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SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” Season 1 Episode 4, now streaming on HBO Max.
On her podcast “Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown,” the star and real-life neuroscientist often
talks about theoretical physics, including the multiverse. So “The Big Bang Theory” spinoff “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” is very much in her wheelhouse — and in Thursday’s episode, she got to play in it.
“I’m fascinated as a sciencey, geeky person in general,” Bialik told Variety. “It also feels like I’ve been talking about this stuff from a very different, podcasting perspective for years. So it’s really fun to now be part of these conversations as a cast member. There’s a lot of depth to this, even the stuff that’s kind of funny and amusing. I think we all have different versions of ourselves and different timelines that we could be part of. This kind of exploration of the multiverse allows for a lot of entertainment. But it really is about who do you think you are, and who do you get to be in this life?”
On Episode 4, “Spoiler: Stuart Makes a Wallet,” we learn a lot more about what caused the anomaly that is now shooting Stuart (Kevin Sussman) and friends from one universe to the next. But as the episode opens, it appears that Stuart has been admitted to a mental health facility — where his psychiatrist is Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler, played by guest star Bialik. This Amy is a lot like the one on “The Big Bang Theory,” although that one was a neuroscientist who ultimately married Sheldon Cooper.
Stuart has been committed to the facility after he apparently told folks around him about his fantastical journeys through the multiverse. In one room of the hospital, we see guest star “Weird Al” Yankovic, singing “Hello! Ma Baby” on the accordion (as made famous by Michigan J. Frog in the “Looney Tunes” cartoons). In another room, a black and white Porky Pig tells us, “that’s all folks!” Bert (Brian Posehn) is in another room, warning Stuart that “none of this is real!” In another hallucination, Stuart winds up on a mountain and runs into a guide played by “Two and a Half Men” star Jon Cryer.
Denise (Lauren Lapkus) shows up to visit Stuart, and reminds him that he’s the dad to two kids, Jaden and Talia. With the help of Dr. Amy, Stuart makes progress in the hospital, making leather wallets and using puppets to act out his family trauma.
Eventually, he’s ready to go home, and Denise picks him up. As they drive down the street in what seems to be an idyllic, 1970s-era Pasadena, she reveals that they have a detour: Stuart is also an accomplished artist, and a gallery owned by Bert is showcasing his work. What are his paintings about? Images from his past universes.
He makes it home, and all seems to be well — until he discovers that Kripke (John Ross Bowie) is his neighbor. Stuart goes outside and notices the front porch welcome mat is trying to communicate with him. So he runs to town, and finds the Comic Center of Pasadena — where there’s a “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” comic book inside the store. (And unbeknownst to him, another Stuart is there.)
The comic gives us more backstory: “It was like any other Tuesday at Cal Tech. Smart people doing smart stuff. Leonard, Sheldon and Howard constructed a vari-state quantum entanglement device. Stuart Bloom stopped by to share the news of a clean colonoscopy. In his excitement, he knocked the device off the table. From that point on, Stuart was entangled with the fate of the universe. Messages were sent to help him … but the big dope didn’t notice. So you’ve got to fix it. We’re going to send you more instructions. But first … you have to escape from this prison. None of this is real!”
Stuart then spots an ad in the comic: “Tired of your current universe? Travel between realities. Impress your friends. Scare the girls … with the Vari-State Quantum Device, you can now take the trip of a lifetime to a nearby alternate reality. Explore your existence in another universe. Will you be a titan of industry? A jet-setting playboy? An elite athlete? There’s only one way to find out …”
Stuart orders the device and it arrives at 42 Elm St., Pasadena, CA 91106. It’s from the Inter-Dimensional Novelty Company, 1618 Abbot Rd., Southfield, MI, 48705. He turns on the device, and beams out with Denise — to a world where they were all encased in goo.
Just like “The Matrix.” They’re all bald. The house, the kids, the cable TV — none of that was real. But Bert notes that it’s not only like “The Matrix,” but “this is the Matrix. It’s literally a scene from the movie.”
Stuart finds a tear in the reality and opens it up. Suddenly, they’re all back to normal and in a white void, along with the machine. They turn on the machine and wind up in a forest, where a group of cave people gather. They attempt to communicate with the people.
“What do you think?” one of the cave people asks. Says another: “They sound stupid.” And scene.
Bialik lauded Sussman, Lapkus, Posehn and Bowie for landing the show: “These are four really gifted, talented comedians, and that was really the first reaction I had. I was just so happy for them to have this. And then once it became clear that this was something so outside of the realm of what anyone really would have expected from our four-camera universe, it’s just so exciting. Obviously, Chuck [Lorre] has done so many different and creative things since ‘Big Bang.’ To see him using both the fan base and also the character structure from ‘Big Bang,’ but to transform it into something so creative and so outrageous is thrilling.”
When she was approached to appear in the show — something that fellow “Big Bang” alums Melissa Rauch, Kaley Cuoco and Kunal Nayyar have also now done — she said the details were “very sweetly vague. It was like, ‘it’s a multiverse. It’s kind of you, but not really.’ Honestly, I’m thrilled to be part of anything that Chuck and Bill [Prady] really bring. So, I’d be happy to play Amy Farrah Fowler as a stripper, a public schoolteacher, I was really open to whatever. They had me close enough to who I am as this character, but also really able to kind of play and create something new.”
Bialik said she also enjoys putting back on a lab coat for the cameras, and that “it was especially fun to get to work with Kevin. I respect him so much as an actor, and I’ve learned so much from him in our friendship and our careers together. To also get to kind of play the straight woman, as it were, was just a really fun angle to whoever this Amy is.”
