YMMV / Helluva Boss S2E6 "Oops"

• Accidental Aesop:
  • No OSHA Compliance can come back to bite you. The tragedy that happened with Blitzo, his family, Fizzarolli, and many others was due to an idiot thinking that bringing in a lit birthday cake through a cloth door into a room packed with fireworks was a smart idea. If they'd simply waited to light the candles until after the cake was safely set down on a table, a lot of misery would've been avoided.
  • Read the Fine Print when dealing with contracts. Don't just sign it to "get it over with", or else you'll find yourself on the end of A Tragedy of Impulsiveness. Asmodeus would have signed away everything he owns and cares about if it wasn't for Stolas' intervention and actually reading the contract in detail.
• Accidental Innuendo: The framing of Crimson's lawyer's death scene makes it hard to tell whether Asmodeus and Fizzarolli merely brutally murdered him or gave him a Karmic Rape, due to Stolas' "get fucked" line potentially being a Literal Metaphor and the camera panning over to a heart-shaped window looking an awful lot like a Rape Discretion Shot. Asmodeus does say he doesn't think Lust should be forced, but this would fall under the heading of Wrath instead, so...
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The exact nature of Blitzo and Fizzarolli's relationship as teenagers. Were they lovers at one point or just friends? Fizzarolli mentions that he looked up to Blitzo, suggesting something akin to Big Brother Worship, and Blitzo looks happy for Fizzarolli and his relationship with Asmodeus. But then Blitzo asks if it'd fuck up the moment if they made out after their friendship is repaired. He was also seemingly carrying a love letter to give to Fizz during his ill-fated birthday party.
  • Crimson hiring Striker. Is this a clear example of him not learning his lesson with Chaz? Or did he feel like Striker was worth his time since he showed his worth as a bounty hunter by bringing Fizz and Blitzo to him, while Chaz was all talk and no bite?
  • When Crimson called Asmodeus the weakest of the Seven Deadly Sins, was he referring to how the King of Lust's power is nothing compared to his fellow sins, or did he mean emotionally weak since his love and devotion to Fizzarolli would drive him to take any action to get his lover back without thinking of the consequences? Or was Crimson simply just trying to rile him up? For that matter, did Crimson's homophobia play a role in him saying what he did?
  • "Get fucked, little one"—who was Stolas talking to when he left the office? Was he affectionately telling Fizz to have fun sleeping with Asmodeus now that both were safe and sound? Or was he smugly letting the lawyer know the latter was now (literally) royally screwed for his role in the plot?
  • Asmodeus is shown to be rather cordial and understanding with Stolas, a stark contrast to him airing Stolas's dirty laundry in "OZZIE'S". Is this because Asmodeus has to put on a public persona, especially in his own club, and with Stolas being there it was expected of him? Or is he savvy enough to understand there's a time and a place for gossip like that and a meeting just isn't it? Maybe a little bit of both?
  • It's debatable whether Crimson's lawyer is as bad as Crimson himself or just a Punch-Clock Villain representing a shady client in Hell of all places. It's also unclear whether he's trying to drag out the proceedings on purpose or if he's just a genuinely slow reader.
  • While coming from a place of care, Asmodeus is shown to be quite of a Control Freak towards Fizzarolli's safety. Is he always like that or was it just because he knew how dangerous the Greed ring can get? Does he allow Fizz a level of independence when he performs in other, safer, rings or does he monitor Fizzarolli's life constantly?
  • At the end of the episode, Fizzarolli jokes that, after being kidnapped, he hates being outside and Asmodeus' response? "You won't have to, again", and Fizzarolli for a moment has a sad face. Could it be that Fizzarolli is starting to feel like living with Asmodeus is a Gilded Cage?
  • When Fizz encourages Blitzo to try and give Stolas the benefit of the doubt, is that really just for the former's benefit? Or is he partly trying to reassure himself that his partnership with Asmodeus is one of equals?
  • When Blitz says that Stolas just wants him for sex, does he actually believe that or is it just an attempt to hide/avoid confronting his feelings that Fizz sees right through?
