I first saw Hazbin Hotel’s pilot a week after its 2019 release date and I was enamored. Hazbin Hotel is an adult animated series created by Vivienne Medrano that was first released on Youtube.
The character designs were fresh and its premise was surprisingly unique. It took the heaven vs hell trope to a different level, following the daughter of Lucifer and her hopes at redeeming sinners.
After five years of nothing but the spin-off series, Helluva Boss, and the music video “Addict,” season one was released on Amazon Prime. While there was lots of intrigue to see the new product, especially after now being partially taken over by the studio A24, there appeared to be growing pains.
Episode Four, “Masquerade,” brings up topics of abuse and sexual assault. It is somewhat controversial on various social media platforms as it reflects real world issues within the series’ storytelling.
Many are focused on the character who was directly a victim and analyzing his actions in the scene. Some find him relatable, others as offensive.
However there is a bystander often overlooked within these discussions: Charlie Morningstar. Charlie is the daughter of Lucifer and Princess of hell. She’s extremely optimistic with the goal to rehabilitate demons and get them into heaven through her hotel, the Hazbin Hotel.
Charlie decides to use her status to try and keep the first resident of the hotel, Angel Dust, there instead of at his job as a porn star. During this attempt, it’s revealed that Angel Dust sold his soul to his boss, resulting in an abusive relationship that often leads him to get sexually assaulted and used as property, not a person.
Angel Dust’s boss, Valentino, takes him aside and begins to yell and threaten him to remove Charlie from the situation. The majority of this is behind closed doors, but when Angel hesitates, Valentino begins to publicly yell and Charlie is introduced to the complexity of the situation.
Charlie does not appear to grow from this situation, not as the princess of hell, the hotel’s founder, or as a friend. Instead, the show shifts to attempt to create a more comedic effect. It’s incredibly jarring to viewers as Charlie’s emotions become overexaggerated. She writes “100 apology letters,” begs for forgiveness when Angel Dust sees her again and bursts into tears of happiness when quickly forgiven.
With such an eventful episode, and a week to wait before the next one aired, my mind was flooding with theories and possibilities.
How Charlie was going to acknowledge Angel Dust’s treatment? What would they do to help Angel Dust? Would Charlie be crushed? How would this impact the others at the hotel?
But there is no moment between her and Angel Dust, the victim, about what happened. There is no clear sign that Charlie acknowledges the abuse her friend is facing, nor that, as a ruler of hell, Angel may not be the only one going through abuse and assault.
Angel Dust grows and is able to start speaking to others about his struggles with help from another character, Husk. He is able to start standing up for himself, even if there is no solution presented.
Charlie never again mentions the abuse she witnessed. Her primary concern is the hotel and worrying that it will fail. Her secondary concern is about the safety of her people being compromised due to her actions, but this is broad and does not reference how this could be amplified from the events of episode four.
This issue is not merely a lost story-telling opportunity. The reality of the victim portrayed is something people can relate to, as seen by my numerous comments and posts online. Because the issue is sensitive, the manner in which it is handled is extremely important.
In season two, I can only hope for a conversation between Angel Dust and Charlie to occur. The show itself has already made waves regarding the topics handled. Further discussing it would add depth to the show and continue to illuminate an issue that members of its fanbase seem to be somewhat familiar with.
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