The Hellaverse Review Series

It's my shitty opinions shown in public for all to see :)

[hellaversereview]

Storyteller Review

Plot: This is the first and only episode so far to take place exclusively in Heaven. This means that this is the first episode to not only not feature the hotel in any capacity, but also the first to not have Charlie physically appear. 

The first chunk of the episode is a trial. It is emphasized early on that Sir Pentious' appearance was unexpected, with many quick to assume the worst. Sera accuses him of having gotten inside through force and Emily argues back that it wouldn't be the case as they'd seen him naturally appear in front of their eyes in the season 1 finale. Before the argument can escalate further with Lute stepping in, The Speaker of God suddenly makes herself known to the angelic court. 

After requesting Pentious tell his life story, she concludes to the crowds that he did in fact redeem himself and his ascension to Heaven was no accident. This means there is a cut and dry means for those to achieve salvation- they must do the amount of good proportionate to the amount of evil they'd committed in their mortal life. In this case, he had been damned for his inaction causing several murders and had been saved for sacrificing himself trying to fight back against Adam for the sake of the hotel. It's not elaborated on whether or not death after carrying out the proportionate good deeds is required, though. The revelation gives the idea that while redemption is very much possible, the reason why it hadn't been seen before the season 1 finale was because it could be incredibly difficult depending on the person. The two elements involved are both the severity of the bad acts and how willing someone is to do the proportionate good acts.

While Emily tries to get Pentious acclimated and happy in his new enviroment, the war at the hotel had created tension. While The Speaker had managed to talk through Sera's guilt with her and convince her responding with more violence was not the answer, none of them knew what their next act should be and the entirety of Heaven is forced into lockdown as a result. This shows that this episode and the one prior occurred at around the same time. Lute swears to herself and the hallucination of Adam that she'd slaughter the beings of Hell the next chance she got with Abel, the son of Adam, having overheard her complete breakdown.

The plot overall gets a 10/10. It did a solid job continuing to establish the overarching conflicts for the season where the previous episode left off.

Character: This is probably the first time in general the show's gone in depth on Sir Pentious as a character. While I didn't hate him by any means back in the first season, his personality never really stuck out to me too much there. However here, he's given a full backstory as she speaks his past to The Speaker. It's disclosed that his original name was Pendleton. Back when he was alive in London during the late 19th century, he was a shut in who was hyper focused on his technological works. One night he'd caught sight of a woman being murdered in front of his workshop, and didn't say a word about it. As news of other deaths and the killer not being caught came through, he'd been consumed by guilt yet still didn't do anything to try to make things right. This was enough to punish him with hellfire since if the Bible exists in the Hellaverse and Heaven operates on Christian law, then it is stated in James 4:17 of the religious book that "If anyone then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is a sin for them". His self sacrifice in the season 1 finale was an act of good that was proportionate to his bad as it was him finally stepping up for the sake of others, directly leading him to his salvation. 

However, once he actually is permitted into heaven he isn't happy. After spending all of season 1 bonding with the hotel cast he's suddenly separated, leaving an aching hole in his heart. Emily tries her best to help his adapt to the situation and makes beings to replace his fallen egg bois, yet all he can ask is when he can see his friends again. That nagging sadness makes what should've been a time of comfort completely and utterly miserable. The lockdown over Heaven only serves to make things worse, leaving him feeling alone in an unfamiliar world.

With The Speaker revealing to all of heaven that redemption is in fact possible, Sera is met with a major reality check. Before the revelation, she had nearly fallen back on her paranoid mentality that had led to the yearly exterminations being permitted in the first place. And yet, when she's met with unmistakable evidence that damnation isn't eternal, she realizes that the bloodshed she'd let happen were pointless. After a one on one song about the matter after the meeting, her views had begun to shift. She still feared what kind of attack Hell may try now that they're fully aware of an angel's weakness, which was the reason for her to set up the lockdown. She had tried to consult the new leader of the exorcists on how to react and prepare for attack, but was met with the issue that Abel may be a doormat. 

Speaking of her, the design of The Speaker of God is absolutely gorgeous. It's this ethereal kind of beauty, one that brings in her own light when she arrives. The fact that she completely dwarfs everyone around her is a physical sign that she is so much more than any of the angels we've seen up until that point. 

This episode goes to show simply how emotionally unstable Lute is. The death of Adam in the season 1 finale had struck her deep, and her way of coping was to double down on her violent mentality. During the trial she objects to Pentious being considered redeemed even when the Speaker confirms the fact as true, citing his sacrifice as "attempted murder" and tries to use his allegiance with the hotel as a sign that he could not be trusted. She completely crashes out on the rest of the court, citing their decision to not immediately strike back against Hell as cowardly and detesting the idea that Abel would take over as new leader of the exorcists by law of heirs. Even after the meeting had been wrapped up, she confronts Sera to try to change her mind, confessing she had gone into contact with Lilith to try to convince her to intervene with Charlie's plans.

During the scene featuring Lilith, it is brought up that she's aware of and actively ignores her daughter's voice mails. This makes Charlie's attempts to contact her sting more, as the reason why it isn't working isn't her fault. The poor girl might be heartbroken when she discovers her mother might not want anything to do with her nor her father.

Midway through the episode Lute finds what she initially assumes to be Adam alive in an alleyway. However upon speaking to him, he confesses that he is nothing more than a mere figment of her imagination, a hallucination of sort. The sight reminds her that she never had the chance to truly confess her feelings of him to him before he passed away, lacing her fury with grief. Sometime later she vows to him she plans to slaughter all from hell herself next time she gets, which considering the barrier means she won't have an opportunity for a while. I could seriously be wrong on this account, but I'm thinking that she might end up fighting Vox at some point later in this season. That's purely speculation obviously. 

The general character writing gets a 10/10. Despite the isolation and the fact heaven probably isn't going to be featured again until episodes 7 or 8, this feels like this is going to have some consequences on the plot trajectory.

Humor: Still 8/10.

Songs: Weirdly enough, there were 3 songs here instead of 2. 

Like You is a 3.5/10. Pentious' solo is the only part of the song that doesn't feel too generic.  

Sera's Confession is a 6/10. The singing for this is elegant but is held back by a bit of a slow start.

Gravity is a 9/10. It's mental breakdown rock, what more could you ask for?

All three songs have an average of 6.2. The only reason it has a lower score than the last episode is because the first song holds it back.

Overall: 

10+10+8+6.2= 34.2/40

34.2/40=85.5%, making the episode an A tier. 

I was already expecting this episode to be pretty good beforehand, and here we are. 

[hellaversereview]

New Pentious review

After a few day break from the show, I've finally decided to watch the second season.

Plot: The season premiere doesn't just start off as a set up for the rest of the seasons' conflict, but also as the direct aftermath of the first season's finale. After the hotel was able to turn the tides during the extermination and cause the event to prematurely end, it gained popularity for a time. However, a problem arises when it's quickly revealed the majority hadn't been interested in the place because of its goal of redemption. Instead, they had been drawn in by the idea that the populace of heaven can be killed in general and Vaggie and Charlie were both hounded by the news asking when the next slaughter will be. When the latter tries to address that there will be no next killing because not only was the war only meant to be an act of self defense but going out of their way to kill angels would make them hypocritical, her words fall on deaf ears. Out of the newcomers, only Baxter was actually interested in the redemption clause and even then he claimed he was certain it'd fail and was only joining for research purposes. Nifty had gained a considerable amount of attention due to being the one to kill Adam, with crowds forming around her and one even asking to be stabbed by her.

Meanwhile, the Vees were conspiring. Vox had proposed to the others that with it being given away that Heaven wasn't as strong as they originally claimed to be, they could easily usurp control over both it and Hell. The initial motive behind it is simple- personal ego. Seeing the hotel as a potential threat, he uses his control over the news to coerce the reports to give biased reports over events such as the battle from the season 1 finale and Charlie putting her foot down and kicking those who were only there to hound her about angel murder out. The trio is aware of the hotel's goings through constant surveillance and their control over Hell's media, but the hotel isn't entirely aware of their conspiracy as of now.

The overall plot gets a 9.5/10. It works really well as set up for the rest of the season, not gonna lie. I think it's because the writers have a sort of rhythm going now, but this feels like it jumps into the action and conflict much quicker than the season 1 premiere. My only gripe is that it's weird to name the entire episode after a running gag that only happened 2 or 3 times and has little bearing on the plot.

Characters: Firstly, poor Charlie is way, way more frazzled here than in any of the previous episodes in general. Even before trying to confront the crowds that had formed in the hotel, she's notably slightly more nervous looking. The fact that her usually clean hair is messier speaks volumes to this fact. While she does end up getting the courage to put her foot down against them after a talk with Lucifer, I doubt that would ease her nerves permanently. There is going to be a major reaction from her next time she appears, considering Emily openly announced that Sir Pentious made it to heaven directly to her. 

