Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Episode 3 picks up exactly where Episode 2 left us, with Bert about to be burned alive as a witch. His desperate prayer for rain unexpectedly works, revealing something important about this universe: Bert really does have magic.
That discovery drives most of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Episode 3, as Stuart and Kripke look for a way to get their machine working again while Denise tries to understand a relationship she doesn’t remember. Their solution eventually leads them to Bernadette Rostenkowski, although asking for her help turns out to be a much bigger mistake than Stuart realizes.
Bert Discovers He Has Magic
The episode opens with Bert being burned at the stake. Desperate, he prays for rain, and almost immediately, it starts pouring.
Instead of killing him, the people watching begin praising Bert as a sorcerer who can control the weather. Bert doesn’t initially believe he caused the rain, but going along with it seems like a pretty good way to avoid being burned alive.
Except Bert really does have powers in this universe.
He quickly gains a small following of people who worship him for his ability to control the elements. More importantly, despite everyone’s assumptions about magic, Bert isn’t in league with a demon. That distinction becomes important later.
Meanwhile, Stuart has a completely different problem to deal with: Denise.
He tries to explain everything that has happened, starting with the first alternate Stuart who showed up at the comic book store. He also tells Denise that they got back together.
Unfortunately for Stuart, this is still the Denise they met in the previous universe. She has no memory of being back together with him, and she’s also a drunk. Understandably overwhelmed by everything Stuart is telling her, Denise heads to a bar.
There, she drunkenly tells the bartender her increasingly unbelievable story and meets yet another familiar face: a new version of Gary, who doesn’t recognize her.
Stuart and Kripke Need Magic to Fix the Machine
Kripke eventually arrives at Stuart’s comic book store, claiming he hasn’t seen Bert. Stuart immediately wonders whether they should go looking for him, but Kripke has more pressing concerns.
People in this universe believe science is evil. Scientists get burned with fire, which gives Kripke a very good reason to want out as quickly as possible.
He tries to operate the machine, apparently without giving much thought to the fact that both Bert and Denise are missing. It doesn’t matter anyway. The machine won’t work.
Kripke realizes that if they’re in a universe that doesn’t follow the normal rules of physics, science may not be enough to get them home. They need magic.
While joking around, Stuart says it’s too bad they can’t just ask Alexa to find a nearby wizard or sorcerer. Turns out, they can.
A small green demon named Alexa appears and gives them a list of local sorcerers. Kripke recognizes one name immediately: Bernadette Rostenkowski, a master sorcerer with a four-and-a-half-star rating.
Bernadette Rostenkowski Is a Sorcerer, Sort Of
When Stuart and Kripke find Bernadette, she’s apparently unmarried in this universe, sitting home alone eating ice cream and watching infomercials.
She recognizes both of them, and they explain their problem. They have a machine capable of jumping between universes, but they need her magic to get it working again.
There’s just one problem. Bernadette doesn’t have any magic anymore.
She explains that the WAG, the Wizards Guild of America, took away her powers because she used magic during a six-month strike when nobody was supposed to cast spells.
Bernadette has a very specific excuse.
A neighborhood kid had an adorable puppy that was run over multiple times. She couldn’t bear the thought of the kid being heartbroken, so she broke the rules and used magic to resurrect it.
The whole story is a very obvious play on the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, right down to turning WGA into the Wizards Guild of America.
Bernadette does have another option. There’s a reserve spell that could potentially help them, but one of its ingredients is particularly difficult to find: the blood of an innocent. With Berry obviously out, Stuart agrees to give her his.
Still, Stuart and Kripke decide they need a backup plan in case Bernadette can’t come through. They ask Alexa where they can find Sheldon Cooper.
Apparently, he’s currently starring in a Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha. Jim Parsons hasn’t actually starred in that revival, but the joke fits considering how often Parsons has appeared on Broadway over the years.
Bert Turns Kripke Into a Penguin
When Stuart and Kripke return to the comic book store, they finally find Bert waiting for them.
Stuart is thrilled to see him. Kripke? Not so much.
He immediately tries to escape, but Bert uses his new powers to stop him and transforms Kripke into a penguin.
Bert explains what happened after they left him behind, and Stuart isn’t particularly happy with Kripke either. Kripke attempts an apology, although he doesn’t exactly sound devastated about what he did.
Bert isn’t alone anymore, either. His new acolytes have followed him to the comic book store and continue treating him as a powerful magical figure.
That’s when Wil Wheaton arrives, a member of the WGA.
Stuart tells Wil that he gave his blood to Bernadette, which is apparently very bad news. Wil explains that Bernadette isn’t a sorcerer at all: she’s a demon.
There was a reason the guild sanctioned her.
Bernadette Reveals Her True Form
By giving Bernadette what she needed, Stuart has helped a demon regain her power. The guild responds by ruling that Stuart must be destroyed.
Bert steps in before Wil can carry out the sentence and uses his magic to fight him.
The episode has some fun with exactly how the two men use their powers. Bert casts magic using the sign of the horns, a fitting choice considering his history playing in a rock band. Wil, meanwhile, uses the Vulcan salute from Star Trek.
While they’re fighting, Denise returns.
After everything Stuart told her earlier, she’s beginning to believe that maybe there really was something between them. She kisses him, giving this version of Denise her first real connection to the relationship Stuart remembers.
Bert eventually defeats Wil. Before disappearing, though, Wil manages to warn them that Bernadette isn’t what they think she is.
They’re about to find out exactly what he means.
Bernadette uses Stuart’s blood in her potion and transforms into a giant green demon with horns. Making Bernadette enormous is also a great reversal of one of The Big Bang Theory‘s longest-running jokes about her height.
And she’s not interested in helping Stuart anymore.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Episode 3 Ending Explained
Kripke, still stuck as a penguin, notices that giant demon Bernadette is terrorizing the city and killing people. Worse, she’s heading straight for their machine.
If she gets it, she’ll have a way to travel between universes and potentially dominate all of them.
Their only chance is Bert.
Everyone pushes him to use his magic to power the machine. It works. Stuart, Denise, Bert, and penguin Kripke disappear just before Bernadette can get her hands on it.
They’ve escaped another universe, but the final scene changes the story again.
We move to what appears to be a psychiatric clinic. A quiet, almost emotionless Stuart sits there while a nurse gives him his medication.
She compliments him on his drawing. When Stuart looks down at it, we see what he’s drawn: the final scene from the universe we just left, with Bert, Denise, Stuart, and Kripke as a penguin gathered around the machine.
Episode 3 doesn’t explain what this means yet. It simply leaves us with a new question: is this another universe, or is there something more complicated happening with Stuart and everything we’ve been watching?
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FAQ
Does Bert really have magic in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Episode 3?
Yes. Bert initially thinks the rain may have been a coincidence, but he soon discovers that he genuinely has magical powers in this universe.
Is Bernadette really a sorcerer?
No. Wil Wheaton reveals that Bernadette is actually a demon. After using Stuart’s blood, she transforms into a giant green demon and tries to take their universe-jumping machine.
What does Stuart’s drawing at the end of Episode 3 mean?
The episode doesn’t explain it yet. Stuart is shown in what appears to be a psychiatric clinic drawing the exact group and machine from the universe he just escaped, leaving the significance of the scene unresolved.