HOLY FUCK I THINK I FIGURED SOMETHING OUT
So, the scene where Alastor gets free of his Deals with Rosie and Vox has been bothering me since I first watched "Curtain Call" at 4 am this morning.
For one, why did Charlie saying Vox is the most powerful break his Deal with Rosie?
What does her words change in this situation? Like, if Vox is more powerful, then he's more powerful, regardless of what Charlie says, right? It's not like there seems to be any magic involved other than Alastor using the Favor she gave him. Vox himself has been saying he's more powerful than Alastor for a while, so it's not like they just needed someone's verbal confirmation. And there's a significant delay between Charlie's words and the leash around Alastor's neck vanishing.
I was trying to figure this out all day. Maybe he needed the ego boost to transform into demon mode, and that was what tipped him over the edge to being the strongest sinner? But even then, there's this still a delay between Vox transforming and the collar vanishing.
Additionally, if Alastor's Deal with Rosie was broken, then how did he still have his power? My understanding of Deal Magic is that if the Deal is broken, it's broken. Neither side seems to keep what they got. Why would Alastor get to keep his power for free?
But what if Charlie didn't break Alastor's Deal with Rosie? What if she completed it?
Let's go through the scene again.
Charlie says: "Vox is the strongest sinner in Hell"
Then, we cut to three separate reaction shots where the people of Hell cheer.
The delay for those three reaction shots can be explained by them occurring simultaneously, and if the next shot was Alastor's leash vanishing, then I wouldn't have thought this much about it.
But the next shot is actually Vox and Charlie. Vox laughs maniacally, then transforms, screaming "Oh, yeah!"
Then Vox delivers another line of dialogue: "Look, Princess! Hell's finally listening to you!"
Only THEN do we cut to Alastor, with the collar breaking.
And not just Alastor, but Rosie, too.
Why include Rosie here? Specifically like this? The collar around Alastor's throat broke, but we don't actually see anything on Rosie's end that looks broken. And the sound effect at this bit isn't the sound of something shattering or breaking. Listen.
There's a sort of magical "ting!" as the collar breaks, and a dramatic "thrum!" when Rosie's eyes flash.
The time delay between Charlie's line and Alastor's collar breaking is 18 seconds.
The delay between Vox saying that Hell is listening to Charlie and the collar breaking is less than a second.
What if the task Alastor was supposed to complete for Rosie was making Hell listen to Charlie? At least three separate times in this episode, we are reminded about Alastor's cunning specifically when it comes to words and Deals.
Right after this when Alastor escapes Vox's captivity is the first reminder.
Vox: "Fucking wordplay?! You tricked me with a fucking technicality?! Seriously?!"
Alastor: "Mmm... it worked, didn't it? Baby, I'm a demon in Hell! It's kind of our thing!"
Then, Rosie reminds us twice in her and Alastor's part of "Hear My Hope." "Why don't you help them, you double-dealing manipulator?" and "I will not reward a snake like you."
On that note, Rosie seems angry with him here. Like she didn't get what she wanted.Like, perhaps, she wanted him to help Charlie, but he used her phrasing to his advantage to free himself without actually having to help that much.
Even when he came to the Emporium to tell him he had quite the hotel and basically threatened her, she didn't get angry.
And apparently, Rosie cares about "them" (unclear whether that's just Charlie and those closest to her, the entire hotel, or more. Alastor's shadows showed Emily, Charlie, Vaggie, Husk, Angel Dust, and Niffty dying when he said that).
Remember Alastor's lines in "Finale." "The constraints of my Deal surely have a back door." I think this was the back door. A way to technically fulfill his end of the bargain and free himself now.
The more I think about it, the more I think this is the case. Charlie completed Alastor's Deal, she didn't break it. Which is how he still had so much power to fight Vox right after.
