I love Hazbin Hotel and I agree with your criticism with the pacing of the season like the plots of Episode 3 could have been split into separate episodes so we can get formally introduced to the Overlords and the next episode would be about the trust exercises.
The people screaming about this show on twitter are proof they havent even watched it and will go out of their way to hate anything because its popular. This show is literally, ironically, god's gift, and the freshest new taste in the animation and adult genre, especially after shows like Rick & Morty fumbled at the finished line.
Wow, this video was enjoyable until that last bit, It's bad enough that I keep hearing random toxicity from RU-vidrs I can't stand, but now even one of my FAVORITE RU-vidrs is doing it. I thought Celly was one of the few channels where I was safe from that kind of misery preaching bullshit, but apparently not, thanks for ruining my morning.
@@CellSpex "Car Crash Games are like a Fine Artform. An occurrence that happens when you give Unlimited Money, Unlimited Development Time and an unconstrained Crazy Vision to an Auteur so out there that it impedes the basic casual enjoyment of it without needing to thoroughly understand the vision the Auteur in question is loathe to explain or compromise. What goes wrong and the Sheer trainwreck of a Car Crash Game is Fascinating because its not just 'looking at why the Fox Turns into a Cube' (The Balan Wonderworld 'Box Fox' Costume and it becoming invincible 'when it feels like it' on a timer) but its about understanding WHY Does the Fox turn into a Cube and why this Mechanic in THAT Way." -Ben 'Yahtzee' Crosshaw now Fully Ramblomatic on the Flipside of Artist Controlled Projects and how they can go up in spectacular Flames
@@eyecon1189I was so moved by the characters and the story. No dialogue and it was the best recent Pixar short they have done. I was left speechless. Including Kitbull.
Season Finale: "I humbly ask to make my first letter null and void. I volunteer to publicly eat it if necessary!" Vaggathael: You really should have read all of those ahead of time. Charly:... -_- Husk: I vote for him eating the letter!
@@tylerprime9555 In all fairness, it's the largest media conglomerate in the world and Charlie was specifically designed as a play on the Disney princess musical. The comparison is apt here.
@@pippastrelle see, I get that. But I'm just saying that a lot of people have a weird thing for comparing every single thing they watch to Disney for no reason, like I once saw someone saying "Even Stranger Things did better then Disney" and I was confused asf.
So personal note here: Hazbin Hotel marks the 3rd piece of media I had to pause because I was crying so hard. I myself am an abuse survivor, specifically emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of my ex boyfriend. When it got to the bit where Angel says maybe if he is broken enough, he wouldn’t be Val’s favorite toy anymore and he could leave, I completely lost it because it was like looking in a damn mirror. That was the exact thing I was thinking at the height of my abuse. And then when he thanked Charlie for caring about him I cried again, because it felt so similar to something I’d say to my current partner (who is an absolute angel)
That line was the moment I really knew they had the representation nailed. I’ve dealt with severe depression before and Angel’s feelings he was expressing to Husker were all too familiar.
TW: mention of self-harm, suicide @@liesdamnlies3372 I also appreciate how the scene showed another side to self-harm. For a long time, I never realized what I was doing was self-harm, because it wasn't like how it's usually portrayed with scars and wrists. It was more subtle, self-destructive behavior. And it felt painfully relatable when he sang he had nothing to live for tomorrow. I've felt that desolation before, and it sucks feeling like you shouldn't be alive. Angel's a comfort character, for sure, and it was amazing seeing him reach out and find healing with the other Hazbins. TL;DR: I love how Vivzie took two different, serious topics and found fresh ways to portray them.
They did that episode well. Even if the abuse hasn't been resolved and he wasn't free from Val yet, the way he and husker handled their problems were graceful. That instead of drowning yourself in self-pity, It's also important to acknowledge how shitty your situation is instead of pretending it's not there of keeping it to yourself. We could see how Angel was turning into Anthony because he's no longer flirty and acting horny to tease people. Instead he now knows that it's okay to talk about his problems and he talks more like a man now. Even going out of his way to make sure niffty stays out of trouble and don't end up like him
I also love that episode since it shows the reality of what victims of SA and other abuse goes through and I bet a lot of people want to see Val get his ass kicked or even better have him killed. The thing is that this did happen with pimps in the 70s which is the era that Val died in. A lot of adult sex workers were abused and tormented by their John or pimp. In fact they would even have tattoos to show they belonged to that particular john.
As someone from an extremely privileged background going into healthcare, I think it's both her worst and most weirdly relatable characteristic. (Appreciating and working with people's very real systemic barriers to "improving their lives" is NOT something medical education prioritizes.)
Carmilla Carmine made the weapon Stryker used in the Harvest Festival episode of Helluva Boss. This is a reminder that Overlords can be around for DECADES, based on how ANGELIC WEAPONS, Carmine's SPECIALTY, are a major part of military history in the other rings.