One thing worth noting is that the scene where she tried to contact her mother Lilith is eerily similar to when she tried to do so all the way back in the pilot. She mentions that this isn't the first voicemail to her, how much she's stressed about her current plan and wishes to see her again, and even mentions her father though this time the mention is in a much more positive light. It'd be interesting to compare those two scenes side by side to show how much the show had evolved. 

Angel Dust offhandedly mentions he's been getting emotional/mental help in the hotel since the season 1 finale, which is good for him not gonna lie. He seriously needed it. He has a new outfit which I think works well on him because it compliments his color palette and brings out his natural eyelashes a bit. Alastor's staff and natural source of power is still broken, which is probably why he's done considerably less here than usual. If his means of going through with his threats and menace have been stripped, he can't do what he normally does as effectively. This is going to be consequential for the rest of the season. 

This is the most the Vees have gotten in terms of group screentime since episode 2 of the last season. Vox is revealed to most definitely have a god complex here, with his past having organized and lead what was called out as a cult and his immediate jump to trying to usurp control of both Heaven and Hell after the hotel war has brought up the former location's vulnerabilities. His confrontation and manipulation of the city's news station brings up the trio's control over the media for the since it was established in season 1 episode 2, and knowing this is the first episode this amount of power will only escalate. 

The character writing in general gets a 9/10. I feel that all the characters are being re-established well for this new season, and it's setting up some good conflict and further dynamics. I'm honestly looking forward to the direction it'll be taken.

Humor: I can't believe I'm saying this, but the humor has improved between seasons. It feels sharper somehow, but I can't really place why. The only thing that felt a bit much was the brief compilation of Valentino hitting Angel Dust(I still hope Val dies in the end of this season btw. Nothing can make him less hate-able), so this gets an 8/10. 

Songs:

Hazbin Guarantee(Trust Us) gets an 8/10. The two songs would've both been 6/10s on their own, but the fact that this song is made up on two completely different songs that don't clash too badly together gives it extra points.

Once We Get Up There gets a 7/10. Nothing too crazy, but the three way duets and the jazz elements works for it.

Both songs have an average of 7.5. That's pretty decent for a premiere soundtrack. 

Overall: 

9.5+9+8+7.5= 34/40

34/40=85%, making the episode an A tier. 

This episode gives the rest of the season good potential, as long as the subsequent episodes can keep up the momentum this is setting up. If this ends up being the peak of the season for whatever reason, that would be severely disappointing. I really hope that isn't the case though, with how well season 1 was able to keep up stakes. 

[hellaversereview]

The Overall ratings of Hazbin Hotel season 1(and Pilot)

Plot:

8+9+8+10+10+8.5+10+7+11=81.5

81.5/9=9.1

Character:

9+10+9+10+9.5+9+10+8+10=84.5

84.5/9=9.4

Humor:

5+7+7+8.5+7.5+6+7.5+9=57.5

57.5/8=7.2

Song:

5.33+7+6+9.5+8.5+8+6.5+6+8.5=65.33

65.33/9=7.3

Overall:

9.1+9.4+7.2+7.3= 33/40

33/40= 82.5%, making the first season(and pilot) an A tier.

I didn't just do the averages of the overall ratings of each episode because one was rated on an out of 30 basis rather than a out of 40 basis which would've complicated the matters.

[hellaversereview]

The Show Must Go On Review

Here we are, the first season finale for the show. I am still so behind in this show as of now, which wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for Instagram trying to spoil me every 2 fucking seconds. They don't even give you a spoiler warning before showing it, which is stupid.

Plot: A while had passed since the events of the previous episode, and the hotel group had been putting their full attention on the war. The weapons were prepared, the fighters were preparing, and all knew that the battle will be bloody and violent. The night before the scheduled extermination they give themselves a small break for drinks and whatever else they want to do to let off steam, to have one last moment together just in case not all survive. 

The next day without fail, the war starts. And like expected, it is not a pretty sight. As the hotel group fights off the attackers with all the force they can, blood is spilled within minutes and the building itself becomes more and more wrecked over the course of the climax. Charlie finally lets her demonically power self shine through after Alastor flees and Pentious is unceremoniously annihilated, later joined by Lucifer who uses his own powered state as the father and daughter curbstomp Adam. Vaggie violently confronts Lute but ends up sparing her, though the latter still gets her arm ripped out after nearly being crushed by rubble. 

This episode features the first and only onscreen deaths in the season. In a desperate effort Sir Prentious tries to turn his airship against Adam, but ends up completely disintegrated by a single blast before he's able to do anything. While the death isn't permanent due to him ending up in Heaven after the act had apparently redeemed him, it's still worth noting. When Vaggie and Lute are separated from Charlie and Adam, Dazzle ends up a causality in the ordeal after having his throat slit midflight and his back stabbed. Finally, after Lucifer spares Adam after the latter is curbstomped and he goes on a rant, he is repeatedly stabbed in the back by Nifty due to her having been given the instructions to stab any angel she sees prior. 

In a side plot, the Vees had been watching the war unfold from a distance, as the hotel had been the only place attacked during that extermination. They showed particular interest in Alastor, seeing how he'd fare in the situation. After the "radio demon" is badly injured and flees, the trio take that as an opportunity to overshadow him thinking he'd be gone forever. This sets up a major conflict in the next season, as them and him will most likely be more at each other's throats than ever before. It is also revealed that Lilith was hiding out somewhere in the outskirts of Heaven, and that there was some kind of deal between her and Lute. Their conversation is vague, but just the fact that she was shown at all gives the idea that Charlie's mother will become relevant at some point in the next season. 

The overall plot gets an 11/10. It gets an extra point than usual because of the simple fact the finale features a climatic war. This was definitely worth the build up.

Characters: Most of the character writing here is a culmination of everything that came before. Charlie's self doubt comes back for a moment as she wonders if she could've done better to prevent the bloodshed, yet it doesn't last as she now has a support system with the hotel group. Lucifer coming to help his daughter later down the line shows that her words to him in episode 5 helped him break him out of his disillusionment. Alastor's hubris bites him in the ass as despite his notoriety in Hell he is not invulnerable and he ends up screwed over when the source of his powers are snapped in half forcing him to flee to recover. Lute getting her arm ripped out after being spared by Vaggie feels like a form of karma for the former, as she gets a limb ripped off during a fight with the fallen angel she'd previous gouged an eye from. On a more lighthearted note, Pentious finally confesses to Cherri Bomb moments before dying in a follow-up to their awkward dynamic back in episode 6 and the beginning of the episode gives us a bit more Husk and Angel Dust content. No offense to HuskerDust shippers, but I still see their dynamic more like that of a wholesome adoptive family with Husk being Angel's dad than a dating relationship. 

One thing I wasn't expecting was Alastor being under contract being mentioned again after episode 5. Back then it seemed like a detail that was simply not meant to be fully elaborated on. However I was proven wrong when he openly brought it up to himself in private during the second song. But then again, considering the Instagram spoilers show it was being elaborated on with who he's owned by being revealed, I shouldn't be surprised. I'm not going to say who he's contracted to until the episode it's officially revealed.

The general character writing gets a 10/10. It was a solid culmination of everything that came before.

Humor: Lucifer threatening to "fuck" Adam not realizing how bad his wording was and Adam being killed by an anti-climatic stab to the back despite his ego gets this a 9/10. 

Songs: 

More Than Anything(Reprise) gets an 8/10. It works as a beautiful reprise duet between Charlie and Vaggie, and they even kiss at the end solidifying their lesbian relationship.

Finale gets an 8.5/10. It's a well enough finale song that gets extra points for how much of the cast gets something to do in it.

Both songs have an average of 8.25. That's pretty reasonable for a finale soundtrack.

Overall: 

11+10+9+8.25= 38.25/40

38.25/40= 95.625, making the episode a S tier. 

Going into this episode I had incredibly high hopes. This is the season finale, the episode everything before was supposed to be built up to. For it to be bad would be severely disappointing. Thankfully, this ended up being great and not failing my expectations. If this is how season 1 ends, I can totally see season 2 hitting the ground running when it starts. 

[hellaversereview]

Hello Rosie Review

Plot: At this point, all chances at calling off the event had been tossed out the window. The hotel was no longer focused on trying to avert the situation or help each other out, instead opting to try to defend themselves by any means necessary.

