Overview:
Charlie Morningstar, the Princess of Hell, goes against the grain and decides to offset an eternity of damnation with a relaxing hotel that’s designed to rehabilitate Hell’s worst sinners into hopeful Heaven residents. Charlie’s hotel becomes increasingly important because of Hell’s overwhelming population. This excess of sinners leads to an annual tragedy, “Extermination Day,” where Hell experiences a purge where angels descend and cull the demons like vermin. Charlie’s hotel presents a more peaceful alternative to this yearly bloodbath. Unfortunately, Charlie is left with a mischievous team of helpers who guarantee to make her hotel hopes transform from dreams into nightmares.
Our Take:
The concept of Heaven and Hell is one of history’s earliest and most evergreen concepts. There’s a natural balance to these two extremes that inherently creates conflict and compelling storytelling. So many different mediums uniquely explore Hell, but it’s particularly rich territory in animated television. Lucy, Daughter of the Devil, Little Demon, Ugly Americans, South Park, and Disenchantment are just some of the series that are either exclusively set in this demon realm or pay it frequent visits. That’s not to say that everything about Hell has already been said, but there’s now a greater necessity to stake one’s claim and prove oneself when it comes to this territory. It’s no longer enough to simply set an animated series in Hell and have it play around with horrible demons. Animated Hell comedies need to work a little harder if they ever want to see Heaven. Vivienne Medrano’s Hazbin Hotel comes out fully formed and with its heart in the right place, but it’s a frivolous and chaotic series that doesn’t know where it belongs.
Hazbin Hotel begins with an extremely clunky and lengthy expository dump introduction that’s meant to inform audiences about this world and it’s main character’s backstory. It then makes the bold choice to follow up this exposition dump with another exposition dump in the form of a commercial. It’s a well-animated introduction, but it feels wholly unnecessary and something that viewers would have likely discovered naturally over the course of the season. It’s this disruptive “tell, don’t show” approach to the writing and storytelling that often works against Hazbin Hotel. It gradually gets out of its own way after a few episodes and the show is at its strongest when it trusts itself and just allows itself to have fun.
Hazbin Hotel’s oddest element is its inexplicable tone. I know that this show has a huge audience and that its YouTube iteration led to this television series being possible, but I just have no idea who that audience is. Hazbin Hotel would actually work well enough and be able to justify some of its sloppier elements if it was supposed to be a show that’s geared towards children. There’s even a gaggle of adorable Minion-esque egg creatures. But then Angel Dust reveals that he’s an adult film actor, people start telling one another to “fuck off,” Charlie repeatedly gets called a bitch, and another individual insists that they’re named “Dickmaster” because of how often they’re having sex. Characters do change and grow by the end of the season, but there’s ironically a very black-and-white quality to this character development. These changes feel telegraphed and predictable, even if that’s better than stasis and stagnation.
On top of everything else, characters are prone to erupt into multiple lavish musical numbers in each episode – which are actually remarkably done and the best part of Hazbin Hotel – which also seem at odds with the rest of the series. One sequence involves Angel Dust undergoing a cycle of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse before he engages in a melancholy pop musical number where he has sex for money. It’s all such a strange melange of ingredients that have clearly connected through online content and the corresponding community, but it makes for a curious translation to television where specific demographics are more important.
Hazbin Hotel’s character designs also feel disconnected. These looks and character designs feel perfect for online consumption. They’re exactly the type of designs that are conducive to fan-art. However, they lack a proper justification. The furred animal aesthetic, while distinct for a Hell scenario, is one element that could be better developed in Hazbin Hotel, but isn’t. The same is true for the various technology-themed demons. It’s equally unfathomable to see farcical characters of this nature open up about their addictions or suffer in abusive relationships. It’s usually positive to represent and normalize these types of stories, but it just feels out of place with so many other tonal elements. It may be a line that’s uttered in one of Angel Dust’s adult films, but Hazbin Hotel is a series where a character says, “Then let me fuck the information out of you,” all while everything else carries the atmosphere of Zootopia. In fact, “Hornier Devil Zootopia” may be the perfect description of Hazbin Hotel.
On the bright side, Hazbin Hotel does manage to assemble an all-star cast who are all perfect in their roles. They genuinely help elevate this material. Hazbin Hotel also pushes a broader message of redemption, second chances, and how everyone makes mistakes. This is ultimately positive and these are themes that have possibly connected with the show’s existing fandom. The message just often gets buried under endless shallow sex jokes and violence. Charlie Morningstar’s infinite optimism isn’t enough to fix all of Hazbin Hotel’s problems.
Hazbin Hotel has the best of intentions and it should be genuinely interesting to see how much of a new audience that it pulls in outside of its preexisting fandom. The musical numbers are truly impressive and these are songs that I’d genuinely want to listen to again even if I have no interest in revisiting the series around them. If nothing else, Hazbin Hotel is unabashedly itself and deserves credit for uncompromising in any attempt to be more mainstream. If it fails, it goes out on its own terms. It’s a show that’s not for everybody, but those that find comfort in Hazbin Hotel will want to extend their stays and delay checkout for as long as possible.
‘Hazbin Hotel’ premieres on Amazon Prime Video on January 19th