After falling backwards through its own multiverse, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe‘s penultimate episode, “Spoiler: We Couldn’t Get Green Lantern” presents itself with an interesting question: where are we going with all this? The answer, as it seems, is as jumbled as the series itself; “Spoiler: We Couldn’t Get Green Lantern” is, on a character level, a consistently underwhelming episode, leaving the most intriguing parts about its protagonists just out of reach.
On a more superficial level, though, “Spoiler: We Couldn’t Get Green Lantern” is the webisode spirit personified, a brief interlude into the DCU that shows a glimpse of potential for Stuart Fails to Save the Universe to be HBO Max’s equivalent of Space Jam 2 meets The Critic: something that satisfies the IP gods’ constant thirst for more interconnected, recycled content, but does so with a bit of wit and goofy heart – Stuart Fails to Save the Universe certainly has a grip on the former, but it’s the latter the series still struggles with – or more frustratingly, is simply disinterested in.
Back in “Spoiler: Stuart Makes a Wallet”, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe suggested its alternate universe, universe-and-IP-hopping story was grounded in something a little bit more than the universes it surrounded its B-and-C Big Bang Theory cast members with, as Stuart pondered a universe where he might actually be the hero of the story. It was a story that turned out to be a Matrix-style nightmare, of course, but the episode (and its metatextual ending) offered a glimpse into something more than glib, repetitive punchlines and superficial world construction; the following episode, “Spoiler: Bert Gets Married”, followed suit with the show’s best blend of character work and worldbuilding, something that’s been a bit lost in the meandering, regressive pair of episodes since.
“Spoiler: We Couldn’t Get Green Lantern” is kind of a marriage of all these ideas; after finding themselves trapped in the cover of a comic book, our quartet of multiverse travelers find themselves traversing the inside of the DCU – specifically in a very bright, Golden Age-era version of Gotham City. When it becomes clear Stuart Fails to Save the Universe ain’t got the budget for the big boys of the Justice League (and as the title suggests, the original script had to be canned thanks to Lanterns), the team head to Central City, where they find Amy… and her husband Jay Gerrick, otherwise known as the Golden Age era The Flash. In their attempt to put themselves back on their multiversal track (and lacking the Leonard-Sheldon Thingy they’ve been carrying around and passing off to themselves all season), they convince Gerrick to help them escape the comic book world and head to a more important, consequential universe – which they aim to do using The Flash’s Cosmic Treadmill, of course (which, if we’re getting technical, was actually created and used by Barry Allen).
All of this is happening while the group is being chased around by a particularly goofy Mr. Freeze (which Stuart notes should really be Captain Cold… which, boy I would’ve loved to see Wentworth Miller cameo here. I digress); it’s an amalgamation of C-tier DC nonsense, the kind that is absolutely perfect for the low-stakes, goofy vibe that Stuart Fails to Save the Universe vibes with best. And when Stuart declares “We’re not background characters anymore!”, the episode makes a spiritual tether to “Spoiler: Stuart Makes a Wallet” as storylines that are reaching for something a bit more resonant than repetitive cud-chewing or centaur body jokes, using its high-concept premise to explore a group of people who suddenly find themselves in positions of authorship over their lives in ways they probably never expected.
When Stuart Fails to Save the Universe springboards off these moments, all of its elements fall neatly into place, and it gives so much propulsion to the main story arc – unfortunately, the series has inconsistently surfaced these ideas, often resorting to shorter, simpler stories that focus strictly on the less rewarding extraneous factors of the collapsing multiverse, and whatever “the Adversary” is (which obliterates Trevor when it realizes the group has escaped the comic book cover – though Gary’s death-by-iceberg is certainly more visceral). When this series takes a brief moment to look inward – or, in the case of “Spoiler: Bert Gets Married”, uses its setting as a reflective surface, it gives an aimless series purpose and direction, the lack of which has been acutely felt in the two episodes prior to this one.
But those little hints of character, even if they aren’t grounded in a universe that lasts more than 15 minutes at a time, give the series an emotional foundation that is slight, but incredibly impactful in giving this show something beyond pure narrative intrigue to keep it afloat. And its presence in “Spoiler: We Couldn’t Get Green Lantern”, as light as it may be, helps elevate an episode that is a somewhat clever take on a domesticated The Flash, but otherwise, doesn’t have a whole lot to say about its world or characters, or really make much argument to the audience why any of this is worth watching or investing in. It’s a faint heartbeat, but the moments that it surfaces in this first season are clearly something the show’s announced second season should try to incorporate more consistently; “Spoiler: We Couldn’t Get Green Lantern” sparks to life in the brief moment it accesses that heart, elevating an otherwise pedestrian episode that coasts a little too hard on a few (admittedly solid) jokes for an episode setting up what appears to be a dramatic, potentially subversive season finale.
Other thoughts/observations:
- Andy Ridings is great as Jay Gerrick. Hoping we get to see him again in season two.
- Lodge 49‘s Eric Allan Kramer is also great as a fairly inept Mr. Freeze. Lodge 49 forever!
- “Like the hot chick in American Gods that sucked guys up into her business.”
- Stuart recaps a fight between Mr. Freeze and The Flash, in one of the show’s more effective breaches of the fourth wall so far.
- “Does he talk comic books in the boudwair?”
- You are correct, Bert – Gary does die a lot.
- The Flash: “They were all formidable enemies…. Boomerang kept coming back.” It’s a good joke!
- Also great, Amy’s recap of sex with Jay: “it’s over before I even know it started”.
- Stuart suggests he was “placed” in the asylum a few episodes ago… I didn’t think that was how this worked, but who cares about logic, amirite?!
- Worth reading Chuck Lorre’s note at the end of this episode’s credits (which – no matter how you feel about his shows, those are always interesting):