After making a deal that will definitely bite her in the ass at some point, Charlie and Alastor go off to recruit Rosie and the populace of Cannibal Town to their defense cause, while Vaggie convinces Carmilla to share out a supply of weapons meant to harm angels. After Vaggie argues with Carmilla that not involving herself in the inevitable battle will make things worse for her and her daughters once the extermination targets them and the two have a training duel, the latter confirms the fact that holy steel has the capability of causing the exterminators harm, one that was blatantly hinted at in the previous episode. Once both negotiations are made, both group return to the titular location to discover that the rest of the group had started fortifying the place offscreen. They were told no one would be surprised if they left, and yet despite the danger they chose to stay. 

At this point one thing is clear: a war is approaching. Blood will be spilled and lives will be lost, yet the hotel group is ready for it. They must be ready to fight for the lives of themselves and the lives of everyone around them. No punches will be pulled for the season finale. 

Overall, the plot gets a 7/10. The main issue with this is that the episode serves purely as build up. Without watching any of the episodes before it you wouldn't be able to understand the full weight of the situation, and even with the prior episodes kept in mind it's still notably weaker. Saying it's bad compared to consist 8-10 out of 10s isn't really saying it's a bad episode. It just doesn't hit as hard overall. 

Character: Firstly, I'm just going to get one pet peeve out of the way before we going into the noteworthy characters. For some reason the characters here were forgetting things more than usual. The main examples of this were Charlie acting like she wasn't familiar with Cannibal Town despite singing about it in "Happy Day in Hell" during episode 1 and Vaggie acting surprised there was a means of harming angels despite her having her eye ripped out in a flashback of the previous episode. There was no reason for these inconsistencies to exist. 

Anyways, this episode shows Charlie at what is arguably her lowest point so far. Not only had she failed yet against to get her point across, she blames herself for the fact she may have doomed the lives of those she was trying so hard to save, on top of still dealing with the fact that Vaggie had been lying to her for however many years they'd known each other. The fact that the others at the hotel group point out her absence from her usual "rehabilitation activities" gets across the simple point that her self isolating behavior is completely unlike her usual demeanor. When she is confronted by Alastor over the matter she initially snaps at his usual attitude, not even trying to sugarcoat her own words. After a bit of back and forth between the two he offers her a deal- he'll give her the information he knows regarding how to kill the exterminators if he can make her do a simple non-harmful favor. Back in the pilot when he agreed to help clean up the hotel for her out of some ambiguous personal amusement, the one thing she does to set a boundary between the two was that the agreement explicitly wouldn't be a deal. In contrast to that, she caves in to his offer after some questioning here. This is going to have consequences later down the line. 

When she first tries to speak to Cannibal town in regards to recruiting the place's populace for defense, she's not as put together as usual. She stammers over her sentences and tries to re-do her statements multiple times, and has to be pulled aside after a near crash out from being heckled one too many times. When speaking to Rosie about the problem, she confesses what had been holding her back- the revelation of one of her closest friend's secret had been plaguing her mind and she wasn't sure how she was supposed to react. The moment she learned back in the previous episode must've hit her like a ton of bricks to the gut, and it shows. After being comforted by the fact that since actions were clearer than words her and Vaggie's relationship wasn't purely built on lies, she manages to get her confidence back and rally a crowd to her cause. 

Speaking of her, Rosie will most definitely be the last character introduced in this season given how close we are to the end. While she was seen during the overlord meeting back in episode 3, this is the first she's gotten a proper speaking role and consequentially the first time her personality is shown. With how the rest of Hell had been established up until that point, I'd expect her to be sadistic of at least dismissive. However, she does not come off as either of these as she puts on an affable front when speaking to Alastor and Charlie. She greets the former with open arms, and accepts the latter's request on the grounds that's she's able to influence the rest of the town to join the cause. If anything, she acts like an aunt to Charlie during their interactions, especially while she was comforting her after the botched first rally attempt. 

The general character writing gets an 8/10. It loses points for the obvious problems, but it doesn't tank the rating. 

Humor: It's still 7.5/10. Were you expecting something different?

Songs:

Out For Love gets a 7/10. It works as a literal "duel" song as they train and prepare for the worst. 

Ready For This gets a 5/10. It's a standard Broadway beat that shows off the singers' harmonies. 

Both songs have an average of 6/10. This is just disappointing. 

Overall: 

7+8+7.5+6= 28.5/40

28.5/40= 71.25%, making the episode a B tier. 

This episode is a build up to the finale- nothing more, nothing less. What else am I supposed to say here? 

[hellaversereview]

Welcome to Heaven Review 

Plot: This takes places not long after the ending of the previous episode. Charlie and Vaggie make it to Heaven, where they are greeted by seraphim Sera and Emily. After being given a small tour of the place, the latter is confronted about her history as a former exorcist and fallen angel by Adam and Lute. He threatens to expose her status if she doesn't rejoin him, but no deal is made. Soon it is shown that the meeting was less of an actual discussion and more of a trial, with jury an objections to boot.

When demanded to show proof that redemption is possible, Charlie ends up showing the court a live broadcast of what her first patron Angel Dust was up to at the moment. She had told the hotel group plus Cherri Bomb to spend some free time within the city while she was gone, landing them sans Alastor who was absent for the entire episode in a bar/club. At first it seems like she was going to end up failing the exact same way she did all the way back in the pilot with the news interview. However her patron ends up showing progress as he goes out of his way to stop a drunken Nifty from accidentally hurting herself and musters the courage to stand up to Valentino, only taking drugs in moderation the whole time. When nothing happens despite him doing everything listed on the so-called "requirement list", it is quickly inferred Adam had made the list up on the spot and not even Heaven's higher ups knew the criteria for getting in. After the existence of the extermination is accidentally revealed to the entirety of the court, as only Adam, Lute, Sera, and the exorcist group had known of it prior, the court abruptly claims Charlie's argument useless and Vaggie's past is exposed to her, with the hotel being threatened as the first location the upcoming extermination would hit. Despite her and Emily managing to call out the hypocrisy of the system the situation had only been made worse. It didn't help that it was mentioned this episode and the one before took place only a month before the mass execution event was supposed to happen.

The overall plot gets a 10/10. This is the exact kind of build up for the season finale this show needed.

Characters: The two most noteworthy characters debuting here are Sera and Emily, seraphim introduced with the proper introduction of Heaven.

When she was first introduced, Emily's personality mirrors Charlie's They're both optimistic and want to see the good in everything, and have eerily similar outgoing demeanors. However one thing that keeps them from being nigh identical is how their outlooks manifested. Charlie had grown up in a place where cynicism was the norm and she was seen as an outlier for assuming others could get better. She was inspired by the motivation in her father's eyes to put an effort into improving her situation despite everyone around her saying it wasn't possible, hoping that one day she'll help better the world around her. Unlike her, Emily never felt like she had to fight for her beliefs prior to the trial. She grew up in a comfortable environment where she watched those with enough perceived good get in to be rewarded for their deeds, blissfully unaware of how hypocritical and punishing her society was until the exterminations were blurted out for her to hear. That fact was enough for something inside her to shatter, as she was quick to turn against Sera arguing that the systematic execution of Hell's populace was excessive given they were already punished by being forced down there as is. 

At the same time, Sera is exposed as a paranoid hypocrite. She'd been so consumed with fear that Hell will try to overtake Heaven and cause harm to her angels that she was willing to allow the yearly exterminations, an act which is much more morally depraved than anything anyone was shown to do to end up in Hell to begin with. She willingly brushes off any attempts to prove her mentality wrong and tries to use the threat of being "fallen" against Emily after the trial had concluded. The yearly event had been going on for so long it stopped being about protective measures are more about the control it gave Heaven. Despite all this she's not as morally low as Adam and Lute for a single reason- while she was motived by her own warped idea of good, they were motivated by a superiority complex and sadistic amusement. 

Speaking of them, Adam and Lute return to the show after a 4 episode absence. This is also the first episode to give the latter a personality after she didn't do much in episode 1, serving as the more grounded one of the two. While they still succeeded in keeping the next extermination going, just the fact that he blurted out the event's existence in court when only them, Sera, and the exorcist group they lead were supposed to know will most likely tank their reputation. The fact that he's reprimanded for gloating that the hotel will be the first thing targeted once the time comes not only shows a moral separated between him and the seraphim, but also shows that he does not have as much control over heaven as he'd want to claim.

