Recap / Hazbin Hotel S1E6 "Welcome to Heaven"

RECAP:
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"We are gathered here today to determine whether or not a soul in Hell can be redeemed into the Heavenly realm by means of this 'Hazbin Hotel'."

— Sera

While Charlie and Vaggie head to heaven to make their case for the Hotel, Angel and the rest of the gang go hang out with Cherri Bomb.

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Tropes:

• Acronym and Abbreviation Overload: Cherri rattles off a laundry list of abbreviations for different drugs when she offers some to Angel.
  Cherri: C'mon, bitch! If you've really been workin' that hard, you deserve a little R&R, and some THC, or maybe PCP with DMT, aw, fuck it, let's see where the night takes us, eh?
• Aesop Amnesia: Subverted with Angel Dust - while spending a night in the club is seen as a demerit, the fact that he didn’t do anything bad and even stood up against Valentino was enough to show Heaven that redeeming Sinners isn't a lost cause.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • In-Universe, not even the angels know why a soul gets sent to Heaven and not Hell. It's even mentioned by Charlie that those in Heaven can do whatever they want and apparently get a pass.
  • Sera tells Charlie, "There's a lot that you don't know," which could mean she either knows something she's not telling, or she only knows/thinks that those above her know something that they're not telling her.
• Angry Animalistic Growl: In response to Adam acting smugly superior over Angel spending the night drinking, Charlie bares her fangs and gives a low, animalistic growl.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • When Charlie asks Adam what it takes to get into Heaven if he really knows so much, Adam is completely caught off guard and quickly comes up with a list of three points that are later revealed to be him just bullshitting since he doesn't actually know.
  • Adam asks "Did you ever think your little girlfriend might be a liar?" to Charlie, dropping the bombshell in-universe that Vaggie is a Fallen Angel.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: As Husk begins to explain to Cherri Bomb what Angel's actual problem is:
  Husk: The hotel isn't a problem in his life, it's—
  Angel: Valentino.
  Husk: Exactly! So why don't you—
  Angel: No. [points at the corner booth] Valentino.
• Bad Liar: Vaggie tries to come up with an excuse not to go with Charlie to Heaven, but can barely come up with "a thing" before giving up and conceding she's a bad liar. Ironic, considering she is later revealed to have been lying to Charlie since they met, though a lie of omission is probably easier.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: As St. Peter lampshades, everyone in Heaven is hot.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: This episode shows Vaggie and Charlie's first meeting, which came directly after Adam and Lute mutilated Vaggie and left her for dead. Charlie, upon seeing the sorry state Vaggie was in, wasted no time in bandaging her up, which caused Vaggie to fall for her.
• Berserk Button: Adam is visibly seething with rage when Charlie and Emily point out that he’s a rampant sinner himself and that Heaven is failing to honor its own rules.
• Big Brother Instinct: Angel acts like a protective older brother to Niffty when she starts drinking too much, comforting her when he accidentally upsets her and trying to keep her away from Valentino.
• Big Brother Is Watching: Adam makes an observation screen on Angel Dust for everyone to see, meaning angels can observe the situation in Hell at any time, with nobody knowing.
• Black Comedy Rape: When Sir Pentious makes the mistake of saying he'll have sex with everyone at the club, he's dragged into one of the sex rooms by horny patrons. Subverted later, when he reunites with the crew panting but fully clothed, having evidently escaped.
• Blackmail: Adam attempts to blackmail Vaggie over her hiding being a Fallen Angel from Charlie. It mostly doesn't succeed aside from making Vaggie too uncomfortable to directly testify, and Adam reveals the secret to Charlie regardless.
• Blinded by Rage: The reason that Adam ends up Saying Too Much is he and Lute are incensed when Charlie points out that Heaven itself has no idea what gets a soul into Heaven. Adam decides to mock Charlie over the pending Extermination in front of the court, which he realizes too late has put his entire plan in jeopardy now that he's let the cat out of the bag.
• The Blind Leading the Blind: When Angel doesn't ascend even after fulfilling the conditions Adam put forth, it comes out that not even Heaven's elite knows why some souls come to them, while the others go to Hell, only when it happens.
• Blowing a Raspberry: Adam, Manchild that he is, does one of these at Charlie when he scoffs at the idea that "the porn demon" Angel Dust could deserve redemption.
• Break the Cutie:
  • In the climax in the Heaven Courtroom, Charlie discovers that not only do the higher-up angels not know what it takes to go to Heaven or Hell, making her entire "redeeming damned souls" goal much more complex at best (especially given an asshole like Adam not only earned eternal salvation, but gets to keep it, while a Jerk with a Heart of Gold like Angel Dust seemingly has no second chance regardless of how much he improves), but also that her girlfriend Vaggie is an ex-Exorcist, who killed many of her people before becoming a Fallen Angel, because Adam revealed her secret out of spite at being called out for his hypocrisy. From her expression, you can tell that her worldview about Heaven and Hell is shattered like a broken mirror.
