Recap / Hazbin Hotel S1E2 "Radio Killed the Video Star"

RECAP:
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"Alastor came back, and he's with Lucifer's daughter, and that wasn't the FIRST FUCKING THING YOU TOLD ME!?"

— Vox

Vox plots against Alastor after learning of his return. Sir Pentious attempts to join the hotel.

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Tropes:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Valentino and Velvette smirk when Alastor says that Vox is nothing without them.
• An Aesop: The first step to becoming a better person is to admit you were wrong and give a sincere apology.
• The Aggressive Drug Dealer: Played for Laughs. Angel is forced to be one in Charlie's play, where he is portrayed as a bad man who was never loved trying to coerce an innocent schoolboy (Sir Pentious) into buying crack, saying it'll make him cool.
• Atomic F-Bomb: Vox lets loose a despairing "Fuuu-hu-huck!" after losing to Alastor in their Quarreling Song.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Angel is extremely unenthusiastic about the corny dialogue in Charlie's play and being forced to play "the crackhead". Sir Pentious isn't much better of an actor, but is at least putting his heart into it.
  Angel: "Oh, I'm a bad man on the streets who never got enough hugs. Now, where's an innocent kid I can sell crack to?" Wow, who wrote this?
• Bad Boss: Vox tells his assistant to begin working on the Angelic Security system he made up on the spot to the press and later offers to send up the "lowest-earner" so Valentino can blow off some murderous steam. When Sir Pentious blows his cover after less than a day, Vox tells him that if the staff doesn't kill him, Pentious should do it himself.
• Berserk Button: Alastor's name alone is enough to make Vox completely lose his composure and fly into a rage. Valentino informing him of Alastor's presence at the Hazbin Hotel has the media demon start an entire impromptu broadcast in which he tries to assert that Alastor is old news and he has long surpassed him. When Alastor himself joins in, it takes him barely a verse to get Vox so worked up that he literally bluescreens and crashes his entire network.
• Big Blackout: Towards the end of “Stayed Gone”, Alastor’s taunts get under Vox’s skin so much that in his rage, he inadvertently crashes not only his own television network, but all of Pentagram City apart from Alastor’s broadcast tower by shorting out the city's power grid with feedback from his electricity powers flaring up.
  Vox: You olLLLld-timey prick! I’ll show you Suf-fFFFfering!
  Alastor: Uh oh, the TV is buffering!
  Vox: I’LL DESTROY YOU, Y-YOO-OU-U LITTLE—! (cue power surge, other Vees getting electrocuted, and the Pentagram going dark)
  Alastor: I’m afraid you’ve lost your signal.
• Blatant Lies: Vox tries so hard to claim that no one cares that Alastor has returned, even though it's clear that Vox himself is one of the people who cares the most that Alastor is back.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday:
  • Alastor once again denies recalling Sir Pentious, who claims they've fought twenty times previously, though it's clear he's doing it on purpose because he thinks so little of him.
    Alastor: Thanks for another forgettable experience.
  • In their next meeting, he admits to remembering the damage he caused to his suit.
    Alastor: Ah, yes! You're the one who ruined my coat!    I definitely remember you now.   
• The Cameo: Valentino owns a Fizzie robot named Kitty.
• Comical Coffee Cup:
  • Alastor is drinking from a mug labeled "Oh Deer" when Sir Pentious challenges him to a new fight.
  • During the Quarreling Song, Vox is briefly seen with a mug labeled "Fuck Alastor".
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Once again, Sir Pentious finds himself on the wrong end of Alastor's powers. Then again, having not learned his lesson from the last time (or the other twenty), he has no one but himself to blame. He gets it much worse this time because he actually manages to tear Alastor's suit, so Alastor causes an explosion that sends him flying halfway across town.
  • Vox's Quarreling Song with Alastor ends with Alastor effortlessly humiliating Vox and making him lose his signal, blacking out all of Pentagram City except for Alastor's radio tower.
