Withous Further Ado, Hazbin Hotel Season Two

Hazbin Hotel S2 Eps 1-2 Review

Hazbin Hotel is back in business, everyone! After a year and a half of anticipation, Vivziepop’s Internet hit turned Amazon series has returned to grace screens everywhere. I know that I’m a week behind schedule writing about this, but I was too busy celebrating Halloween. Now that I have time to catch up, I’m going all in on this show. Because judging by the promotional material we’ve been steadily fed the last few months, this season’s going to be crazy, as Charlie might have a new problem to deal with: stopping a war between Heaven and Hell.t

So, What Now, Charlie?

A month has passed since the Hazbin Hotel residents stopped Adam’s extermination, and Hell is still reeling from the consequences. Not only did they see first-hand that angels can be killed, but they also saw Adam get killed at the hands of Nifty. Thanks to that, the now rebuilt hotel’s rep has skyrocketed. Our first look shows that so many people are trying to check in, the staff can barely keep up. Unfortunately, it’s made blatantly obvious that they’re there for the wrong reasons. They just want a chance to kill the hated Angels, with Charlie’s message of redemption being completely lost on them. Though, to be fair, this is not entirely the Hotel’s doing, but the new big bad’s, the Vees.

A big theme going into this season is the danger of mass media manipulation, something that Vox has been taking full advantage of in-between seasons. His news outlets have been purposefully pushing the “Hazbin Hotel kills angels” angle while ignoring its true purpose of redemption. Why is he doing this? Because he wants to be a god. In life, Vox was the leader of a cult, and that gave him a god complex. Now that Hell knows Angels can be killed, he wants to channel the centuries of resentment in order to launch a full-on war against Heaven, allowing him and the Vees to seize control and rule all of creation. Which is exactly the thing that led Sera to authorize the Exterminations in the first place, and won’t end well for anyone involved.

If it wasn’t for the fact that this could lead to the destruction of the universe, I would find Vox’s plan darkly humorous. He’s so eager to gain power that he’s overlooking something important: Sinners aren’t strong enough to fight the higher-ups of Heaven. Alastor proved that when he lost to Adam, something that he’s still smarting over! The only thing this will accomplish is getting more people killed, and everything that Charlie doesn’t want to happen. But how is Charlie going to handle this?

In short, she has no clue.

We Miss Sir Pentious

Sir Pentious’ apparent sacrifice has affected the Hotel staff differently. They’re more open with each other about their emotions and have a tighter bond. Cherri has been trying to come to terms with the fact that Pentious sacrificed himself for her (and kissed her.) But Charlie? She’s been bawling her eyes out over Sir Pentious, and has no idea what to do next. Or how to convince people to take her ideas of redemption seriously.

This leads to a touching moment between Charlie and her dad as they both open up about their insecurities. It’s great to see Lucifer trying to be there for Charlie and not let his past trauma hold him back anymore. Unfortunately, his advice of being honest leads almost everyone to leave. Then the Vees spin everything to make her look bad and hating Sinners, much to her fury. The only one sticking around is a mad scientist named Baxter, and he’s only there to prove redemption is fake.

Joke’s on him, though. Emily drops in on Charlie and lets her know that she was right. Sir Pentious was redeemed, and Heaven is in an uproar.

Heaven is in Turmoil

The second episode of the season focuses exclusively on Heaven in the aftermath of Adam’s death and Sir Pentious’ arrival. And it is absolutely bonkers! In rapid succession, the residents of Heaven learn that its leaders had been killing Sinners in Hell in secret, Adam was killed, and a Sinner had redeemed themselves and got into Heaven. In other words, everything they thought they knew was a lie, and now Sera has to deal with the guilt of knowing she enabled Adam and Lute to become genocidal maniacs.

And you know what? She should feel guilty. Most of the leaders of Heaven should feel guilty. Their pride and self-assurance led them to commit acts just as bad as the worst Sinners, and none of it was necessary. If they had swallowed their pride and admitted that they didn’t know why people wound up in Heaven and Hell and worked with the Morningstars to understand the rules, all this pain could have been avoided. And unfortunately, Sera and the other leaders allow their fear and pride dictate their actions. Rather than seek reconciliation with Hell or forgiveness, Sera ends the episode by putting Heaven on lockdown. Which, of course, will only means the Vees efforts will make things worse when the time comes.

To be fair, though, it becomes pretty obvious in this episode that not even God is perfect. Or rather, the Speaker of God, who acts on his behalf. On the one hand, she does step in when Sir Pentious is not getting a chance to defend himself and respects people’s freedom of choice. On the other hand, she gives Sera the vaguest advice on how to deal with her guilt. I’m all for letting people choose their destiny, but sometimes, we need someone to guide us! Still, Sera is handling things far better than Lute.

Lute is Going to become a Fallen Angel

Like Adam, Lute is the personification of the worst parts of Christianity. She’s dogmatic, self-righteous, and refuses to admit when she is wrong. Rather than accepting that Adam’s brought his death upon himself, Lute continues to see Hell as the enemy, even when Heaven is now doubting this. Over the course of the episode, we get a front-row seat as we watch her become more and more insane, hallucinating that Adam is telling her to finish her mission. The bitter irony is that at the rate she’s going, Lute will likely become a fallen angel thanks to her pride and wrath. I’d even go so far as to say that she is more in line with classical depictions of Lucifer than the Lucifer of the show.

But what about Sir Pentious? How did he end up in Heaven and how is he doing? That answer might surprise you!

Sir Pentious’ Redemption

Hearing this, it should be pretty obvious why Sinners end up in Hell, even if they were otherwise good people in life. They are weighted down by the guilt and regret that they feel, consciously or not, about their greatest sin in life. That guilt manifests in death by turning them into Sinners and leaving them in Hell. However, if they act in a way that will allow them to atone for their biggest regret or sin in life, their souls can be redeemed and be allowed to enter into Heaven. In Sir Pentious’ case, he refused to sit back and let Adam kill his friends, sacrificing himself to save them. Of course, there are still a few holes about this. As Pentious himself points out, where did his Egg Boys go? Questions for later, though.

Now, here’s the main issue: Pentious hates Heaven.

No, really. After getting yeeted to Heaven, Pentious finds himself the only one of his kind, a former Sinner, in the entire place. And despite Emily trying to spin this as being super positive, it just makes him feel lonelier than ever. It’s sad seeing him wanting to get back to Hell. It’s ironic, really. He’s the first person to get out of Hell, and now he wants back in. Then again, what good is it to be in Heaven if your family is somewhere else? Sadly, Sir Pentious may have to wait, since Heaven’s in lockdown.

This was a solid start to the new season of this mega-hit. And it wouldn’t be a Vivziepop series if it didn’t have musical numbers. These first two episodes were packed with them, and all of them are toe-tappers! I love them so much! I love Hazbin Hotel, and I’m so glad to see it back again! These next few weeks are going to be fun!

I Give “New Pentious” and “Storyteller” a 4/5 Each

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