concept than execution – regardless, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe has a goofy, offkilter little spark at the center of it, something I hope to see the series channel as it makes its way through its ten-episode first season.
Other thoughts/observations:
- Welcome to reviews of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe! As long as this show stays somewhat interesting, I’ll be along for the ride with reviews each Friday morning. Subscribe for free and don’t miss a review!
- I love that in a post-apocalyptic world, wacky inflatable arm-waving tube men machines still exist, and function. This means someone is maintaining them, and I just love that idea.
- It is wild that outside of Stuart, the stars of this spinoff were featured in a combined total of 48 episodes (Lauren Lupkus, who played Denise, was only in eight episodes of the original series).
- Penn and Teller cameo? Sure, why the hell not!
- Danny Elfman theme? Sure, why the hell not!
- Kripke has a harem, but they’re only with him for the free childcare.