  • Emily is left utterly disgusted at the soul slaughter that Adam and his Exorcists were perpetuating for thousands of years in Hell, and that Sera even allowed such blasphemous ritual out of fear of losing souls in Heaven.
• Broken Pedestal: Emily loses respect for Sera when it is revealed that she knows about the Exterminations and supports them, feeling she has not only condemned sinners but is genociding them and sees through her condescension.
• Broken-System Dogmatist: Even after it becomes clear that no one in Heaven actually knows why a soul goes to Hell or not, and that the system of Divine Judgment is flawed, Sera refuses to change it, or even question it, believing that doing so will just cause angels to fall like Lucifer.
• The Cameo: Angel’s twin sister Molly is seen amongst the residents of Heaven.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Angel is legitimately worried about Niffty drinking too much, noting that she's so small that it'll likely hit her a lot harder than it would them.
• Cerebus Call-Back: In the first episode, Angel Dust teasingly called Vaggie "Vagina". In this episode, it's revealed that Adam named her "Vaggie" with soft Gs, a short form for the word "vagina".
• Change the Uncomfortable Subject: When Charlie calls out the fact that the angels don't actually know what gets a soul into Heaven, Sera quickly tries to shut down that line of questioning by reiterating that their job is to protect the souls that do arrive in Heaven. Emily, however, isn't willing to let it go.
• Character Development: Invoked. Charlie's evidence to the higher-ups of Heaven that souls can be redeemed is showing just how far Angel has come from being a slutty drug addict.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: During "Welcome to Heaven", when Emily grabs both of Charlie's hands and holds them, Vaggie is seen glaring angrily at their held hands.
• Continuity Nod: After Cherri Bomb blasts her way in through the same spot that Sir Pentious blew up in the second episode, Angel complains about how that specific spot keeps getting exploded by people's entrances.
• Cool Mask: The "faces" of the Exorcists are revealed to actually be hooded masks they wear as part of their uniform, with Lute showing her actual face in Heaven, and Vaggie wearing one before she became a Fallen Angel. If Adam is also wearing a mask, he doesn't bother removing it.
• Courtroom Episode: Charlie and Vaggie's plot in this episode involves them making their case in a court of angels that Sinners can indeed get into Heaven, with all the Courtroom Antics you would expect from both Charlie and Adam.
• Creepy Souvenir: Niffty rips off part of Valentino's coat as everyone's leaving. Note that it's his actual fur.
  Niffty: For my collection. (giggles)
• Dark and Troubled Past: Vaggie is a Fallen Angel, a former Exorcist who decided to spare a demon child during an extermination. Lute caught her in the act, then proceeded to gouge out her eye, rip off her wings, and take her halo before leaving her to bleed out, Vaggie only being saved thanks to Charlie finding her and mistaking her for an injured Sinner. Vaggie refrained from telling Charlie about her actual past out of fear of Charlie rejecting her since, as an Exorcist, she was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Sinners.
• Death Glare:
  • Played for Laughs. During the song “Welcome to Heaven”, Vaggie’s unimpressed expression turns into an very angry, jealous-driven glaring as she watches Charlie and Emily holding hands.
  • Played for Drama during the end. After Adam gloats he is targetting the Hotel next Extermination as Charlie and Vaggie are evicted from Heaven, he gets daggers glared at him by Sera and the rest of the court. It's enough to leave him uncharacteristically meek.
• Dictionary Opening: Charlie begins her appeal to Heaven by citing a dictionary definition of "redemption", which Adam immediately objects to as unoriginal, and even Sera agrees it's something none of them wants to hear. Charlie is left floundering, as she was prepared to define multiple words.
• Double Take: Adam and Lute are casually walking along the street when Charlie and Vaggie run past. It's not until they're past each other that the former group stops in their tracks and goes wide-eyed.
• Do You Want to Copulate?: Sir Pentious, being the gigantic dork with no social skills that he is (while also falling-down drunk), attempts to proposition Cherri to sleep with him in this manner.
  Pentious: Heeey, so, I see the club has a sex room...! So I was thinking...maybe you'd want to, umm...do a...sssex with me?
• Double-Meaning Title: Exaggerated. The title of the song "You Didn't Know" has four separate meanings to it.
  • The first, of course, is the impetus behind the song, Charlie's outrage that not even Heaven knows the qualifications for someone to go to Heaven, with Emily's questioning Sera on why Angel Dust isn't there despite meeting the requirements reiterating that Sera doesn't actually know; Sera defending herself by saying there are things Charlie and Emily don't know themselves.
    Sera: But there's a lot that you don't know.
  • The second is that Emily, and most of Heaven in general, didn't know about the Exterminations and only learned about them thanks to Adam's Loose Lips, something Charlie is genuinely shocked over Emily not knowing.
    Charlie: You didn't know?!
