#show analysis

[shyjusticewarrior]

People always cut out the "uh" in "mister, uh, landlord" but it's very precious to me.

It's like he took a sec to remember the english word for landlord but powered through because he must make fun of Shane for this.

[bayfuzzball7050]

Nice take I found on Reddit

[leikeliscomet]

I'm seeing Black fans across the diaspora sharing their interpretations so I'd like to share mine for the Black British + Ghanaian POV

Abi looks after the customers & they show her a sign of respect. A bit of Nigerian-Ghanaian solidarity. Growing up, my Nigerian friends always supported me and helped me understand my Ghanaian heritage as someone whose African & Caribbean so I liked this small moment

Next is the obvious inclusion of Anansi. I kinda wish they specified hes Ghanaian in the episode but either way it's nice to have small slice of Ghana in the show

& lastly the ending with the Barber feels like a mini commentary on Black British identity. The Barber despite looking like them has no community or identity, but Omo gives him one. He can now reconnect with his culture that he once lost. He can tell his own story now.

[itssupernovae]

The Tragedy of Charlie Magne | (Pilot) ANALYSIS + Fanon Stuff!

So I hear a lot of people complain that Charlie is a protagonist missing any depth. And when it comes down to the execution of her character in Prime, I… don’t disagree with that. But—I wanna take a closer look at something.

Charlie Magne isn’t shallow. She’s a tragedy wrapped in optimism, and the pilot quietly told us that in a two-minute song.

Let’s take a look at it together! I love analysis, it’s just so fun. I think a lot of people just ignore this or something, or maybe this flies over people’s heads, I don’t know—but the pilot alludes to some serious potential trauma rooted in Charlie’s character.

“I’m Always Chasing Rainbows”

It’s her starting song for a reason.

“At the end of the rainbow, there's happiness

And to find it how often I’ve tried”

Charlie clearly struggles to feel happy in Hell, much despite her own character. She presents herself as bright and bubbly and confident in the pilot, especially on the outside—for instance, during the interview with Katie Killjoy.

But when she’s alone, we often see her breaking down, crying.

She puts effort into not letting anyone see this side of her—she wipes her tears before entering the hotel. We immediately are struck with a duality—Charlie is struggling with something that she doesn’t let anyone see. She only lets the outside world see the blinding ray of sunshine she can be, while keeping the thunderous rainstorm inside of her hidden.

I don’t know how recent of an idea of the “Happy Hotel” was to her, but the lyrics she’s singing alludes to a past full of painful, failed passion projects.

“But my life is a race, just a wild goose chase

And all my dreams have been denied”

It paints this sort of picture of a young, creative, imaginative Charlie who grew up entertaining all sorts of ideas. Ideas—apparently which never saw the light. It makes me wonder how many other dreams Charlie may have tried to pursue before the Happy Hotel.

Charlie struggles to find happiness—she thinks she’ll be able to find it in these “dreams,” which she has been “denied”. She’s aware of her miserable failings, but it doesn’t stop her, because she still thinks she can find it.

Why ‘Bad Communication’ Isn’t Enough

“Why have I always been a failure

What can the reason be

I wonder if the world's to blame

I wonder if it could be me”

This part is fascinating because as she sings “Why have I always been a failure,” Lucifer’s silhouette crosses over her—this already illustrates an unspoken answer. Even if he’s not physically there, his judgment fills the room.

The most common argument I see people make regarding this scene is “Charlie just misunderstood Lucifer because he’s bad at communicating.”

I don’t fully disagree with this, but I largely dislike this argument because it oversimplifies trauma. According to her own song, Charlie is constantly feeling like a failure—like nothing she does ever amounts to anything. As if nothing she does has any value. She even goes as far to blame herself—“I wonder if it could be me”—for never being enough—for being the problem all along.

“I don’t know if I’m going to make a difference.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing…”

“I think dad was right about me.”

During her voicemail to Lilith—Charlie clearly feels like she can’t trust her own good conscience anymore because of how truly insecure she is. She feels lost.

This is heartbreaking. This isn’t just “bad communication.” This pattern of thinking—more often than not—stems from a lifelong pattern of repeated emotional neglect. This is where I think the “Lucifer was retconned” argument comes in.

The thing is, Prime does try to halfway-sort-of introduce this conflict between Charlie and Lucifer—but resolves it in a single episode—often leaving the audience to forget there was even a conflict in the first place.

It explains why barely anyone—even the fandom—takes Charlie’s feelings seriously.