This episode finally brings up the reveal that had been somewhat foreshadowed since the first episode. During a confrontation between Vaggie and the two lead exorcists, Adam brings up that she once worked for them and had a decently good reputation among the ranks. However during of the yearly events at least a year prior, she had spared the life of a demon child and was stripped of her wings and angel status as punishment. The eyepatch on one of her eyes wasn't for design aesthetic- it was there to cover up the eye that had been ripped out by Lute during the confrontation. She had hidden the fact from Charlie because she feared their relationship would be ruined, knowing very well she'd previous been responsible for mercilessly slaughtering thousands of those her friend was trying so hard to save. This recontextualizes a lot of her actions during the episodes prior. In the first episode she'd called angels "deranged" because she knew firsthand how ruthless they could be at a given moment. In the third episode it's shown that she works on the hotel group's trust building activities with an attitude akin to a military sergeant because the exorcist group she was once in could've easily operated in a similar manner. In the same episode she mentions feeling like a "stranger in a new place" when she first met Charlie, the statement being literal when you understand they first met when she was found bleeding out in an alleyway after being stripped of her angel status. In the end of the previous episode she was visibly nervous when it was mentioned she'd be coming to the meeting in Heaven, and at the start of this episode she tried and failed to make an excuse to get out of going, as she was reluctant to go back for a reason. The chances of Vaggie and Charlie having an albeit temporary falling out after the former's secret was revealed isn't 100% given the latter's personality, but it isn't 0.

Meanwhile the hotel group is assigned to take a break within the surrounding city, with Cherri Bomb tagging along due to coincidentally showing up right before Charlie and Vaggie left for the meeting. Angel Dust enters the episode a wreck, having apparently had to do his "work" for 16 hours straight. Apparently the schedule change was sprung up on him by Val without explanation, and later on he mentions waterboarding  occasionally being used for the flicks without a proper reason given. This is not a coincidence- I'm sure that during the months between episodes 4 and 5 the skits had purposely made more physically punishing out of spite from Charlie's attempted interference.

Midway through their time at a bar/club, Heaven sets up surveillance on Angel D as Charlie had brought him up as an example that her patrons were capable of redemption. While he initially turns down Cherri's drug offer, he ends up taking shots of alcohol anyways after she argues he needs to give himself a cheat day after how harsh it'd been prior. This gives the wrong idea to the onlookers at first, as Sera is ready to pass judgement based on it before she's convinced they need to keep watching. After a few shots he starts becoming concerned about the fact that since Nifty has a significantly shorter stature compared to the others she might not be able to hold down the drinks as well as everyone else. Low and behold, she starts freaking out worse than usual and he steps in to stop her before she can hurt herself. While doing so he runs into Valentino, who starts making remarks about her and her "kinks", aka her biting him and later ripping the fur off of him for her own personal collection. He is quick to defend her from his general scummy attitude, and when he tries to tell him off by saying he's still under contract he argues back that the contract only applies when they are in the studio, so he's free to stand up for himself in the bar/club. While that is met with Angel getting smacked across the room and told tomorrow will be especially punishing, he regrets nothing. Charlie tries to use this as an example that he did in fact do better, but when he doesn't ascend she realizes he didn't meet the quota and that no one from heaven actually knows what said quota entails. 

While Angel Dust fighting back against Val is naturally cathartic, this scene solidifies the fact that the only way the former's suffering will completely end may be if either one of them died which would render the contract null. I know Val isn't going to die by the end of this season as apparently he's still alive in the first few season 2 episodes, but I really just want him to die by the end of that season. I don't care how he dies, as long as it's painful. I genuinely just fucking hate him.

Anyways, the character writing in general gets a 10/10. Just because I hate one of the characters with a burning passion doesn't mean everything wasn't on point. If anything, the fact that I fucking despise him means he worked as scummy and generally unlikabley written, which I'm very certain was the point of his character. 

Humor: Pentious at least nearly getting gang raped was uncalled for. If it wasn't for that, the running gag of him ironically having a crush on Cherri and trying to flirt with her would've worked just fine. The general humor writing gets a 6/10. 

Songs: 

Welcome to Heaven is a 3/10. The song as a whole was cheesy and not even in a comedic way, and the music was way louder than the singing for some reason.

You Didn't Know is a 10/10. It is the quintessential musical theater song, which is solid both as a song and as a means to further the plot. 

Both songs have an average of 6.5/10. This is the most mixed episode soundtrack so far, with one sucking and the other being really well done. 

Overall:

10+10+6+6.5=32.5/40 

32.5/40=81.25%, making this episode an A tier. 

This episode was weirdly more mixed than usual. The stronger aspects were great but the weaker aspects were worse than usual. I wish I could've been able to rate this higher when all is said and done, yet here we are.  

[hellaversereview]

Dad Beat Dad Review

Plot: Sometime had passed between the previous episode and now, and Charlie's anxiety was taking a peak. The deadline marched forward ominously, yet she's had no luck getting in new patrons let alone helping them officially redeem. At the moment she comes up with a last ditch plan- contact her father to see if he could get her a meeting directly with Heaven. If she can speak with the beings with complete power over that domain, she thought, maybe she can convince them to call the extermination off. Unfortunately for her that meant actually contacting her father.

The plan starts off on the wrong foot the second Lucifer enters the hotel. He gets into a spat with Alastor and seems relatively less than pleased with the idea that redemption is possible. This isn't helped by the abrupt attack of the place by a gang(who look suspiciously similar to the gag Husk and Angel Dust fought in the prior episode), and though they are disposed of quick he takes it as another sign his jaded beliefs are correct. Sometime after her father had been banished from Heaven and Hell was created, he had apparently tried to help others change for the better the way she was in present time. When it failed he became resigned concluding that if you give anyone anything to change they'll just take advantage of it and not learn anything. And yet with the classic power of musical number she's able to convince him otherwise, and he agrees to book her a meeting with the major higher ups at Heaven. Charlie decides to take Vaggie with her for the meeting, the latter looking nervous by the idea of going up there. She has history with them that she'd kept to herself, and she was clearly not looking forward to the surprise reunion. 

Overall, this gets an 8.5/10. The plot has a lot of merit to it and furthers the story well, but with how much of an intense bomb "Masquerade" was it doesn't hit as hard in comparison. But then again, none of the episodes up until this point would be able to hit as hard as an episode so viscerally uncomfortable it made me nauseous multiple times. 

Characters: One thing I've noticed here is how this episode elaborates on aspects brought up in the pilot or previous episodes in the season.

In the pilot, Charlie implies in a voice mail to her mother that her relationship with her father was shaky at best. The only other time we hear of him up until this point was in the first episode when he arranges her to meet with Adam in his place. Early on, it's revealed that he only reaches out to her if he either has nothing better to do or needs something from her. His reaction when being called by her is nerves, as apparently this was the first time she'd reached out to him instead of the other way around. This hadn't happened in so long in fact that he's not sure how to greet her, trying to rehearse what to say for seconds before actually picking up the call. 

In the opening scene of the first episode, it's mentioned that Lucifer was forbidden from watching "the good that came from humanity" and fell into a state of disillusionment. When Charlie introduces him to the hotel, giving him a tour of it's every nooks and crannies, he initially seems dismissive of the place's usefulness. When they reach a balcony he tells her that not only are the requirements for getting into heaven incredibly strict, and claims trying to see the good in Hell's populace was a waste of time. He was already thoroughly convinced by his own jaded mentalities before the shark gang attack occurred, and was quick to use that event as a means of trying to prove his point correct. It isn't until he sees his old spark in his daughter when he gains even the slightest bit of optimism for her cause. 

While he did get better, I feel like his initial introduction leaned a bit too hard into him being quirky. I understand it was to show the similarities between father and daughter, but watching a grown adult panic over a phone call like a middle schooler wasn't really that funny. However once they went more into detail about his familial relationships and his disillusionment things got better.

This episode is probably the most the show's gone in depth on Alastor since the pilot. When an admirer of his arrives to the hotel to try to hide from a gang, because apparently her getting on the bad side of criminal organizations was common, she gushes about his notoriety and claims they were decently close while they were both alive. Back when he first arrived to the place, he'd gained his status among Hell by frequently abducting overlords and recording the sounds of their tortured screams for all to hear. After the disappearances had stopped and he went MIA for seven years, his infamy had died down considerably. Since he was still well known enough by his reappearance in the pilot where his "radio demon" nickname was still going around in public according to Vaggie, it hadn't died down completely. The fact that he rips the gang to shreds within minutes shows that the power he possessed hadn't been nerfed significantly since he last fought in the pilot and first episode. 

The fact that he willingly defended the hotel were attackers shows that, even with his constant claims he was only helping Charlie because the idea of her failing amused her he had grown at least partially attached to the place. Him harshly telling off Mimzy and demanding her to leave when he could've easily did much worse to her shows that her claims they had a connection weren't complete lies. 

One specific thing worth noting is this is the first time that his flaws are put on a spotlight. He's overconfident and gets irritated when he doesn't get the specific amount of attention he believes he deserves, which shows when he gets frustrated Lucifer says he doesn't know anything about him. This causes a near instantaneous petty rivalry between the two where the former claims to have a better relationship with the latter's daughter just to piss him off. Keep in mind that Lucifer is the demonic representation of the sin of pride and a fallen angel, who could easily curbstomp Alastor if he wanted to. Provoking him the amount of times he did was a reckless act that seemed to be made purely to fuel his superiority complex. 

