Yo I haven’t really seen anyone talking about this, but there are certain parts of Hazbin Hotel that can be extremely triggering for survivors of RAMCOA and SA.
I just finished watching the show and I loved it. But episode four was extremely triggering for me.
I will be describing a couple scenes somewhat thoroughly, none of which are super important to the plot, but all of which may be triggering to read. I think it’s important to have a trauma informed description of these scenes out there.
This is NSFW, the episode is 18+ and I don’t recommend that people under 18 read this. However if you’re going to watch this episode anyways, you deserve to have trigger warnings as well.
(Spoilers for episode four and minor NSFW under the cut)
The episode starts off with a warning for depictions of sexual abuse. The warning lasts for about 10-20 seconds, and that was enough for me to read it fully. This warning is very brief and does not describe the extent of what is shown in the episode. After the warning, it jumps into a scene where Angel Dust is tied to a chair, and an interrogator comes out and starts to have s3x with him. This is shown to be a CNC ✨film✨ when it zooms out to show Angel Dust playing it for the residents of Hazbin Hotel. Even knowing it is just a ✨film✨, I found it a little odd that it was the first scene shown, especially without prior context.
The next scene I wanted to talk about is when Angel is about to start filming with his boss, Valentino. Again this is going to include spoilers, I’m going to try and keep them minimal but yk.
Charlie decides that she is going to go to Valentino’s studio and demand that Angel spends more time at the hotel. She trips and causes an accident. Valentino pulls Angel into his dressing room, and starts physically abusing him. He uses his smoke abilities to shackle Angel’s hands and neck, putting Angel on a leash. He then drags Angel forward and shows Angel the contract he signed at one point, letting Valentino own his soul. Afterwards he says a series of lines reminding Angel that he is unable to say no, one being “If I say you’re fvcking 20 guys before lunch, you say..”
As a tr4ffick1ng survivor myself, this scene kinda fucked me up. What is going on between Angel and Val is blatant tr4ffick1ng, and it doesn’t say anything about this in the warning at the beginning of the episode.
Soon after this, Angel has a musical number. The music video for this shows a lot of k1nk gear, “C”NC, Angel being clearly distressed and scared, etc. With the added context of Angel being unable to say no, all of this was again, pretty triggering for me. In one scene, Angel is blindfolded and has something out on to keep his mouth open, he is then thrown onto the floor, and pushed “onto” someone. This was the most upsetting scene for me.
The only notable scene after this, is when Angel goes to a bar and a guy spikes his drink. It’s pretty unrealistic and didn’t personally upset me, but I do think it’s important to mention.
Honestly??? Even with it being triggering, this was my favorite episode. I was able to use coping skills and watch it with a friend, and I took a break after the musical number to talk and eat food. This episode in general does a really great job at fleshing out Angel’s character, and gives him a lot of depth that we haven’t previously been that exposed to. After the scenes I described, it gets better and Angel is able to open up for the first time, which I think is nice.
With all of that being said, I do think this is a weird episode to have in a serious typically marketed as 16+. In the warning on this episode, it does say that it’s for people 18 and older. But idk how they expect a 16 year old to just not watch the one episode said to be 18+.
