I'll spare you the rule of three cliche. Despite a rough start, Hazbin Hotel does manage to find its footing.
Episode Three has a lot going on: dismayed by Serpentious' proclivity for violence and the guests' general misanthropy, Charlie asks Vaggie to help the gang build trust. Vaggie decides to start things off with a trust fall segment played entirely for laughs; we get more casual sexual harassment from Angel, more standoffishness from Husk, and more off-putting behavior from Niffty.
More interestingly, however, we also get an injection of earnesty and vulnerability from Serpentious. Thus begins our dear, beloved snakeboy's transformation into the emotional centerpiece of the show. His villainous megalomania couples excellently with his sweet, awkward sincerity, producing one of the most endearing members of the cast. For the time being, however, he's still largely relegated to the role of Butt-Monkey.
Meanwhile, Alastor and Serpentious' delightful eggboy minions attend a meeting between Hell's overlords. We're introduced to the arachnoid archdemon Zestial en route, whose cordial, considerate nature contrasts strongly with the insolence and arrogance that typify the Vees.
The other overlords in attendance are similarly composed. Carmine is the standout character here, both in design and dialogue. Her enormous, monstrous arms are paired with the grace and footwear of a professional ballerina, and her cold, formal manner gives way to righteous indignation when a dismissve Velvette crashes the meeting by throwing an angel's decapitated head on the table and urging the overlords to war.
When the overlords express their reservations, Velvette launches into "Respectless," a song that has many of the same flaws as "Stayed Gone." The lyrics are oftentimes as awkward and unwieldy as the word respectless itself. As with "Stayed Gone," "Respectless" says a lot and shows little. Although her domain is as nebulous and superficial as "social media boss bitch," Velvette is nevertheless framed as "the backbone of the Vees." There's little more to her than that, however, and, just like Alastor v. Vox, that superficiality makes it hard to care about this transparently tertiary conflict.
Back with Charlie and the gang, Angel takes the group to a sex dungeon (trust is nothing if not essential to BDSM) in response to the first exercise's failure. The second verse is the same as the first, right down to the character beats. The bit of worldbuilding you get here is intriguing, though: Hell's kink culture (at least at this club) seems to be entirely above board, avoiding the obvious choice of presenting infernal BDSM as rife with abuse and exploitation.
Alack, this outing proves to be yet another failure. As Charlie's patience runs thin, Vaggie decides to force the group to learn to trust each other by throwing them into one of Hell's active warzones. Charlie is mortified by the prospect of sending her guests into combat, however, and her exasperated disapproval causes Vaggie to leave disheartened by what seems to be yet another failure.
We hop back and forth between Vaggie and Carmine now, deftly weaving our A and B plots together with one of the show's better songs: "Whatever It Takes." Both parts of the duet are jam-packed with insights into the characters and the world they inhabit, giving us a better understanding of infernal politics, tying up the loose end introduced at the end of episode one, and exploring more complex character dynamics than those depicted in previous episodes.
The song marks a real turning point for the show. Afterwards, we're shown that Vaggie's exercise paid off, and the hotel's guests exhibit newfound camaraderie. Couple that with some of the overlords' (who have heretofore been little more than imposing, borderline monstrous figures) displays of genuine compassion, and suddenly the "flight of fancy" that is the Hazbin Hotel seems downright vital.
Episode Three: ...Get right back up...
I'll spare you the rule of three cliche. Despite a rough start, Hazbin Hotel does manage to find its footing.
Episode Three has a lot going on: dismayed by Serpentious' proclivity for violence and the guests' general misanthropy, Charlie asks Vaggie to help the gang build trust. Vaggie decides to start things off with a trust fall segment played entirely for laughs; we get more casual sexual harassment from Angel, more standoffishness from Husk, and more off-putting behavior from Niffty.
More interestingly, however, we also get an injection of earnesty and vulnerability from Serpentious. Thus begins our dear, beloved snakeboy's transformation into the emotional centerpiece of the show. His villainous megalomania couples excellently with his sweet, awkward sincerity, producing one of the most endearing members of the cast. For the time being, however, he's still largely relegated to the role of Butt-Monkey.
Meanwhile, Alastor and Serpentious' delightful eggboy minions attend a meeting between Hell's overlords. We're introduced to the arachnoid archdemon Zestial en route, whose cordial, considerate nature contrasts strongly with the insolence and arrogance that typify the Vees.
The other overlords in attendance are similarly composed. Carmine is the standout character here, both in design and dialogue. Her enormous, monstrous arms are paired with the grace and footwear of a professional ballerina, and her cold, formal manner gives way to righteous indignation when a dismissve Velvette crashes the meeting by throwing an angel's decapitated head on the table and urging the overlords to war.
When the overlords express their reservations, Velvette launches into "Respectless," a song that has many of the same flaws as "Stayed Gone." The lyrics are oftentimes as awkward and unwieldy as the word respectless itself. As with "Stayed Gone," "Respectless" says a lot and shows little. Although her domain is as nebulous and superficial as "social media boss bitch," Velvette is nevertheless framed as "the backbone of the Vees." There's little more to her than that, however, and, just like Alastor v. Vox, that superficiality makes it hard to care about this transparently tertiary conflict.
Back with Charlie and the gang, Angel takes the group to a sex dungeon (trust is nothing if not essential to BDSM) in response to the first exercise's failure. The second verse is the same as the first, right down to the character beats. The bit of worldbuilding you get here is intriguing, though: Hell's kink culture (at least at this club) seems to be entirely above board, avoiding the obvious choice of presenting infernal BDSM as rife with abuse and exploitation.
Alack, this outing proves to be yet another failure. As Charlie's patience runs thin, Vaggie decides to force the group to learn to trust each other by throwing them into one of Hell's active warzones. Charlie is mortified by the prospect of sending her guests into combat, however, and her exasperated disapproval causes Vaggie to leave disheartened by what seems to be yet another failure.
We hop back and forth between Vaggie and Carmine now, deftly weaving our A and B plots together with one of the show's better songs: "Whatever It Takes." Both parts of the duet are jam-packed with insights into the characters and the world they inhabit, giving us a better understanding of infernal politics, tying up the loose end introduced at the end of episode one, and exploring more complex character dynamics than those depicted in previous episodes.
The song marks a real turning point for the show. Afterwards, we're shown that Vaggie's exercise paid off, and the hotel's guests exhibit newfound camaraderie. Couple that with some of the overlords' (who have heretofore been little more than imposing, borderline monstrous figures) displays of genuine compassion, and suddenly the "flight of fancy" that is the Hazbin Hotel seems downright vital.