October 28, 2019. On that day, the pilot for a little show called Hazbin Hotel was released on YouTube, gaining massive popularity. It’s been nearly five years since then with a lot of good and bad happening behind the scenes, but the show has finally been released. Expectations were neutral, but I am pleased to say that the show is actually pretty enjoyable.
The story follows Charlie Morningstar, the daughter of Lucifer and Princess of Hell, as she opens a Hotel in order to rehabilitate the Sinners so that they can get into Heaven instead of having their guts spilled by the angels once every year. At her side are Vaggie, Husk, Angel Dust, and a few others, including fan favorite, Alastor the Radio Demon. I can see why he’s a fan favorite. His whole character is a mystery and I liked how they give us bits and pieces of it, leaving room for theories (film theories!) and speculation.
Since the show’s also a musical, well, you can expect a song or two per episode. I wasn’t really enthusiastic about this at first because, while I am willing to sit through one, a musical isn’t something I’ll always enjoy. But the songs here were much better than expected. My personal favorites included “Hell is Forever,” “You Didn’t Know,” and “Loser Baby.” And yes, “Poison” is starting to really grow on me.
The animation looks really good, absolutely shining in the musical segments. The pacing is unfortunately a miss sometimes because of how fast things seem to go. In the first episode, for example, the angel Adam says they’ve moved up the extermination date to every six months instead of the usual once a year. By episode five, there is one month left before the extermination.
Five months have passed in only five episodes, maybe even less, and yet, nothing has changed. The hotel is still empty and by episode 6, we’re going to Heaven to seek help from the angel higher-ups. It feels like a genuinely good premise with a high-stakes issue on paper, but the pacing makes everything feel pretty insignificant, at least until the final batch of episodes.
There was one major final issue I had with the show in which I asked myself, “Will everyone, including the genuinely horrible souls, really be getting redeemed?” Also, Charlie’s whole redemption plan didn’t quite make complete sense simply because we never actually saw it at work.
However, the season finale showed off that a soul could be redeemed. Episode eight involves one of the characters making a selfless sacrifice to protect his friends and the hotel. Sure, he gets blown to bits in a second, making his sacrifice and attempt to protect everyone meaningless, but this moment managed to basically fix one of the show’s issues. Back that up with other plot reveals and new mysteries, and you’ve got yourself a good setup for the next season.
Overall, it has a couple of bumps here and there, but the show manages to be really entertaining. I’m excited for season two and hoping that it doesn’t mess it up. Its premise is unique and it’s great to see an independent show grow so much from a YouTube pilot to a full-on TV show. So in the meantime, the show is a solid 7.5/10.
