Hazbin Hotel Season 2 Review: Worth Checking Into For A More Streamlined Story

"Hazbin Hotel," the adult animated series that started out as a YouTube pilot and is about a hotel in Hell set up to redeem souls, is back for Season 2 on Prime Video (check out the only recap you need before "Hazbin Hotel" Season 2). The first season was a bit frantic, but now that Amazon has agreed to greenlight it through at least Season 4, creator Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano and her staff of writers can slow down a bit and be more focused. While the pacing makes the story easier to understand, it also gives us some unasked for segments — like a whole episode in Heaven — with characters that are good in small doses going front and center for more time than necessary. However, the core of what "Hazbin Hotel" is about is still there, and it's still fantastic.

The ending of Hazbin Hotel Season 1 left us with quite a few loose threads. The hotel has worked, as Sir Pentious (Alex Brightman) has managed to make it up to Heaven after sacrificing himself in the battle between Heaven and Hell, but Charlie Morningstar (Erika Henningsen) doesn't know that yet. Meanwhile, Radio Demon Alastor (Amir Talai) is eager to get out of his deal with someone in Hell so he can get full control over the place, and the Vees are busy plotting their own way to take over. Plus the Exterminating Angel Lute (Jessica Vosk), who's broken up over Adam's (Brightman again) death at Hell's hands, goes to Lilith, Charlie's mother, and tells her to get her daughter in line. 

While Charlie and her father, Lucifer (Jeremy Jordan), continue to call Lilith throughout the second season, she never picks up, so that leaves us with the other storylines to deal with — and we do, but in ways we couldn't have imagined. Charlie learns about Sir Pentious in the first episode, but she can't prove he's in heaven, so Vox (Christian Borle) and his fellow Vees — Velvette (Lilli Cooper) and Valentino (Joel Perez) — make her public enemy number one in an attempt to discredit her and get power for themselves. Meanwhile, the demon who controls Alastor is revealed in an anticlimactic moment, and to get his mojo back, he gets captured by Vox.

The majority of "Hazbin Hotel" Season 2 is about Vox, his desire for power, and how his hatred for his enemies drives him. So although the other characters certainly have things to do this season, Vox is the one who gets the most focus, and the show doesn't always benefit from his expanded role. Interestingly, he's a bit like our current president — like the president, who manipulates his social media feed to make "the truth" sound like anything he wants, Vox does something similar. He also attacks his enemies and has a long memory for every slight and sin, giving this season a topical bent that couldn't have been predicted when they started making it.

That's one of the reasons the show is excellent this season. Though it's made up of outlandish characters who have morphed for reasons unknown in their descent into Hell — for example, Vox has a television for a head, Angel Dust (Blake Roman) has two sets of arms, Husk (Keith David) is a cat with wings, etc. — the topicality makes the show seem very perceptive. However, despite that, Vox is fairly one-note, constantly getting mad at others and refusing to acknowledge he may not be the mastermind he thinks he is. Once Alastor is captured, he makes it somewhat better because he is willing to call Vox out on all his bull, but Alastor can only do so much in his diminished state this season.

The angels are similar. Though Sir Pentious is now up in Heaven and making things somewhat more interesting, we don't need quite so much of the rest of the angels. Especially because they take away from time with Angel Dust and other characters that are far more interesting. When Angel is on screen, though, those times are great, as is time spent with Husk, Nifty (Kimiko Glen), and even Cherri Bomb (Krystina Alabado).

Despite the overabundance of certain characters in Season 2, there's more than enough to recommend the show. Charlie and Vaggie's (Stephanie Beatriz) story of a couple in strife is fantastic, mostly because despite how big their argument is, they still manage to make up, showing people just what a loving long-term relationship looks like. Plus, the show delves into the backstories of Sir Pentious, Vox, and Alastor, and touches on the backstory of Angel, showing that everyone has an intriguing past that's begging to be uncovered, and even works some real-life history into Sir Pentious' story.

While the show remains raunchy and full of cursing (including the C-word) with adult humor and gore appropriate to its Hellish setting, there's less of it this season. We get that they're in Hell, and so there's no need to put a fine point on it. Instead, the show settles into its themes of media manipulation and redemption with great gusto. The results are not always perfect, but the songs are uniformly magnificent, and they smooth over some of the show's edges. In addition, everyone in the "Hazbin Hotel" voice cast is exceptional, and the animation of all these strange places and people is inventive, odd, and often endearing. All in all, "Hazbin Hotel" Season 2 is worth checking into.

"Hazbin Hotel" premieres on Prime Video on October 29, with two episodes coming out weekly through November 19.