That’s why this aspect of the show is always a topic of heavy criticism. Because of how “rushed” it is. Because of how they just throw Charlie’s feelings away like that. Because of how fake it feels. Because realistically, years of emotional trauma to this extent—alluded to in the pilot—cannot be resolved within a single song.

“I'm always chasing rainbows

Watching clouds drifting by

My schemes are just like all my dreams

Ending in the sky”

In the pilot—Charlie does not only seem to fail in pursuing her dreams, but she even sees them as nonsensical and silly herself. She seems to struggle to take herself seriously—but the way she’s written in Prime makes it so the audience doesn’t take her seriously either. And that is why she isn’t a fan favorite—neither in the fandom nor out of it. Her writing makes her fail as a protagonist.

This was not the right direction to go with her. The show wasn’t supposed to prove Charlie’s insecurities, and say aww it’s okay, and then baby her. The show was supposed to show us why Charlie is wrong, and help her grow and learn.

I think her insecurity is likely a reflection of the way she was parented. Parents often set up the foundation of security. The way you were raised determines if you’re secure or insecure.

“Some fellows look and find the sunshine

I always look and find the rain

And some fellows make a winning sometime

And I never even make a gain”

Charlie also seems to compare herself to others, which is a red flag of behavior that suggests she may have been compared to her peers in childhood—nonetheless a key indicator of emotional neglect.

Now I actually don’t think this automatically confirms Lucifer to be emotionally abusive on purpose. It’s why I think there’s some weight to the previous argument.

Emotional neglect is not always about what did happen, it’s about what didn’t. Lucifer might've been a loving father, but that doesn’t make him a good one. His “inadequacies” in certain areas clearly had a devastating impact on Charlie, whether he meant to do that or not.

When it comes down to it, I think of my own dad who was very involved in my life—but it was the little things that affected me in the end—the things that didn’t happen enough. Things like:

- Brushing aside emotions

- Being told she is too much at times

- Not enough praise towards her own character—praise geared towards prestige/achievement

- Not showing how she is loved at every stage of her life—the child begins to wonder how she can earn that love back—she forms an identity around praise (prestige/achievement)

- Constant critique on how she should improve her own achievements

- Lack of support/interest for the child’s own individuality or hobbies

You can have a silly, goofy father that loves you, but you can still have all of this. I would know. I don’t think it matters what Lucifer’s intentions were. The damage is clearly done, and it’s hit Charlie very hard.

The Rainbow Metaphor

Actually—look at the symbolism here. Charlie’s other song, Inside Of Every Demon Is A Rainbow, seems simply silly and whimsical at first. But when you compare it to her song at the beginning, you stumble across a startling metaphor.

“At the end of the rainbow, there’s happiness.”

“I’m always chasing rainbows.”

“Inside of every demon is a rainbow.”

Rainbow = Happiness.

Chasing Rainbows = Charlie desperately seeking out happiness.

Inside of every demon is a rainbow = Her happiness lies with the people of hell.

I see Charlie as someone who continually puts others above herself because she believes she is unworthy. I believe Charlie spent her entire childhood believing that she wasn’t enough, that she wasn’t important, that her feelings were irrelevant, and that if she could just work a little harder, she could finally make a difference, and only then could she finally matter. She finally wouldn’t be a failure. She’d finally be loved.

I see Charlie as someone who’ll stop at nothing to redeem her people—because she’s got it in her head that if she can’t even do this, then she really can’t do anything—that she’s failed her people, her father, and herself.

And once she realizes that, she’ll realize Hell is entirely better off without her. Because she’s the odd one out. The oddity. The defect.

Because her parents never told her she was already enough as is.

Hazbin Hotel’s Original Premise

This automatically sets up a driving force: Charlie sacrificing her health, overworking herself (I always imagined her as a workaholic), forgoing her needs, putting all of herself into this hotel, because, in a way, the state of the hotel symbolizes her fragile emotional state. If it’s successful, she’s happy. If it’s failing, she’s lost.

It sets up devastation: if redemption does indeed not work, Charlie will question everything—her worth, her value, her life. It sets up fear, agony, and tragedy.

That’s why redemption already works as the perfect antagonist. If the show were to focus more on redemption, it would create a continuous, shadowing overarching conflict (which realistically should have extended for a couple of seasons—perhaps the whole show). It would have allowed a ton more development on the characters (since they’d be fighting themselves, with redemption as the antagonist) and we would have been able to thoroughly explore their arcs—including Charlie’s arc.