  • Why did Stolas help Ozzie so readily? Was it because he empathized with Fizz, due to having been recently kidnapped himself? Because he had sympathy for Ozzie and Fizz's romance? Because he knew Striker was involved and didn't want someone else to fall into his clutches? Or was he hoping that Ozzie and/or Fizz would be grateful enough to change their mind and give him an Asmodean crystal? It may well have been a combination of two or more of the above.
  • When Striker threatens Fizz when the latter compares him to the nobles he loathes, telling him he's no better, did Striker get angry because Fizz dared to compare him to Hell's upper class? Or was it because that he knows Fizz is right, but refuses to admit that fact to himself?
  • Considering how gleeful Striker's looked when torturing people before and the Visual Innuendo in the camera shot of their shifting legs as he strangled Moxxie, is he really mad about his victims always turning their capture into a "sex thing" or just mad that they enjoy it?
• Broken Base: While the episode is seen far more favorably among viewers (especially compared to the last episode), the episode did have some beats that did not go over well with some fans.
  • Since "OZZIE'S", the series had been building up and alluding to a incident that destroyed Blitzo's relationship with Fizzarolli (and possibly Barbie), leaving fans to speculate wildly on what he had done that was so horrible. When it was revealed to be a fire caused by a knocked-over birthday cake, people were split. Some fans argued that this whole affair being an accident added to the tragedy, since it made Blitzo's culpability into A Tragedy of Impulsiveness while making his self-hatred over the incident understandable since it could have easily been avoided. Others found it to be underwhelming, arguing that the fire being an accident removed culpability from Blitzo, retroactively making Fizzarolli and Barbie's treatment of him come off as less-justified.
  • The absence of Blitzo's mom and Barbie Wire within the flashback had upset some fans, with the former having made no on-screen appearances despite being her death having a major impact on Blitzo (and the fact that Cash Buckzo, Blitzo's abusive father, even got a cameo). Barbie Wire is more egregious as she was originally in the animatics that leaked before the episode's release, but was cut for unknown reasons. On top of it being a missed opportunity to give them some development, it comes off as another example of female characters in the series getting shafted.
  • At the end of the episode, Fizzarolli and Blitzo made amends with each other. This had also divided fans for various reasons: Some argued that Fizz forgave Blitz too easily, or felt that it should had taken a few episodes at least, considering how the accident had pretty much destroyed and scarred Fizz's body. Not helping Blitzo's case was how moments prior, Blitzo risked Fizz's life by nearly blowing him up (to get him away from Striker) and how during their 'moment', Blitzo brought up how he lost his mother, saying 'he (Fizz) wasn't the only one to lose something in that fire', to the person who lost all his limbs. However, on the flip side, many were for them making amends, finding it to be a much-needed win for Blitzo after the events of "OZZIE'S", "Queen Bee" and "Unhappy Campers".
  • During Stolas and Asmodeus' talk, Asmodeus makes a point to explain how he does not do love potions, making a point about how 'lust shouldn't be about force'. This had cause some controversy among fans, as some found it to be very contradicting that the literal sin of Lust would have a moral objection (or any at all for that matter) against love potions, finding it to be another example of how fast and loose the series play with demonology (with Queen Bee from her titular episode being another example). The other side argue that it is an example of Even Evil Has Standards, and considering Asmodeus' status as a Noble Demon, it would make sense that Asmodeus would have issues with it.
• Epileptic Trees: The mother succubus from the pilot returns as a background character, but keen-eyed viewers are quick to notice that as her carriage is knocked over, there are bottles of alcohol rather than a baby. This led viewers to suspect that the baby Loona kicked was killed and the mother is drowning her sorrows.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Fizzarolli's comeback after the accident. How did he end up in the payroll of Mammon and company of Asmodeus?
  • Crimson claims that Asmodeus is the weakest of the sins. Assuming he means this literally, where do the other sins stand in the hierarchy?
  • If the accident that ruined Blitzo and Fizz's friendship never happened, how might things have changed?