Midway through the tour of the hotel, Husk makes a remark that Alastor was under contract of an unknown demon, once that was much stronger than him. This was apparently a sore spot for him as in a rare instance he shows true rage he threatens to cause him immense suffering if he ever brings up this fact again. There is no detail given as to what kind of situation would put him under the grasp of another or what kind of power whoever he was under contract of possessed, and I highly doubt those details will ever be revealed. He seemed to want to keep information regarding the situation under wraps by any means necessary.

The general character writing gets a 9/10. The slightly iffy initial introduction of Lucifer and other small hiccups hold it back from being a 10/10. 

Humor: This gets a 7.5/10. It's about more of the same as usual. 

Songs:

Hell's Greatest Dad is a 8.5/10. The sheer pettiness of this song makes it all the more entertaining, with such moments as Alastor and Lucifer aggressively playing instruments against each other. 

More Than Anything is a 7.5/10. It's still pleasant to the ears , but I prefer "Whatever it Takes" when it comes to the show's duet ballads. 

Both songs have an average of 8/10. It's decently solid but not perfect. 

Overall:

8.5+9+7.5+8= 33/40 

33/40= 82.5%, making the episode an A tier. Interestingly enough this shares the same overall rating as Overture. 

Like I mentioned before, it'll be a while before an episode hits as hard as the episode that came before this one.

[hellaversereview]

 Masquerade Review

Firstly, this episode will not feature a score for humor. While they're are jokes here and there, they are so few and far between it'd completely tank the overall ranking if I added it. This was not meant to be rated based on humor.

Also, reviewing this episode is going to be dicey so please take this on especially with a grain of salt. I know near nothing about what people irl go through with the trauma of Sexual assault/abuse, so I would normally absolutely steer clear of this kind of topic. However with an episode like I will inevitably have to bring it up, and I know this is probably going to sound extremely tone deaf. I'm so sorry. Please don't take this too personally.

Plot: This is the first episode so far with a plot that isn't central to the hotel. The place is shown in a couple scenes and Charlie still brings it up, but it is only a secondary element here. 

After Angel Dust is called up by Val for a sudden shoot midway through the hotel activities for the umpteenth time, Charlie decides to follow him to his work to see if she can negotiate him getting pulled away from her business less. However it backfires painfully, as Val assumes Angel D hired her as a means to get out of his contract with him. After she overhears the two in a dressing room an nearly assaults Val, Angel is forced to personally kick her out of the place and is punished with long "work" hours so excessive he's a wreck by the time he returns to the hotel. Husk is forced by her and Vaggie to go after him when he storms out from a particularly bad argument, and ends up intervening with him letting himself get drugged by a gang. The two end up talking it out in the streets before slaughtering the gang and returning to the titular building together. 

I was dreading watching this days in advance. I was well aware of what I was getting into before I started. Overall this gets a 10/10. I'm never watching this again.

Characters: This is the first episode to have the focus entirely on Angel Dust. He was already shown to have issues in episode 2, and this just shows that what you saw back there was just the tip of the iceberg. 

In the beginning of the episode he acts the way you'd expect. He'd brought one of his "better" recent porn flicks to a show and tell, and tries to flirt with Husk who was not putting up with him. However, his entire demeanor changes the second he gets the phone call. He stammers frequently to the other person and his confidence seems to drop significantly, which is an immediate giveaway to who had called him. He pulls himself together as he's leaving and is actively dismissive of Charlie trying to convince him not to go, because he knows when he's called up it's non-negotiable for him. He already wasn't on his boss's good graces as is with him moving into the hotel, so he was already on thing ice by that point and he didn't want to make things worse for himself. This would most definitely not be the first time a situation like that had happened. 

What was supposed to be an average shooting day was quick derailed when Charlie abruptly showed up. When Angel D notices she's there, he panics and is holding it together less while trying to take part in the filming as normal with her around. Albeit still scummy with him trying to rope her into his business, Valentino puts on a less aggressive front with her around knowing that if he tried to attack the daughter of Lucifer she'd completely decimate him. When the shoot continues to go wrong to the point of the set getting set ablaze, he finds himself unable to keep the facade much long and pulls Angel Dust aside in the latter's dressing room.

What comes next is what I consider to be the most uncomfortable stretch of the episode. When the two are alone, Val physically manhandles and assaults Angel D while reprimanding him for Charlie's interferences, the former having assumed she was the latter's way of trying to get out of their deal. Angel tries over and over to explain that it wasn't the case, but his words fall on deaf ears. He is left chained and in his grasp, his voice barely higher than a mumble. He probably knew this might happen the second he saw her, and yet every time it hurt to feel himself get emotionally beaten down. His work is extended to an exhausting degree, leaving him barely keeping up his facade in front of the camera and he's pushed to his physical limits for at least hours. It doesn't help that it's implied he was raped off camera at least once during this period of time. He ends up physically collapsing twice afterwards- first on a balcony and again at the hotel's bar. 

The worst part is simply that this isn't the first time any of this has happened. This isn't the first time. It's never explicitly stated how long Angel had been under contract of Val, but from the looks of it it'd have to be at least years or so. He had been broken down over and over that his facade is less of the mask of an actor and more of a legitimate self defense mechanism. The second someone like Husk initially tries to call him out on the fact that the personality he puts on in public is fake he snaps at him. When Charlie realizes what is happening from overhearing a conversation and tries to assault Val in order to intervene, he is forced to step in her way and shut down her attempts. He had been in a mental low point for however long and no amount of reprieve like drinking himself half to death with a gang he was well aware would try to drug him or the hotel's attempts at being a support system to him would be enough for a quick emotional fix. The only thing that came close to helping was to be able to truly open up and vent to someone who'd just listen and understand the position he was in.

This is also the first episode to put any amount of extended attention on Husk. Up until that point he was relegated as a side character who made blunt remarks. He mentions early on that he's got a general idea of his peers' emotional troubles from working with them, which is why he calls bullshit on Angel's facade multiple times When the second argument between the two causes the latter to storm off into a bar, he is initially reluctant to go after him. However he ends up going anyways after being pressured by Charlie and Vaggie, and stops him from getting roofied by a gang of sharks. Angel D snaps at him yet again because knew very well they were trying to drug him but just didn't care, and Husk calls him out yet again. And yet things are different- the former's retort becomes too personal and the latter catches on to why he acts the way he does. He discloses that he used to be among the ranks of an overlord as was heavily involved in gambling, until one bad bet too many caused him to end up under a binding contract with Alastor. The two come to an understanding with each other's struggles before returning to the titular location much less tense. The fact that Husk was a gambler at least partially contributed his affinity with reading others- games like that involve being able to read what your opponents are thinking so you know what kind of move they may have and how to counteract it.

By the way I don't really see Husk and Angel Dust as a couple. They're more like siblings or a found family duo.

The general character writing gets a 9.5/10. It loses points for small hiccups like Charlie feeling slightly more naive than usual and Valentino getting away with his acts completely scott-free, but otherwise this is the driving aspect behind the episode. 

Songs: 

Poison is an 8/10. This is viscerally uncomfortable, but that's the point of the song.

Loser Baby is a 9/10. A nice jazz duet between Husk and Angel D that's a reprieve from everything that happened before. 

Both songs have an average of 8.5/10. Despite everything this is a solid soundtrack. 

Overall:

10+9.5+8.5= 28/30

28/30= 93.33%, making the episode an A tier. 

To call this episode heavy handed is a major understatement. It brings up a very touchy subject and doesn't bother to sugarcoat it once, showing it in the most gritty, uncomfortable way it could. It's not a pleasant watch for the most part, but it was never meant to be pleasant. Like I said I am in no way informed enough to speak about SA and the trauma surrounding it normally, so apologies if I got anything wrong. 

[hellaversereview]

 Scrambled Eggs Review 

Plot: Tensions from the second extermination news are shown to still be high, as a meeting between overlords is held to discuss how they're supposed to deal with it. Apparently the previous one from that year caused a devastatingly larger decline in the population than usual, and they fear what kind of damage they'd face when a second one of the same magnitude would occur. Apparently since both Vox and Valentino couldn't care less about the situation, they sent Velvette in as their stand in. She soon reveals the head of the dead exterminator to the group, the Vees having learned about the death offscreen, and declares that if there is a means to hurt angels they can potentially turn the tables of their enemies. Carmilla argues back that her proposal is reckless since she didn't know how the angel was killed. When Velvette brings up her suspicions she may know more about the death than she lets on, the meeting is abruptly ended as she is left unsure how to respond.