• Despair Event Horizon: Sir Pentious goes into one when Vox tells him to kill himself for failing his mission, but Charlie pulls him out of it.
• The Diss Track: "Stayed Gone" has elements of these, with many of its lyrics essentially being spoken-word insults flung by Vox and Alastor at each other. The first verse sung solely by Vox best exemplifies this:
  Vox: So, the Radio Demon is back in town! Why's he hangin' around? What does that mean for your family?
  Well, handily, I've got good news! He's a loser, a fossil, and I don't mean to sound hostile, but THE DEMON IS A COWARD!
  You can take that as gospel! Pulling my viewers? Impossible! I'm visual, he's barely audible!
  Stop giving him the time of day! Don't listen to a word he'd say! I hope he had a nice vay-cay, but he SHOULD'VE STAYED AWAY!
• Distant Duet: "Stayed Gone", which starts out as a television broadcast from Vox's studio only for Alastor to join in by broadcasting from his radio tower.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Sir Pentious is annoyed that Alastor always acts like he doesn't remember their battles, and his mention of a desire to get the Vees to show him respect is why Vox later uses him as The Mole.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Valentino's suggestion for dealing with Alastor and Charlie is to "put something inside them" (by which he means "drug them"), as it's how he keeps his employees under control. Though obviously a poor suggestion, Vox takes inspiration from his specific choice of words and gets the idea to have someone infiltrate the hotel as a spy.
• Electromagnetic Ghosts: As in the last episode, video cameras seem to have trouble clearly capturing Alastor, implying that his visage is simply unable to be filmed.
• Epic Fail:
  • As Vox lampshades, Sir Pentious managed to get himself outed as a spy before day one was even over.
  • Vox starts strong in his 'Alastor Sucks' song, but the moment Alastor is on air, things quickly go downhill for Vox. First his audience instantly turns from his televisions to listen at Alastor's broadcast, then Alastor starts raising doubt on Vox's own power and influence, culminating with Alastor airing Vox's embarrassing secret. This prompts Vox to panic and goes into a rage that shuts the entire grid down. And as the final cherry on top, Alastor makes it clear that he's coming for him and the other Vees, prompting Vox to despair.
• Establishing Character Moment: Each of the Vees get at least one, since this is effectively their introductory episode:
  • Vox is introduced hawking a security system he makes up on the spot to a crowd of newspeople (with the implications that he's hypnotizing them) and talks Val into not acting on his petty whims for the sake of their image, only to completely lose his cool when he finds out that Alastor is back in Pentagram City. This clues us in that he's the face of the Vees and is the brains to boot, but both go out the window when Alastor is involved because he hates him that much.
  • Velvette is first seen angrily demanding Vox deal with Valentino's rampage in her office and then seen mercilessly berating her employees and their presented clothing, immediately solidifying her characterization as a catty and capricious Alpha Bitch who is barely capable of reining in Vox and Valentino's more stupid impulses.
  • Valentino gets two, for two wildly different sides of his characterization:
    • He is first introduced needing to be calmed down by Vox and talked out of going on a killing spree when he finds out that Angel Dust is living at the Hazbin Hotel (not quitting, just shacking up somewhere else), cluing us in that he's a Psychopathic Manchild who's the Id of The Vees with a controlling dynamic over Angel Dust.
    • The second is when Angel listens to the zillion voicemails Valentino has left him, which demonstrate that despite being a moody and uncontrollable "piss-baby" (as Velvette puts it), Valentino can be a darkly suave and commanding abuser when he wants to be despite his mood swings and more directly sets up his specific antagonistical role to Angel Dust.
      Valentino: Angel, baby, come home! It's not the same without you here, I miss you, come back!—
      ANGEL, YOU BITCH, IF YOU DON'T COME HOME, YOU WILL BE FUCKING GREASY TRUCKERS FOR THE NEXT YEAR!—
      Heey, Amorcito, I didn't mean to yell, but you know how crazy you make me—
      YOU FUCKIN' SLUT!—
      Hey, Angie, about earlier—
      —KILL YOUR WHOLE FUCKIN' FAMILY—
      —Work's really stressful—
      —LITTLE COCKSUCKING PIECE OF SHI—
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Vox has a petty grudge against Alastor for refusing to join the Vees, which leads the former to sing about why Alastor sucks and why his return is unwelcome, just to get under his skin. Alastor promptly shuts him down in quick succession.
