Recap
At the comic book store, Bert is rattling off the Justice League superheroes who are centaurs in this universe one by one. Even after Stuart says they get it, Bert adds that Aquaman is a seahorse. Stuart argues that they must return to the war-torn universe to retrieve the quantum device equipped with a controller. Denise reminds him that they barely escaped the battle zone alive. Hoping to land somewhere slightly different, Stuart proposes that they “scooch it a little,” adjusting the device before activating it.
When they arrive at the comic book store in war-torn Pasadena, they are thankful nobody is shooting at them, although explosions sound in the distance. After Denise discovers Kyle and Trevor dead on the floor, Stuart observes that they died as they lived: reading comics they never paid for. As the group ventures outside, he explains that they need to find their military doubles to find the other device. Bert points out that this merely restates the premise rather than constituting a plan.
Gary pulls up in an army jeep and asks what “you maggots” are doing standing around. When Denise recognizes him, he insists on being addressed as Lieutenant Jeffries. Stuart wonders what she ever saw in Gary, only for Denise to say that he reminded her of Stuart. After Gary orders them back to their unit “two klicks that way” and drives away, Stuart asks what a “klick” is but sets off before Bert can explain.
At the army compound, the group watches a wounded soldier being carried past with his intestines in his hands. Gary addresses Charlie Company, explaining that since neither Alpha nor Bravo Company made it back, they are next. Gary warns that they are outnumbered, outgunned and facing a merciless enemy. He leads a prayer that amounts to warning God to expect their imminent arrival as they’re marching into a “monumental ass-reaming.”
Sheltering in a trench under bombardment, Denise urges Stuart to use the device to escape. He admits that he left it back at the barracks for safekeeping. Denise points out that keeping it with them would have been safer as they could escape being killed. Kripke arrives and mocks Stuart’s decision. When Bert arrives and demands that they activate the machine, Denise makes Stuart explain himself again. He begins by insisting that his intentions were good.
Gary charges up a ladder, calling on Charlie Company to end the war, but is struck by a seemingly endless barrage of bullets, blood spurting from his body. He finally falls back into the trench. Looking down at his corpse, Denise tells him, “Hang in there.” When the sergeant attempts to lead another charge in honor of their slain lieutenant, Kripke shoots him in the back. Stuart is horrified, but Kripke explains that he did it so they would not have to die. The group slips away.
Back in the barracks, Stuart joins Denise on her cot, admitting that their brush with death has turned him on. Denise is less enthusiastic, noting she still has pieces of Gary in her hair. Nearby, Bert asks a restless Kripke whether his conscience is troubling him over shooting the sergeant. Kripke insists that’s not it. As Bert prepares to sleep, he tells Kripke he’s there for him if he figures it out. Kripke rolls over but keeps his eyes open.
Denise urges Stuart to abandon the search for the other machine and get out of there using their own machine. While removing the last remnants of Gary from her hair, Stuart argues that he has a responsibility to repair “the infinite totality of everything.” Denise replies, “Damn me for falling in love with a hero,” and the pair kiss.
The next morning, Captain Williams takes command and announces that intelligence indicates they are in worse shape than yesterday, which Kripke describes as a massacre. Williams tells him to can that talk, so they settle on “bloodbath.” Williams tries to raise their spirits by telling them that, years from now, overweight men will reenact the battle they are about to fight and discuss their noble deaths over beer and wings. After Bert asks what they are fighting for, Williams cites “family, country and God.” When Bert asks what the enemy is fighting for, Williams replies, “The wrong family, the wrong country, and the wrong god.” Before sending the company out, Williams notes that morphine is running low, so they should try not to get wounded.
Rather than marching out to battle, Stuart tells his friends they should get the hell out of here. As they make their way, a military policeman stops them and asks why they are not with their company. Stuart can only repeat the question back at him. In a cell afterward, Kripke mocks Stuart’s response, while Bert reports that a guard expects them to be executed. Stuart realizes that they do not need to find the other device in this universe. They can retrace their route through the centaur and telepathic realities to the cow world and take it from their doubles there. Kripke reminds him that they are trapped in a prison cell.
