Recap
The comic book store floats alone in a vast black void. Peering through the doorway, Stuart asks where they are. Kyle explains that they are "nowhere": after they escaped the comic book, the omniscient consciousness that imprisoned them moved the entire store outside reality. Bert wonders how this being can dislike him without knowing him, but Kyle insists that it knows everything.
Kyle explains more with the aid of a comic book: fourteen billion years ago, nothing existed except this consciousness that their minds perceive as the “swirling ball of omnipotent cosmic shit.” Kripke sarcastically thanks him for the illustration of nothingness. This consciousness caused the Big Bang but hated everything that followed, longing for the peace of infinite nothingness. Bert can sympathize, comparing the experience to visiting Costco on Black Friday. Kyle mentions that the consciousness’s responsibility for creation remains a sore point.
Kyle turns to an illustration of Stuart breaking the quantum device. The damage he caused opened a crack in reality, giving the consciousness its first opportunity to destroy everything it had created: every universe, every molecule, every atom, everything. Stuart asks, “So, it’s trying to keep me from undoing what I did so it could undo what it did?” Kyle’s approving “Well put” draws unexplained audience laughter, which only Kripke hears. When Denise worries they are trapped there forever, Kyle notes that would imply time; they are there “always.” When Stuart jokes that at least they have plenty to read, the laughter returns. Kripke grows increasingly distressed as his companions insist that they can't hear anything.
In the store’s back room, Stuart sits on his bed, overwhelmed by his responsibility for the possible destruction of everyone and everything. Denise responds with an unexpectedly curt “Anything else?” Stuart can't understand how this is happening to him of all people: “I wake up in the morning, put on one of my two pairs of pants, and go to work in a comic book store that’s never made a dime,” he explains. “Except for the year I set it on fire and collected the insurance,” he adds. Denise wonders if he is done wallowing, which Stuart argues is the only thing he does well. Stuart suddenly realizes that he cannot remember entering the room. Denise pointedly suggests there are plenty of things he does not remember. When he asks what she means, she responds, “You don’t know? I’m not gonna tell you,” and storms out. Stuart curls up on the bed: “Hello, fetal position, my old friend.” His remark triggers laughter that Kripke hears in the front of the store.
Back out front, Denise explains her problem to Bert: Stuart has forgotten her birthday. Bert points out that Stuart has a lot on his plate with the end of the universe and all, but she has already heard that excuse from him. Bert offers to talk to Stuart about it, but Denise explicitly tells him not to. Kripke interrupts with a discovery: the store’s “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” comics depict their adventures through the multiverse, including the cow universe, the tropical paradise they ruined and Gary’s repeated deaths. Denise sighs at the mention of Gary’s name.
Stuart returns to apologize to Denise without being clear on what he has done. Bert hums “Happy Birthday” to help jog his memory, earning a punch from Denise and another burst of laughter. Kripke shows Stuart the comic about his psychiatric hospitalization, while Kyle produces one in which they have gills and live underwater. Denise points out they have never experienced that. "Huh. Maybe it hasn't happened yet," Kyle remarks. When Bert complains that Denise punched the arm where he got his flu shot, she apologizes and punches the other one. The laughter is accompanied by a sudden rumble and a shift in the lighting, which only Kripke notices before the store returns to normal. His fear that he is losing his mind sets Bert up to mention getting older, prompting another punch from Denise and even more laughter.
An atom transition from “The Big Bang Theory” leads into the group eating Chinese food around a coffee table. Bert is only eating the skins of his dumplings. When Kripke objects, Bert offers him the filling, asking, “Would you like my insides?” Their exchange draws audience laughter. Stuart searches the comics for an explanation of their situation and a way out. Asked whether he is able to leave, Kyle admits that he does not know, attributing his lack of understanding to “willful ignorance” and garnering a laugh. This time, Bert hears the laughter too. Kripke is relieved that he is not the only one experiencing this, while Bert remarks that the laughter sounds fake. Stuart and Denise still don't hear a thing. As their birthday dispute continues, Bert nearly explains Denise’s grievance before a warning look stops him, provoking more laughter. Another rumble follows, with Stuart finally noticing the store briefly change: the lighting becomes brighter and a wall disappears. Once the rumbling subsides, Denise insists that she can see the wall, while Stuart gets up and runs his hands over the shelves, checking that they are solid.