  • The third is the desperate plea Emily makes towards Sera, hoping that Sera was in the dark about the Exterminations too, only to be heartbroken when Sera reveals she always knew and, even if reluctantly, condoned them, Emily no longer feeling like she knows Sera.
    Emily: To think that I admired you.
  • The fourth and last is Adam and Lute deciding to reveal to Charlie how little she knows about Vaggie out of sheer pettiness, by revealing to Charlie that Vaggie is not only an Angel, but a former Exorcist at that.
    Adam: Why hide the fact that you're an Angel just like us?!
• Dramatic Red Samurai Background: When Lute grabs Vaggie in preparation of slashing out her eye, they are shown as silhouettes on a red background.
• Dude, Not Funny!: When Adam tries to brag about the looks of despair Charlie and Vaggie had on their faces to the court after they're returned to Hell, his fellow angels, including Sera, are unimpressed by his behavior. He then has the sense to just shut up and leave.
• Establishing Character Moment: Sera and Emily's introduction helps establish a contrast between them.
  • Sera greets Charlie formally and tells her, "You are gifted to be here," showing that she views this meeting as a charity on her part and doesn't really believe Charlie deserves it.
  • Emily, meanwhile, is happy to meet new people and enthusiastically welcomes Charlie, showing she doesn't judge her just for who she is.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • While Sera reluctantly supports the Exterminations to prevent uprisings against Heaven, even she thinks that Adam and Lute's Kick the Dog actions to Charlie and Vaggie (namely saying that the next Extermination will begin at the Hotel), were uncalled for.
  • Valentino is briefly freaked out by Niffty biting at him and demanding "a taste", then rationalizes it must be a kink for someone.
• Evil Counterpart: Subverted. When Emily is first introduced, she seems like she's meant to be the Angel's equivalent of Charlie, the implication that she's a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing since Sera knew about the exterminations and the idea it was kept secret from everyone but the Seraphim. During the trial, however, it's made clear Emily is a Sheep in Sheep's Clothing, having been entirely unaware of the exterminations and deliberately kept in the dark by Sera, her finding out about them shocks Charlie since she assumed it was open knowledge in Heaven, and Emily all but denouncing Sera out of disgust for the hypocrisy of Heaven doing this, and instead showing she and Charlie are genuinely Birds of a Feather.
• Evil Is Petty: Adam revealing that Vaggie is an Angel is as much due to Charlie pointing out that the people of Heaven are arguing (as well as pointing out his own hypocrisy) as it is Vaggie not going along with his demands to sabotage Charlie.
• Exact Words:
  • Apparently, Valentino's contract specifies that Angel has to do whatever he says as long as they're in the studio. So when the spider demon mentions that he's currently off the clock and is under no obligation to obey him, slap in the face aside, Valentino can't force the issue beyond threatening to make the next session worse.
  • Sera ultimately rules that there's no evidence souls in Hell can be redeemed, which is strictly true. If even angels don't know the standards that grant access to Heaven, Charlie can't realistically claim her hotel will work.
• Eye Cam: During the flashback of Vaggie's backstory, the camera takes the point of view of her remaining eye as she's left to die, the shadows of her eyelids framing the scene. Lute is seen tossing aside her wings and Adam holding her halo, then they turn and walk away, going out of focus as Vaggie's eyelids close over the scene.
• Eye Scream: It's revealed Vaggie has an X over her eye because Lute slashed it out as punishment for showing mercy on a demon child.
• Eyelash Fluttering: When Adam refers to Charlie as "Miss Butterflies and Rainbows", he mockingly bats his eyes, complete with eyelashes that appear on him temporarily.
• Face Your Fears: While he’s still under Valentino’s contract by the end of the episode, Angel Dust (who at first tried to get out of the sex club after spotting him, only to relent to stop Niffty from getting close to him) reminds him that as long as he’s not in his studio, he’s a free man and can tell him off as much as he pleases.
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • Vaggie was able to pass for a sinner when she and Charlie first met, but that ruse would have fallen apart on the spot if Charlie had noticed the trail of gold blood leading to her or the discarded Exorcist uniform in a nearby trash can.
  • Niffty has one in not realizing she was in a club instead of the Hotel until Sir Pentious points it out to her.
• Fallen Angel: Vaggie was an Exorcist, but she spared a demon child during an Extermination. And for that, Vaggie had her wings, eye, and halo taken from her by Lute, who left her to die as a Fallen Angel.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Adam greets Vaggie by calling her a play on her name, despite supposedly not having met her yet. Later that scene, we learn Vaggie was an Exorcist.
• Florence Nightingale Effect: Charlie met Vaggie right after her wings and eye were cut off and bandaged her up. Seeing a demon demonstrate kindness for the sake of it when her own kindness was rewarded with mutilation endears Charlie to Vaggie immediately.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Vaggie clearly doesn't want to be in Heaven with Charlie, and makes excuses not to be in public any more than she has to be. It turns out she's a Fallen Angel who is afraid of getting spotted.