The pilot didn’t simply start with any whimsical little song. It started with a cry for help.

I firmly believe that people mischaracterize Charlie when they say that her blinding optimism stems from naïveté.

Charlie isn’t stupid. She’s educated. She doesn’t take shit from other demons! She doesn’t trust Alastor. She firmly sets her boundaries and does not make a deal with him—she would never do that!

Charlie isn’t someone who just stands off to the side in the face of prejudice, cruelty, or injustice. She wouldn’t let Valentino lick her fucking arm, or just let Angel Dust, her friend, be mistreated! She stands her ground. She isn’t someone who pouts and whines “That’s so meeeaan,” when confronted regarding her usage of power. That is an awful and painful mischaracterization. Of course she has restraint, but Charlie Magne has always been someone who is unafraid to use her power to fight for what she knows is right.

Charlie Magne isn’t shallow. She’s a tragedy wrapped in optimism, and the pilot quietly told us that in a two-minute song. Charlie is a strong, beautiful, intelligent young woman and her optimism doesn’t stem from naïveté—it stems from survival.

And that, to me, is an incredible protagonist worth rewriting.

[cyajacky]

One funny thing I always notice from Alastor's and Rosie's "Don't you forget" song is that once Rosie commands Alastor to sing along he starts to sing clever workarounds to the humiliating lyrics.

Repeating "You are my pet" as "Yours since we met"

Singing "I am in your net" instead of Rosie's "I am your pet" or "There's no way out" that she sings after "Don't you forget"

Repeating Rosie's words of "I say when to sit and stay" instead of swapping "I" to "You"

This is deliberate, since in the first "Don't you forget" he swaps it to "I won't forget" (Which is also a clever way of avoiding singing "I am your pet")

And in P*ime sing-along Youtube song (But not in Am*zon Pr*me's subtitles, don't know why they're different) it shows that he swaps the pronouns in the last verse "(You'll)I'll have to do this on (your)my own"

Ah, the details of it are so great. Just goes to show how dangerous he is- in chains, scheming, and toeing the line of what he can get away with

[biggesthomuradefender]

one thing i feel like some ppl forget, gloss over, or just don’t know abt madoka/madokami, is that her existence as a concept/god is much more than being lonely and unhappy, it also involves a cycle of endless and constant suffering and purification w absolutely no reward outside of saving magical girls from being witches.

let me explain:

when madoka made her wish, aka became a god, she swore to prevent all witches from the past, the present, and the future forever, meaning that madoka is CONSTANTLY sending herself everywhere at once all the time in order to do that, while also having to absorb the negative energy from their gems AND purify it all at the same time.

could you imagine just how absolutely fucking exhausting and lonely that is? not only does no one know or remember her, outside of homura, and she can’t even interact w anybody outside of her role as a savior and a god.

and she constantly has to purify all of the negative energy she absorbs 24/7. is an endless cycle with, as i said before, zero reward except for preventing witches.

there’s a scene in rebellion where madoka reaches for homura, and each time she does, you can see scars littered on her arm (s). not only is that a literal representation of her dying for the “sins”, aka wishes of all magical girls, but i also think that they’re meant to signify madoka’s pain, the pain she hides and lies about behind her god status and her genuine, loving demeanor.

it’s why the flower scene is so important and powerful; yes, it may have been madoka w/o her proper memories intact, but that’s exactly it: madoka is only able to be so honest w homura right then and there bc she doesn’t remember her godly obligations, all of her guilt and responsibilities at all.

and homura knows all of this. it’s why her reaction is so intense, desperate, and painful, esp after her fake world begins to rly fall apart; like madoka, homura very easily blames herself for a lot, even the stuff that isn’t rly her fault and she’s just being unfair/mean to herself.

[allastoredeer]

I have a question!

I keep seeing arguments for both sides, so I'm curious what you think

I'm both seasons, the hotel crew doesn't go looking for Alastor (after the battle and during the kidnapping ). Most people say this is exactly what the crew should have done since Alastor doesn't care about them anyway and hasn't been helpful

Then on the other side, it's pointing out that charlie does still include him in her songs and drawings as part of the family . So it hurts when they leave him be

Where do you think Alastor stands in terms of the hotel family dynamic ?

Hmm good question.

I love Alastor being fully part of that found-family, whether he's shocked when he realizes he's been pulled into the family unit, or silently doing this thang and pretending he isn't in the family unit. I also love him yearning to be part of the group cuz he does want community and connection (Rosie described him as the "Toast of New Orleans" and we see him surrounded by a lot of people) and I like to think he wants that again, but he's very emotionally constipated, has trust issues, and doesn't want the vulnerability that comes from relying on other people.