  • Alastor makes it clear to Sir Pentious that he's not going to let ruining his coat slide anytime soon.
  • Valentino is so incensed by the idea of Angel flirting with one of Alastor's summons (for free at least), that he immediately plans to kill his entire family.
• Failed a Spot Check: Sir Pentious blasts a hole into the hotel trying to call Alastor out, failing to spot him on the balcony right above the hole.
• Finger-Snap Lighter: Vox uses a small lightning bolt from his finger to light Val's cigarette.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • Vox's news segment at the start of "Stayed Gone" has a text scroll running at the bottom of the screen emphasizing how he most definitely absolutely does not care and is not worried that the Radio Demon has returned to Pentagram City.
    So the Radio Guy's back. I don't think you noticed. I didn't at first — I was too busy being a much more interesting and important person. But fuck it. News is slow today I guess. I'm totally not worried about this guy and neither should you be. I totally wrecked his shit last time.
  • Meanwhile pausing while Angel's looking at his phone reveals Valentino has been stream of consciousness texting Angel his ideas for the next shoot, involving Angel getting it on with three guys on a sinking ship with a race against the clock...and he wants to add temperature play after watching a video about it...and he wonders why Angel hasn't texted him back him after thirty seconds...and then he loses his temper...
• Funny Background Event: In Velvette's studio, there's a poster showing ice cream bars that look like the Vees.
• Furry Reminder: When Alastor sends Sir Pentious flying for tearing off a chunk of his suit, he lets out an elk bugle.
• Glad You Thought of It: After a couple of failed attempts to hypnotize Valentino (as he's too self-absorbed to pay attention), Vox opts for this tactic when trying to calm him down, pointing out each bit step-by-step to guide Valentino along the right train of thought, then capping it off with this.
  Vox: So you shooould...?
  Valentino: Do nothing?
  Vox: Great idea! Now that's why they pay you the big bucks!
• Gone Horribly Right: Sir Pentious is sent as a mole to the hotel, faking a desire to be redeemed so the Vees can keep an eye on Alastor. When he blows it and Vox tells him off, he ends up genuinely seeking redemption.
• Hearing Voices: After Angel Dust scrolls through Valentino's messages, he hears another of his insults while being surrounded by Super Smoke. It's ambiguous if Valentino is able to talk to him without a phone.
• Horrifying the Horror: Val's expression when Vox goes Voice of the Legion right in his face can only be described as O_O.
• Hypnotic Eyes: Vox frequently uses his left eye to hypnotize people into buying his products and listening to him. Sir Pentious also does a similar trick with his many eyes to stun Angel Dust when he was pinned by him, though Angel shakes it off after a few seconds.
• Hypocrite: Vox admonishes Val for getting so worked up about Angel and reminds him that "chasing whores around town" will make them look pathetic. The second Val informs him that Alastor is also at the hotel, Vox immediately starts a fight via musical broadcast, leading to all of Hell witnessing him get brushed off and utterly humiliated by Alastor.
• I'm Standing Right Here: When Charlie declares Sir Pentious the Hotel's first official guest, the camera immediately pans over to Angel, who offendedly asks what that makes him. Charlie tries to backpedal on her statement, but Vaggie elaborates that Angel is obviously just a freeloader mooching off their goodwill and doesn't count.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: While being forced to participate in Charlie's rhyming introduction game, Angel complains "I'm too sober for this."
• Ironic Echo: Alastor's final lines in "Stayed Gone" are a twist on Vox's opening lines which flip Vox's insults on their head and turn them into Badass Boasts, which is concerning because Alastor shouldn't have been able to hear that part.
