Ever since a well produced pilot episode to a rather unique looking dark humour animated musical dropped on YouTube, in 2019 a large and dedicated fanbase has exploded around the single episode with a dream that it would become a series. Well sometimes dreams do come true! It was confirmed the series had been picked up and despite a delay thanks to the 2023 writers strike, Hazbin Hotel premiered in January 2024 to immediate success!
For those unaware, the show is set in Hell. It follows Charlie Morningstar, her girlfriend Vaggie, and a cast of colorful misfits who are trying to earn redemption. Hell faces an overpopulation problem and so every year Heaven sends a legion of Exorcists in an annual Extermination to cull the population. Charlie wants to stop that and avoid the genocide of her people by proving even damned souls can be redeemed. In doing so she has a client, the demonic pornstar Angel Dust, who is at best indifferent. After a fiasco of an announcement she is helped by an unlikely source, the powerful and enigmatic Radio Demon, Alastor who calls in souls he can push around, the drunken gambler Husk as a bartender and the potentially psychopathic Nifty as the maid. Together they have to prove redemption works before the clock runs out on all of Hell, with music!
The first season picks up shortly after where the Pilot left off, with the opening of the titular Hazbin Hotel to the general sinning public. Charlie continues to try and get people behind her dream with the support of Vaggie and the crippling indifference of most of the other hotel staff. Granted an opportunity to get a meeting with Heaven, she leaps at the chance to meet Adam, the leader of the exorcists. In a magnificent musical debut we get a good introduction to Hell, the Exorcists, and the stakes for all of Hell. A crowning first episode that sets the tone for the series!
To get a small thing that has irritated some, this isn’t a show praising Hell. Getting sent to Hell is terrible, and people who want to leave really want to leave. Indeed, Charlie believes it is her duty to try and save them by getting them into Heaven. So far, it has little religious overtones other than a generic pop culture understanding of Heaven and Hell which seems to have more in line with Diablo’s angels and demons than any real understanding of the Abrahamic scriptures beyond cultural inspirations. So no, we’re not rooting for Hell here. The story has little to do with Christianity and its theological underpinnings.
As mentioned, the story is one which focuses on whether people can change. Souls damned for the choices they made in life can instead find redemption, or that’s what Charlie believes. She wants the sinners in Hell to find the chance to redeem themselves. In this sense Charlie is a Disney princess who actually does something, although her authority is extremely limited. She rarely uses it and depends more on her charm and attitude to get things done, and her belief in redemption is indeed a lofty goal. Some thinks this makes her deluded and naive, but really it allows her to show how sincere she is, which is what helps her recruit people to her side in the first place.
Bankrolling her scheme is the enigmatic and dangerous Alastor. His motivations (beyond boredom) are largely unknown. With a pleasant facade and an attitude of not caring, we know he’s scheming. As the most dangerous kind of demon, a deal maker, he presents an open and ongoing threat to everyone despite his amiable facade. He directly owns Husker’s soul, and may own Nifty’s as well. What his true motivations are remain to be seen, but he also presents a startling conundrum to a show about redemption; can a former serial killer and unrepentant villain be saved?
Alongside Alastor there’s more colorful villains. Adam (yes that Adam) the leader of the exorcists is a self-righteous manchild who revels in his own importance and the simple joy of killing sinners who he believes “have it coming” as does his equally bloodthirsty lieutenant Lute. In Hell itself we have the Vees, a trio of Overlords under Vox, Valentino and Velvette. They have beef with the main cast, Vox hating Alastor and Valentino having convinced Angel Dust to sell his soul to him. All of these villains represent an ongoing threat to the main cast.
The themes of friendship, found family and redemption are present through the series. Despite the fact that next to no one believes in Charlie’s goal, many people end up supporting her. Angel Dust, as the series goes on, watches Charlie hope to change and seems to begin his own path to redemption, if only because Charlie believes in him. The incompetent villain Serpentious also has a change of heart after Charlie spares him, and stays at the hotel believing in redemption.
Whether Charlie’s redemption scheme will work overall remains an open question. However, as the series progresses, its hard to say that her faith in people doesn’t help make others better. Angel Dust and Husk become friends rather than mutually antagonistic colleagues, Vaggie is able to spill some major secrets and become friends with everyone, while Serpentious begins to think less of people as potential rivals and more as friends, and Nifty… well that’s up in the air. No spoilers in this review, but I loved how the series ended and what it did for people’s relationships. It provided for some uplifting story telling and also a sense of hope.
Now this is also a musical, so we have to talk about that!
Like any good musical the music itself is used to help tell the story and convey tone and meaning. It hits hard and is probably one of the most competently produced productions of its kind so far. From how well the animation holds up and to the wide range of musical styles and lyrics go it is simply amazing how they use it. The song “You Didn’t Know” is probably the most hard hitting in the whole first season, with a range of voices, styles and emotional beats that are so well done I was in awe. Of course “Loser Baby” is a deserved fan favorite, and just listening to the music will really make your day. I’ve been singing along to quite a few of the songs for weeks now!
The first season has been a greatly anticipated success. I was left gaping at how clever the twists and turns in the plot were executed personally, and so I refuse to spoil them for people! As a musical it is a massive success, and I may write a separate article about that. Generally, this was a production I am thrilled to see succeed, and it told a story that, despite some bleak subject matter, is one filled with a lot of hope and themes anyone can love. This is a series people should absolutely check out!
Matthew Stienberg 