Amazon definitely should've given them more episodes for better pacing, but The show is still amazing, and it's songs are mostly bangers. The fact that this all came from a RU-vid pilot is still a great achievement. I hope season 2 gets more episodes and expands on a lot of things. I'm glad you're respectful about it too. Twitter has really overblown most of the problems, and I hate to see Vivienne getting outright attacked online for just telling a story.
I also hope that season 2 gets more episodes than season 1. It probably won’t fix all of the pacing issues, but it will help in my opinion. 8, 22 minute episodes is just not enough time in my opinion for a story like this
My only complaint about this vid, is that you said no good villain songs since 90s but we had Friends on the Other Side from Princess and the Frog, just saying that song slaps~ lol
A little correction, she said that "hell is forever" is the best villain song since the renaissance, not that there were no good villain songs, but yeah I agree "friends on the other side" does slap (even tho it can get a bit slow a times but still).
@@InksDoesArts I mean, a good third of that song is just the card scene, which does slow down the pace quite a bit compared to the beginning and ending sections, and isn't really as menacing. Those two parts though are top-tier villain song material.
The hunchback of notre dame has the greatest vilain song EVER made and i love (Im a fan ) hazbin hôtel but they did not make HELLFIRE. Claude frollo is a master pièce and his music is incredible. The hunchback of notre dame was made during 1996 so i disagree
Hopefully, apparently the 8 episode format as a way to show how the series was going to go by the audience reception and from where i've seen, it's going well, so it better have more episodes
@@NicoleFlores-hq5nh Looking at the series overall, this seems to be a 7 part story, with a single stand-alone episode. Presumably they had other stand-alones they could have developed if Amazon had paid for them. Hopefully season 2 was structured in a similar expandable manner.
Additionally, I SUPER appreciate that they got broadway folks in for a musical series. It's like the exact opposite of the movie versions of musicals that cast for starpower before singing. Alex Brightman is perfectly cast for example, but every time I listen to More Than Anything, I melt purely because of how goddamn clean Jeremy Jordan's golden vocals are.
This show could have used an extra four episodes to help out with the pacing and help established things. I know that's on Amazon not the writers but still. Like Emily could have been a cool character but we didn't spend that much time with her. I would have been nice to have one episode of her bonding with Charlie in heaven then the next help her out in the trial, and a last one her trying to help out with the extermination but failing.
It's actually moreso on A24, they funded and made arrangements for the show, Amazon is just hoasting the episodes. It's a huge shame that they didn't want to invest to make this show as good as it could be, but I imagine the cost of animation made them chicken out and only give Spindelhorse 8 episodes instead.
I feel like even 2 more episodes, an hour to sit back and just take a breath could have done a number for the series. There's so many character moments that fall flat because the characters involved have been so busy just moving the plot along that they never got to be CHARACTERS.
@@aradraugfea6755Personally, I think Episode 2 should have been split between the two halves since they are nearly not related and each segment could have been built on more. And then there should’ve been an episode before or after episode 4 that showed at least one more “redemption” attempt. It would add scenes that portray Pentious’s arc a bit more clearly, could introduce Cherry Bomb earlier, and show more bonding between characters that didn’t see much of it (Angel with Nifty, Alastor with everyone besides Charlie and Nifty, and Vaggie with literally anyone besides Charlie).
True... though it's actually impressive how quickly and easily the Charlie and Em fell into a sister type relationship groove... within the space of basically 'Just met' and '2 songs'. I know we wanted More of her... but at the same time even with the amount we got it was some clean characterization work.
I like the type and amount of swearing that they have. Being low income and always working blue collar jobs, being so close to drugs, sex, and gambling, this type of swearing is very familiar. Not only does this capture how these type of people actually speak but it is undoubtedly the type of speech that would run rampant in Hell.
I agree. It's plausible for the setting, and it is definitely a class marker, as Hazbin is a critque of class. I was particularly amused when Charlie triumphantly cussed in the court of Heaven, the seraphim looked shocked, and Charlie said sorry. This is even funnier when you consider Adam's far worse cussing.
@@nathanielhellerstein5871 Yea, the privileged upper class guy gets away with it, but that somehow doesn't effect how willing to use it as a tool of judgment the rest are.
I'm fine with the swearing. Like, people made a big deal of it with South Park back in the 2000s (one episode literally broke the world record for most times "shit" was spoken in a TV episode), so I thought we'd be more tolerating of it nowadays, especially as adult animation has become more common. Profanity is just part of everyday adult life, so I got no issue with it being used so casually. It's not even being used for edgy humor of "swearing incessantly is inherently funny", like with what Helluva Boss aims for with Blitz, it's just how characters talk.