When her and Zestial think they are alone, Carmilla discloses with him that she was the killer of the exterminator. It had been a spur of the moment- her daughters had been threatened during the extermination and she'd done the deed to defend them. She refuses to let this information go out into the public as it may lead to overconfidence that the population can easily fight back in the next event, which she worried would cause unnecessary amounts of bloodshed. It is never explained how she pulled off the kill nor if this method could be recreated.

Their conversation hadn't been private. Just at the end of the meeting, Alastor had sent one of Pentious' "Eggboys" to spy on them, getting the information on what was revealed soon after. It's ambiguous what he will do with the information as of now, the there's a high chance his motives are self serving.

Meanwhile, Charlie sets up trust activities between the hotel group sans Alastor to try to better the reltionships between one another. Despite her concerns she wouldn't be the best for the job, she has Vaggie in charge of the activities assuring her she trusts her. The games start out with what should've been a simple trust fall that is cut short, Angel Dust's suggestion to take them to a BDSM club that doesn't end up going anywhere because of him being reprimanded for his suggestion, and the staff and patrons being forced into the middle of turf war into order to have to work together to survive. I initially thought that the city turfs wars would just be a pilot specific plot element that got dropped in the offical show, but apparently not. Vaggie starts to doubt her abilities and ends the activities, staying behind to give herself time to herself. However once she comes back to the hotel she learns that things had worked out, and the place's group had gotten closer with each other  in the end. 

Overall, this gets a 10/10. The Overlord plot did a really solid job at moving this season's main plot along with new developments, and the hotel plot worked as a good breather break to balance out the tone.  

Characters:

After being sidelined to give the other Vees screentime in the previous episode, Velvette is given her own independent screentime. This disproves my concerns that she'd end up having the short end of the stick for the trio's relevancy. She's blunt and brash, and heavily contrasts with the other overlords' more subdued demeanors during the meeting. After revealing the head and being told the death was not a clear sign they could make the next extermination an even match, she proceeds to tear into the others and cause the meeting to be prematurely ended by mentioning her irrefutable suspicions towards Carmilla. She may have only been in the one scene, but that was all she needed to stand out. 

Out of all of the debuting overlords, Carmilla is the most noteworthy due to her clear motives. She'd managed to off an exterminator in a spur of the moment attack when she may not even had realized that was possible, and is watching the consequences of this action in real time. Her wanting to save her daughters' lives had ironically put them in more danger due to her careless forgetting to dispose of the corpse in private, leading to the next mass execution event being arranged to happen sooner and several others such as the Vees and Alastor catching on to what she'd done. With the tension as bad as it is soon the conflict will boil over and come crashing down on her.

Charlie and Vaggie's dynamic gets more love here. After Charlie assigns Vaggie to be in charge of the trust activities, the latter is initially unsure if she was a good fit for the job. The former tries to assure her she'll do just fine, but in the end she's still worried her efforts had lead to no progress. Even if there was actual progress made in group relations in the end, Charlie realizes she was being too forceful on Vaggie with the role and thoroughly apologizes when they reunite. The two work well as an opposites attract duo, bouncing off of each other nicely. 

The character writing in general also gets a 10/10. Everything was spot on.

Humor: Other than the joke of Angel Dust taking the hotel group to a BDSM club dragging on a bit, the jokes were decently solid. This gets a 8.5/10. 

Songs: 

Respectless is a 9/10. It's a banger of a dueling song that uses the different style of Velvette and Carmilla to it's advantage with it's musical tone.

Whatever it Takes is a 10/10. Absolutely gorgeous duet that even has some banger rock in the background at parts. 

Both songs have an average of 9.5/10. Holy shit this episode's soundtrack slaps. 

Overall: 

10+10+8.5+9.5=38/40

38/40= 95%, making the episode a S tier. 

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from an episode named "Scrambled Eggs", and was pleasantly surprised by how great this was. I hope this is a good sign towards the quality of at least the next few episodes.

[hellaversereview]

Just as a head’s up, my episode reviews are not meant to condone or normalize the actions of VivziePop and the production team behind her shows. I am watching the episodes on a pirating site, which means my watching isn’t giving the people producing the episodes anything.

Bringing this up so there isn’t any confusion :)

[hellaversereview]

Radio Killed the Video Star Review 

Plot: The episode starts at least a few hours after the ending of the previous. After Alastor and Sir Pentious have a one sided brawl for the umpteenth time, the Vees are made aware of the former's return. Apparently he had gone MIA for seven years for an unknown reason, him and Vox having been in a feud prior. The latter had been quick to try to start up their dispute via song, and the former had been just as quick to shut him down. It's honestly fitting that the character who's actively against technology he deems "too modern" would be enemies with an anthropomorphic television.

After that failure, the attention of the trio then turns to the fact that Alastor was affiliated with Charlie due to assisting her with the hotel. She may be nice, but that doesn't stop her from receiving notoriety for being the daughter of Lucifer Morningstar. Concerned of the two making a deal due to their close proximity, Vox hires Pentious to spy on the hotel under the guise of wanting to redeem, so whatever happens inside the place could be kept under surveillance in case they wanted to intervene. The plan barley lasted half a day, as he is found out and exposed by Angel Dust later that night, causing the hire to be called off entirely as well as him genuinely joining the hotel.

Overall, this gets an 8/10. I think the main reason this felt slightly weaker plot wise is because it comes right after Overture, aka the bombastic exposition episode. It's solid story-wise but it didn't feel like it was able to fully live up to the episode before it. The only reason this segment is slightly shorter than usual was that there was a bit less to say here.

Characters: The characters are still a strong aspect, for the most part.

While Charlie isn't blaming herself for the extermination date being moved up like I was worried she would, she's still notably frazzled by the news. By that point in time she could feel the reality behind the deadline looming over her, which would definitely make an already difficult goal much more stressful. She's first willing to try going out on the street to try to convince the panicking crowds to become patrons as a last ditch effort until Angel Dust mentions how dangerous the outside is due to the panic, and after she instantly takes Sir Pentious in after his sudden request to join the hotel. Vaggie and Angel D had noted to her directly that the request felt unprompted considering he showed no indication of wanting to get better prior, but she brushes them off on the grounds that this was the first time they'd gotten a new patron in at least weeks. Despite the fact that by the end she did genuinely get the number of people taking part in her redemption program up, it was still only from one to two which wouldn't fully ease the tension. 

The main three characters that debut in this episode are the Vees, a trio of overlord demons who control the corporate and media aspects of the city. They consist of Vox, Velvette, and Valentino. Vox's business is capitalist greed taking to logical extremes, with him using mind manipulation to force viewers of the media to purchase overpriced technology and taking advantage of the crisis of the 6 months extermination to sell "security"(which is probably a scam) to the fearful crowds. His business motto is simply "Trust Us". He seems to make himself the de facto leader of the trio due to Velv being too apathetic and Val being too impulsive. He is most notable for his rivalry with Alastor, which brings out the more irrational side of him. He had offered him to join his group but was rejected, the feud having started then simply because of his wounded pride. From the little screentime she gets, Velvette seems to own a fashion modelling business where she's decently judgmental of those working underneath her. Her models get frequently killed, as shown with one having been ripped to pieces offscreen when she was first introduced. Compared to the other two there's not much going for her, to the point where I briefly forgot her name. Hopefully this isn't just because she'll be getting the short end of the stick when it comes to the trio's screentime in the rest of the season/series. The trio have a sibling-like relationship overall, where they only really tolerate each other but still work together nonetheless. 

Even if it's mostly unrelated to the main plots at this point, I still have to acknowledge the dynamic between Angel Dust and Valentino. At the beginning of the episode the former receives a dozen or so texts from the latter, which were initially concepts for the next porn video before devolving into cursing at him for not replying. Angel claims to the others at the hotel that Val was just tense over the news, but I'm very certain he knows full well that's a lie. During the introduction scenes of the vees, Vox confronts Valentino after he wrecks Velvette's studio and butchers one of her models in a fit of rage. It's revealed then that his frustration came from the fact that Angel D no longer lived at his studio. Angel hadn't quit or tried to quit his job, and he was still under a contract with him. And yet the prospects of him choosing to live on his own personal terms was enough to drive Val up a wall. It is made worse by the fact he was planning to try to shoot up the hotel out of spite in response, only backing off after being convinced it would ruin the trio's reputation. His frustration most likely stems from the idea he can't handle the idea of Angel D making independent decisions. He hadn't been onscreen for longer than a few minutes, yet was already showing red flags- his poor temper and his motives being overly controlling towards Angel.

