Denise

 The Big Bang Theory history

Denise is the assistant manager of Stuart’s comic book store, the Comic Center of Pasadena, and his girlfriend. She was hired when the store started to become busier, bringing both comic book knowledge and a confident social presence to the business.

Denise was able to hold her own with the regular customers, including Sheldon, and even understood his comic book preferences. Her shared interests with Stuart helped their relationship develop, particularly after he impressed her with his Star Wars knowledge at Sheldon and Amy’s wedding.

By the end of The Big Bang Theory, Denise and Stuart were in a steady relationship, giving Stuart a rare positive turn in his personal life.

 Stuart Fails to Save the Universe history

101 “Spoiler: Gary Dies”

When we meet Denise in 101 “Spoiler: Gary Dies”, she is surviving the post-apocalyptic ruins of Pasadena by robbing people at a marketplace outside the Rose Bowl. She pulls a gun on Stuart and Bert after observing Stuart bartering for floss. Denise and Stuart are shocked to find the other alive, having each believed their former partner was dead.

Denise is now with Gary, her boyfriend and partner in crime, whose previous girlfriend was killed by cannibals. Denise explains she gets by robbing people, although she is still working on her screenplay. After Stuart explains that an alternate version of himself sent him on a mission to Caltech to fix reality, Denise and Gary are sure he and Bert are going to die.

Despite their misgivings, Denise and Gary catch up with Stuart and Bert outside the heavily armed perimeter of Caltech to help. Gary reveals that he is a former Army Special Forces soldier and offers to create a diversion. He is killed immediately, leaving Denise grieving even as Stuart begins hoping they will get back together. As the three of them are held captive inside Caltech, Denise learns that Stuart was telling the truth when a long-imprisoned Raj explains that Sheldon, Leonard and Howard’s vari-state quantum interference device changed reality. Denise admits she had not believed Stuart for a minute.

When Barry Kripke, now the Grand Caliph of South Pasadena, takes an interest in Denise, Stuart tries to protect her by claiming they are together, but Denise makes clear they are not. Kripke has her taken away to be washed and killed after she refuses his advances.

Denise is held separately in a guarded room and expects to be killed, but she strikes up a conversation with her guard about his job in the “before times”. After Kripke visits her and admits that ruling his post-apocalyptic fiefdom is lonely, Denise says she has reconsidered having dinner with him and persuades him to untie her. Once free, she immediately attacks Kripke and escapes.

Denise reunites with Stuart, Bert and Raj just before they reach the device. While Stuart is hopeful that resetting reality might restore their relationship, Denise reminds him that she is still mourning Gary. After Kripke shoots Raj as he tries to reconfigure the machine, Denise helps Stuart follow Raj’s notes, only noticing at the last minute that the instructions continue with “But first…”. When the machine opens a wormhole, Stuart, Bert and Kripke are pulled into another reality while Denise is left behind in the post-apocalyptic world.

102 “Spoiler: Zack's in This One”

When we meet Denise in the AI-controlled dystopia of 102 “Spoiler: Zack's in This One”, she is once again in a relationship with Gary. Unlike the street-smart robber Stuart encountered in the post-apocalyptic universe, this Denise is a product of an outwardly pleasant society where negative emotions are punished by implants controlled by an AI overlord.

Denise is pleasantly surprised when Stuart arrives at her apartment and explains that he is from a parallel universe where they are destined to be together. Stuart tries to convince her that she does not have to live under the AI’s control, but struggles to explain the vari-state quantum interference device he left at the comic book store. Neither Denise nor Gary is upset by Stuart’s attempt to break them up. Denise admits that she cannot stand Gary, but stays with him because leaving would upset him and trigger the implants in their necks. Gary is content to stay with her because Denise is only unhappy when she is sober, which is not very often.

After finding the vari-state quantum interference device at the comic book store and realizing Stuart was telling the truth, Denise contacts the Resistance and arranges for Stuart, Bert and Kripke to be freed from the re-education camp. By the time the Resistance reaches them thirty months later, the guys have already been released. Denise takes the machine to the Resistance HQ and is reunited with Stuart. Stuart is delighted to think Denise came back for him, but she admits she was more interested in using the device to defeat the AI overlord.

