Hazbin Hotel returned to the big Amazon Prime screen on October 29th at 3:00 a.m., the witching hour. It followed a two per week episodic release until the finale on November 19th. 

I was very excited to see this show return, and my initial thoughts was that this season put together better than season one. With slightly longer episode lengths and a more cohesive plot line to tie everything together, this was a solid season. However, it doesn’t come without some downsides. 

I’ll be exploring this season in this entirety so keep in mind for spoilers if you haven’t finished this season yet!

The Good 

This season is about the Vees. Vox, Valentino and Velvette are going on a crusade to take over heaven. This is ultimately led by Vox, who has visions of grandeur and wants to be a god, with the other two at the helm for support. 

After the events of season one, Charlie is reeling from the death of Sir Pentious. She soon discovers that he redeemed himself when he sacrificed himself to save his friends. This leads her and Vox butting heads as Vox tries to tarnish the hotel’s reputation and Charlie tries to figure out how redemption works and prove that it’s possible. 

This plot is much more compelling than heaven attacking hell and then the hotel at the end of last season. We witness Vox’s rise to power in this season, making him a much more intriguing character than when he was first introduced. I didn’t take this TV man seriously until the latter half of season two, but it was very interesting what they did with Vox and how his maniacal hatred of Alastor became his true downfall. 

They introduced much more lore about multiple characters this season, which I was starving for and they delivered. Namely, the reveal of Sir Pentious, Alastor, and Vox’s backstories.

Sir Pentious was a coward and didn’t stop the Jack the Ripper murders and let women die. Alastor was a serial killer and then was shot because a hunter thought he was a deer. We also find out that Rosie is the one who owns him, which was a crazy reveal I wouldn’t have guessed. 

Vox was also a serial killer and budding cult leader when a TV fell on his head and electrocuted him to death. This made him a prime villain for this season for his persuasiveness and cunningness. And his ability to act and do absolutely anything to get his way. His motivations made sense, especially after the full reveal of his backstory in episode 7. 

His finale was much more satisfying to watch then season one in my eyes. We’re much more involved with Vox and his plans and more connected to his motivations, as well as his downfall. As opposed to the angels in season one, I didn’t care that Adam died. Was I supposed to? I’m not sure, but I didn’t.

We also get a lore drop about everyone’s favorite spider sex worker, Angel Dust. We find out that he murdered his father in his human life. Now that we know how redemption works, this really sets up an interesting plot line for Angel. At the end of this season, he left the hotel for good out of guilt for strangling Cherri and betraying the hotel against his will. He returns to Valentino. 

I’m excited for Angel to earn his eventual redemption, which I fully believe is what they’re leading up to in the future. It’s clear that Angel is not evil, but perhaps was driven to murder out of self preservation. At least, that’s my guess right now. 

The Bad 

Oh my god. Charlie was insufferable for half of this season, but not even in a way that made sense. 

Charlie is a sheltered, naive girl who sees the best in absolutely everyone. However, her naïveté was honestly too far-fetched. Even if she’s sheltered, there’s no way she is that naive. She’s the daughter of Lucifer!

Charlie inviting Vox and Velvette to the hotel made no sense. She already knew they had ill intentions, especially calling her a dictator. Why would one invite someone calling them defamatory words. Why does Charlie even care what the hotel’s reputation is? It was never popular to begin with but previously it never stopped her. 

There’s also a myriad of plot holes and plot conveniences that were glaringly distracting. A minor example is that when Charlie goes on TV with Katie Killjoy, they act like they’ve never met before. But in the first season, there’s a very quick shot where she’s on screen with Katie. So they’ve clearly met before. 

Vivienne Medrano, the show’s creator, has a rather unfortunate habit of being too involved with her online fanbase. She directly addressed this plot hole. Medrano claims on Bluesky that “Katie just full on doesn’t remember she’s met Charlie already. She can barely remember her name.” I think this is a poor attempt at explaining what is just a plot hole. Just admit that. Charlie acts like she doesn’t remember her either, and I don’t think Charlie is stupid. 

Some other plot holes are things like the hotel crew talking about freeing Angel Dust from his hypnosis, but there was no such scene to explain how they would even find out about this. None of them ever mention knowing about Vox’s hypnosis but now they suddenly do because… plot reasons. 

Baxter also feels like a plot convenience. He introduces himself in episode one, has one conversation with Cherri Bomb, and is not mentioned again until the finale where he is suddenly really important to hack computers. He doesn’t feel like a real character, just a plot device they needed because they lost Sir Pentious. 

One of the biggest disappointments is Lute. She gets an epic song in “Gravity”, vowing revenge for Adam’s demise. Only for Lute and Vaggie to fight for a moment before Abel reels her back in. I only hope she’s just biding her time for her revenge in a future season. 

The Hazbin

This season was a much more epic finale and put together than season one. Despite my grievances and more I didn’t mention, I did really enjoy this season. I thought the drama and villains were more compelling this time around, and the characters are finally fleshed out more, for better and worse. I would consider this a confusingly satisfying finale. Generally, I enjoyed myself, but some plotlines didn’t connect with me and some issues, however minor, are distracting.

My hope for next season is the reveal of why Lilith has been avoiding Lucifer and Charlie for 7 years. It’s clear as day that 7 years is very significant as it’s mentioned multiple times. Alastor was gone for 7 years as well, and the extermination occurred for 7 years. Lilith must have something to do with this somehow. With Lilith finally answering Charlie’s call, we all want to know the truth. Extermination has ended, so what’s next for the plot?

There’s also the implication that Valentino has taken over Voxtek and will likely be rebranding it. I feel this will lead him to become a more major antagonist in the next season, especially with trying to get Angel Dust back and freed from his grasp. 

I wonder what the central plot will be next season. The cast has reportedly already wrapped up recording lines, so the answer to my questions and more will be revealed perhaps sooner than we think.