The Big Bang Theory: 5 Times Fans Rooted For Stuart (And 5 Times He Confused Fans)
Stuart Bloom is an underrated character on The Big Bang Theory who always deserved more credit than he was given. Although his comic book store was a central meeting place for the group of best friends, Stuart wasn't always invited to the group's get-togethers outside of the store, making Stuart feel used.
Stuart's life isn't as upbeat and successful as the group's, which is why fans had a soft spot in their hearts for him. On the flip side, Stuart did a few things throughout the show's twelve seasons that raised eyebrows and confused fans. For every successful moment, Stuart has an awkward or uncomfortable one.
One of the saddest things about Stuart's storyline on TBBT is when his comic book store burned down. Considering Stuart didn't have money and slept in the store, it was all he had. He was questioned if he burnt the store down for the insurance claim, but he genuinely believed the fire to be an accident.
Fans rooted for Stuart when he started bringing the comic book store back to life — especially when Leonard, Sheldon, and Howard wanted to invest their own money into the store to help Stuart out. Luckily for him, the sad times were worth it because his store was better than ever after the rebrand.
After TBBT ended, fans wanted to see a spinoff based on Stuart's life to see how his new life as a successful store owner panned out. But since no spinoffs are in the works, focusing on his friendship with the gang is what fans can look forward to.
As close as Stuart was with Leonard and co., they didn't treat him like the true friend that he was. The gang went to his store multiple times a week and didn't include him in their scavenger hunt. Sheldon even invited Stuart to his brunch because he wasn't a top-tier friend, which was devastating for Stuart. Fans rooted for his so-called friends to take him seriously and give him the respect he deserved.
In one of Stuart's first appearances on the show, he was very different from the Stuart fans knew in later seasons. In his first season, he was outgoing, witty, and confident. It didn't make sense to fans how Stuart went from cool, calm, and collected to someone insecure and afraid.
Nevertheless, when Penny went to the comic book store for the first time, Stuart won her over. Fans rooted for Stuart when she agreed to go on multiple dates with him and while the two didn't work out, it's one of Stuart's greatest moments.
In season 11, comic book author Neil Gaiman visited Stuart's store and loved it so much that he tweeted about it to thousands of his followers. The aftermath resulted in more visitors than Stuart had ever had. He had so many people in and out of the store that he had to hire a woman named Denise to help him.
Fans were excited to finally see Stuart's storyline gaining positivity and success. After years of struggling to make ends meet, he finally found happiness. If fans miss Stuart, rewatching "The Comet Polarization" is the perfect episode.
After meeting Denise (Stuart's employee at the comic book store) in season 11, fans wondered if she was going to play an important role in Stuart's life. And eventually, that came to be.
As a new character, Denise had some amazing quotes in TBBT and made Stuart happy. Romantic tension began to build between the two at Sheldon and Amy's wedding and the rest was history. The two started dating and fans were happy he finally found love.
Before moving to Pasadena, Stuart was an accomplished artist from the Rhode Island School of Design. He moved to California after not making it as a comic book artist and opened his store instead. However, considering how poorly his comic book store was doing, fans wondered why Stuart didn't do more for extra income?
As an artist, he could have continued selling his work for extra income while his store was in a lull. Fans wanted what was best for Stuart but he didn't always try his hardest in fear of continued failure.
When Stuart was down on his luck and needed to make more money, Howard suggested they hire him as a home nurse to take care of his mother. Stuart ended up loving the job because of how sweet Mrs. Wolowitz was (it also didn't hurt that Mrs. Wolowitz cooked for him and made her house his house).
It didn't take long for Howard to wonder if Stuart and his mom's relationship was platonic or if something romantic was brewing. And as mad as Howard was at Stuart for being overly comfortable with his mother, Stuart deserved the love and affection regardless of who it was from; Stuart deserved better in TBBT. With that being said, his relationship did raise eyebrows and confused fans as to why he chose Mrs. Wolowitz over women his own age.
When it came out that actor Wil Wheaton was friends with Stuart, fans wondered why Stuart didn't use that to his advantage. Stuart planned a Mystic Warlords of Ka'a tournament that included Wil, which gained a lot of traffic to the store (this was also one of Wil's iconic TBBT scenes with Sheldon).
After seeing how well that connection did, Wil would have easily promoted Stuart's store on social media as his friend. What's even more confusing is that Stan Lee also visited Stuart's store and he didn't do more to promote the meet-and-greet.
When Howard went to space, Raj started spending more time with Stuart. This meant Stuart was invited to more group activities, which he appreciated. However, regardless of Howard's presence or not, it confused fans as to why Stuart wasn't invited to their family-style dinners.
Every week, the group of friends met up at apartment 4a and had dinner together. Sure, the dinners were loose and informal, but Stuart would have loved to spend time with them outside of the store.
Similar to Raj and Howard, Stuart's awkwardness around women came off as problematic at times. He had good intentions, but they usually came off as creepy. A great example of Stuart's efforts was in "The Perspiration Implementation."
Stuart asked Amy, Penny, and Bernadette into the comic store to get a female's point of view on the store. They told him his breastfeeding area and the "breast-cam" was a bad idea since it wasn't private. They also read the reviews of his store online and they focused on women being creeped out by Stuart. Fans rooted for Stuart's future but were confused why thought that was a good business strategy.