When the machine activates during a drone attack on the Resistance headquarters, Stuart asks Denise to take his hand because he does not want to have to find her again. Denise follows him into the next reality, though she is stunned when the pair arrive in another version of the Comic Center of Pasadena. It is clear she did not expect the machine to work. Stuart quickly realizes they have landed in a universe where magic is real.

103 “Spoiler: Bert is Magic”

After Stuart and Denise land in a reality where magic is real in 103 “Spoiler: Bert is Magic”, Denise tries to understand why she is traveling through different universes with him. Stuart explains that another version of himself sent him on a quest to restore his original reality, but Denise is unsettled when Stuart assumes they are now back together. She reminds him that she never had a relationship with her world’s Stuart and decides she needs a drink. Stuart recalls that this version of Denise has a problem with alcohol, but Denise insists she can quit anytime she wants.

At a bar, Denise tries to make sense of Stuart’s attachment to her. She complains to the bartender that Stuart expects to pick up with her where he left off with another version of Denise, all because another version of Stuart sent him on a mission. Even in a world where magic is ordinary, the bartender dismisses this as drunken rambling and conjures deviled eggs to help her sober up.

As Denise gets drunker, she begins to wonder whether Stuart’s devotion to finding her across realities might count as love, even if she is not the same Denise he originally knew. Talking to another woman at the bar, Denise admits that the Stuart she knew was “kind of a wimpy guy”, but this Stuart keeps taking her from universe to universe and always finds her again, even when he loses her.

Denise later recognizes Gary sitting next to her at the bar, although this universe’s Gary has never met her. She tells him they were once trapped in a terrible marriage where they never fought because shock implants punished them for upsetting each other. Gary assumes she is a drunken stranger rambling at him.

When Denise returns to the comic book store, Bert is battling Wil Wheaton, an enforcer for the Wizards Guild of America, while Stuart and Penguin Kripke hide behind the counter. Stuart encourages Denise to join them. After Bert defeats Wheaton, Denise hugs Stuart and admits that maybe there is something between them. Bert conjures a heart-shaped frame of red roses around them as Denise and Stuart kiss.

Their moment is interrupted when Bernadette, now transformed into a five-story-high demon, attacks the comic book store and demands the vari-state quantum interference device so she can rule every world. Stuart and Bert manage to activate the machine before Bernadette can take it, sending Stuart, Denise, Bert and Penguin Kripke to another reality.

104 “Spoiler: Stuart Makes a Wallet”

When we meet Denise in 104 “Spoiler: Stuart Makes a Wallet”, she is visiting Stuart at the mental hospital, where he is being treated after claiming to have traveled through other universes. Stuart is delighted to see her and begs her to help him get out, but Denise insists he needs to get better, not just for her but for their children. Stuart is shocked to learn he is a father in this reality, prompting him to commit to his treatment.

After Stuart accepts that his memories of other realities were just delusions, Denise picks him up from the hospital and is overjoyed to have her “Big Daddy” coming home. On the way home, she takes him to Bert's art gallery, where he is running an exhibition of Stuart's work. After Stuart learns he is a celebrated artist, he asks whether he is “down-to-earth famous” or “asshole famous”. Denise admits it’s the latter.

Back home, Stuart and Denise enjoy their idyllic suburban family life, with Stuart grilling in the backyard while she serves lemonade to their children. Stuart’s unease with this reality builds after learning Barry Kripke is his neighbor and in a relationship with Gary. After going for a walk to clear his mind, he returns with a comic book and retreats to the bathroom to read it. Denise repeatedly checks on him through the door, worried about his bowel health and, perhaps, his mental state.

Denise is nervous when she finds Stuart with a mysterious device on the kitchen counter. Stuart asks whether she has ever wondered if their perfect life is real, but Denise insists this is the life they always dreamed of. Stuart takes that as proof something is wrong, asking when his dreams have ever come true. Although Denise says he is scaring her, Stuart activates the machine and an interdimensional bubble engulfs them.