 Angel Dust is notably more tense throughout the episode, making less sexual innuendos than usual. He points out how poor Charlie's plan to go out on the streets to promote the hotel is in a blunt manner, and during the acting workshop between him an Pentious he carries out the lines in an annoyed manner without even trying to change it up for his own personal interest like he did with the commercial in the previous episode. When he catches the ex-traitor setting up a camera in the building, his first instinct is to attack him, wrestling him to the ground before others show up and he has an opportunity to expose him. When he's alone in his bedroom, he checks his phone only to find dozens of voice mails from Val. They cycle between attempted love-bombing through words of affection such as calling him sweetheart in Spanish, insulting him with words like "slut", or outright threating him. He's not fazed by this until he's told by either a manifestation of his thoughts or Val performing an unspecified means of communication that he won't be able to get out of his degrading job anytime soon, meaning this is not the first time he's received voice mail like that. 

The relationship dynamic completely recontextualizes why Angel Dust had become Hazbin Hotel's first patron to begin with. He didn't join just because he'd be homeless otherwise, but because he wanted to escape from living in the same place as the possessive scumbag he was under contract of. He sees the place as a source of comfort or a reprieve as a result. He hasn't told any of the others about this by this point, most likely because he is unable to.

The character writing as a whole gets a 9/10. While certain aspects were notably lacking, like Velvette barely having a personality compared to Vox and Valentino and Sir Pentious being just as one note as he was in the pilot outside of select scenes, there haven't been any major declines. 

Humor: Nothing much has changed about the humor other than the fact I'm starting to get used to the slightly repetitive use of swearing. It's still a 7/10. 

Songs: I'm just going to assume the 2 song format is the norm from here on out. 

Stayed Gone is a 7/10. This is probably the most notable instance of the Alastor-Vox dispute in the entire episode. Vox openly challenges Alastor via song, trying to one-up him with insults broadcasted live. And yet, the moment Alastor joins the battle is over. Alastor calls out the fact that Vox's overconfidence is just compensating for the fact that he is much weaker on his own than he wants others to believe as well as the fact that he only started the conflict based on wounded pride, leading to the latter short-circuiting and causing a city-wide blackout. It's fun to watch the two go at each other, but it would've gotten a higher score if I actually liked it as a song rather than just as a verbal fight scene. 

It Starts With Sorry is a 5/10. It's inoffensively standard, and I'm probably going to just forget about it by next week. 

Both songs have an average of 6/10. It's slightly weaker than the average of the previous episode, but not by a lot. 

Overall: 

8+9+7+6= 30/40 

30/40= 75%, making the episode a B tier.  

The episode wasn't bad by any means. The problem we run into is that the episode before it was so good that the current one having slightly lower stakes makes it feel weaker in comparison. I still had a good time with this overall.

[hellaversereview]

Overture Review

With the pilot over with, I can jump straight into it's official Amazon Prime episodes. I was conflicted whether or not to include material made for the show between the pilot and the first season such as Dirty Healings, A Day in the Afterlife, and ADDICT, but ultimately decided against it. I doubt this will lead to any issues involving lore confusion in the future.

Plot: One thing worth noting right off the bat is that the formatting for this episode feels much more different than in the pilot. The pacing is slightly faster, the episode is 10 minutes shorter, and there's an AB plot structure not featured in pilot.

A week after the events of the pilot, things haven't gotten much better for the Hazbin Hotel considering no one else had entered the place since the initial group. The A plot follows Charlie having a meeting with the leader of Heaven's exorcist angel group Adam in the place of her father in order to propose her idea that redeeming the residents of Hell is a better option than "exterminating" them. Not only does is she unable to so much as bring up the idea until much later on because of his endless egotistical ramblings, the moment she does she is instantly shut down via musical number and told the next extermination event was to be scheduled for 6 months from then as opposed to the usual year. This gives ups the tension in her plot thread- not only does she still have to try to get her idea across to Hell despite most others being indifferent at best to it, she has a limited amount of time to do so. 6 months is not long when it comes to starting up a business essentially from scratch. To twist the knife further, it's revealed in the end that because a dead exorcist had been spotted in the streets Adam and Lute had planned to move up the date long before speaking to Charlie meaning her attempts at the proposal were complete useless. The question of who was responsible for the murder and how they pulled it off will most likely be brought up in subsequent episodes. 

Meanwhile in the B plot, Vaggie arranges for the rest of the hotel group to film a commercial for the place in order to help her close friend's new business gain attention. Unfortunately for her, most of the others she's working with aren't fit for filmed acting. Alastor despises TV and will distort video if anyone attempts to record him, Angel Dust's acting defaults to being overtly sexual, Husk under-acts and doesn't put enough care to actually memorize lines, and Nifty freezes up when recorded. Prior to that Alastor had recorded a shoddy "ad" for the place that was actively condescending just to spite the others, getting called out for it by Vaggie. In the end the only way they managed to get any semblance of a successful commercial was her agreeing that he wouldn't have to be involved in tasks like that if he actually tried to help. However, they never end up being able to show the finished product to Charlie after all is said and done due to it being interrupted by news of the next extermination.

Overall, this gets a 9/10. The pacing feels more natural, and I can tell the production team has gotten their footing fully with this. However it still shares the same problem with it's predecessor of having to be slightly exposition heavy for the sake of starting out. The introductions to some of the characters felt redundant with how well they were introduced in the pilot.

Character: Like with the episode before it, the characters are one of the stronger aspects of the episode. Their dynamics are clear and unique, and their personalities help drive the plot well.

The main three that I mentioned from the last review have seemed to have their personalities translated into the official show well. Charlie is still an idealist who understands the weight of the situation but still pushes through because of her sheer optimism. The implication with the voicemails that she hadn't been able to contact her mother had been proven true as it's mentioned she hadn't seen Lilith in 7 years. the first thing she does upon hearing she may be able to convince Heaven to call off the exterminations was to sing a whole musical number out in the streets, and she even tries explaining herself to Adam via song before she's cut off. Unfortunately, her open arms are met with a kick in the teeth as the angel exorcists mock her and explain they've moved up the event by a whole half a year. The issue is that the news of an exorcist being found murdered hadn't come up to her, and without that kind of context she could easily come to the wrong conclusion that her proposal inadvertently made things worse. Alastor is still shown only to assist the hotel out of boredom and his interest in watching others fail. He's given the new personality trait of his aversion to technology made beyond his time, with him showing disgust at the idea of a television and refusing to let himself be properly recorded. His agreement with Vaggie also further solidifies his transactional nature seen with his conversations with Charlie in the pilot. Angel Dust retains his self serving nature, his reason for staying at the hotel remaining about the same. His violent traits had been phased out for now, with him leaning more heavily into his sexual remarks and attitude. The lack of violence is probably just a biproduct of the turf wars from the pilot not being acknowledged.

After serving as mostly a support for Charlie in the pilot, Vaggie gets more personal screentime here mainly in the B plot. This further showcase her as the more cynical to the other's idealist, as their methods of working with others are put side by side. She's notably more blunt and unwilling to sugarcoat her exact thoughts to others, openly frustrated that the process of making a commercial was going way worse than it should've. She's not intimidated by Alastor in the slightest but rather irritated with his antics, probably because of having to put up with it for a week. Despite her usually hostile demeanor she notably cares deeply for Charlie, not judging her for talking to herself at the start of the episode and making the agreement with him once he mentions how much the place meant to her. She's the first to ask her what had happened when she hears her scream during a phone call, and is the first to ask when she comes home from the failed meeting with the angels. It's a set up to a wholesome friends to lovers arc amidst the chaos waiting to happen. During "Happy Day in Hell" she called angels "bloodthirsty and deranged", which is potentially foreshadowing to her former relationship with Heaven.

One other character worth noting is who I assume to be this season's main antagonist, Adam. He serves as the leader of the angel extermination group known as the Exorcists. In their interpretation of the Biblical book of Genesis, Lucifer and Lilith had come down from Heaven to share the gift of humanity with Eve as opposed to the original story of him deceiving her, leading to Hell being created out of both punishment and spite against them. The original narrative of the yearly exterminations happening to deal with the overcrowding problem had been retconned entirely, with the reason now being to make sure Heaven can never be opposed or rebelled against by Hell. Adam's personality works off of irony- despite angels being naturally associated with morally purity, he is crude and sadistic. He had a meeting arranged between himself, Lute, and Charlie solely to announce that the extermination would happen a second time that year, having not mentioned the fact once prior out of sheer spite. The fact that he stalls the single purpose of the the meeting under the guise of egotistical ramblings implies that he purposely set her up emotionally to be able to try to break her down harder. It's also stated at the end that the upcoming execution event will be much worse in scale than any of the prior. 

The character writing in general gets a 10/10. Other than a small hiccup of Vaggie acting suprised Alastor didn't assist with the hotel to see it succeed despite being there to hear him explain that to Charlie, everything was on point. I'm really looking forward to see how they move forward and develop the cast from this point on. 