• Genius Bonus: Crimson referring to Asmodeus as the weakest of the Seven Deadly Sins may be a subtle reference to how lust, by itself, has traditionally been considered one of the most harmless sins, as shown by it being only the second circle of Hell and the last level before Earthly Paradise in Inferno and Purgatorio.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Ozzie briefly mentions love potions and implies they’re made to force sexual relationships into others. As seen on its sister series love potions are created mainly by Velvette, who distributes alongside Valentino. It is even shown Angel Dust is constantly fed these potions but he doesn’t mind, as he has a facade to mantain and he thinks that once he becomes entirely broken Val will finally leave him alone.
• I Knew It!:
  • The fandom has long held that the white patches on Blitzo and the other imps' bodies are equivalent to scars. This episode outright confirms it by showing that the scars across Blitzo's body are burn scars from the fire he'd accidentally caused at the circus where he lived.
  • The fandom had also long theorized that Blitzo caused a fire to his family circus, resulting in the white patch over his right eye, Fizzarolli losing his limbs and horns, and the death of Blitzo's mother. The only things still up in the air are whether Cash survived and whether or not the accident pushed Barbie Wire to substance abuse.
  • Quite a few fanfics depicted a team-up between Striker and Crimson and this episode makes it official.
  • It was never confirmed before this that Fizz and Ozzie were a couple, but their ruse in Ozzie's fooled absolutely nobody.
• Informed Wrongness: Blitzo is portrayed as unreasonable and jaded for not believing that Stolas genuinely likes him. Fizz says that it sounds like Blitzo just hates Stolas for being a prince. However, Stolas spent season 1 talking down to Blitzo and treating him like a sex object (including Sexual Extortion into a Sex for Services deal for use of the grimoire which Blitzo needs to keep his business running, which in a real world setting would qualify as rape). Additionally, Stolas has a noticeable dose of elitism — he doesn't treat his imp servants particularly well, has yet to show he cares about any of the other members of IMP, and sometimes acts condescending towards lower-ranking demons. While these instances have been framed later as more Innocently Insensitive, it's understandable for Blitzo to be apprehensive and even continue to dislike Stolas on a personal level, given what Stolas has done in the past.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Crimson and Striker are back as this episode's main villains and they're just about as deliciously evil as ever, especially the latter. The most hated character in the episode however, is Crimson's annoyingly smug Amoral Attorney who needlessly drags out the negotiations and reading of the contract. It's an absolute treat when Fizz comes back and he and Ozzie beat the obnoxious lawyer's ass.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Barbie Wire is completely absent from the flashback that shows the death of her and Blitzo's mother. This is especially egregious because she appears in the voiced animatics, only to be inexplicably removed for the final cut. The same goes for Tilla herself - her death is implied to have had a huge effect on Blitzo but she's yet to be onscreen or have spoken a single line.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The last time we saw Stolas, he was hospitalized with injuries so severe even Blitzo was shaken up. Here, we learn that it's been about a week, and Stolas is up and about and perfectly fine.
  • Quite a few fans expressed disappointment at how Stolas never learned Blitzo was kidnapped, especially considering the episode's examination of their relationship.
  • Some fans felt let down at just how short and brief the flashback into Blitzo and Fizzaroli's past was, especially considering how they had been alluding to Blitz's past throughout the season. Some wished more screentime was given to delve into the past, with a few arguing that the episode should had been focused mostly on this flashback, giving us more insight into Blitzo's relationship with Fizzarolli, Barbie, and his parents.
• Ugly Cute: Fizzarolli’s pet quieves look like a cross between a chihuahua and a fly, but they still manage to be oddly adorable, especially the albino one with wheels for feet.
• Unexpected Character: Striker and Crimson (who both made a fairly recent appearance in the second season) being the villains in this episode can come off as quite shocking, since all the teasers were mostly hinting at a Fizz and Blitzo-centric adventure, whereas both of them, the latter moreso, are more tied to Moxxie, along with the fact that the series tends to have a largely self-contained approach to recurring characters and plotlines.

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