The only time I noticed the writing flaw in regards to time was just how quickly we moved from one event to another once specific days are mentioned. Namely Valentino's "you'll suffer for this tomorrow Angel Dust" and Angel Dust saying it's worth it. I wanted to see the fallout of that. Because chronologically, that's when Valentino's grip would start to slip. Same for "the extermination starts in one month" Adam might as well have said tomorrow given the pacing. As for fortifying the wall and building a moat they had a month to start on that? That aside I'm getting the impression that with the bigger better hotel we'll be getting a bigger better season next time. One that can have a longer pace and really flesh things out. ESPECIALLY if Adam reincarnates and we get a look at a sinner freshly arrived in hell.
The unfortunate part of only having 8 25-min episodes to tell the entire story meant to be told. The series definitely would've been better with a couple with more episodes.
I think Husk hit it perfectly. "Princess here is a bleeding heart who wants to fix everyone's problems except her own." Charlie does the whole redemption thing for her people as much as for herself because then she'd have to deal with her estranged father and dickhead mother.
Yeah, pretty much. It reminds me a bit of S1 of The Owl House, cause I don't know if people remember, but there were a few reviews on here complaining about its "mediocrity" and "wasted potential" compared to something like Gravity Falls, and was also the first time Dana Terrace led a team on making an actual TV show. Rough edges are to be expected, and given time, they are likely to be sanded down as the show gets to explore more of what it wants to be over future seasons.
This is true but it's also okay. Theres always room for improvement after all. From what the majority of the fandom is saying the main issue is the pacing so we definitely need to have more episodes.
Crazy how Adam was not only a way better villain than Magnifico from Wish but a way better villain song too. “Hell is Forever” clears Thanks I get so badly
I think Mimzie needed to be cut entirely, and her introduction be replaced with Cherri Bomb bringing a turf war to the hotel. She gets abrasive with Alastor, chums up with Angel, and leads right into the next episode of going for a night on the town. Given Cherri's such a fan favorite that she's going to probably check in sometime next season, it would be good to have a strong intro for her character, like bombing her way into the hotel and bringing a fight right to their doorstep.
While I agree that Cherry Bom's introduction feels a tad rushed. I think Mimzie was too important to cut. First she she tells Alastor's backstory for those not aware of the pilot, and at the end she confirms that Alastor would totally not support the hotel under normal circumstances, so either he suddenly turned to a believer in Charlie's cause (yeah right) or he has ulterior motives.
Mimzy was sort of needed for Alastor' characterisation. To show that his hotel plans are more serious than just him having fun, so he would even send a friend away.
@@AldoHacha There might still have been a better way to do that without including a whole other introduction. Perhaps Rosie could've handled some of it when they were meeting in episode 9.
Part of Mimzy being introduced at all is because she was originally going to be a main character. With all kinds of talk about her in the beginning. People waited years to see her, so her inclusion was specifically a nod to those fans. I do agree it could have been handled differently, but she served her purpose.
That's a great idea! We didn't need to introduce her this season since she doesn't really have much to do, and Cherri has already been introduced. Also, I disagree with the fact that she's needed for Alastor's characterisation, because we have ROSIE, Husk and Niffty. How many more characters do you need to introduce/explain away a single side character?
Agreed! Nothing is perfect. What matters is how much you decide to let the imperfections bother you and for me (and many others) the positives outweigh the negatives
Talking about villain songs, Keith David's villain song from Princess and the Frog is the best villain song from the 2000's and he has one of the best songs in the series as well. It all comes full circle.
The pacing didn't really bother me too much but I do agree the show would be improved if it had 10 or 12 episodes instead of just 8. Still love the show a lot but I WANT MORE! Plus, more episodes also means more songs and as someone who loves most of the sons in this show, I won't complain about more of them! Anyway, can't wait for season 2!
Oh my god it is SO REFRESHING to finally listen to a Hazbin review that’s goes past pointing out the most obvious criticism talking points and actually discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the show while respecting the show it’s trying to be. This one video has said more than like 90% of the reviews I’ve seen tysm for that
I think with the reveal at the end of season 1, season 2 will have Charlie figuring out how redemption is possible. Season 1 was needed for her to prove the Hotel is even viable. For that she will need to understand why humans are tempted to sin.
That'll probably be the focus. It's likely why they haven't told us anything about how Anthony, Husk, and Alastor ended up in Hell or what they did in life - the Hotel needed to be proven as a viable concept first before delving into the deeper challenge of whether a person's deeds in life are too great for them to deserve redemption. Then there's also the bigger question of how exactly someone gets in Hell or Heaven, since no one even knows what the criteria is.
Come on, we're pretending Adam is stealing all the Disney villain charm and not Alastor? Dude's a modern incarnation of the Jafaar design philosophy of making him so ridiculously evil looking and definitely someone who will betray the heroes, with the fun personality of Ursula or Scar or Dr. Facilier.
Episode 4 with Angel Dust and Husk is the episode I will think about for the rest of the year. Also the wing flap, we know deep down what that implies. Husk is my MOOD, the frustration and the wise, care is priceless.