  • A subtle one. Lute is shown to have an oval yellow iris and pupil, the same as Vaggie. We later learn that Vaggie was an Exorcist.
  • When Charlie asks what it takes to get into Heaven, Adam is flummoxed, then hastily lays out a few, clearly context-dependent conditions that would be required to get one into Heaven. As is revealed later, he's just bullshitting and doesn't actually know. Him not knowing also foreshadows that not even the other angels know what gets someone into Heaven.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Seraphim do not look as human as they present to Charlie and we even get a quick glimpse at their true selves: Avian humanoids with eyes all over their bodies and extra wings in strange places.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • After Cherri crushes Sir Pentious' fingers, he can very briefly be seen heavily blushing before the scene cuts away.
  • Among the "Charlie Mor—" entries in St. Peter's log book is "Charlie Morningbreakfast".
  • A female angel who looks suspiciously like Angel Dust is seen, implying that his sister Molly is in Heaven.
• Funny Background Event:
  • Vaggie has a mortified expression when Emily is holding hands with Charlie.
  • When Lute is singing about how Angel blew his chance "like the cocks in his mouth," Adam is behind her mimicking a blowjob and Flipping the Bird.
• The Gadfly: Cherri notices Sir Pentious is coming on to her, but finds it more fun to play dumb and watch him pretend he's not than reject him outright.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: When Lute derides Charlie and Vaggie's love as vile, Adam remarks it's "hot as fuck, though."
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Cherri and Husk take this role for Angel after he has a rough workday. Cherri wants him to forget the whole thing for the night by using drugs, while Husk reminds him of the progress he’s made. Thanks to the two of them Angel manages to find some middle ground; having a fun night drinking with his friends without going too crazy.
• Government Conspiracy: This episode reveals that the Exterminations are a secret in Heaven, until Adam spills the beans by having Loose Lips.
• Heroes Gone Fishing: While Charlie and Vaggie argue the Hotel's case in Heaven, the other half of the episode details Cherri Bomb taking the rest of the Hotel's Sinners^note sans Alastor, who doesn't appear in the episode and isn't the type to go partying to hang out at a sex club to unwind.
• History Repeats:
  • Subverted. In the Heaven courtroom, Charlie is presenting Angel Dust, as an example of a damned soul from Hell that can be redeemed, and we are let to believe that it would end up like in the pilot. But to everyone’s surprise, Angel Dust did make a good impression, as he didn’t get high, stopped Niffty from stealing stuff, and challenged a tyrant (Valentino) to protect someone. Unfortunately, it’s still not enough for him to be ascended in Heaven for reasons that not even angels truly know.
  • Some of the dialogue during the court case sounds like Charlies interview in the pilot almost word for word, for example Adam recognizes Angel Dust as "The Porn Demon" much like Tom identified him as "The Porn Star" and when Charlie introduces Angel Dust as her hotels patron she uses almost the same terms as when she introduced him to Katie Killjoy.
• Hit Flash: At the moment Lute slashes out Vaggie's eye, only the motion of the blow is shown, as a white arc on a black background.
• Hypocrite:
  • Valentino hits Angel Dust in the face for badmouthing him and standing up to him for Niffty, while this comes from the moth man who often insults Angel in far worse ways by calling him names like "bitch".
  • Discussed, as Charlie and Emily call Heaven out for this. Notably, Adam is visibly seething with anger when they're accusing him of breaking his own rules.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: When Cherri offers Angel some drugs in the sex club to help him forget his long day with Valentino, Husk is understandably chafed due to not wanting to see Angel regress as a person and give in to being an Addled Addict despite being The Alcoholic himself. Cherri even takes note of the fact.
  Cherri: Oh, the drunk sobered up long enough to judge us!
  Husk: I ain't the one trying to get into Heaven! [to Angel] Look, you wanna fuck up all your progress? Be my guest. I just...I just thought you were better than that.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: When Charlie asks Cherri Bomb to take everyone out for a night on the town, Cherri insists she only came for Angel. She hasn't even finished the sentence when Charlie hands her a stack of cash.
  Cherri: Never mind. Let's GO!
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Vaggie tries to get out of going to Heaven with Charlie by saying she has a nondescript "thing" she needs to do, but since she doesn't have anything specific prepared when pressed, her lie completely crumbles, and she admits she's a terrible liar. She later excuses herself to the bathroom during the trial when Adam tries to pressure her into backing his argument.
• Internal Reveal: The Exorcists and their work is only known by a select few, until Adam gets pissed off enough that he accidentally reveals it to everyone. This also reveals that, contrary to his bragging in the first episode, Heaven does not get entertained by the killings, as few even know they exist.
• Ironic Echo: Charlie and Emily throw Adam's logic back at him using the melody of "Hell is Forever" after showing that neither Hell nor Heaven operate on Black-and-White Morality.
