Hazbin Hotel – Episode 1 “Overture” Recap & Review

Overture

Hazbin Hotel Episode 1 begins with a story about how Lucifer, one of Heaven’s angels, was cast out for thinking too differently from the other angels. The angels then created Adam and Lilith on Earth, but Lilith refused to submit to Adam. She instead found Lucifer, and they fell in love.

They wanted to share free will with humanity, and so offered Eve the fruit of knowledge. But this brought evil into the world and shattered Heaven’s order. Heaven punished Lucifer and Lilith by casting them into the dark pit of hell. Lucifer suffered, but Lilith thrived, growing the power of Hell. This compelled Heaven to send an army to Hell every year to exterminate a number of its sinners. Lilith’s hope remained, however, and was passed on to her daughter Charlie Morningstar, the princess of Hell.

Another extermination has taken place in Hell, where Charlie hopes to hear from her mom, who’s been gone for seven years.

Charlie’s dream is to rehabilitate sinners in her Hazbin Hotel to save them from extermination, with help from girlfriend Vaggie, porn star Angel, bartender Husk, maid Nifty, and radio demon Alistor–the latter’s most recent contribution being a commercial that’s unfit to air. His excuse is that he hasn’t been active in Hell for quite a while.

When Charlie’s dad sends her to a meeting with Adam, the original man and the leader of the angel army, she sees it as a chance to get Heaven to support her plan.

While Charlie’s in the meeting, Vaggie resolves to create another, better commercial. Alistor makes a deal with her. He helps her make the perfect commercial, and she never asks him to engage with television again. She agrees, and with his powers, he creates the perfect conditions for the ad.

Unfortunately, Charlie’s meeting doesn’t go as she planned. Adam only cares about himself and believes those in hell are better off being exterminated. In fact, Charlie’s pitch only made him want to shorten his extermination timeline. Usually, they exterminate once a year. But now, they’ll be back in just six months.

Back at the hotel, Vaggie and the others get ready to show Charlie their commercial, but they’re interrupted by breaking news that an extermination will take place sooner than anticipated.

Meanwhile, in heaven, Lute informs Adam that one of their own was killed in the last extermination: something that’s never happened before. Adam resolves that when angels return to hell, they won’t leave a soul alive.

The Episode Review

With this first episode, Hazbin Hotel promises to be crude, funny, and endlessly creative–no surprise for those who’ve been following Vivienne Medrano’s independent projects.

Hazbin Hotel doesn’t at first seem to have the heart that her show Helluva Boss does or even the original pilot to this show–the transitions are less smooth; the dialogue somewhat flatter; the jokes don’t land as often–although the animation has improved wildly and the music is a delight. On the whole, it’s still sure to be entertaining, boasting a lovable crew of oddball characters whose storylines I can’t wait to explore.

Although it’s not necessary, I do recommend you go and watch Medrano’s original pilot to Hazbin Hotel if you haven’t already before digging into Prime’s episodes. It’s free on YouTube, and it provides an excellent introduction to these characters.