Recap
In the comic book store, Bert and Kripke look out at the peaceful Pasadena in which they have arrived. Bert is delighted by the absence of mutants and giant moths, while Kripke mourns the end of his reign in the post-apocalyptic world. After Stuart returns from searching the store without finding Denise, Kripke suggests that she was outside the interdimensional bubble created by the device and left behind in their previous reality. When Bert reminds Stuart that they are now travelling with the man who shot Raj, Kripke argues that Raj’s death was either erased with the old world or insignificant among an infinite number of versions of him.
Regulars Trevor and Kyle enter the store and both reach for the same comic book. They politely settle their disagreement, each apologising and expressing appreciation for the other. Their behaviour is markedly different from that of their post-apocalyptic versions, whose argument ended with Kyle murdering Trevor. Stuart, Bert and Kripke are surprised to discover that the comics have changed in this universe: the shelves now hold titles such as “Superman and Lex Luthor: Best Buddies” and stories about an altruistic Richie Rich.
Realising they have landed in another altered reality, Stuart and Kripke blame each other for the malfunction of the vari-state quantum interference device. As their argument escalates, the implants in their necks turn red and shock them until they collapse. Watching this, Bert notices his own implant and suspects that their aggression triggered the punishment. When Kripke dismisses Bert’s theory, he is immediately shocked again.
Walking through Pasadena, the trio notice a giant obelisk floating above the cheerful crowds. Stuart realises that the neck implants are forcing everyone to be pleasant, while Kripke rejects Bert’s suggestion that they use the quantum device to try another universe. When Kripke becomes irritated with Bert’s description of the obelisk, the structure and his implant turn red and he is shocked once more.
Back at the store, Bert describes their new reality as a classic totalitarian dystopia with a “dollop” of mind-control surveillance. Kripke wants to find Leonard and Sheldon at Caltech, hoping they can explain how to use the device, but Stuart is determined to search for Denise. Kripke struggles to contain his frustration as he urges them to stick together, only to be shocked after muttering an insult as Stuart leaves.
At the futuristic Caltech, Bert and Kripke find Ramona Nowitzki working at reception. When they ask to see Leonard or Sheldon, Ramona is disappointed to learn that they do not have appointments but offers no help in making any. She remains outwardly cheerful, answering their questions literally without volunteering anything useful. Kripke tries to suppress his growing anger, but when he finally raises his voice, he is shocked.
Stuart locates the apartment building where this universe’s Denise lives. She is pleasantly surprised to hear him over the intercom and buzzes him inside. As Stuart enters the building, he does not hear Denise tell Gary that they have a visitor.
Back on his feet at Caltech, Kripke starts over with Ramona and explains that Leonard and Sheldon’s device may have caused the universe to collapse and regrow. Ramona cannot understand his pronunciation of “regrow,” and her repeated questions finally cause Kripke to snap and insult her. He is shocked to the floor again, while Ramona calmly acknowledges the misunderstanding.
In Denise’s apartment, Stuart finds her sitting with Gary and recognises him as a “running joke” across the different realities. Stuart tells Denise that he has come from a parallel universe, insists they are destined to be together and asks her to leave Gary and come with him. Unable to explain the machine, he just asks her to trust him. Neither Denise nor Gary is upset by the proposal. They admit their relationship makes them miserable, but leaving would traumatise Gary and cause emotional pain that their implants would punish. Gary is content that Denise is only unhappy during the rare times she is sober. When Stuart insists that she has a right to be happy, his rising anger activates his implant and shocks him to the floor.
Back at Caltech, Bert takes over the conversation with Ramona and engages her in a casual discussion about his work in the building in another universe. She reveals that geology has been moved to a storage room behind the gym to make space for the “important” sciences. After avoiding punishment far longer than Stuart or Kripke, Bert finally loses his temper while defending his field and receives his first shock. Kripke mocks him, triggering his own implant, as an unmoved Ramona watches both men collapse.
Outside Caltech, Bert and Kripke are approached by two friendly police officers who explain that their repeated outbursts have become a police matter. The officers promise that everything will be explained at a re-education centre. Kripke distracts them by pointing to the floating obelisk and tries to run, but an officer remotely activates his implant and brings him down. Bert calmly gets into the police car, where he finds Stuart already under arrest.
At the re-education centre, Stuart, Bert and Kripke join other detainees in watching a propaganda video presented by “theater, film, and television's Christine Baranski.” She explains that humanity once faced extinction through violence, crime and war, prompting the government to seek help from Silicon Valley. The resulting AI killed its creators and implanted electronic punishment devices in everyone’s brain stem. It now uses aerial surveillance to enforce a world without anger, war or insult comics. The non-compliant detainees face thirty months of painful re-education. Stuart declares that they have to escape and, although he does not yet know how, promises to figure it out.
Thirty months later, Stuart, Bert and Kripke leave the centre grateful for their rehabilitation and eager to celebrate together over frozen yoghurt. Before they can go, masked men pull them into a van. At another location, their hoods are removed and Stuart recognises their captor as Zack. Zack is confused that Stuart knows him but welcomes the trio to the Resistance’s headquarters in a former Amazon shipping centre. Although Zack says they have been “rescued,” the three point out that the authorities had just released them.
The leader of the Resistance emerges: this universe’s Penny, who begins slapping the prisoners to provoke anger and undo their conditioning. Shielding technology protects her from the surveillance system as she continues until each man allows himself to be angry. After Stuart finally cracks, Bert tries to spare himself by claiming he is already mad, while Kripke admits that he is furious and somewhat aroused by the process.
Denise then appears with the vari-state quantum interference device. After she explains that she contacted the Resistance thirty months earlier, Penny brushes off the long delay by saying she has been busy running the rebellion. Stuart is delighted that Denise came back for him, only to learn that she wanted the machine rather than him. Penny hopes the trio can use it against the AI overlord, but they admit that they do not know how to operate it and that it could not defeat the AI anyway. Kripke explains that it can only carry them out of this universe, prompting Penny to order their deaths.
Kripke claims to have an idea, stalls for time and creates another distraction before grabbing the device and running away. Before Zack can shoot him, AI drones smash into the building and attack the Resistance. As Penny and Zack fight back, Stuart, Bert and Denise follow Kripke through the chaos. Kripke trips over a fallen fighter and drops the machine, allowing the others to catch up with him. Stuart asks Denise to take his hand because he does not want to search for her again, and she does. The device activates, drawing Stuart and Denise into one interdimensional bubble and Bert and Kripke into another before transporting all four to a new reality.
Stuart and Denise arrive with the device in the comic book store, where Trevor and Kyle are once again fighting over comics. This time their hostility is expressed through magic: Kyle casts a spell that sends a snake out of Trevor’s mouth and around his body. Stuart sternly makes Kyle reverse it, but after Trevor insults him, Kyle retaliates by placing an anus on Trevor’s head.
Denise is shocked to discover that Stuart’s claims about other universes were true, despite choosing to go with him. Stuart is relieved that their punishment implants are gone and tells her, “I think we'll be safe here.” Elsewhere in the same reality, a crowd chants “Burn the scientist!” as Bert stands tied to a stake above a pyre. Bert calls to Kripke for help, but Kripke makes one hesitant objection to the execution before deciding that he tried his best and retreats as one of the torch-wielding locals sets the wood alight.