Humor: While the "sex mention for the sake of it" part of the humor has been mostly toned down with most of the jokes being relegated to Angel Dust being himself, the swearing is still an issue. The scene could have an emotional tone and context behind it, and then one of the characters makes an out of place swear and it comes off as awkward rather than funny. However, it still isn't nearly as bad as the slander memes on the internet want you to believe. That combined with the sharp humor from the pilot episodes hits gives this a 7/10 overall. 

Song: The episode features 2 songs as opposed to the three in the pilot. They make up for less songs by having both be longer, giving each more time to shine.

Happy Day in Hell is a 6/10. It's pretty good and it accentuates Charlie's main personality well, but it's pretty standard when it comes to an "I Want" song. With the pilot episode already establishing that she is a major outlier and using both "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" and "Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow" as personal want songs it comes off as slightly redundant but still charming nonetheless. 

Hell is Forever is an 8/10. If it wasn't for the lyrics being somewhat repetitive and Charlie's awkward segment at the beginning this could've easily been rated a 9 or 10. It uses it's visuals much better than I expected and also the rock aspects of it are unironically a banger. 

Both songs have an average of 7/10, which is an improvement from the pilot's average song score. The songs feel more professionally made overall, probably because since the show was made official by that point the production team could afford to make it a higher quality. 

Overall:

9+10+7+7=33/40 

33/40= 82.5%, making the episode an A tier. 

If the pilot episode was just promising, this episode has me completely hooked. I really can't wait to see how the plot carries out for the rest of the season, and what kind of depth and development all the characters will be receiving. Checking this show out to figure out my opinion was not a mistake.

[hellaversereview]

Pilot(That's Entertainment) Review

Within the past few years, one thing I've always seen when it comes to the internet community is the controversy around Vivziepop's work, aka the Hellaverse. This review series will serve as my personal opinion on the matter, as I plan to watch both of her shows and document my personal thoughts. I just thought it'd be ridiculous to base my assumptions purely on whatever I hear from both their fans and haters, so here we are. Keep in mind to please take my thoughts with a major grain of salt, though. It's just my opinion. I'm not forcing you to agree with me.

That aside, the review will obviously start with the Hazbin Hotel pilot, released on October 28th, 2019.

Plot:

The basic plot serves to establish Hell as a location, as well as set up what I'm pretty sure is one of the major plot threads of the first season. From the get-go Hell is shown to be a complete shithole, with turf wars over certain portions of the city being commonplace and its inhabitants having mostly let go of moral standards. It didn't help that apparently the place held a yearly event where angel exterminators would come down from heaven and execute an unspecified(at least dozens) amount of of the population. It is explicitly stated in the episode that the exterminations occur to deal with an overcrowding problem, but apparently this is never brought up or acknowledged much in the official series.

Charlie Morningstar(or Magne in the pilot for some reason), who is notably an outlier due to her more benevolent personality, is trying to start up the titular hotel as a means of redeeming others to get them out of hell in a non-lethal manner. Her idea is initially disregarded- her proposal is mocked by the public, Angel Dust had only agreed to become the hotel's first patron to avoid being homeless and hadn't even bothered to abide by the reformation requirements she'd set up, and Alastor had only offered her help because he apparently had nothing better to do and wanted to see her fail for the shits and giggles. It gives off the obvious vibes that this is setting up a situation where, over the course of the first season, Charlie will gradually beat the odds against her and get the hotel to succeed. Considering this is only a pilot episode and a proof of concept, this plot thread will most definitely be expanded on for the actual series.

Overall, it's an 8/10. It works very well as exposition, with the 30 minute runtime giving the plot time to breath and with an overall solid pacing structure. The characters were introduced is ways where I can fully understand their general personalities yet want to see what they'll be like by the end once they're fleshed out and experience development, as well as receive enough screentime to have at least one memorable moment. However, it does get some points docked off simply because since it has to spend so much time on exposition, it may not end up sticking out compared to subsequent episodes in hindsight.

Characters: In my opinion, the characters and character dynamics are the strongest aspect of the pilot. I'll just go over the major characters and what made them stand out to me.

Firstly, I have to mention the episode's protagonist Charlie. Throughout the episode she's portrayed as divergent from her peers simply because of her openly friendly attitude. In a place where her peers frequently give in to their vices and would only show warmth to each other once in a blue moon, she sticks out like a sore thumb. Even her closest friend and supporter(and potential lesbian partner according to what I've seen online) Vaggie is shown to contrast from her greatly with her more cynical personality. Keep in mind that she's the only major characters that never threatens or attempts harm on another, or really snaps at anyone for that matter. She's slightly naive with her assumption she can sway other's opinions with a simple musical number, but that the same time's she's shown to have insecurity issues. During her live interview with news reporter Katie Killjoy she had stumbled over her words a few times and sounded slightly awkward as she explained the meaning behind the hotel naming scheme, her subsequent breaking out into song coming across as overcompensation when she initially doesn't get the response she'd hoped. After the interview blows up in her face due to a combination of the audience not caring for her cause and her only patron blatantly contradicting her word by being himself, she ends up sending her mother a voicemail in private voicing her worries that her attempts may never work. That scene implied not only that she sends voicemails to Lilith frequently as her attempts to call her never succeed, but also that her relationship with her father Lucifer was shaky at best. She feels like an overall balanced character, and I only hope the writer's can keep her from leaning into one side of her personality too much with the actual series. If she's too optimistic she'd come off as blind, and if she she was too insecure or anxious it might drag down the tone.

Alastor is an interesting case for a character. Despite having notably less screentime compared to the other main characters having shown up later on, he manages to receive the same amount of characterization as them. Right off the bat he stands out due to his vocal quirks, the way he speaks in a manner akin to a early 20th century radio host with a static laden voice to boot. His first major action upon his debut was offering to help Charlie with her plans for the titular hotel claiming he only wanted to see her try and fail, and once the two strike an agreement without a deal he is quick to spruce up the place and force Nifty and Husk into being the place's new employees. At the same time it's revealed that he'd gained notoriety within Hell for the amount of power and control he apparently contains. By the end he proves that the infamy he'd built up wasn't entirely baseless as he annihilates Sir Pentious' blimp not only within seconds but while barely moving a muscle, and seemingly has the ability to warp the background to some extent. I've heard he may not fully live up to the build up he receives here, so I hope the shift isn't too severe.

Angel Dust is the most notable example of a comedic relief in the episode. He's not good by any means, but he's more self serving than actively malicious. For example, he viewed his affiliation with the hotel as a means of a free place to live, not caring about how him promising to do better only to just go back to his usual routine would negatively impact the business even when he's being called out for it. He's completely careless, making blatant sexual innuendos while fighting Pentious with Cherry Bomb and apparently not paying enough attention to know who Alastor war before Vaggie explained it to him. Apparently he's has a lot of emotional baggage/trauma despite his initial demeanor, so it'll be interesting to see that play out.

As a whole, the characters are a 9/10 in their current state. It's not a 10/10 because there's still room for concern that the pilot characterization may not translate well into the official show.

Humor: Unfortunately, the humor is probably the weakest aspect of the episode overall. The jokes are generally hit or miss, with hits pretty decently funny and misses making it seem like they're trying too hard. When using more a more edgy type of humor there has to be a certain amount of sharpness and good set-up/timing to it. As a result, when the jokes failed a handful of times it felt like they'd just bring up sex or swearing for the sake of it. As a result, it gets a 5/10. I can only hope and pray the humor doesn't get any worse with the actual show.

Songs: The following episode features 3 songs. I'll just go over my ratings for each one individually.

I'm Always Chasing Rainbows is a 7/10. While I feel like it's definitely going to pale in comparison to whatever banger songs come out for subsequent Hellaverse content, it's still a solid song to start things off. I honestly like Charlie's singing voice in this, and the emotional core of her character is set up beautifully here.

Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow is a 4/10. It's not terrible, but it suffers from an issue where it's clearly trying too hard to be Broadway with the lyrics being slightly cringey at times. The visuals are fine though and I'm sure it was deliberately made to sound tryhard-y given the context.

Alastor's Reprise(Inside of Every Demon is a Lost Cause) is a 5/10. The visuals work well but it's very short so I can't rate it too high. I assumed that this was going to be set up for a duet between Alastor and Charlie but apparently it was too late in the episode and it was cut off before something like that could happen, which is honestly disappointing.

The songs have an average score of 5.33/10. It's not bad, just middle of the road.

Overall:

8+9+5+5.33= 27.33/40

27.33/40= 68.33%, making the episode a B tier.

This episode shows the potential for the rest of it's show to be great. It's strengths are solid and it's weaknesses aren't super egregious. Keep in mind that were was a 4-5 year gap between this pilot and the first season being aired on Amazon Prime, meaning that the production team most likely had time to fix out the kinks and problems this may have had. I don't know if things get better or worse from here, but I'd like to remain optimistic.