Hazbin Hotel S1 Eps. 1-4 Review
Five years ago, Vivienne “VivziePop” Medranno burst onto YouTube with the pilot for her indie animated show, Hazbin Hotel. The show revolved around Charlie Morningstar, daughter of the Devil and Princess of Hell, and her attempts to prove that the souls damned to Hell could be redeemed and get into Heaven through her Hazbin Hotel meant to rehab souls and get them into Heaven. Unfortunately, almost no one believes in her dream, mocking her and calling her admirable dream trash, even when the Hell’s dealing with an overpopulation crisis. A crisis that is only kept in check by Heaven sending an army down once a year to kill as many Demons as possible.
With its animation style, catchy song and dance numbers, memorable cast of characters, and a mixture of black comedy and crass humor, Hazbin Hotel became an overnight success. With the release of its sister show, Helluva Boss, a year later, VivziePop and her team became household names online the forefront of a new wave of indie-led animation. Thus, it should be no surprise that Hazbin Hotel jumped to a full-fledged show on A24 and Amazon Prime. But does this new show capture what made the pilot so great?
Yes. Yes, it does. With the first four episodes now out on Amazon Prime, Hazbin Hotel is breaking the Internet. Not even the Verbalase controversy can dampen the hype for this show (don’t look it up!)
“Overture” Sets the Stakes of the Season
The first official episode picks up a week after the pilot’s events with Charlie narrating the backstory of the creation of Hell. While it’s been implied in Helluva Boss that Heaven isn’t as nice as it appears to be, Hazbin Hotel outright confirms it. Adam, the first man, was a sexist control-freak towards his first wife, Lilith. And now that he’s the leader of the Exorcists responsible for killing Sinners in Hell, he scoffs at Charlie’s beliefs in redemption. When she tries to pitch her Hotel for him as a better solution, he goes into a metal ballad saying how Hell is forever. Then, just to twist the knife further, he reveals he’s moving the next Extermination up by six months. What no one knows (yet) is that he’s doing this because someone managed to kill one of the Exterminators, something that becomes pretty important later on.
Besides showing that Heaven might not the paradise that it claims to be, the first episode does a good job of reintroducing us to the main cast of characters, complete with updated appearances and new voice actors. While some manage to fit their roles so well that you can’t even tell the difference, others, like Angel Dust, are a little harder to get used to. By the end of the first episode, though, it feels like everyone is getting settled into their new roles. In particular, Alastor’s new voice actor is a notable highlight, capturing the charm and menace that make Alastor one of the cast’s strongest members.
“Radio Killed the Video Star” Builds on Alastor and the World at Large
The second episode picks up with everyone in Hell doing one of three things: panicking about the next Extermination in six months, not caring, or trying to benefit from this crisis; some of them doing all three.
Charlie and Vaggie spend this episode falling firmly under options A and C, thinking it could be a good way to convince others to try the Hotel, only for little to show from it, save for one new member who joins for less than sincere motives (at first.)
Where the episode truly shines, though, is with the secondary cast, particularly Angel Dust and Alastor’s storylines. The pilot didn’t do much to show that he’s taking it seriously, but the arrival of the new guest and their seemingly taking to Charlie’s rehab makes Angel doubt himself. Underneath his sass and status as an adult film star, Angel does want to change for the better. The fact that he goes out of his way to prove their newest guest isn’t genuine at first shows he does care about the Hotel.
Alastor’s Best Character for a Reason
Meanwhile, Alastor gets more time to demonstrate why he’s one of the most powerful denizens of Hell. Despite being confirmed to have been gone for seven years, he wastes no time re-establishing his power against Vox, a Demon whose power’s based in the use of TV. News of his return after seven years sends Vox into a full-on villain song where he attempts to bash Alastor as a has-been, only to be humiliated by his rival. The song’s numerous visual and audio references to the strengths of both mediums only serves to make it the icing on the cake. VivziePop and her crew are incredibly creative with their song and dance numbers, and this is yet another example why so many people love them.
As for the new resident, they turn out to be a spy sent by Vox to see what Alastor’s up to. By the end of the episode, though, that conflict gets resolved with Alastor laughing at Vox’s attempts again.
“Scrambled Eggs” Stumbles a Little
Episode three sees things take a bit of a dip in interest. Despite now living in the Hazbin Hotel, Sir Pentious remains paranoid everyone’s out to get him. Thus, Charlie and Vaggie decide to spend the day building trust between the residents, with Vaggie taking point to show Charlie she can help. Unfortunately, this goes as predictably bad as audiences expected it. Firstly, Vaggie takes Angel Dust’s suggestion of going to a place right up his alley. Then Vaggie tries to do a drill seargent routine, only for that to fail as well. Except the ending reveals that it did help break the ice between the Hotel residents. It’s fun to watch, but it doesn’t move the story’s main plot forward.
What does move the main plot forward is what happens in Alastor’s B-Plot. It’s already been shown that Alastor is. Still, one of many Overlords, powerful Demons who run part of Hell like mob bosses, and this episode sees him meeting with the remainder to discuss the accelerated Extermination. The meeting takes an interesting turn, though, when one of Vox’s partners, a toxic influnecer named Velvette, comes with proof of an Exterminator’s death.
War Arc in the Future?
According to the initial backstory, the Extermiantion’s meant to prevent Hell from rising against Heaven. Thus, the fact that the Exterminator’s can be killed gets everyone talking about going to war. For better or worse, though, talk of fighting the Exterminator’s gets pushed to the wayside, but the episode does end with Alastor discovering who killed the Exterminator. While viewers are meant to root for Charlie and her attempts to redeem people, the prospect of Hell going to war against Heaven remains on the table, and it would be interesting if the show were to seriously consider that. Forcing Charlie to decide whether to continue trying to redeem people, or even questioning if Heaven’s worth getting into, would be some interesting character development.
“Masquerade” is the Strongest of the Initial Release
Lastly, we have episode four, which feels like the strongest of the initial batch. When Angel Dust continually refuses to make any effort to being a better person, Charlie takes it upon herself to confront his boss, an adult film-maker Valentino of the V’s. At first, it seems like the episode will be about Charlie learning to use her authority as a Princess in a postiive manner. However, the episode then pivots into a dark and serious tone. One that focuses on the effects of abuse in a manner that left me very disturbed.
VivziePop has shown she’s not afraid to tackle heavy topics in the past. At this point, Helluva Boss has repeatedly looked at the effects abusive and toxic relationships can have on one’s development. From forced marriages to someone you hate to bosses that exploit your talents for their benefit, Vivzie has pulled no punches. Angel’s song from this episode, “Poison” visually and audibly reinforces how messed up his life is, with his callous behavior and drug addiction his only means of coping with it.
While the episode’s ending doesn’t provide a definitive solution to Angel’s situation, it does end with a glimmer of hope. Angel gets to sing a duet with another, down-on-his-luck Hotel resident, Husk, now voiced by Keith David, about how bad both their lives are. It’s an entertaining sight, and it gives David a chance to show off his singing chops, so it’s good.
A Good Start to a Potentially Great Show
So, there we have it,the first four episodes of Hazbin Hotel. While they did stumble a bit at some points in terms of plot, they more than make up for it in other areas. The art style is as fun to look at as in the pilot, the humor’s as dark and hilarious as ever, the songs are memorable, and the whole world’s just so much fun.
I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the season, and think this will be something everyone’s watching on Prime for a long time to come.
I Give “Overture” a 4/5, “Radio Killed the Video Star” a 4/5, “Scrambled Eggs” a 3.5/5, and “Masquerade” a 4.5/5
