musings on alastor and vox
alastor could have trapped vox in his little radio dimension for eternity, but he (as far as we know) never tried. even after voxtech's image was plastered everywhere in Pentagram City and probably annoying the shit out of him. i don't think rosie ordered alastor to refrain from harming vox either, so alastor left vox to his own devices for... some reason.
alastor despises being photographed and video taped in the present. it could definitely just be bc of vox's stalkerish behavior aggravating him to the point of hating visual media. still! whenever he notices vox watching through a camera, he deliberately acknowledges that vox is watching, usually in a way that would piss him off.
despite hating modern technology, alastor is decent at video editing. he keeps up with modern slang. make of that what you will.
"you still pissed that he almost beat you that one time?" as alastor and vox's final 1v1 showed, vox is no match for alastor in a fair fight. either the other two vees backed up vox and alastor was frustrated he couldn't have a 1v1, alastor deliberately lost, or he was called away mid-fight. im betting the last one (bc why the hell would he ever throw a fight? with his ego??).
"i can solve my own problems!" and then immediately goes to vox knowing that 1) vox could become the strongest sinner in Hell (which is frankly a compliment) and 2) vox would keep him around due to his obsession. he knew vox's mannerisms like the back of his hand, so he knew vox would 100% touch charlie at some point.
speaking of which! what does alastor do when trying to manipulate charlie into making a deal with him? touch her shoulders. incessantly. i wonder if vox learned that behavior from alastor or alastor from vox.
alastor frames vox's reliance on others as a bad thing. mostly as a dig towards vox, but he is technically correct - vox is over-reliant on the vees and others' public perception of him for power and influence, especially since vox is keen on taking all the credit. but still, the ability to gather everyone together and get them working for a common goal is a powerful skill, as seen with charlie and lilith. i wonder if alastor has said skill, as everything he's done so far is either through his own power or through the manipulation of another person.
"you need me like you did before!" vox doesn't need alastor - he already had the vees, voxtech, and the love of the masses. if vox had been content with his status in Hell, then vox wouldn't need alastor at all. but vox needed alastor's "defeat" in order to get the overlords' support for his plan, and he needs alastor's validation for his own ego. so! alastor clocked him. again.
"you're broken from the start, nothing will ever be enough" that☝️is projection (and also true for vox). let's be real, is being the strongest sinner enough for alastor? he wants to be the strongest person in Hell and he realized at the end of Season 1 that the strongest sinner in Hell is still pretty low on the food chain. him eying lucifer at the end of season 2 is no coincidence.
"excuses and lies were always your specialty" <- that line was so bitter that it had to be genuine. whatever excuses and lies vox cooked up bothered alastor more than whatever bad things vox did.
"i try" was both an admission that vox did make excuses and lies in the past (and in the present), that he knows what he's doing, and that he is not sorry about it. at least, not anymore.
alastor talks to velvette and valentino about how vox only comes to them when he wants something. this (among other things) makes me think that alastor thought vox was merely using him in the past. if vox ever told alastor what he did as a human to become such a popular television star (imitate and then kill competition), then alastor had every right to think that, given what vox was doing during their time together (buttering him up and imitating him). what's funny is that alastor was completely fine with that until vox made the "let's be business partners!" and "aren't we friends?" speech.
however, it's shown that vox might have improved in that department after alastor's 7-year absence. for all his complaining, vox showed up for val and vel before he decided to go through with the "take over Heaven" plan. val and vel also know vox is self-centered and obsessed with alastor - they have been around him for years guys - but they're still shocked at his behavior in season 2. alastor's presence regresses vox's self-improvements, purposefully and not. ffs he went from putting himself between velvette and an angelic spear to not caring if they die in his suicidal rampage.
"you ruined it". make no mistake, alastor hates vox now, but i think alastor didn't hate him in the past. alastor's reactions and jabs sprout from bitterness of a positive relationship that imploded, and he is convinced vox was the one who ruined it. given vox's behavior towards him... yeah. i don't doubt that vox would be the one who majorly fucked up the relationship. the "rejection scene" was only the tip of the iceberg, after all, and it is wayyy too favorable towards vox. at the same time, i don't think alastor is 100% innocent (bc sometimes he's just a dick for the sake of it), and i think he purposefully needled vox into being horrible at times.