Hazbin Hotel is an animated musical comedy for adults. The season is eight episodes long. There was a pilot episode a few years ago and it is probably best if that was also watched in preparation before this season. This is because this is a straight continuation, even though it is easy enough to follow what the plot is doing without it, it’s just easier. The show has an interesting premise, being set in Hell. Every year, there is an extermination event in which the angels of Heaven come to massacre the inhabitants of Hell, due to its overpopulation and so it can never rise up against Heaven.
It paints Heaven is not such a great light, even though Hell isn’t much better since we see from the inhabitants that they are all monsters and usually have evil personalities. Amongst it all is Charlie, the princess of Hell (whose father is Lucifer). She’s the good egg of the bunch and she has it in her mind a plan to reduce the overpopulation problem. She created a hotel, the Hazbin Hotel, to try and rehabilitate demons so that they can eventually get out of Hell and into Heaven.
Charlie has an uphill battle. Not only do the angels reject that plan (and the angels are gleeful in their murdering spree) but not even the demons are keen. Charlie doesn’t give up though and she’ll take in one guest at a time. The show has great animation, and of course, being a musical, it makes or breaks with the songs. Thankfully, the songs can be catchy.
The show is aimed at adults with the amount of swearing and explicit sexual references. Although, thankfully it isn’t overdone, and the jokes are often funny and work well. There is a secondary plot happening at the same time, and that is other powerful demons working in their own ways on how to stop the angel extermination. The show doesn’t exaggerate or excessively dramatize big revelations.
As the season goes on, it explores issues with several of the guests. Thankfully it doesn’t take an episodic approach to it and focus on one character per episode. An episode may have a look at several characters at once and continues in the next episode. Before you know it, you start to have an attachment to those characters. This was evident by the middle of the season where there was a good song exploring Charlie’s father issues. It was impressive that Lucifer was initially introduced as someone that you may not take seriously but manages to turn that around to something you understand and empathize with.
The season continues to build up with the threat of the extermination deadline that’s looming closer and closer, along with Charlie’s more and more desperate attempts to get the hotel going. This comes to a head in a great episode that reveals that Heaven and its participants isn’t as high and mighty as they might have seem. As their singing says, it’s various shades of grey and the differences between the residents of Heaven and Hell can be strikingly similar at times.
The final episode was one full of action. You’ll spend the whole episode waiting for that big “wham!” moment, where maybe Adam or Alastor may not have been what they seem. Alas, Adam was just what he had always been, the villain of the show without more depth than just being a hate sink. The end of the season provides a lot of opportunities for the direction that a second season could go, and while predictable, it leaves you eager for more.
Overall, Hazbin Hotel is a fun show to watch. The animation style looks fantastic and suits the tone that the show was going for. The musical part is also another unique point, although some episodes are weak with its songs and lyrics. The second half of the season ramps it up by focusing on the extermination aspect and how Charlie will deal with it, providing a lot more insight into how even Heaven can be a broken mess.
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