  Vox: Welcome home
  I'm gonna make you wish that you'd stayed gone
  Say hello to a new status quo
  Everyone knows that there's a brand new dawn
  Turn the TV ON!
  [...]
  Alastor: Let's begin
  I'm gonna make you wish that I'd stayed gone
  Tune on in
  When I'm done, your status quo will know its race is run
     Oh, this will be FUN.   
• Kick the Dog: Alastor is needlessly cruel to Sir Pentious when the latter tries to apologize to him, making a show out of immolating the piece of his coat that Pentious tore off and returned, seemingly just to be mean and assert dominance over Pentious. Charlie and Pentious are understandably freaked out by this.
  Pentious: Mr., um, Radio Demon, sir, please forgive me for attacking you and ruining your very lovely coat!...um, here! [hands Alastor the torn coat piece]
  Alastor: OHO! Not many people have been able to take even this much off me! It must have meant quite a lot to you. [sets it aflame]
• Kick Them While They're Down:
  • Vox brutally tears into Sir Pentious when he gets caught as a spy on day one. It's enough to make Sir Pentious decide that Vaggie and Angel should just kill him and get it over with.
    Vox: I can't believe we thought you could handle even something this simple! Do us a favor: if they don't kill you, go ahead and do it yourself! You MISERABLE FAILURE!
  • At the end of the episode, Alastor contacts Vox through Sir Pentious' video watch and rubs in his face the fact that he has lost again against him, seriously enraging the television overlord.
• Lame Comeback: Vox is able to talk plenty of smack during the first half of "Stayed Gone" when it's just him singing about how much Alastor sucks, but the second Alastor butts in and starts verbally eviscerating Vox, he gets so riled up that he can only retort with variations of "oh yeah?", telling Alastor to shut up or just saying that Alastor is old without adequately explaining why that's a bad thing.
  Alastor: Is Vox insecure, pursuing allure? Flitting between this fad and that, is nothing working?
  Vox: Ignore his chirping!
  Alastor: Every day he's got a new format!
  Vox: YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE FUTURE! HE'S THE SHIT THAT COMES BEFORE THAT!
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste:
  • Charlie and Vaggie realize that the shortened timeline for the next extermination might make sinner demons desperate enough to give the hotel a shot. Unfortunately, they aren't that desperate. As Angel points out, there are better things they could do with their limited time than take a chance on a seemingly impossible goal.
  • Vox wastes no time plugging a new line of angel defense products he hasn't even made to swindle suckers out of their money.
• Messy Hair: When she's woken up in the middle of the night, Charlie's normally neat hair is undone and slightly unkempt from sleeping on it.
• Metal Scream: Vox's opening verse to "Stayed Gone" has him suddenly yelling the last line in a truly startling manner.
  Vox: Turn the TV OOOOOOOONNNNNN!
• Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: This is the first episode where Charlie's methods of redeeming sinners are first unveiled, and they all vary between some level of Condescending Compassion or being outright patronizing, such as when she forces Angel and Sir Pentious to perform an icebreaker involving rhyming couplets. Pentious at least seems open to the idea, but at this point in the episode he's still The Mole trying to gain Charlie's trust.
  Charlie: Everyone, follow me! My name is Charlie, I like to sing/and when we get to know each other it's the greatest thing!
  Pentious: ...My name's Sir Pentious, I like to build/...and despite my stupid Egg Boiz, I think I'm very skilled!
  Angel: ...This is stupid.
  Charlie: This is not stupid! It's just a game!/Sir Pentious did it well, so now please try to do the same!
• The Mole: Sir Pentious is sent to infiltrate the hotel because he's the only person the Vees know that is not directly employed by them but desperate enough to do the job for them regardless.
• More Insulting than Intended: Vaggie berates Angel Dust for transparently taking advantage of her and Charlie's generosity to live rent free in the Hotel and therefore doesn't really count as a guest, whereas Charlie attempts to soften the blow by saying that she's only so excited about Sir Pentious joining because it's nice to have someone who actually cares about being redeemed for once. The second statement coming from Charlie of all people clearly hurts Angel far more than anything Vaggie said.