  If Hell is forever then Heaven must be a lie
  if angels can do whatever and remain in the sky.
  The rules are shades of gray
  when you don't do as you say
  and you make the wretched suffer just to kill them again!
• Irony: When they’re first seen at the sex club, Husk expresses his approval for it being named Consent. Later on they run into Valentino, who says he goes there a lot.
• Kangaroo Court: Even before Charlie has a chance to present her case, Sera makes it clear she intends to rule against her and tasks Adam with ensuring that outcome by whatever means necessary. When Angel Dust proves to the court that Sinners can change their lives for the better, and Adam slipping about breaking quite a few rules himself, Sera ignores it and rules in Adam's favor anyway, due to her personal opinion on extermination being a Necessarily Evil to ensure that the denizens of Hell can never be a potential threat to the citizens of Heaven.
• Kick the Dog: Adam and Lute pettily expose Vaggie as a Fallen Angel to Charlie, then to rub salt in the wound Adam declares that the next extermination will start at the Hazbin Hotel. Even Sera, who condones the exterminations, thinks it was a bit much.
• Liar Revealed: Vaggie is revealed by Adam to be an Angel and former Exorcist that was complicit in the yearly Exterminations to Charlie, instead of a nicer than average Sinner than she led everyone to believe. The princess is emotionally hurt by this truth bomb. Downplayed since Vaggie didn’t technically lie, she just omitted the truth to Charlie, when the latter just mistakenly assumed that the former was an injured Sinner when they met each other for the first time.
• Loophole Abuse: Angel brings up that Valentino's contract with him that gives him full control over what Angel can do or say only really applies to whenever they're in his studio, and can do as he pleases outside of it. Val relents, but makes it clear that Angel will pay for standing up to him later.
• Loose Lips: Adam talks about the Exterminations in public despite their secrecy from everyone save the Exorcists and Heaven's rulers, earning a rebuke from Lute and Sera, and later accidentally reveals them to Heaven at large when he taunts Charlie as part of the song.
• Moral Myopia: Charlie and Emily both point out that Adam and the Exorcists get to stay in Heaven despite the fact that murder is a sin and they commit genocide every year.
• More Despicable Minion: Adam and Lute are recontextualized into this with the introduction of their superior, Sera. While Sera approved of the exterminations and makes it a Government Conspiracy, she is explicitly shown to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist who is only trying to protect the people of Heaven, even considering Charlie just a "misguided soul" rather than disparaging her. Contrast that with Adam, Lute, and the Exorcists in general, as they're sadistic killers and extremely spiteful, lacking any redeeming qualities.
• Moving the Goalposts: Adam gives three rules that Angel (unknowingly) has to pass, reasoning that he got into Heaven under the same conditions. When Angel passes the test and Charlie uses that as proof her hotel works, Adam hastily asks why Angel didn't ascend right there if he were actually worthy. This leads Charlie to realize that none of the angels actually know what qualifies a soul for Heaven.
• Mundane Luxury: Charlie is in awe that Heaven has sprinkles made of rainbows ("those are just rainbow sprinkles") and a petting zoo where the animals are actually soft.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Vaggie is wearing her outfit from the pilot when she is left to die by Adam and Lute. Charlie is also in her pilot design when she finds Vaggie.
  • As in the pilot, Charlie uses Angel as a character witness for the hotel, only to find him in the middle of sinful activity (a gang war, in that instance).
• Never My Fault:
  • During their secret meeting, Adam accuses Vaggie of “leaving the band" for a "duet" with Charlie (translation: betraying the Exorcists to support Charlie’s dream), when in reality they mutilated her and left her for dead, simply because she showed mercy to a Sinner child. Vaggie decided to help Charlie because Charlie showed her kindness when she didn't have to, as well as an atonement for killing thousands of her people.
  • Sera makes a show of accepting responsibility for her actions regarding the Exterminations, but ultimately that's all it is. She not only doesn't take any actions to mitigate either approving of them in the first place, or hiding their existence from the rest of Heaven, but she portrays herself as a tragic victim of circumstance forced to make tough choices, essentially as if she never had any real agency in the whole matter.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Adam twice over.
  • First, he's the one who summons the screen showing Angel Dust's Secret Test of Character, disproving the premise that he was representing (that sinners are beyond redemption). When Charlie points out his progress, he rhetorically asks why his good behavior hasn't gotten him into Heaven, a question the other angels take seriously.
  • Second, he accidentally outs the Exterminations to Emily and the other angels in a moment of vindictiveness towards Charlie.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Vaggie sparing a demon child from being exterminated is what causes her to get an eye gouged out and turned into a fallen angel by Lute.
• Not on the List: When Charlie and Vaggie first arrive in Heaven, St. Peter mistakes them for mortal souls and says they're not on his list of people admitted into Heaven. When Charlie says her father is Lucifer, however, he is shocked and briefly questions if she's in the wrong place before Sera and Emily arrive to clear things up.
• Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The angel court quickly turns out to be one. None of them actually know what people have to do to get into Heaven, Adam and Lute are clearly as bad as everyone in Hell and Sera was keeping everyone in the dark about the exterminations. When it comes out they all start arguing amongst themselves but since Sera has the final say, it ultimately still turns out to be a Kangaroo Court.
• Ocular Gushers: Niffty bursts into sobs when Angel calls her a mess.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Vaggie has this look on her face when Adam and Lute confront her in her bedroom and the former reveals they know she's a former Exorcist, threatening to expose her to Charlie if she doesn't play ball with them.
  • Adam mutters "Shit!" when he realizes that he bragged about the exterminations in front of the court as part of the song.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After Sera chides Adam for gloating to Charlie about how he will target the Hotel during the next extermination, Adam drops his bombastic demeanor and apologizes to her, showing he views her as having ultimate authority over him.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Miniscule example. Adam congratulates Vaggie for hooking up with Charlie, mostly due to him thinking it was hot. Compared to Lute, who was far more vehement in her belief it was blasphemous, it does come off as at least tolerant of the relationship.
  • Another miniscule example, Valentino doesn't retaliate against Nifty after she bites his finger, or when she rips off some of his fur for her "collection".
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Lute displays some homophobia in this episode — she refers to Charlie and Vaggie's love as "vile and blasphemous" and later dismissively describes Angel Dust as "some crackwhore" who "blew his shot like the cocks in his mouth".
• Pun: Lute sings that Angel "blew his shot, like the cocks in his mouth," using "blow" both in the sense of "blowing"/flubbing an opportunity and as in fellating.
• Punished for Sympathy: In her backstory, Vaggie let a demon child go rather than kill them. For this, she was declared sinful, had her left eye and wings torn out, and was left to die.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Adam's victory over Charlie in the court is this. While the exterminations are going to continue, the rest of Heaven now knows about them and many other high ranking angels are not pleased about it, he's exposed how much of an utter Jerkass Hypocrite he is to them as well, costing him his golden boy status with much of Heaven's upper ranks, and unbeknownst to him, Emily is planning to begin working against him.
• Rage Against the Heavens: Charlie and Emily do so quite literally when they call out Heaven for being hypocrites.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Emily delivers one to Sera calling out her hand-wringing and her hypocrisy regarding the Exterminations, as well as pointing out that she's defending a system she barely understands purely because she can't think of an alternative.
  Emily: To think that I admired you.
  Well, I don't need your condescension
  I'm not a child to protect
  Was talk of "virtue" just pretension?
  Was I too naïve to expect
  you to heed the morals you're purveying?
• Record Needle Scratch: When Angel tells Valentino to fuck off for the second time, there's a record needle scratch and gasps from the crowd.
• Redemption Rejection: A rare positive example — Angel invites Cherri Bomb to stay at the Hotel, but Cherri politely declines, telling him that she's happy it's working out for him, but also that she prefers living her usual hedonistic life and assuring him that she'll be fine.
• Reflective Eyes: When Sera claims that she hid the exterminations from Emily to protect her, hellfire from the projection of Hell is reflected in her eyes, giving her a much more ominous and frightening appearance underscoring the vile nature of her actions.
• The Reveal:
  • Adam was the one who came up with the idea of the Exterminations in the first place, and until he accidentally spills the beans in this episode, most of Heaven has no idea that their forces carry out a yearly genocide.
  • The faces of the Exorcists are just masks, as we see Lute's real face for the first time.
  • Vaggie used to be an Exorcist, but when she spared a demon child, Lute punished her by cutting out her eye, tearing off her wings, and leaving her to die. Luckily she was saved by Charlie soon after.
  • The leaders of Heaven don't actually know why someone gets sent there, only when a soul arrives. When Angel Dust satisfies every condition Adam hastily cited as necessary to get into Heaven and doesn't ascend, Sera is forced to reveal that they don't actually know exactly what gets a soul into Heaven.
• Rewatch Bonus:
  • When Adam and Lute first see Charlie and Vaggie being escorted around Heaven, both immediately flip out wondering how "she" got here, with Adam even planning to fight "her" then and there. At first it seems like they're mad at Charlie's presence, but on rewatch it's clear the "her" the two are talking about is Vaggie, who's revealed to be a former Exorcist turned Fallen Angel they left for dead in Hell.
  • Vaggie's sour expressions throughout the performance of "Welcome to Heaven" (aside from her glaring when Emily and Charlie hold hands) take on a new significance when her status as a Fallen Angel becomes clear, suggesting she finds her former home's self-promotion tiresome and a bit tacky, almost in the manner of a person visiting their tourist trap former home town in the middle of some flashy promotion.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: When asked how one is judged as righteous enough to ascend to Heaven Adam hastily dots down three main points that Angel Dust then proceeds to demonstrate. When Charlie points out that Angel completed everything on the list, Adam sardonically asks why he hasn't ascended yet. This causes the rest of the auditorium to wonder why Angel hasn't risen and leads Charlie to realise that nobody in Heaven actually knows the criteria that allows mortal souls to reach Heaven.