Denise wakes up bald in a slime-filled pod, with Stuart, Bert and Kripke in neighboring pods, in a scene reminiscent of The Matrix. She realizes that none of that life was real: the house, the kids, the cable TV. After Bert points out that they are literally inside a scene from the movie, Stuart tears through the illusion. The four find themselves in a vast white space with the vari-state quantum device, which Stuart activates to send the group to a dense forest in another reality.

After Bert concludes the forest appears to be real, Denise hears something moving in the trees. The group is surrounded by a tribe dressed in simple yellow coverings. When Stuart and Denise address the people in slow, simple English, one of the tribe members observes that they sound stupid.

105 “Spoiler: Bert Gets Married”

After the group lands in a tropical forest in 105 “Spoiler: Bert Gets Married”, a welcoming tribe invites them to stay in their village. Stuart and Denise appreciate the hospitality and idyllic setting. When Stuart jokingly suggests finding a hut in a neighborhood with good schools, Denise remembers their children from the suburban reality. Stuart reminds her that they were only projections created by a malevolent force trying to keep them enslaved in a false reality. Denise replies that they were still theirs.

When Stuart and Denise encounter a local woman digging through a pile, Denise asks whether it is excrement. After the woman confirms that it is bear droppings, Denise asks Stuart to take over the conversation. The woman explains that she is looking for signs and omens in the droppings, leading Stuart to realize that whoever is sending him instructions might communicate in the same way. As Stuart enthusiastically digs in, Denise stands back and watches in disgust. He eventually uncovers the instruction “Use red quartz."

After Stuart wonders where they might find red quartz, Denise jokingly suggests looking in rabbit shit. The pair instead decide to consult Bert, and Denise continues teasing Stuart by asking whether he will tell Bert that he pawed through bear shit to find the message. Bert identifies a piece of red quartz in Gavel’s necklace, although Gavel refuses to hand it over to Stuart.

When Bert reveals that Chana has agreed to marry him, Denise questions whether Chana even knows what marriage is. Bert admits that she does not and instructs Denise not to tell her, prompting her to respond with an eye roll. Nevertheless, she is pleased for Bert when he reveals that he has had sex twice in the previous 24 hours.

When Bert asks Stuart to be his best man and Denise to officiate the wedding, Denise eagerly agrees while Stuart is less enthusiastic. She explains that she is already a certified minister of the Universal Life Church. Stuart points out that the church does not exist in this reality and dismisses it as “bullshit” in the universe where it does. Denise reminds Stuart that Bert is his best friend and challenges him to tell Bert that he is not entitled to a little happiness.

At the wedding, Denise stands beneath a wooden arch with Stuart and Bert. After Stuart sings “We’ve Only Just Begun” as Chana is walked down the aisle, Denise begins the ceremony with an extended metaphor about the couple setting sail in “a boat made of love”.

When Denise asks if anyone objects, Simpa declares that monogamy and personal possessions are wrong, pushing back against the changes within his tribe since the group arrived. The ceremony descends into chaos as the villagers begin fighting among themselves. When Gavel’s necklace is torn off during the brawl, Stuart retrieves the red quartz and repairs the device. After he activates it, Denise, Stuart, Bert and Kripke are transported out of paradise.

The group arrives inside the comic book store in a seemingly normal Pasadena. Denise joins Stuart in consoling Bert, who is upset at losing Chana and his chance at love. Stuart wonders whether they have finally reached a normal universe. Denise leans towards a green plant and eats one of its leaves before agreeing that it seems normal.

106 “Spoiler: Corn is Delicious”

When Denise takes a bite from a ficus inside the comic book store in 106 “Spoiler: Corn is Delicious”, Stuart asks what she is doing. Denise sees nothing unusual about her behavior and insists that the plant tastes really good. At her recommendation, Stuart samples a leaf and offers his approval to Kripke. Denise’s delight fades when she begins gagging and swallowing. After reading a comic book that explains that humans in this reality evolved from cows and have four stomachs, Bert realizes that she is chewing her cud.