• Motor Mouth: Once he starts broadcasting, Vox gets in his first few jabs on Alastor in this fashion in “Stayed Gone”, rapidly spitting out insult after insult.
• My God, You Are Serious!: When Vox initially confronts Valentino in the midst of his tantrum, he initially assumes it to be just another one of Val's hissy fits and approaches the situation with a casual jocularity. When he realizes that Val is genuinely planning to storm over to the Hazbin Hotel and shoot up the place without any real plan just to get back at Angel Dust for moving out, his demeanor quickly changes.
  Vox: [chuckling] What are you doing, Val?...You're not going over there?
• Mythology Gag: A reference to the Alastor prequel comic shows up during "Stayed Gone", when Vox briefly appears on all the screens of a television display to loom menacingly, much like a scene from the comic where he tries to intimidate Alastor.
• Never My Fault: During Charlie's introduction exercise, Sir Pentious introduces himself as an inventor while at the same time blaming the Egg Bois for his failures.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Sir Pentious is caught by Angel Dust, but because Charlie walked in late and is lacking context, he's in a position where he can frame Angel (who is technically also working for the Vees) or come up with any other excuse. Instead, he freaks out and calls Vox for an extraction right in front of everyone.
  • Vox mocking Sir Pentious for screwing up being The Mole at the hotel is part of what makes him seek genuine redemption. Alastor even rubs it in his face that Vox screwed up big time.
• Noodle Incident: Valentino alludes to a fight between Vox and Alastor that happened seven years ago and ended in Alastor almost beating Vox.
• Not Good with Rejection:
  • Valentino is driven to murderous rage by the idea that Angel would move to the hotel just to have some distance from him. Vox has to talk him down from doing something stupid.
  • If Alastor is to be believed, part of the reason Vox hates him is that Vox made Alastor an offer to work together, but Alastor turned him down.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Sir Pentious manages to snag a bit of Alastor's coat, only to let out a quick "Oh, shit!" as Alastor manifests his true form and sends him flying.
  • Vox's reaction after Alastor ends their musical battle by announcing that he is, indeed, back and anyone who thought they could challenge him like Vox did a few seconds ago had better sleep with two eyes open.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes:
  • Angel and Vaggie don't trust Sir Pentious's claims of seeking redemption after he just attacked them, but Vaggie reluctantly goes along with it when she sees Charlie's giant sparkling eyes silently begging her to allow it.
  • When playing the role of a child in Charlie's play, Sir Pentious makes his eyes look wide to convey a sense of youthful innocence.
• Quarreling Song: Vox and Alastor's song "Stayed Gone" has them trading barbs, with Alastor coming out on top.
• Quivering Eyes: Whenever Sir Pentious gets emotional—such as when Charlie forgives his betrayal—his pupils get super-big and his eyes get watery.
• Retcon: In the prequel comic Dirty Healings, it was established that Angel was living in a tiny apartment he couldn't afford rent on. In this episode, Val states that he was living in a room at the studio and Val is quite annoyed that Angel chose to move out, implying that Angel moved to the hotel just to get away from Val.
• Rewatch Bonus: Val's seemingly disproportionate response to Angel moving out of the studio makes more sense after "Welcome to Heaven", in which Angel explains that the conditions of their deal only apply when Angel is in the studio. He's mad not just because Angel moved out, but because it prevents him from controlling Angel off the job.
• Shout-Out: The episode's title "Radio Killed the Video Star" is a reference to the song "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.
• The Show Must Go On: Even though Velvette is furious about Val wrecking her studio and tearing apart her best model, in the end she knows she can't waste time ranting about it since she's going to be on air soon and just brings in a replacement at the last second while delegating the task of dealing with Val's hissy-fit to Vox.
• Sinister Surveillance: One of Vox's drones is shown spying on the hotel as Sir Pentious attacks it, which is how Valentino learns that Alastor is living there.