I honestly feel that the show just needed a more direct structure- I understand they were in a hurry but my favorite episode was 4 because of this- it follows ONE storyline, it doesn't introduce any new characters, it just follows the after-life of one of the main characters after it was hinted in episode 2 that something was....off about him and his boss and adds two characters (one of them our main character, the other the person he will get closest to) to shake his life up; it barely wastes any time (yes even the Porn jokes gives you an inside of how this guy views Angel as- an helpless victim who is more valuable when he is being abused- look at all the situations he is throw out in the movies we saw) and both songs were used to play with the tone- the first one being a very twisted vision onto what an "normal" shift is for Angel after we just....witnessed *that* and how fake everything is- and the second one to uplift the tone. It's the most controversial one, yes, as expected from a episode that goes deep onto the topics of sexual assault and explotation, with some hints of domestic violence sprinkled in, but I thought it was genuinely a great episode and I hope we get more of these character focused eps in seasons 2. Also I might but biased because Huskerdust is my favorite ship but sh-
I love how much you loved it, and when a show can get songs stuck in your head that you take the time to memorize, it knows what it's doing in that department. I memorized "You Didn't Know" for that, but I just love culmination songs with a fiery passion
My personal thoughts on the pacing are something to the effect of 'I don't care, at least there wasn't a single episode that was Unhappy Campers levels of bad, and it's a fun ride that still manages to tell a compelling story so I'll take it." The musical numbers really are the best part though, like you said they usually manage to balance everything very well and are very compelling and funny.
@@augustthefallenangel3856I think if they double the episodes to 16 per Season it will help a lot even if I have a preference for shows that have 20 episodes per Season on average.
I think the reason this show finds success is that it’s finally the continuation of what started this “Hell” Universe. For years we had Helluva Boss, and all the baggage that came with it just dragged. This show just drops all the weight and lets itself flourish with a fresh, sort of new, start.
It also helps that Hazbin clarifies some of the worldbuilding issues people have with Helluva right out of the gate. "Why aren't I.M.P. worried about the Extermination?" Because the hellborn are exempt from it (also because the two shows can't legally do a crossover). "Why doesn't Lucifer care about what's going on with the other Sins?" Because he's a depressed king with a rubber ducky obsession who doesn't really care for his people and largely just lets the other rulers of Hell do whatever they want. "People in Hell seem pretty decent, sans all the socially-condoned murdering, so why is Charlie trying to change them?" Because her goal is more to convince Heaven that it's possible for sinners to possess virtuous qualities and that the Extermination is unnecessary. Getting them to become more morally-upstanding individuals is just how Charlie thinks people will get in Heaven's good graces, which it turns out isn't willing to abandon their prejudices that easily.
As a new fan, who was mainly brought into the show due to being a theater kid and loving Erica Henningsen and Jeremy Jordan, I loved it, and the Darren Criss cameo was just icing on the cake!
I'd heard almost nothing about this show until recently, and then I learned that it stars half my favorite Broadway actors, and now I'm VERY excited to watch it. The cast is just bonkers; I've seen over half of them live.
I am one of those people who has never heard of hazbin hotel or the other show before this one premiered on Amazon prime, I have to say I am absolutely obsessed right now with the music and the characters. I tried to look into the background of the show and realized a lot of people complained about the new voice actors and the pacing, but as a new viewer I don't see those problems. I actually watched the pilot after watching the show, so I have no nostalgia for the old times. I just want season 2 now.
So glad you enjoyed season 1. I was pretty late to the Hazbin hype . I found the pilot during the pandemic in 2021 and absolutely loved it. To see that it's an actual show now is still so f*cking impressive. I did love the pilot voices but once i heard the new cast i was immediately sold so i didn't throw a hissy fit like other fans did . Welcome to the Hellaverse
Really cool that you enjoyed the season! I myself have been following Vivienne Medrano's work for quite a while and its great to finally see her main passion project get the light of day! All I can say is if you want more goodness from this crew until Season 2 is ready, there is the other show, Helluva Boss thats free to watch on RU-vid but with the same level of quality, and even a few overlapping actors. Helluva Boss is kind of a spinoff to Hazbin Hotel, set in the same world but focusing on a completely different cast. Namely a hellborn imp at rock bottom named Blitz. He's trying to run his own assassin business where Sinners pay him and his coworkers to go to earth and murder anyone requested, all while working out Blitz' rough relationships with those around him like the demon owl prince Stolas.
The thing about the new voice actors is that Hazbin Hotel started on RU-vid, and the cast would host podcasts and livestreams talking about their experiences, interacting with fans, and just being goofs. But when the show got picked up by A24, I think it was for legal reasons (you should check me on this) but they got rid of the original cast, even though they were the ones who started it and hyped up the show.
