TV Review: "Helluva Boss" (Season 1)
Even more deranged, hilarious, and unhinged than "Hazbin Hotel," "Helluva Boss" isn't afraid to let its queer freak flag fly.
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Warning: Spoilers for the series follow.
I remember being quite blown away by the first season of Hazbin Hotel, which was this delightfully chaotic mess of a show, equal parts comedy, musical, and animated extravaganza. I knew that the same creators were responsible for Helluva Boss, which was set in the same universe but featured different characters, and so I knew that I was going to watch it. Well, it may have taken me longer than I would have liked, but I’ve now made my way through the entirety of the first season. Suffice it to say that I loved it just as much as, if not more than, Hazbin Hotel.
The center of this show is Blitzo (the “o” is silent), the leader of a group of assassins known as I.M.P. (short for Immediate Murder Professionals), a group of imps who undertake stealth missions for the souls of sinners who want revenge on those still on Earth. Blitzo is joined by his faithful employees Moxxie and Millie, who are happily married but are little chaos agents in their own right, as well as his adopted hellhound daughter Loona. The first half of the season shows the jobs that the group takes on, but the latter half begins to shift gears a bit, exploring more reflective and somber territory as each of the characters has to grapple with their relationships, both one another and with others.
The first few episodes of the show are ludic in all of the best ways, with Blitzo constantly rattling off a stream of expletives and insults at anyone and everyone, employee or enemy and everyone in-between (this show gives The Righteous Gemstones a run for its money as far as creative use of vulgarity is concerned). The fact that they are episodic means that we don’t get a very in-depth look at the characters and their motivations. Instead, the appeal stems from its unhinged sense of humor and the various exploits and scrapes that the characters manage to get themselves into as they try to fulfill the terms of their contracts. Their targets include a delightfully deranged family, a desiccated tech magnate, and sundry other mortals.
As it makes its way toward the finale, however, the series takes on some more poignant notes. I was particularly struck by the nature of the relationship between Blitzo and Stolas, a prince of Hell. From the moment that Stolas appears he is very transparent about his feelings for Blitzo, which at first seem to be physical in nature but are slowly revealed to be something much deeper. The seventh episode, however, makes it clear that they have very different ideas about what their relationship should entail, for while Blitzo (on the surface, at least) thinks they’re nothing more than friends with benefits, Stolas clearly wants something different. There’s a plaintive quality to Stolas’ performance that is really quite poignant, and watching him so desperately seek Blitzo’s love only to be rebuffed is more than a little heartbreaking.
I want to pause here for a moment to talk about why I love Stolas so much. To begin with, there’s the fact that he’s voiced by none other than Bryce Pinkham, who I absolutely adore thanks to his work in the very funny musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, and he once again brings a very fey British and very fey quality to his voice performance. He’s also visually striking, with his owlish visage and his lithe form. There’s a soft elegance to Stolas that draws you to him and makes you want to protect him from the harsh and brutal realities of Hell, and adding to the pathos is the fact that he is trapped in a loveless marriage with a wife who hates him and literally wants him dead. One can see why he would be drawn to someone like Blitzo, with all of his rough ages and bad boy attitude, even if by doing so he is sentencing himself to an eternity of dashing his heart to pieces against someone who seems allergic to any kind of sensitivity or soft emotions.
Just as poignant in its own way is the relationship between Moxxie and Millie. For all that they’re both demons and capable of remarkable bloodthirsty acts, it’s clear that they really love each other and will do anything to keep the other safe. This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen committed relationships in this fictional version of Hell, but it is nevertheless a really quite touching to see the extent to which they remain devoted to one another despite all of the temptations of Hell (including the King of Lust himself, Asmodeus).
It probably goes without saying, but Helluva Boss is also just a simple delight to look at. It has a fluid and vibrant beauty that, in my opinion, only 2-D animation can ever really capture, and its look is evocative of some of Cartoon Network’s most ludic creations. I was particularly struck by the fight scenes, which almost seem to leap off the screen and are filled with all sorts of joyous destruction. Like Hazbin, Helluva Boss is also a musical, and while there aren’t quite as many bangers as there are in the other series, there are still quite a few musical numbers that manage to make their way into your brain. Part of this stems from the fact that the episodes are all fairly short, leaving less time for musical numbers, but it’s also just the case that this series has less of a traditional musical vibe than Hazbin. Honestly, though, I’m okay with that. After all, each show has its own identity.
It’s also worth pointing out that the voice cast is universally excellent. As I’ve said, Pinkham is a delight, and Richard Horvitz and Vivian Nixon, who play Moxxie and Millie, respectively. The real standout, though, is Brandon Rogers, who plays Blitzo. I detect a bit of Paul Lynde in his characterization, if Lynde were truly unhinged.
One of the things that I love about both Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss is the extent to which they let their queer freak flags fly. They make a point of showing that the characters’ queerness isn’t the reason that they’re in Hell–that would be a vexing position to take, for sure–but because they just happen to be queer demons living in the infernal realm. What’s more, as Hazin reminded us, there’s far more to the calculus of who ends up in Hell than anyone in power is willing to say. And who knows? It might be the case that even Blitzo isn’t entirely beyond the possibility of redemption.
Suffice it to say that I enjoyed this series just as much as, if not more than, I enjoyed Hazbin Hotel. For all that it’s about a dysfunctional set of demons who are constantly either having sex or murdering others, there’s still something powerful and potent about its exploration of the nature of friendship and loyalty and even love. When it comes right down to it, there’s more than a little humanity to these demonic beings and their various relationships. Even Blitzo, arguably the most dysfunctional and disturbed of them all, clearly yearns for a deeper form of connection, for all that he makes a point of dismissing Stolas’ attempts to forge a deeper intimacy. I’m very much looking forward to diving into the second season, which I am absolutely sure that I will love just as much.