While the group dines on grass at a restaurant, Bert explains that this universe differs only slightly from their world before the apocalypse, aside from humans being ruminants. Stuart suggests staying there. Although it is not perfect, there are no evil computers and nobody is being burned at the stake. The group has never figured out how to control the quantum device, and every place they visit eventually becomes dangerous.

Denise asks what their lives would look like if they stayed. Stuart imagines running the comic book store with her while Bert works as a geologist and Kripke remains an asshole. He suggests that he and Denise could even get married. When Denise asks whether he is proposing and Stuart responds by asking whether she is accepting, they both begin chewing their cud. Denise admits that she always imagined this moment with less vomit in her mouth.

After Denise and Stuart sleep together in his bedroom at the back of the store, Stuart asks whether she mooed during sex. Denise confirms, “You made me moo.” She has also been considering what Stuart said at dinner and agrees that they could be happy in this reality: the people are nice, the food is great and the healthcare is terrific.

Bert and Kripke interrupt them to announce that they do not want to remain in “Cowtown” and intend to try their luck in another universe. Stuart asks Denise whether they should let them take the quantum device, warning that they would be stuck there forever without it. After Denise says that she is comfortable with that, Stuart gives Bert and Kripke the machine, and the group says goodbye.

As Stuart and Denise walk through the peaceful streets of Pasadena, Denise takes almost orgasmic pleasure in a salt lick sold by a roadside vendor. They then encounter Raj warning passers-by that the universe is collapsing. The astrophysicist explains that galaxies and star systems are disappearing from its outer edges, although Stuart is unconcerned when he learns that the process will take another three or four hundred years. Raj’s appeal to consider their distant descendants prompts Denise to observe that she and Stuart have not yet discussed starting a family. Stuart suggests that perhaps they should, while Denise remarks, “Clock’s ticking.”

When Denise and Stuart return to the comic book store, they find Stuart Prime waiting for them. Stuart introduces him as the “other me” he previously mentioned. After learning that they have decided to stay, Stuart Prime mocks Stuart for abandoning his mission so that he can chew his “frickin’ cud”. Denise tells Stuart that the “other you” is kind of a dick.

Stuart Prime explains that Stuart is the only person who can save the universe and insists that he has no choice but to continue. When Stuart asks whether there is someone else he can speak to, Stuart Prime incredulously asks, “Like my manager?” Stuart Prime explains that he is a projection from a collapsing adjacent reality and asks whether that sounds like someone who has a manager. Denise reasons that somebody must at least have told him what time to come in that day.

Stuart argues that even if he wanted to save the universe, he could not because he no longer has the quantum device. Stuart Prime gives him another copy of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe so he can order a replacement. Angry that Stuart Prime is not listening to him, Stuart declares that he is finished with the “Leonard/Sheldon thingy”, universe hopping and Stuart Prime. When Stuart storms away, Denise stops Stuart Prime from following him and says, “Let me talk to you.”

While Denise and Stuart share a “ShrubHub” meal in his bedroom, he asks whether she thinks he is wrong for abandoning the effort to save the universe. Denise says it doesn’t matter what she thinks and asks him what he thinks. As Stuart argues that he never volunteered for the mission and should be free to live his own life, Denise listens without challenging him. Even when Stuart acknowledges that an infinite number of lives could be lost across an infinite number of universes, Denise agrees that it is not his responsibility before adding, “Unless you want it to be.”

When Stuart asks whether she thinks he should try to save the universe, Denise reiterates that she did not say that. Stuart insists that he is not a hero, describing himself as a “broke-ass failed artist who owns a comic book store”. Denise tells him that it is his decision, but suggests that anyone trying to make life better for other people can be a hero. In Stuart’s case, those people would include everyone who exists or ever will exist in every possible universe.

Stuart warns that rolling the dice on another universe could leave them in a much worse situation than the life they have found. Denise assures him, “There are no bad situations as long as I’m with you.” They lean in to kiss, only to begin chewing their cud again.