@@brianapereira2694 and still the old cast doesn't hold a grudge like the fans do who either completely shit on the new voices or beg for the og to return. Vivzie wanted Broadway actors from the beginning. The pilot cast was amazing for exactly that , a pilot. But for example now they have professional actors who can both act and sing ( in the pilot both Alastor and Charlie had 1 extra va just for singing) There are actually photos from comic cons where both Alastor voice actors met and both Angel Dust va's as well. It's pretty wholesome. The Angel Dusts even recreated the famous spider-man meme
A lot of the blame goes to Amazon giving Viv so little episodes, but it’s kind of obvious that if she cut out moments or rearranged scenes that the show’s pacing wouldn’t be as bad. Like we could have cut out Carmilla killing an Angel (and Carmilla in general), as well as the Angel death plotline to begin with. The angels were already planning on culling the sinners and the show barely makes it feel like a ticking clock. A lot more focus could have just been on Charlie finding more patrons or building up a relationship with them.
Hmm... I can see how we can take out the angel's death from the equation, at least from Hell's side (Adam's motivation is the Angel's death after all). What would happen is that after Vaggie's revelation, Vaggie would tell the story of how she lost her wings to CHarlie, and the CHarlie would figure out that angelic weapons can kill angels (or at least hurt them). And the deal with Alistor can be either to get the cannival's help, or to get angelic weapons (Carmilla still exists, just don't show too much screentime). The thing with "people knowing angels can be killed leading to war with heaven" being kept a secret is flung out the window with the extermination that happened at the hotel. Good luck keeping that under the wraps. Is not like the angels sipped tea and decided to go.
@@sovietmarshmallow1283 from the angel's death we get: - a sooner date for the extermination - angels can be killed/hurt - Future: heaven vs hell The first point can just be because Adam is an ahole. The second can be told by Vaggie. The third is evident after ep 8 (We can fight back = we can start a war. Move the meeting with the overlords to season 2).
crack theory, spindle horse saw the pattern of popular shows getting cancelled after 2 seasons that build up lore and so decided to speed run everything to get out what they wanted
Probably. They were already at risk for having such prominent LGBT representation (gestures to The Owl House and Steven Universe), and not to mention being an animated musical with rather expressive animation and two songs every episode likely means they had a relatively higher budget compared to other animated shows. Thus, they probably wanted to get a full (chapter of the) story out their for audiences in case Season 1 was all they got to tell, while leaving enough loose ends for the foundation of a potential second season.
I mostly blame streaming services for giving series little episodes, they think this won’t be successful. The Streaming service pretty much underestimates how successful this series is if they give the creator more episodes for a seasons. Example: All those seasons for Sonic Prime on Netflix was suppose to be Season 1 as a whole, but Netflix won’t allow it because they don’t really care about animated series.
Fittingly enough for all the comparisons to Charlie being a Disney Princess, her whole approach to the redemption process in Season 1 essentially boils down to "wishing upon a star". The main weight of her attempts is more or less to cross your fingers and hope really hard that Heaven lets you in. But, fittingly enough for Hell, thats really not how things work, and they definitely don't work that way in a six month timespan. She does have to compromise, make deals, and bring it to a fight in order to defend her ideals.
What Viv needs is a good co-writer who sees her vision - expanding snd enriching it. Or a mentor. An experienced writer who can guide her through the principles of writing. Help her tighten or loosen up certain plot threads. Give her some guidance on how to progress character development efficiently. Honestly, the show and its story could've cooked for a bit longer. After it got picked up I mean. It seems that Viv just went with the intial episode bible, without being given the room to flesh out those ideas. That along with the show getting Korra treatment definitely affected the pacing we're seeing now.
She only wrote episodes 1, 2 and 4. Other credits go to Adam Neylan, Ariel Ladensohn, Rachel Kaplan, and Adam Stein. She wasn't alone in writing this show. I think the writing feels off because there was a different writer for almost each episode
@@wildberrycrush3901That's the norm for pretty much every season of TV, though. The question is how well can they integrate those scripts into a cohesive overarching plot.
We didn't spend a lot of time getting to deeply know characters, but I have hope season 2 will have that kind of expansion on them, similar to how in Helluva Boss we were just meeting the long-term important characters and concepts in season 1, not getting more about character backstories and histories until season 2.
I will fight you on the villain song 90's comment. Keith David's "Friend's from the Other Side" from Princess and the Frog is absolutely up there for villain songs. Why we playin'?!
I like that Charlie improves herself when she makes a mistake,like her mistake(s) in "Masquerade" Charlie being naive kinda reminds of what Lucifer said in "More Than Anything": "I'll shelter and adore you more than anything." Yes, I know that Lilith got custody of Charlie when she and Lucifer split but it's obvious that they both had the desire to shelter Charlie. She may not be totally unaware of what Hell is like but the one good thing is that she still wants to improve her strategy as time goes on. Who knows? Maybe her goal of "redeem sinners to get them into Heaven" changes to improving Hell so it's a better place to live in
Ngl I was REALLY skeptical about this series but after going in and binging it, it was surprisingly good my only nitpick is that it was to fast paced and rushed.
