Stuart Review: "Spoiler: We're as Confused as You Are"

Please forgive my lateness for this review. I've been late with a few of them due to the sports happenings as of late; not only the MLB Pennant Races, but also NFL Opening Week, which has come and gone. The first season of this awesome show is very close to the finish line, and I promise, when it comes to the last two episodes of the season, I will make sure I get those reviews out quickly. This will be especially true regarding the season finale.

But that's the very near future. Let's talk about this one.

This episode kicked off with the gang in the centaur world, but they weren't in that universe for long, as they had to go retrieve the device from the other group. So they went back to the war-torn universe, where they are encountered by Gary--I'm sorry, I mean Lt. Jeffries. The quartet joins the rest of the soldiers, receive their latest mission, and they go into battle--a battle that sees Gary on the receiving end of a lot of gunfire.

So Gary's dead again. Seriously, even Kenny McCormick had better luck than this.

The soldiers receive another mission, this time from Richard Williams, a familiar character to BBT fans; he appeared in Seasons Ten and Eleven of the series as a general, but he's an army commander in this. Upon seeing the high risk that they might get killed, Stuart does an about face (no pun intended) on the plan to get the device back, instead saying that he and others should get the hell out of dodge. Unfortunately, the result sees them locked up and on the receiving end of a court-martial, though they do have an interesting defender:

Siebert! I was so happy to see him! I'll be honest, when I read the list of BBT names that could pop up in this one, I was really amped to learn that one of them was Joshua Malina, aka Caltech President Siebert from several episodes of the show. I always thought that Siebert was hilariously tightly wound, and Malina played it well on the OG show. It was a long wait to finally see Siebert in this. Eight episodes, but it's worth the wait. So Siebert's basically in surrender mode regarding his clients, and it doesn't help when the accuser comes in:

Penny's back, folks. Sorry, I mean "Firing Squad" Penny. So yeah, Penny's immensely convinced that the quartet has "treason" written all over them. Siebert gives a terrible closing argument, and Stuart's attempt to fake an asthma attack is somehow worse. The gang is sentenced to death, and at that moment, Penny gives them one final chance, ordering them to use the device to send fake information. This gives Stuart the chance to use the device so they can escape, with Penny accidentally being dragged with them to the centaur universe. The group later leaves Penny (who begins to admire her centaur form) and travels back to that same point from the previous episode, giving us a replay of that group taking back the device. However, their next destination sees them trapped in a comic book, while an evil entity known as The Adversary orders Kyle and Trevor not to sell the book that the quartet's in.

"Spoiler: We're as Confused as You Are," episode 1.08 of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, hit HBO Max on September 10, 2026. This was a crazy one, and despite the title, it wasn't so confusing to me. Loved the cameos in this; I mentioned my elation over seeing Joshua Malina back as Siebert. I've been a Dean Norris fan ever since Under the Dome, and seeing him back as Richard Williams was epic. And of course, Kaley Cuoco made her second appearance in the series, but regarding that, I can't help but be disappointed that Penny wasn't a villainess in this appearance.

I can live with Resistance Leader Penny (from the second episode) not being evil. However, Military Officer Penny should have been. How many villainesses have we seen in military uniforms on TV and film? Two of them come to mind right now. I think Penny should have been an actual traitor in this, with an evil plan to eliminate the group to cover up whatever villainous agenda she may have had. The potential was there, but yeah, while I've seen worse, it's a Villainess Blown Opportunity.

The inaugural season is coming down to the wire, and I think we will see a lot of burning questions answered in the final two episodes of the season. I am seriously excited to see what develops as the season comes close to coming to a close!