After their conversation, a replacement vari-state quantum interference device is delivered by Gary, who works for UPS in this reality. Denise and Stuart unsettle him by recognizing him from another universe. Stuart announces that they are leaving to prevent the destruction of reality itself, then activates the device and transports himself and Denise out of the universe.

Denise and Stuart join Bert and Kripke, who have been falling through an endless void since attempting to use the original machine. Stuart explains that the machine failed because Bert and Kripke were not chosen to save the universe. When Kripke sarcastically asks whether Stuart was chosen, he calls on Denise to support him. “It’s true! He’s him!” she confirms, although she objects when Stuart compares himself to Neo and perhaps Jesus.

After Stuart activates the original device, the four escape their endless fall. They arrive inside a seemingly ordinary version of the Comic Center of Pasadena, where Denise and Stuart discover that they can talk without speaking. Bert realizes that people can hear one another’s thoughts in this universe.

107 “Spoiler: Dexys Midnight Runners Get a Royalty Payment”

In the telepathic reality of 107 “Spoiler: Dexys Midnight Runners Get a Royalty Payment”, Stuart warns his companions that they will have to control their thoughts now that everyone can hear them. Bert’s wandering mind quickly takes the conversation off on a tangent, during which Denise admits that she found Phoebe Cates’ pool scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High hot. Stuart gives her a questioning look, prompting Denise to argue that sexuality exists on a continuum.

As Stuart tries to return the group’s attention to saving the universe, he explains what he has learnt from the manual that came with the replacement quantum device. They cannot restore the prime universe because they are moving laterally between realities instead of along the fourth-dimensional axis of time. Impressed by Stuart taking charge, Denise thinks, “Look at my man taking charge.” Stuart hears her admiration and thinks, “Look at Denise looking at me taking charge.”

Denise later inadvertently reveals how seriously she now views their relationship. After considering whether she can overlook Stuart’s weak chin, she thinks, “I want his children.” When a surprised Stuart questions her telepathically, Denise responds that she would not think it if she did not mean it.

Stuart concludes that the unfinished device needs a “steering wheel” capable of directing it through time. Kripke believes they could build one using components from Caltech’s engineering department, but their attempt to find Howard Wolowitz leads nowhere. Caltech receptionist Ramona Nowitzki says that no one by that name works there, while this reality’s Bernadette Rostenkowski runs a dance studio and does not know Howard.

After the unsuccessful search, Stuart and Denise retire to the back room of the comic book store while Bert and Kripke eat lunch. When the couple emerges, Stuart immediately announces that they were having sex, reasoning that his thoughts would reveal it anyway. Stuart thinks that the experience was incredible because he knew everything Denise wanted, while Denise reflects, “It was great. No questions, no apologies.” When Stuart boasts, “You wouldn’t believe what I finally found,” Denise replies, “Yeah, you did,” and the pair high-five.

While the group considers how to deceive people in a world without private thoughts, Denise suggests meditation to “quiet the monkey mind”. She instructs the others to close their eyes and follow their breath, but immediately thinks, “This is dumb. I can’t do this.” Nobody succeeds in silencing their thoughts, least of all Denise, whose stream of consciousness wanders from Lady Macbeth to Lady and the Tramp to her efforts not to fart.

With no better plan, the group returns to Caltech carrying the quantum device. As Stuart steps forward at reception, Denise, Bert and Kripke sing “Come On Eileen” in their minds to conceal their true purpose. Stuart claims that David Saltzberg at UCLA asked them to take the machine to the engineering lab, so Ramona directs them upstairs. When they pass other scientists in the corridor, Kripke starts singing “The Girl from Ipanema”, with Denise and Bert joining him.

Inside the lab, Denise and her companions encounter four lab-coated versions of themselves with another quantum device. The lab-coated group activates its machine and escapes, prompting Kripke to activate their own device in pursuit. A chase through several previous realities ends on a pastoral hillside in the world where humans evolved from cows. After the collision, the two Denises initially find themselves standing with the wrong groups and swap back.