"Even in its flawed state I'm glad it has become as big as it has" is exactly how I feel about this show. It's got multiple major flaws but it also deserves the love and attention it got. And the fact that it's so deeply tied to a creator's artistic vision and not a boring, polished design by committee show endears it to me even more.
It's so funny that in the pilot, angels first lines are basically about how this guys insults are basic, and says something rather fun and witty. The verbal humor and how they swore was a bit more clever originally, so I was sad to not see it translated in the actual show.
1:25 I'll fight you on the "Hell is Forever" being the undisputed best villain song in recent memory, but only because Antonio Banderas came outta nowhere with a Nativity Christmas musical where it's hard not to love how much fun he clearly had with singing it. "Good to Be King", for the record.
I have seen "guitar solo, fuck yeah!" spouted in places where discussions about hazbin simply haven't happened. It's a six syllable meme with as much quotability as "Rock and Roll McDonalds"
Hazbin has been the biggest comfort to me for over 4 years. It helped me get through so much stuff and now that the series is out I have been so overjoyed. The way you described Charlie's character was the first ive heard in depth, she is a fantastic protagonist. Always love your reviews Cell and cannot wait to see how the show goes from here!
I think my issue with the pacing is how it affects payoff moments. There were multiple times throughout the season that were supposed to be big character moments or payoffs to an arc but didn't have as much weight as would've liked. The best example of this is Charlie and Lucifer's duet in More Than Anything. While a musical masterpiece and one of my personal favourites, it didn't have the effect on me that I think was intended. I attribute this to the fact that Charlie's daddy issues are barely a footnote in previous episodes and even then its mostly just other characters pointing out she has daddy issues. We only get to see how strained her relationship with her dad is in the same episode it gets resolved in. I would've liked to see more of what their relationship was like before episode 6, maybe we get to hear Lucifer speaking to Charlie but he and his room are cast in shadow to give him a more menacing air. This would not only make the reveal of his rubber duck obsession more hilarious but let us see why their relationship is strained and what they think about each other. Maybe Lucifer comes off as very dismissive of Charlie's idea of redemption and cold and uncaring to the plight of sinners, saying they deserved Extermination if they ended up in Hell. We could see how the millennia of seeing all the pain and misery his gift of free will caused has eroded away his spirit, only for it to be revitalised when he sees Charlie and her found family defending the hotel and each other. I understand that there were behind the scenes issues that limited the crew to 8 episodes so I don't really blame them for this and I still love what we got, just can't help but feel like there was untapped potential.
I feel like this season could've also used a lot less Alastor being Creator's Favorite and just a bit more focus on the show's namesake, the hotel that is meant to be the centerpiece of the series and only got one new "guest" in six months of operation.
True, kinda wish - even if they choose to keep the title “Hazbin Hotel” - they added a secondary title to describe the arc like “Hazbin Hotel” insert cool/catchy title Kinda like JJBA (ex Stone Ocean, Battle tendency etc
What do those two things have to do with each other? The show having less Alastor wouldn't magically make the hotel have more guests. The season (and the pilot for that matter) went out of it's way to show that the reason they don't have most guests is because the citizens of Hell think the hotel is a joke. They're not going because they don't believe in it or the message. The hotel holding off an army of exterminators, and killing Adam, in the finale is what is going to cause more people to want to stay at the hotel. Along with Charlie's, potentially, better understanding of what redemption is.
OP's not saying it's sbad, it' just expectation of more hotel stuff coz of the name of the show and the pilot. It's something I had too, but it doens't mean we don't welcome the new stuff.@@derangel9143
Didn't even know is had a RU-vid pilot and had listened to a few of black gryphon's songs about hazbin without actually realising they were hazbin songs 😅. I really enjoyed the show and essentially all the songs
I would have liked to see Charlie actually be tempted by something. Like a vice or something and have her have a mini struggle of her own.Through this she would be able to empathise with her people through experience rather than just emotion.
Episode 4 clearly shows us her most prominent vice would be wrath, shown when she is visibly about 3 seconds short of killing Valentino(which, given her being the daughter of Lucifer, presumably would have been permanent) only to be derailed by Angel.
Cell I was watching your video on TV but when you said More Than Anything and Respectless are B+ while Happy Day in Hell is more memorable actually made me lose my damn mind! 😂 All of the music is really good but the top 3 definitely has to be Stayed Gone, Hell is Forever, and More Than Anything. You can literally isolate the entire track from More Than Anything and the vocals alone are A+
Cellspex: Best villain song sing the Disney Renaissance. Me: Keith David literally sang "Friends on the Other Side," and he's Husk! Better than "Hell is Forever" just for Keith David's golden voice alone!
The songs are good, but some more than others... and DAMN, Hell is forever is just... on a different plane of existence. It's been stuck in my head for weeks!