Bert wonders whether they are getting older since the store exists outside space and time. When this prompts Stuart to consider birthdays, Denise sarcastically welcomes his sudden awareness of the subject and storms off to audience gasps. Bert finally tells Stuart what Denise is upset about. Stuart cannot believe that she is concerned about a birthday given everything that's going on. Kripke observes that it seems "superfwuous" to the main story, triggering yet more laughter and leaving Bert freaking out as well. As Stuart follows Denise, Kripke asks where the food came from. Kyle inspects the container and identifies the restaurant as Szechuan Palace. When Kripke questions how it got here, Kyle suggests a delivery service: “Uber Eats, DoorDash, one of those.” Growing louder and more agitated, Kripke questions whether a delivery service could reach a comic book shop that exists outside time and space. Kyle casually suggests, “Maybe Postmates,” prompting another burst of audience laughter.
After another atom transition, the brighter lighting and more spacious-looking sitcom sets become permanent: Stuart finds Denise crying on the bed in the back room. In an exaggerated argument routinely punctuated by laughter, he asks whether their imprisonment by an evil omniscient entity in a cosmic void is more important than her birthday. “I guess it is to you,” she replies. He promises to do anything to make her happy, only for her to add, “Except remember my birthday.” Stuart finally wishes her a happy birthday. When she asks whether that is all, he extends the greeting into a song until she tells him to stop. When he asks whether they are now “good,” Denise turns the question back on him. Stuart hesitantly answers yes, then revises it to no as she walks out. He chases after her to more laughter.
Back in the front of the store, Denise asks if there's any leftover food, prompting Bert to offer “dumpling meat.” Stuart follows, asking whether it is too late for a surprise party. Kripke interrupts the birthday discussion to ask Denise how she knows it's her birthday. She regards the question as ridiculous, but Kripke presses her: What day is it right now? Monday? Tuesday? Denise realizes she doesn't know. Turning to Bert, Kripke asks him to say something funny. Bert tells a joke about two peanuts walking down the street, one of which was “a-salted.” The laughter this triggers finally draws Stuart, Denise and Kyle’s attention. Kripke hands Stuart a comic with an advertisement on the back for “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe,” a new comedy coming to CBS this fall. He concludes that, somehow, they are in a sitcom. When Stuart says he thought they were in a meaningless void, Kripke replies, “Same thing.” He identifies Denise’s birthday as the “stupid B-story,” prompting Stuart to defend his girlfriend, drawing an audience reaction that only proves Kripke’s point.
Bert points out the missing fourth wall, with gray mist obscuring whatever lies beyond the store. After Denise wonders how there can be no wall, Kripke asks the more pressing question: “What’s behind where it isn’t?” Bert suggests that somebody investigate, prompting everyone to turn to Stuart. He questions why everyone's looking at him, drawing laughter, before Kripke reminds him that, for some incomprehensible reason, he is the star of the show. As Stuart accepts it is up to him, Denise warns him that they do not know what is out there. Stuart decides there is only one way to find out. Stuart and Denise say they love each other and kiss, prompting an audience “Aww” before Stuart steps into the mist. As Denise worries about what is happening, Kripke sidles up to her and says what's happening is she is back on the market. After calling Kripke a creep, Denise follows Stuart. Bert is the next to leave, rejecting Kripke’s suggestion that “it's just you and me, buddy.” When Kyle makes the same offer to Kripke, he cuts him off and enters the mist himself.
Kripke emerges onto a sitcom soundstage and joins Stuart, Denise and Bert as they stand beside the comic book store set. Audience warm-up host Mark Sweet introduces the cast of “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” for a final round of applause. Running through the comic book store one by one to greet the audience are John Ross Bowie, Brian Posehn and Lauren Lapkus as Barry Kripke, Bert Kibbler and Denise, wearing the same clothes as the bewildered characters who watch from the sidelines. Sweet then introduces Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom, the star who fails to save the universe. Sussman runs triumphantly through the set to cheers. Unable to comprehend seeing actors portray them, the four slip out as Sussman thanks the audience.
Outside Warner Bros. Stage 25, Denise wonders whether they are dead, while Bert suggests that they may never have been real. Stuart insists that they must be real: figments of the imagination do not have irritable bowel syndrome. After Kripke admits that he suffers from IBS too, they briefly digress into managing their symptoms until Denise reminds them that they have just walked past actors who play them. Bert offers the reassurance that they still have each other, which an unsentimental Kripke grudgingly accepts. When Denise asks what comes next, Stuart admits that he does not know but believes the answer must be out there somewhere. Bert asks whether he means Burbank. “Or Studio City,” Stuart adds. Stuart takes Denise’s hand as the four walk off into the night between the soundstages. The view pulls back to reveal posters for their show Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, along with alternative Chuck Lorre shows Young Leonard and Two and a Half Women.
Back on the sitcom’s comic book store set, as Kyle clears away the Chinese food, the Adversary reappears, startling him into dropping the trash. “I gave you one job,” it complains, to audience laughter.