• Rule of Symbolism: When Sera is trying to convince Emily that the exterminations are Necessarily Evil, the image of the infernal blaze is shown reflecting in her otherwise gentle eyes, making her instead look twisted. This highlights to Emily, and the audience, that regardless of her justifications, she was still aware of and condones something awful, and her attempts at justifying it only make her look dishonest and just as twisted as the Exorcists, leading to Emily seeing her as a Broken Pedestal and fully supportive of Charlie.
• Rule of Three: Sir Pentious attempts to hit it off with Cherri three times in the club. The first two times has him trying to offer her a drink only to anxiously backpedal by saying that he's actually buying drinks for everyone. The third time around, the dork notes that the club has a sex room and asks her if she would want to "do a sex" with him. When Cherri asks why would they have sex, Pentious puts his metaphorical foot in his mouth by saying it's because he's having sex with everyone in the club. Cue him then being dragged by other patrons into the sex room.
• Running Gag: Sir Pentious attempting to get closer to Cherri, only to be consumed by his own anxiety in the face of her stolid personality and offer whatever he was offering her to the whole club.
• Sadistic Choice: Adam orders Vaggie to sabotage Charlie at the trial or he'll reveal her as a fallen angel to Charlie, a threat he makes good on when Charlie accidentally exposes Heaven's hypocrisy.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Upon meeting Cherri Bomb, Charlie notes that Angel doesn't bring any of his friends by.
  Cherri: Wonder why.
  Charlie: Yeah, me too!
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Emily vows to keep trying to help Charlie with her dream of redeeming sinners, even though Heaven has denied Charlie any help and the Extermination is coming. It also firmly establishes Emily as the White Sheep of the hosts of Heaven.
• Secret Test of Character: Angel Dust's night on the club turns into one of these for him, as he has no idea that he's being surveilled by a council of angels in Heaven watching him to see if he's capable of improving as a person. As it turns out, he is, and shows growth in his ability to resist temptation and look out for his friends.
• Selective Enforcement: Sera gives Charlie a disapproving look when she yells "fuck yeah" in court, but lets Adam curse all he wants.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Sera justifies the Exterminations, as much as she hates them, as necessary to prevent the demons of Hell from rising up against Heaven. The problem is that once the demons at large find out that Exorcists can be killed, as was revealed in the Overlord meeting, they have no good reason not to rise up since they know that they're going to be killed anyway, so all she's doing is making the situation worse by continuing to support Adam's exterminations. Even worse, we later find out that angels can be killed with angelic steel, which the denizens of hell only have because of the exterminations.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Despite the revealed corruption in Heaven, it is made apparent that the Exterminations were not unanimously approved, as many angels in court, especially Emily, are horrified to discover that their seemingly blissful order has been committing genocide behind their backs.
• Ship Tease: Sir Pentious blushes after Cherri Bomb crushes his hand.
• Something Else Also Rises: When Cherri crushes Sir Pentious' fingers, his furled cobra's mane suddenly springs into its fully unfurled position.
• So Proud of You: Husk tells Angel Dust that he's proud of the latter for standing up to Valentino to protect Niffty.
• Spanner in the Works: When Charlie tries to utilise Angel Dust as proof of redemption, the courtroom is given uneventful (and unflattering) footage of Angel drinking and partying in a nightclub, seemingly leaving Charlie without anything substantial. Shortly in however, Niffty gets drunk and goes rampant in the club, setting off Angel's Big Brother Instinct and leading him to quickly tick off all three quotas Adam listed to get into Heaven, causing an argument in the court that exposes that not only does no one actually know how a soul gets into Heaven, but no one else but Sera knew about the Exterminations either, leaving her and Adam in hot water.
• Spit Take: Sir Pentious spits out his drink when he sees Cherri Bomb at the hotel.
• Sudden Anatomy: When Adam refers to Charlie as "Miss Butterflies and Rainbows", eyelashes momentarily appear on him so that he can flutter them mockingly.
• Tempting Fate: Adam is asked what it takes for one to be accepted into Heaven. He clearly doesn't know, so he comes up with three random good things reasoning that's what got him in. Charlie doesn't know what Angel is doing, but is sure that he's doing all of those. Her faith is rewarded when Angel checks all three boxes, but when he doesn't ascend, it demonstrates to the court that no one actually knows what gets a soul into Heaven. Unfortunately, that ambiguity isn't enough to sway Sera, who rules against her in the belief that the system, even shrouded in darkness as it is, was built that way for a reason.
• The Shadow Knows: When Adam reveals to Charlie that her girlfriend Vaggie is actually a former Exorcist as a payback for being called out for his hypocrisy, the latter’s shadow suddenly turns into her angelic form, much to Charlie’s horror.