Everyone hoping season 2 gets some time to breath with 2 or more episodes added to its size. Granted, a lot of shows that have such a large cast and world to explore do often need season 1 to just set the groundwork before later seasons start digging deep.
Cell really missed the point of ep3 foreshadowing Vaggie's gulit for being a Angel Executioner n how the whole episode ties into her past life n the parallel it has with Carmilla being a Warhawk too, that makes a sacrifice to give up their carnage to nurture a better life for her Husband n Daughters, as Vaggie does for Charlie n her Hazbin family. Also if the theories are true Carmilla might be a fallen Seraphim with greater ties to Angel n Charlie than wat we initially expected
I feel like the song with Carmella and Vaggie is more of a way to link them together for the later episodes where we see them interact. It shows they are both people who will do what ever it takes to protect their loved ones.
My boyfriend and I watched this show together. I knew about the show when there were only clips/previews of the pilot meanwhile my bf had absolutely no knowledge of its existence. My bf said it was a great show but definitely felt like you were missing something with the first episode. He felt like he knew none of the characters, yet the first episode made it feel like we already knew them and their relationships towards one another. It also felt like there was SO much going on at once. When I showed him the pilot after all 8 episodes premiered, it clicked a lot better for him. As a stand alone show, it's great for the fans, but for people like my bf and others on Amazon that are just looking for a new show to watch, it can feel like you need to do some homework to understand who most of the characters are. He thought most of the songs were decent but he did beg me to skip "welcome to heaven" 😂. He also asked me "why does x character look like that?" A lot and I hope that question gets answered or is mentioned. I mean I told him why but I'm sure other people new to the show wonder that as well and don't wanna have to google the answer. It should be in the show. Hopefully in season 2, there's an episode where Charlie actually gets to understand these characters or at least it's a bonding episode where characters ask "so what do you think you did that caused you to fall into hell?" Because based on the characters answers, it would help new viewers connect the dots and understand their appearances are based on the year they died, what sin they committed and/or what caused their deaths.
I still don't particularly care for Hazbin Hotel (and especially not Helluva boss) but I'm willing to eat my crow and admit it's objectively very well done and I'm glad it's so successful. Also the line "If Hell is forever Heaven must be a lie" plays on loop in my mind.
Steven Universe also has a few songs that are meant to sound Disney-esque and they too beat Disney at their own game so this is the second time in recent years that this has happened.
They probably didn't know how successful this show would be and wanted to play it save. But from what I've seen it is still the 3rd most watched show on prime right now worldwide
"More than anything" This Song by Lucifer and his daughter Charlie brought me to tears from first time until now. And lover duet is breaking my heart. It's possible that Eve is character named Roo = Root of Evil in hell. Vivziepop has mention that she will in story.
My biggest problem is that the show doesn’t really do anything with its main concept. A hotel in hell that helps redeem sinners for a chance to get into heaven is a really good idea for a show, and would make you think it’s an episodic series with every episode featuring a different sinner who is looking for redemption, and the main characters help them reach redemption. Instead, it’s a serialized series that tells a generic “Heaven evil, hell good” story. What’s worse is that thanks to this show’s popularity, any series that actually tries to follow through on a similar concept will just get called a Hazbin Hotel ripoff.
I don't think that serialization in itself would mean the story would not be utilizing the premise. Especially in contrast to Helluva Boss I always assumed it'd be a serial, but rather that the focus would not be the war with Heaven but instead their single patron's path to redemption. Angel Dust as a character has a lot to unpack and I think it's a damn shame we got like a single episode and a B plot focused on his journey of self-improvement. I was rooting for the show to really utilize this character to make a substantive critique of Christian morality but it doesn't seem to be going that way and that's really disappointing.
Why do people keep saying this about "not using the main concept". You do know there are more ways to use this concept than the one you gave right? Also, if you think this is some generic "Heaven evil, Hell good" story, I'm going to assume you weren't paying attention, cause hell has constantly been shown to suck, mostly because of no restraint, meaning the "hell" is based on what people do to each other, rather than the traditional biblical version where something is done to people. Hell in Hazbin, at the end of the day, sucks hard, and they make a point showing this many times. The fact that you think a world with rampant eternity long slavery (soul contracts), constant crime, yearly culling of (most likely) the least powerful and the defenseless in the population, said populace being exploited via the aforementioned soul slavery, along with all the other smaller things is a "good" world kinda implies that you think how hell is depicted is the ideal world, cause the show doesn't think so.