The two Stuarts discover that each was told he was the only person capable of saving the universe, revealing that Stuart Prime has seemingly sent multiple groups on the same mission. A third team dressed in army uniforms then arrives and seizes the lab-coated group’s device. Stuart decides his group should follow the soldiers, leaving the lab-coated group behind.

The pursuit takes Denise and her companions to a war-torn reality filled with ruined buildings, armed soldiers, explosions and gunfire. She immediately urges Stuart to activate the device again. The group escapes to an apparently normal comic book store, only to discover that everyone in this reality is human from the waist up and horse from the waist down.

108 “Spoiler: We’re as Confused as You Are”

In the centaur reality of 108 “Spoiler: We’re as Confused as You Are”, Stuart decides that the group must return to the war-torn universe to recover the quantum device fitted with a controller. Denise reminds him that they nearly died there and that the place was full of people with guns. Stuart suggests “scooching” their destination slightly so they do not return to the exact same spot.

Back in the war zone, Denise notices the bodies of comic book store regulars Kyle and Trevor inside the store. Outside, Gary pulls up in an army jeep and asks the group, “What are you maggots doing here?” When Denise greets him by name, he sternly identifies himself as Lieutenant Jeffries. Stuart wonders what she ever saw in Gary. Denise explains that he reminded her of Stuart, who looks briefly pleased before questioning the comparison.

When the group joins Charlie Company, they learn they are next into battle after Alpha and Bravo Companies have failed to return. In the trenches, Denise urges Stuart to activate the device and get them out of danger. He admits that he left it in the barracks for safekeeping, prompting Denise to argue that avoiding death would be safer. When Kripke and Bert each arrive demanding to escape, she takes satisfaction in Stuart having to explain his decision again. When Gary charges into battle and is repeatedly shot before falling back into the trench, Denise stands over his bullet-riddled body and offers an optimistic “Hang in there.”

That night, Stuart joins Denise in her army cot and admits that being close to death has left him feeling turned on. Denise does not share his enthusiasm, pointing out that she still has pieces of Gary in her hair. She argues that they will never find the other machine and should escape with the one they have. Stuart insists that he has a responsibility to repair “the infinite totality of everything”. Denise replies, “Damn me for falling in love with a hero,” and they chuckle before kissing.

The following morning, with another bloodbath looming, Stuart changes his mind and decides that they should leave. The group is caught trying to abandon its unit. At their court-martial, their advocate, Captain Siebert, is dismayed to discover that their prosecutor is this universe’s Penny, nicknamed “Firing Squad Penny”. Denise explains that they know her as “regular Penny”.

Neither Siebert’s attempts to defend them nor Stuart’s explanation that they are on a brave mission from other universes persuades the judges, and the four of them are sentenced to death by firing squad. Blindfolded and bound for execution, Denise tells Stuart that she loves him, only to discover that she is standing beside Bert. He passes the message to Kripke, who tells Stuart that Bert loves him.

Penny interrupts the execution to offer them a life of hard labor if Stuart uses the quantum device to transmit false battle plans to the enemy. Stuart agrees, then loudly counts down as he activates the machine. Denise, Bert and Kripke edge closer, allowing the resulting interdimensional bubble to carry them out of the war zone along with Penny.

They arrive in the centaur reality, where Penny struggles to understand her new surroundings and body. Denise reminds Stuart that they need to keep moving: “Go back two more worlds, honey.” He activates the device again, leaving Penny behind.

In the cow reality, the group seizes the improved device from its lab-coated doubles, becoming the soldiers they encountered earlier. They return to the war zone with both machines, where Denise asks how long they have to stay there amid the gunfire and explosions. Bert explains that they need to wait for their earlier selves to follow them. Once Denise sees them arrive, she urges her companions to get going. When Stuart develops a leg cramp from all the running, she suggests eating a banana as Kripke activates the improved device.

In another version of the Comic Center of Pasadena, a mysterious floating entity instructs Kyle and Trevor to keep the group there by never selling a particular comic book. On its cover, beneath the title Stuart Fails to Save the Universe: Trapped!, are Denise and her companions, now imprisoned in ink.

This page has been updated up to episode 108 Spoiler: We're as Confused as You Are