• Skewed Priorities: Val is throwing a fit over Angel shacking up at the hotel, and only after Vox has calmed him down does he reveal the far more important fact that Alastor has also taken up residence there. Vox immediately lampshades that this should have been the first thing he mentioned, given how powerful the Radio Demon and the Princess of Hell could be as a team, but Val just dismisses Alastor as Vox's problem.
• Slave to PR: Vox firmly reminds Valentino that their brand is "perfection", so having Valentino rampaging about town over a single whore would make people think the Vees can't control their employees.
• Smug Snake: While Vox has a powerful tech empire, Alastor easily defeats him in their Quarreling Song by making him so mad he causes a city-wide power outage, and even outright says that Vox would be nowhere as powerful as he is without Valentino and Velvette's support, which they don't seem to disagree with.
• Storefront Television Display: During "Stayed Gone" a crowd of demons is seen watching Vox's broadcast in the TVs at the front, then switching their gaze to a store next door labeled "Old Crap" with an old-fashioned radio on display when Alastor sends his response.
• Suicide by Cop: After Vox mocks him for messing up being The Mole within a day, Sir Pentious asks Angel and Vaggie to kill him quickly, even though he doesn't deserve it.
• Suicide Dare: Vox is so baffled by Sir Pentious getting caught as The Mole almost immediately that he dismissively tells him to kill himself when Sir Pentious calls for help.
• Tastes Like Disdain: Valentino orders his assistant to bring him drinks just so he can throw them against the wall in a rage.
• Tempting Fate: Vox starts "Stayed Gone" intending to send a message to Alastor about how he'll regret coming back. By the end, Vox is the one regretting Alastor's return, as it's shown that people still genuinely do take an interest in his broadcast over Vox's programming when Alastor interrupts him and completely upstages him during the song.
  Vox: While he hid in radio,
  we pivoted to video!
  Now his medium is getting bloody rare!
  Hell's been better since he split!
  Where's he been? WHO GIVES A SHIT?
  Alastor: Salutations! Good to be back on the air!
• Underestimating Badassery: Vox thinks seven years means Alastor is old news and he can easily run over him. Alastor quickly proves that Vox is out of his league by upstaging him on his own broadcast.
• Villainous Breakdown: Quite literally with Vox, who gets so worked up by Alastor upstaging him that he glitches out and crashes, taking down Hell's power grid with him, with the exception of Alastor's studio.
• "The Villain Sucks" Song: "Stayed Gone" starts out as a hybrid of this and a Diss Track sung by Vox about Alastor, until Alastor violently hijacks the song and starts reversing it in the opposite direction, turning it into a Quarreling Song before taking it over completely by the end.
• Visual Pun: During "Stayed Gone", Vox claims that Alastor's preferred medium of radio is "getting bloody rare" while hosting a cooking show called "Venison with Vox" and pulling a severed deer head out of an oven, alluding to both the use of the word "rare" as in "scarce" as well as in "lightly cooked meat".
• Voice of the Legion: Vox's voice gets a "blown-out speaker/spotty WiFi" distortion when he hypnotizes people or gets agitated.
• Wardrobe Wound: After Alastor has thoroughly beaten the tar out of Sir Pentious, the snake manages to rip off a scrap of Alastor's suit when Alastor gets complacent. This prompts an even more brutal beatdown. Alastor spitefully burns the scrap when Sir Pentious returns it as an apology, noting he must have been proud of himself for getting closer than many others.
• Who Writes This Crap?!: Angel voices several of his complaints about the dialogue in the play he and Sir Pentious are forced to put on, knowing full well Charlie is the one who wrote it.
  Angel: "Hey, you!"
  Sir Pentious: "Who, me?"
  Angel: "Yeah! You look like a kid who could use some...'Devil's Dandruff?'" Oh, for fuck's sake!
• We Can Rule Together: Vox made an offer like this to Alastor, but the latter refused, which is apparently part of why Vox hates Alastor so much.
• You Have Failed Me: The fate for the month's lowest earners tends to be this. Valentino likes to kill them to blow off steam.

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