I love the swearing. My only critiques when it comes to that, is that the swearing could be more creative, and having swearing be used a lot by Adam, it made it so confusing when people in heaven were shocked when Charlie swore
I think most of the writing problems could have been solved by obviously rewriting the Vaggies trust exercise scene & making her song a solo one. I also think one more episode right after Mascaraed would be perfect. Make it about Charlie & Vaggie's relationship with a b-plot of Angel & Sir P spending time alone at the hotel. This would establish their friendship & as the hotel's only two residents there could be some really interesting dialogue about why they want redemption, their human lives, perhaps Sir P is taking the idea of redemption more seriously & at the end convinces Angel to try quitting drugs. With the C & V story have them go on a date, we already know Lucifer has a theme park, the perfect place to go. Start the episode with V having a flashback dream of being an exorcist. C finds her up early & really tense, & that since there’s still 3 months left (having someone say this will make the time skip less harsh) they could use a break. Bam, date. During which V looks like she wants to tell C about her past but never does. Being at her dad's park C could talk more about her family life. We could explore both their personalities & have a cute duet at the end with V looking guilty at not revealing her secret.
I think episode three would have worked if they should Pensious and Angel working there way out of the war zone DURING Carmella and Vaggie’s duet. Cause like the duet is all about protecting the people they care about. So to put that over Angel and Pensious protecting each other? I think that would have been perfect, imo
Great video. It's been pretty hard finding critical nice videos on hazbin or helluva boss these days. I also very much agree that Vivz is more experienced in animation than she is writing. I think critics and people in general instead of insulting her writing, should push her to get more help in that department. I truly believe Vivz can become a really good writer with more help and experience. I mean the potential is already so high.
The "be more creative with your obscenities" aspect was immediatly fixed by watching a dub in my native language. Seriously, brazilian portuguese goes HARD on creative swears. It immediatly made me like Adam a lot more in episode one, because now he's just straight up funny rather than annoying.
Hell has 10000 year of pentagram city. Charlie's Canon age is 200 years. #Theory Charlie wasn't first children of Lilith and Lucifer but they all born death. @ LadySygerrik Some stories of Lilith have her cursed with the inability to have children, with all of hers being either born dead or dying shortly after being born. It could be Charlie isn't their first child, just the first one to survive. @Valentino simp If we learned anything from Helluva Boss, it's that Viv love morbid backstories soooo
OK weird comparison but you did bring it up with the music, so here goes- Charlie is the princess character Asha should have been. Someone who genuinely has pure intentions & always wanted to help her people, but has only just come to realize that the powers that be are corrupt, and the real way to help her people is by standing up to those in power. All while better evoking both the earnest sweetness of the golden age princesses AND the spirited passion of the renaissance princesses than the characters in Disney’s centennial movie did.
💯. The way the writers made Asha made her cheap and generic. Making her quirky is not the way of being a protagonist. Also, demanding your king that he is in the wrong also not helping her case.
I had never heard of this universe before seeing Hazbin pop up on trending on Prime. I loved S1. The music is mostly amazing. I agree with pretty much all your points, particularly about ep 3 & Whatever it Takes, but the show felt like such a breath of fresh air!
Charlie is so Disney, like when she is so Pure and kind that it is like looking at a new born baby laughthing for the first time and she is someone u cant letdown or u fell brutal guilt.
i saw hazbin and clicked immediately haha also out for love and the finale song both made the top 10 for a spotify chart! (please don't ask me which one i can't remember)
Your review is pretty much spot on how I felt too. I enjoyed the show (and the songs are getting better every time I listen to them) but the pacing was iffy and I wanted to see more of the found family actually being a found family. Tbh I kinda felt like they needed someone in the studio who could tell Viv that just because she spent the last few years since the pilot creating all these fun OCs doesn't mean every single one needed to be in the first season of the show and have significant screentime. I feel like this show really could have shined with a 12 episode count but if they couldn't get that there really needed to be some streamlining and decisions made on what was important for the story.
Waited so long for this show and it didn’t disappoint 8/10. My only main issue is the pacing but that’s bc of the amount of episodes they were given 12 episodes would’ve been better to help flesh out things and character development. The music was spectacular like this felt like traditional Disney music that made them famous but now fallen to Grace so this is where the magic of Disney went. A lot of bangers and their villain songs were great too. Hell’s greatest dad, finale, stayed gone, more than anything, loser baby are my favorite songs of the show. So excited to see season 2 and I pray the quality doesn’t drop in season 2 like helluva boss did. Jeremy Jordan as Lucifer was my favorite character of the show I need more of him in season 2. The three Vee’s were great standouts unapologetically evil villains are wha we need today instead of the whole tragic backstory or possible redemption of the villains like Hazbin hotel gave us actual evil villains with the Vee’s like Valentino is a great villain he is awful no sense of good in him with a connection to a main character it’s rough to watch but as a villain he’s great.
Maybe whatever it takes could have been re-worked into a song about the redemption program. Give us more trial and error, more of the gang meshing. Something that actually moves the plot forward. Hell, make it a montage. And then we can have asides that hint that Vaggie is keeping secrets. It'd reduce the overt parallels between her and Carmilla, but I think what we gain in the rest of the cast makes up for that.
