Amazon Prime presents.... Hazbin Hotel
Hazbin Hotel is something that I found out about back in 2020 when the pilot was first introduced, but it fell off my radar since I thought that no production company was ever going to approve of a budget. So, 4 years later….. Imagine my surprise when an old friend of mine called me up to tell me about this crazy new series that just premiered on Amazon Prime with satan visuals, blood gore, and other images that were borderline pornographic. Knowing the track record of amazon series, I prayed for the best…..
And I ended up loving it!
The story starts you with a backdrop of heaven, a golden city protected by magnificent gates that were ruled by beings of pure light and that shielded all beings from all evil. Lucifer was one of these angels but he was viewed as a troublemaker by the other angels of heaven.
Heaven in Hazbin Hotel
As the angels expanded the universe, they created Adam and Lilith. Lilith refused to submit to Adam and eventually ended up finding Lucifer and they both fell in love. Unfortunately, with this came a curse and earth was shrouded in darkness and sin. In retribution, the angels cast Lucifer and Lilith into the depths of hell where lost souls would go. As the numbers of souls in hell began to increase, the angels decided that they had to do ‘yearly exterminations’ where they would go down and slaughter the lost souls in order to prevent them from rising up and taking over heaven.
The first episode immediately establishes hell as being comprised of pornographers, drunkards, drug addicts, and cannibals. Charlie, the daughter of Lucifer and princess of Hell makes it her mission to redeem these sinners and ‘save their souls’.
The princess of Hell and daughter of Lucifer, Charlie
The series dedicates each episode to each of the characters. Charlie’s mission is to save her people of hell by creating a hotel, nicknamed ‘Hazbin Hotel’, where sinners can come to repent their sins. In order to accomplish this, she has recruited a small band of misfits who have their own motivations and background. There is the mysterious Alistar AKA ‘Radio Demon’, an extremely powerful demon whose name is feared by many and has sworn unwavering loyalty to Charlie.
Alistar, aka ‘The Radio Demon’
There is Huckster, the bartender with a drinking and gambling problem. Then there is Angel Dust a famous porn star with a dirty mouth.
I love the aesthetics of the characters of Hazbin Hotel, and each character has their own unique look and every episode adds more mystery of the hellish world that the lost souls live in. My only critique is that too many characters are introduced way too quickly making it difficult for the viewer to keep up. Having said that, Hazbin Hotel does a wonderful job of making you ‘get to know’ each character. One of the most intense episodes I have ever watched in an animated series is one dedicated to Angel Dust where he squares off with his inner conflict about his work in the porn industry.
Each episode has a song performance that is sung and I must say that each is catchy and the melodies are hip. They range from piano solos sung by Charlie or a fast tempo guitar solo sung by some of the other characters. I guarantee that each episode will keep you glued and wanting for more at the end.
One of the things I like about Hazbin Hotel is that although there is a clear biblical reference, the show avoids reference to characters in mainstream religion to avoid controversy with the obvious exception of Adam. Adam in the show is a powerful angel who is responsible for leading the yearly exterminations against hell’s denizens because he believes they are sinners who cannot be saved. But….ironically, he is ALSO guilty of sin as you will find out. In fact, there comes a point in the show where you feel more sympathy to the losers in hell who are all miscreants and fallen. And yet……the angels demonstrate that they are the ones who are uncompromising, unwilling to listen, unreasonable, and judgmental despite Charlie’s best efforts try to convince them to save her people (if you watch the show, you’ll see what I mean).
Overall, Hazbin Hotel offers a good storyline with catchy tunes. The main message of the show is that sinners can be redeemed if they have actual good morals and try to care about others.
But this show is not for children. Let me repeat, NOT FOR CHILDREN. Some of the scenes, especially the porn scenes were unnecessarily graphic and REALLY pushed the bar on what should and shouldn’t be shown on prime time television. Nevertheless, the marvelous voice acting as well as the choreographed music that varies in intensity sold me on the show. My only real critique was the excessive use of swearing but I finished the series with the feeling that all of the characters were believable and likable with their own flaws.
All in all, the series maintains a fun, light atmosphere, despite the dark aesthetics, the satan symobolism, the constant reminder of evil and darkness (at one point of the show, Charlies has to travel through a town that houses known cannibals) and yet also has serious moments that don’t feel forced. It is very difficult to pull off the tongue in check humor and the downright dirty humor while juxtaposing it with believable characters all while maintaining a serious story. And yet…. Hazbin Hotel does just that flawlessly.