I also love it when something happens to Alastor (or he leaves) and the Hazbin crew realize how integral he had become in their family unit.

But without my rose-tinted glasses, I think where Alastor stands in the family dynamic is that he's kind of just there. He joins them/watches their shenanigans, or lingers on the outskirt and observes everyone, but it's pretty easy to ignore for the most part; and I don't say that in the sense that they're disregarding him, but more like they've gotten so used to him lurking in the background that they don't question it or really notice it anymore. He's become another fixture in the periphery.

He joins them when he decides to, not when they request it--granted we haven't seen them actually invite him in their shenanigans (which is understandable, Alastor is an Overlord, he's dangerous, can be aloof and unsettling, and they may just not know how to interact with him, especially when his relationship with certain characters can be complicated, like with Husk (and maybe even Angel considering he and Husk are close and relate to each other due to their souls being owned by an Overlord and being at their beck and call). I can see Angel not really wanting to give Alastor that much grace due to his own experience with Valentino and how attached he is with Husk, even if a part of him may enjoy Alastor's company).

In the same vein, Angel's already shown that he's not that upset with Alastor leaving, see his comment when Alastor quit in "It's A Deal."

Angel:  (laughs) You should've moved in sooner.

Which I also find interesting considering he and the most of the others looked happy when Alastor returned in season at the end of "The Show Must Go On."

So we've seen them be HAPPY with his presence but they also weren't that worried when he was captured by Vox nor did they make any move to go get him when he was being paraded around and humiliated, while also knowing how bad Vox is based on what Angel has said about him:

Angel Dust: Charlie, listen to me. I don't know what they promised you, but I'm telling you right now they are bad fucking news. Horrible fucking news!

Angel Dust: And I ain't being your little guinea pig. Especially in front of Vox. He gets off to watching people suffer. Dude is an absolute cunt-fuck.

Keeping in mind Angel's tone, he sounded genuinely scared and panicked. So they at least have a small idea of how bad Vox can be based on how closely Angel is associated with the Vee's. He literally knows them better than everyone else in the Hazbin crew, except for maybe Baxter (Alastor knows Vox very well, but that may not extend to Valentino or Velvette).

And yes, I know Alastor wanted to be where he was and he likely would've been annoyed if they did saved hi, but they didn't know that. They also may not be worried just because they assume Alastor can handle himself and as an Overlord he'll be fine.

Still, there wasn't a lot of concern for him or much of a negative reaction when he quit and left. Husk ended up leaving but he was using Alastor's absence as an excuse, and him leaving cause WAY bigger of a stir in the group.

Charlie had a moment of concern but she also seemed pretty annoyed that he was kidnapped:

Charlie: Ugh! This would just be so much easier with Alastor. He was supposed to host the hotel, not get fucking kidnapped and-- (worried) Oh, God, what do you think they're doing to him, Vaggie?

Vaggie: I'm sure he's okay. You know Al, he's always up to something.

(Which buys into them not being overly concerned because they're aware he typically has something up his sleeves). So there was a moment of concern but they moved past it pretty quickly.

I guess overall, Alastor's dynamic in the group is that he's not that involved in the family unit and not much changes in the group dynamic if he's not there. There's not a lot of concern put towards his absence (which we also see during the season 1 finale song--although keeping in mind that song was speed-running through an entire month so for all we know they had talked or expressed concern for him disappearing after the fight); and outwardly Alastor doesn't seem all that upset about it either.

Personally, I hope he gets closer to the Hazbin crew and becomes more integral in their found family. Niffty's the one who's shown the most concern for Alastor and genuine care for him seeing how she raced to his aid the moment she saw he was fighting the Vee's. I also think there's hints of Husk have a deeper, more complicated relationship with Alastor considering how comfortable he was about confronting Alastor about Mimzy, his confidence in Alastor protecting them/having their backs if Vox tried anything at the hotel, the fact that he showed up in the slot-machines during "Love In A Bottle" alongside Angel and Charlie, and his general apathy towards Alastor's presence whenever he's around.

I think those two (and Charlie a bit) have the closest relationship to Alastor out of the Hazbin crew, which I also find interesting since he owns the souls of 2 people out of those 3, but overall his presence isn't really needed nor are his absences really acknowledged.

Like I said, I hope he gets closer to all of them and that he has a craving for community, but I guess we'll see when season 3 comes around.