Stuart Review: "Spoiler: Bert Gets Married"

When we last left our gang, Stuart was in a psychiatric hospital, where Amy Farrah Fowler served as his doctor. Upon learning that he's married to Denise in this universe, Stuart dedicates himself to being a good patient, which results in Stuart being released. He learns that he's a rich artist, Bert owns the gallery, and Kripke's married to Chad. However, Stuart quickly sees that none of this is real, and he orders that very device that had been used in the series, and gives the heads up to Denise.

The group leaves that universe, lands in one similar to The Matrix, and then heads off to another universe, which is quite beautiful and Eden-like. And now, on to the next one:

The group's reaction to their current placement is interesting. Kripke deals with one of the natives taking possession of his shoes, and for the second time in this series, Bert is lucky in love. He hits it off with a woman named Chana, and the sparks are there, but there's one problem: they share everything, and everyone, in that universe. So with that, Bert introduced the concept of monogamy to Chana, saying that they should be exclusive with each other. Chana approves this.

As for Kripke, well, he's sharing himself with everyone, but ironically, he pretty much teaches the natives to have something of their own. While Stuart is looking for messages inside defecation on how to get out, Kripke's pretty much teaching this form of capitalism to the people, and Bert and Chana--in the immortal words of Jermaine Jackson--get serious and fall in love. Stuart does find a message, and it tells him that red quartz is the way to fix their machine. It's on a necklace worn by Gavel, who won't give it up because the ways of sharing are pretty much gone from that universe.

Thanks, Kripke.

So as Stuart tries to get the red quartz, Bert announced that he and Chana are getting hitched, and Stuart will be the best man. The result is Stuart badly singing We've Only Just Begun (offending every Happy Gilmore fan in existence), and just as the "I do"s were about to be said, Simpa arrives and says monogamy isn't their way, and wants to share. This results in a big massive fight between the natives (again: thanks, Kripke), but in that melee, Stuart gets the red quartz and they're out of there. The group lands in the comic book store, and they believe they are home. Denise chowing down on the plant says otherwise.

"Spoiler: Bert Gets Married," episode 1.05 of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, aired on HBO Max on August 20, 2026. We are now on the halfway point of the first season, with this episode being the first to air following the renewal announcement. This episode was also another first: it was the first to not feature a BBT legacy character. That, IMO, is a good thing. Even with that fact, we still saw five such characters in as many episodes: Raj in the premiere, Penny in Episode 2, Bernadette and Wil Wheaton in Episode 3, and Amy in Episode 4.

The reason why this episode not having a BBT legacy character being a good thing is simple. Is it good to see those characters? Yes. However, you don't want feature them all the time. It's similar to what I said before about the Dallas Stars' 1st round exit this past season. They had a strong power play, but that was it. It's good to have a good PP, but if you can't score even strength, you're screwed. Same applies here. This episode was their chance to show that they can have a good episode without the legacy characters. I think they passed the test.

So yeah, we are halfway through the first season, and I am very excited to see what the second half brings, especially the finale in a few weeks. But that's weeks from now. I am all ready for Episode 6!