Critic’s Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
3.5
While the first two episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe were fun, the show has started to slip in quality pretty quickly.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Season 1 Episode 4 takes us inside The Matrix. Literally. There’s a whole scene, as Bert points out, that comes directly from the movie.
That’s the point I completely lost the plot of the installment, and I’m hoping as we get to the halfway point, things can pick back up a little.
(Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max)
Stuart Gets Stuck Inside The Matrix
At the end of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Season 1 Episode 3, we left Stuart in a psychiatric hospital.
Of course, there were questions about how he got there and where Bert, Kripke, and Denise were.
Well, the fourth episode doesn’t take long to get into the details, and much of this was fun.
I kept waiting to see how Stuart was going to get out of the hospital, and whether he was going to come across any of his friends. Would they help to get him out?
(Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max)
As soon as Denise showed up believing that Stuart was crazy, it was clear that there was something bigger going on.
Denise came from the magic world. Well, actually, she came from the cube world, so she had to know that they were now in another universe.
The fact that she didn’t meant that either she hadn’t traveled after all, or that there was something much bigger going on.
Props to Stuart for figuring out how to get out of the psychiatric hospital.
He did everything right: playing the system to “prove” he wasn’t crazy. Although I’ll admit that part of me wonders if he’s smart enough to realize he didn’t belong there.
I didn’t quite think Amy’s cameo was all that necessary, but it did help set the tone for the hospital and show that Stuart could be stuck there if he didn’t play the game.
(Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max)
Getting out made it clear that there was something much bigger going on.
Bert wasn’t actually in the hospital, and Kripke was completely engaged in the universe that they were in, just like Denise. Stuart had to break free on his own and find his real friends.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Lost the Plot
This was where I completely lost the plot.
Thanks to an advert, Stuart is able to get the machine. He uses that to get out of the world, only for him to land in The Matrix.
Literally, The Matrix.
(Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max)
Throughout Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Season 1, I’ve felt like the show is taking from other stories.
I’ve mentioned Charmed before, and the previous episode brought some Angel vibes to the story.
They were fun episodes, utilizing a trope and putting their own spin on it.
This half-hour installment wasn’t quite the same. Stuart, Denise, Kripke, and Bert literally wake up in a scene from The Matrix, and sure, that’s okay, but it doesn’t take much creativity.
Part of me felt like the writers had gotten to this part of the story and couldn’t figure out where to go from there.
(Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max)
Instead of being inspired by The Matrix, they decided to rip straight from it.
There are plenty of other pieces of material that have worlds within worlds.
Inception is just one that quickly comes to mind, and it could have been used and melded with The Matrix.
After already having fun riffing off other original works, I don’t understand why the Stuart Fails to Save the Universe writers had to use and not change this scene.
(Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max)
Sure, it quickly told everyone that they were still within this alternate universe and had to get out, but it didn’t add much to the overall story.
Even then, the crack in the universe to get to the white room and find the real world-traveling box was anticlimactic.
Stuart just happened to have a crack right next to him?
There was nothing at all trying to keep them in this Matrix world?
This doesn’t stop me from wanting to watch the next episode. The benefit of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe ending each episode with a look at the new parallel world is that it leaves some intrigue.
(Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max)
We get to see the ridiculousness of Stuart and his friends as they talk to the people of the forest gathering around them.
Why would they immediately speak slowly and like idiots? Why assume that these people couldn’t speak English?
I get the feeling of them being a threat, even without weapons, but these hadn’t even uttered a word. They just gathered, keeping a watchful eye over the strangers.
To have them look at Stuart and the others and say, “They sound stupid,” made me chuckle a little.
(Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max)
I do have to question if they are in Pasadena, though. The first thing Stuart says is that they’re not there, but these alternate worlds have proven that anything is possible.
What if Pasadena remained forest land? Or what if they’re in a world where nature has been able to take over, and people live in the forest, a little like The 100?
The ending has certainly opened a world of possibilities, and I’m ready to see how it all plays out, even if I haven’t quite enjoyed the last couple of episodes as much as the first.
This is where we turn it over to you!
We love to chat with fellow fans about our favorite shows, whether you agree with us or not. All we ask is to be respectful. So, drop your thoughts about Stuart Fails to Save the Universe below, and let’s do a deep dive.
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At some point, I completely lost the plot of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Season 1 Episode 4. It’s my least favorite episode so far.
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Nine years after the scene aired, I still can’t get over why Sheldon’s Hindi was so bad, and why nobody asked Kunal Nayyar to fix it.
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As fun as Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is, this is a series that could benefit from being a one-and-done show.
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