Vox backstory meta post
I don't usually go here (in terms of making meta posts or in terms of this fandom) but I finished the second season of Hazbin Hotel this morning, and something has been percolating in my brain all day, so here we are. If the people demand it, I can make a second post with more general thoughts about the season, of which I certainly have many, but for the time being, this post is about something very specific.
(SPOILERS AHEAD, for those who care about that sort of thing.)
Namely, I have a major gripe with Vox's backstory, as shown in episode 7.
Did I love how it was conveyed via montage? Absolutely. Did I enjoy the fact that it was set to music? 100%. Did I also want more out of "Brighter"? Yes, because I'm a huge fan of Christian Borle and wanted something that showcased his talent and range a little better.
My main problem is that Vox should not have been a serial killer. At least, not in the way depicted in the montage.
One of the common themes all season is that Vox relies on other people constantly in order to realize his accomplishments. He's dependent on the other Vees in particular, a fact that delights Alastor and one that he uses to piss Vox off to no end (and, of course, execute his plan).
It is repeated to us over and over again throughout the course of the season that Vox does not do any of the heavy lifting. Vox does not do any of the dirty work. Vox uses everyone around him to boost himself up to higher and higher heights. This is the core of who he is in hell.
So why on earth wasn't he like that in life?
The Vox we see in the montage (hereafter referred to as "Vincent" for clarity) still craves more, insatiably, all the time, but he works alone. He kills people one by one in order to supplant them, stealing their looks - just watch as his outfits change throughout - and higher positions. It's never enough.
Vincent gets his hands dirty. The Vox we know would never, and that discrepancy doesn't sit right with me.
We are told early on in this season that Vincent had been a cult leader. I had assumed, earlier, that meant that he had been a televangelist on earth, which led to the cult. I had assumed that his death had to do with something going horribly wrong or getting out of hand (Jonestown type situation, getting investigated by the feds, murder by a fanatic, etc.).
In the montage, we barely see the cult. It's apparent that Vox is in hell because he was a serial killer, not because of the cult. The cult doesn't even do anything. The first time we see them is when Vincent dies, which I'll circle back to in a minute. The cult seems like an afterthought when instead it was built up as, through Vox's repeated spins, charms, and manipulations over the course of the season, the reason he's stuck down in hell as a sinner.
Vincent having been a traditional serial killer in life feels disjointed with the character of Vox, and it also feels a bit cheap when we've established that Alastor is in hell for also being a serial killer.
However, I think that the "serial murder to climb a ladder with no end" should have stayed in Vox's backstory. I just think that Vincent should have convinced his cult members to do it.
Vox is charming, manipulative, power-hungry, and, most importantly, reliant on other people to get things done for him. Vincent should have reflected that. He should have gotten more and more people into his throng as he got better and better positions, and he should have convinced them to do the work of clearing the path for him. Not only would this have fed into the narrative that Vox is permanently reliant on other people, but it also would have allowed us to see how Vincent would have spun things in real life to work in his favor and give himself plausible deniability for his actions. This would have shown a clear progression from Vincent, literally supposed to be a cult leader but is instead a serial killer, on earth to Vox, the manipulative, outsourcing media overlord we love/hate here in hell.
As for Vincent's death, I'm sorry, but a TV falling on his head is too literal for me. It isn't compelling, at least not the way that it's shown in the episode. I would love if he died on the air, and that's why Vox has the TV head. That could have happened in a variety of ways: an accident on set, a murder on camera by a crazed fan, or even, if he were pushed far enough by outside sources (such as the threat of getting caught and having everything ripped away from him), suicide on air. There were options to make it much less literal and far more in line with Vox's character.
TL;DR: Vox shouldn't have done the dirty work himself on earth. It's antithetical to his characterization in hell.