• There Was a Door: Cherri Bomb bursts through a wall to greet Angel, who asks what the fuck is with that specific wall getting broken all the time.
• Title Drop: The title "Welcome to Heaven" is spoken within the episode several times: first by Saint Peter when greeting Charlie and Vaggie, then by Emily when introducing herself, then a few times during "Welcome to Heaven", a song sung by Saint Peter and Emily.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Subverted with Cherri Bomb. While she encourages Angel to join her in drugs and booze, contrasting Husk trying to talk him out of the same, she is ultimately accepting of the fact that he is trying to reform himself, politely declining his offer to join them at the hotel because she's satisfied with her life.
• Tranquil Fury: After exposing the Exterminations and acting like a petty unprofessional sadist to Charlie and Vaggie in front of the entire court, Adam gets daggers glared at him by Sera, who makes calmly apparent that she's furious with him for his behaviour. It's enough to leave him cowed for once and deciding to make a hasty leave.
• The Unapologetic: Adam accidentally reveals the exterminations to the court, but he and Lute then immediately double down on their behavior, now that they don't need to hide it.
  Lute: [grinning] Guess the cat's out of the bag.
  Adam: [sheepish, shrugging] What's the big deal?
• Villainous Face Hold: During "You Didn't Know", Adam mockingly cups Charlie's face. Later, when revealing Vaggie's secret, he takes her by the chin to look her in the eye.
• Villain Reveals the Secret: Adam and Lute expose Vaggie as a Fallen Angel and former Exorcist to Charlie and the entire court. Charlie is shocked and hurt that her girlfriend had been lying to her for years about her past, and very likely had murdered thousands of Charlie's people that she wanted to save.
  Adam: (To Charlie) Don't you act all high and mighty. Did you ever think your little girlfriend might be a liar?
  Vaggie: Don't, Adam, please!
  Adam: What's the fuss? Why hide the fact that you're an angel just like us?!
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sera at least genuinely believes that she is protecting Heaven from the evil sinners of Hell.
• Wham Episode: We see Heaven proper for the first time, learn that Vaggie is a former Exorcist who spared a demon child and had her wings and eye ripped out by Adam and Lute, the Exterminations get revealed to Heaven at large, and not only do Adam and Lute reveal Vaggie's history to Charlie, but Adam says that he'll start the next Extermination at the Hotel just to hurt her. We also learn that not even Heaven knows what gets a soul in or not.
• Wham Line:
  • Adam's response to seeing Vaggie ends up confirming that she's a Fallen Angel. A later flashback provides more context, but this one line still sets up quite a bit.
    Adam: You think I wouldn't recognize one of my top girls just because you're out of uniform?
  • When Angel Dust proves sinners can be redeemed after successfully completing every requirement Adam listed, only for him not to be ascended to Heaven, we get a chilling line that recontextualizes the entire judgment system of whether a soul gets to Heaven or Hell, both in the series, and to some extent Helluva Boss (since they share the same universe), as a whole.
    Charlie: Wait. None of you (the higher up angels) know what gets someone into Heaven!?
  • Adam both reveals the Extermination to everyone, and announces that he plans to ignore Charlie's pardon. Unfortunately for him, this means he ended up Saying Too Much, revealing the Extermination plan to the other Hosts of Heaven and getting his entire scheme in hot water.
    Adam: Gotta say, I can't wait to [...] Come down and exterminate you!
• What You Are in the Dark: Angel doesn't have any idea that Charlie or Heaven is watching him, so his Character Development is completely genuine.
• White Sheep: Emily is the sole member of Heaven's leadership that thinks it's actually wrong to preemptively kill people just for the possibility of war. We do see other angels arguing over Charlie's redemption plan, showing Emily isn't entirely alone in her views, just more outspoken.
• Worth It: Angel says that even with Valentino punching him, and promising to punish him in the studio for it, standing up to the Overlord to protect Nifty was worth it, and Husk congratulates him.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Vaggie, in a flashback, let a demon child run off rather than kill them, for which Lute declared her sinful and rendered her a Fallen Angel.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: After refusing Angel's offer to join the hotel, Cherri proudly declares she'll fuck the next guy she sees. In strolls Sir Pentious, looking for Cherri... just in time to see her and another bar patron go into one of the sex rooms.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: The episode ends with Charlie’s attempt to stop the Extermination from happening in a peaceful manner by proving to Heaven that her hotel might work utterly failing, simply because there are no concrete evidence that a damned soul can be ascended (especially since not even the higher-up angels know what it takes for a soul to go to Heaven or Hell in the first place, and because of Sera’s cowardice). Worst still, Adam gloats in front of Charlie and Vaggie that he’s going to target the hotel first, just as a spiteful revenge at being called out by Charlie for his hypocrisy, before kicking the two girls out from Heaven.

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