5 Big Bang Theory Episodes To Watch Before Stuart Fails To Save The Universe

If you were looking for a crash course on Kevin Sussman’s Stuart Bloom ahead of HBO Max’s “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe,” we could’ve simply rounded up five Stuart-centric episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” and called it a day. But because the spin-off (premiering Thursday, July 23, at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max) is just as much about Stuart’s girlfriend, Denise, geologist Bert Kibbler, and physicist Barry Kripke, we took a different approach.

The five episodes below not only chart Stuart’s evolution from lovelorn comic book store owner to a slightly happier man after finding love with Denise, but also spotlight the trio who, together with Stuart, make up the central quartet tasked with saving the multiverse.

“Anything Can Happen Thursday” brought Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, Raj, and Penny to the Comic Center of Pasadena — she was looking for a gift for her nephew, a nephew never mentioned again! — marking Stuart Bloom’s introduction. At this point, however, Stuart wasn’t yet such a sad sack. In fact, he had moves.

After Leonard exposition-dumped that Stuart was a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Penny approached the register, where Stuart traded a sketch he’d just drawn of her for her phone number. The two even went on an actual date, followed by a second outing that culminated in an off-screen makeout session during which Penny accidentally called out for Leonard.

At this point, it feels like a storyline from a parallel universe, but it really happened. So if you’re brushing up on “The Big Bang Theory” before “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe,” don’t skip the episode that introduced its unlikely hero.

This isn’t a Stuart episode, per se, but the Comic Center of Pasadena is front and center. A Mystic Warlords of Ka’a tournament introduces one of the franchise’s most beloved recurring guest stars, Wil Wheaton, initially as Sheldon’s nemesis, while also cementing Moonpie’s love for his Meemaw. (Bonus points for marking the first appearance by Melissa Rauch as Howard’s eventual wife, Bernadette.)

The Comic Center, of course, remains central to “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.” And, as glimpsed in an earlier teaser trailer, Wheaton is among several “Big Bang Theory” alumni returning for the sci-fi spin-off, resurfacing as a magically empowered version of himself inside Stuart’s shop.

John Ross Bowie made his first appearance as Barry Kripke in Season 2, Episode 12 — “The Killer Robot Instability” — but it was his second outing the following week, when Sheldon developed a scientific procedure for making friends, that cemented Kripke’s status as the franchise’s perennial irritant. Convinced he could only maintain four friendships, Sheldon temporarily drops Raj from his social circle. But after Kripke denies him time on the Open Science Grid Computer, Sheldon promptly swaps Raj back in and Kripke back out.

Kripke, meanwhile, proves indispensable in “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.” As the quartet’s only physicist, his expertise is crucial as he, Stuart, Denise, and Bert journey through space and time in a desperate bid to reverse a multiverse Armageddon.

Brian Posehn had made a handful of appearances by this point — his first two in Seasons 6 and 7, before Bert became a regularly recurring character in Season 10 — but this is the first episode where Bert genuinely feels like a friend of the group, joining everyone for dinner at Leonard and Penny’s and introducing them to his new girlfriend, Rebecca. Alas, Rebecca is only interested in Bert’s money after he recently collected a cool $625,000 as the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant. (We don’t think we’ll be seeing Rebecca in “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.”)

The B-story, meanwhile, is Stuart-heavy, underscoring just how ingrained he’d become in Howard and Bernadette’s lives even after moving out of their home. He continues serving as Halley’s caregiver, playing a major role in the couple’s emotional struggle to leave her at daycare once Bernadette’s maternity leave ends.

This is where Stuart’s story on “The Big Bang Theory” ends… but really where Stuart and Denise’s story only just begins. Though Lauren Lapkus had recurred since late in Season 11, this was the episode that solidified their relationship — and saw Stuart’s streak of bad luck come to a close. After years of striking out with women — and, at times, being flat-out impoverished — Stuart and Denise ultimately move in together, giving one of the franchise’s unluckiest characters his happily ever after… or so we assumed.

Little did we know that, seven years later, Stuart and Denise, along with Bert and Kripke, would resurface in a new spin-off spanning multiple universes. Whether Stuart and Denise ultimately get their fairy-tale ending in “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” remains to be seen.