At their court-martial, Captain Siebert represents the group, with their confiscated quantum device displayed before the panel. Having reviewed the evidence, he tells them it’s likely to be a short hearing. “Because we’re innocent?” Stuart asks. Captain Siebert replies with an unconvincing “Sure.” Siebert is further alarmed when the prosecutor arrives: Major Penny, whom he describes as “Firing Squad Penny.” Denise explains that they only know her as regular Penny.
After General Adams calls the hearing to order, Penny reads out the charges: cowardice, desertion, espionage, murder and mutiny. Siebert recommends pleading guilty to get it over with, “just rip the Band-Aid off,” but Stuart enters a not-guilty plea instead. Penny denounces the defendants as the “most foul, pathetic, loathsome creatures to ever wear the uniform” and claims that their device is a means of communicating with the enemy. When General Adams asks Siebert if he can explain what they have here, Stuart whispers in his ear about the device. After their conversation, Siebert’s answer is “No.”
Penny argues the evidence is irrefutable and the only possible penalty is death. By firing squad. Siebert helpfully notes that’s how she got her nickname. Pressed by Stuart to defend them, Siebert questions whether anyone can really know what happened in the fog of war. Penny replies, “We have video.” Siebert changes tactics, launching into a theatrical appeal to the nation’s “God-fearing men and women” to show mercy to these “miserable, undeserving wretches,” whose guilt he readily concedes. Adams answers with a flat “No.”
With Siebert out of ideas, Stuart appeals directly to the panel, explaining that they are not from this universe: he, Bert and Kripke come from a reality plagued by mutants and giant moths, while Denise comes from one controlled by artificial intelligence. Despite Denise warning that he is not helping, he argues that their apparent desertion and cowardice are actually part of a brave mission to restore order across all universes. Faced with the panel’s stony silence and Penny’s disbelief, he gives up: “Yeah, just shoot us.”
While the court considers its verdict, the group discusses creating a distraction to retrieve the device. Stuart proposes faking an asthma attack, although Kripke finds his demonstration unconvincing, while Bert suggests close-up magic. When proceedings resume, Stuart feigns an attack and Bert announces that he is thinking of a card. Neither distraction stops Adams from finding them guilty on all counts and sentencing them to death by firing squad, which Penny celebrates.
Blindfolded before the firing squad, Denise tells Stuart that she loves him, only to discover that she is speaking to Bert. He tries passing the message along through Kripke, who tells Stuart that Bert loves him. Penny arrives with the device and offers to commute their sentences to a life of hard labor if they use it to transmit fake battle plans to the enemy. After Stuart eagerly agrees, a soldier unties him and removes the blindfold. He pretends to prepare the transmission, loudly counting down as his companions edge closer to him and the device. After he activates the machine, the resulting bubble carries all four away, taking Penny with them.
After they land in the comic book store, a bewildered Penny knocks over a rack of merchandise with her new horse body as Bert explains they’re in what he calls “the centaur universe.” After Denise reminds Stuart to go back two more worlds, he activates the machine. This time, the bubble carries only the four of them away, leaving Penny behind. As she struts around the comic book store, Penny warms to her transformation: “I do not hate this.”
Still wearing their army uniforms, the group reaches the cow universe as their earlier selves confront their lab-coat doubles, revealing them to be the military group encountered in the previous episode. On Stuart’s orders, Kripke intimidates his counterpart into surrendering the lab-coated group’s device. As the group escapes with two devices, Stuart glances back at his earlier self before leaving.
Returning to the war zone with both machines, they take cover behind sandbags. Bert explains that they must wait for their earlier selves to follow them here and escape to the centaur universe, “where they become us.” When Kripke admits that he does not understand, Stuart exclaims, “No one understands!” When Denise sees their earlier selves arriving, she says, “Let’s go!” Stuart develops a cramp from all the running, prompting Denise to recommend that he eat a banana. Kripke activates the device taken from the lab-coat group, and they disappear.
In another comic book store, Kyle and Trevor face a swirling, orange-glowing entity known as the Adversary. It declares that the group’s forward progress has been stopped and instructs the duo to keep the travelers here. Kyle asks what to do if someone wants to buy a particular comic. The camera pans to a comic whose cover depicts Stuart and his friends beneath the title “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe: TRAPPED!” The Adversary instructs Kyle and Trevor to say that the comic is not for sale. On the comic book cover, the characters’ mouths move as Kripke asks where they are. Stuart guesses that, wherever it is, they are trapped.
