Considering this man spent 6 hours and 35 minutes ranking the songs in Hazbin Hotel, I'm frankly in awe that he didn't spend more than 4 hours on ranking this season. Skyen is restraining himself XD
I also usually don't love the "they met as kids" stuff, but I do kinda like it here. I like that Stolas got so attached to this guy who he met just once because it was one of his few good memories, I think that it does a lot for his characterization as someone who wishes to live a love story like the ones in the books and tv shows that he likes After all, what's more tropey and romantic than meeting your soulmate when you were young and then finding him later in life and living happily ever after?
Thats the same way I read it, part of the reason why Stolas asumes no harm from Blitz sneaking in and part of the reason why he starts the deal its bc the whole thing reminds him of an erotic/romantic novel. He literally feels like he's living a romcom.
I wish the show covered this fact a little more explicitly, idk about anyone else but i didn't realize this was why we saw them as kids until seeing comments about it
it also highlights further the difference between stolas and blitz and how they feel about the relationship, because for blitz it WASN'T special, he scammed some random rcih prick and then nearly 30 years later goes back to steal from him on a whim, which leads to him fucking the guy to get away with it.
I always liked the idea in the apology tour, the party started as just Blitz’s exes getting together to talk shit about him, but then they start bringing their friends and acquaintances who had trouble with different exes. Now the party is just about people helping other hurt people and are just using Blitz as a symbolic figure head of everyone exes (Oh your ex is such a Blitzs). It’s my head cannon because I refuse to believe Blitz has been able to date so many people long enough for each one of them to feel some sort of connection to him to feel hurt when they broke up (or could have been many horrible one night stands). Sorry for the rambling and bad grammar.
1:44:24 We see this on almost all of Blitz's relationships, funnily enough! MnM are his employees, he provides for them, ergo they can be friends. He is Loona's boss, ergo he can be her parent. He was a worker at his father's circus, ergo he gets to be his son. Even with Fizz- his closer friend, he gets temporarily hired as a bodyguard. Blitz can't ever have a relationship where he isnt directly providing something, and I think it speaks to how Cash raised him like he had to earn being a son.
And at the same time, gift-giving is not bad by itself, it's the fact that Bllitz sees these things as transactions or nescessity in order to not be a burden. So the moment he thinks he could become a burden or the one not giving, he just leaves the relationship. I'd make a guess that he left Verosika because once she was vulnarable, he relized if he stuck around he'd have to be vulnarable and reciving help - the exact thing he instinctivly wanted to avoid. He isn't better than the other person therefore he doesen't deserve them or even think they might want to be his support and it wouldn't burden them more than him leaving .
If I may play devil's advocate for episode 1, the trope may be the point. As viewers and knowing the future, we see the childhood friend to lovers as soon as it's shown, but it's something Stolas sees instantly, too. He's stuck in his romance novels so he'd instantly read too deep into Blitzo reappearing. Meanwhile, Blitzo clearly was so unbothered by Stolas that after stealing from him once, he comes back years later to steal his most prized possession and isn't especially afraid it seems when caught. Stolas saw and read way to far into the trope; Meanwhile, Blitzo just saw an easy mark. It lays a pretty good foundation for where their relationship starts, considering a good portion of this season is their relationship and where it ends up.
I wish the writers had explored why Stolas is a romantic character. While we can speculate it relates to his relationships with his parents and Stella, the narrative doesn’t show this evolution. Initially, Stolas idealises his friendship with Blitz, but we don’t see his romantic desires develop. I appreciate the line, "My very first crush is also my best friend," from Stolas in the first episode, but I wish they had delved deeper into Stolas's character.
5:21 I think murder family was necessary for setting up the plot and characters if you take into account that the pilot was de-canonized. Otherwise, yeah, kinda mid.
Yeah, it's not a BAD episode, but the story could've been anything else and it would work just as well as long as they mention the key points establishing the show's premise (since they aren't connected to the mission at all)
While you said that "Oops" and "MMMMSS(ft.F)" didn't really contribute towards the conclusion of the season... I'd argue they very much do, not by setting up directly for "Sinsmas," but by setting up for "Apology Tour/Ghostf***ers" ("Oops" specifically) and for Stolitz as a whole. After having managed to reconnect with Fizz and get his first taste of actual forgiveness in "Oops" (especially after having been shut down so thoroughly by Barbie in "Unhappy Campers"), we get a Blitzo who is suddenly at least a little more open to attempting to make amends with people, even if he doesn't really start to commit to it until the very end of "Apology Tour." Meanwhile, fleshing out Fizzerozzie in the episodes, especially "Mammon's...", makes them arguably a better foil for Stolitz than M+M given that it's another "Prince & Pauper" pairing, but one where the two are openly communicative in a way that neither Blitzo or Stolas are capable of being at that point - in addition to then setting up further in "Mastermind" how Bee and Ozzie are Sins who are more on the side of the little guy. Given that they're both Sins in openly romantic relationships with _the_ two lowest castes of demons, and that Bee actively hosts parties where the majority of attendees are of said castes, helps really set them up as allies if there eventually comes a point where the classism themes of _HB_ lead to some sort of revolt among the lower hellborn against the Sins and Goetia.
I don't know if chat had told you this, but apparently, we will be getting 8 Helluva Boss shorts between now and season 3, and of course Hazbin Hotel season 2.
I really enjoy your videos. I find the thoughts on the clearness of Via's plot so interesting because on one hand, I can respect people thinking more should have been done, but on the other, my impression was from S1-2 the lack of her presence in itself was part of the point that Via loved her dad and has good memories but as she grew more aware of the disfunction, as we see her being thrown into this thing with Blitz and her father she doesn't get and Stolas can't explain whats happening in the family, in addition to hearing Via say why does he hate her more than she loves me? was the continuation of this underlying fear the love she thinks she has with Stolas, isn't real and she's an imposition like the distance symbolically was happening gradually through out the show. She doesn't want to believe this, but then Master Mind happens leading her to sing in Sinsmas about how the life she thought she knew is falling apart and she questions everything Stolas said and how happy he was being with her. Thats just me.
I feel like Apology Tour is more about the line between love and hate. One line I feel exemplifies this is where Stolas says “There is a crowd full of people here who cared so much, they throw an entire party about hating you every year.” Blitz’s relationships fail because he wants them to fail. It fuels this belief he has that people are destined to hate him, but he fails to realize why they do. The reason he’s had such a negative impact on them is because of what of what a positive impact he used to have. An example of this is Verosika, because she loved him so much it’s what led her to hate him so badly. Hate is derived out of love. Because Blitz can’t recognize this, it’s why his relationships continue to fail. He believes he’s inherently bad when he’s not, he just chooses to be because everything around him has convinced him he already is. Thats why it ends with him breaking down that belief and realizing that love and hate are two sides of the same coin. That you can’t have one without the other like he believed.
It was said on Viv's Patreon that S3 is more focused on Loona. I remember someone even saying that it was stated that the end of s2 was abt "getting stolitz out of the way so they can focus on other characters". Or something along those lines. Also, I personally think the childhood friends trope works for stolitz because: 1. Blitz didn't like Stolas as a kid, he liked Fizz, so it doesn't feel like him developing them as an adult was predestined. 2. Stolas, being very shy and a hopeless romantic, wouldn't have been interested in Blitz in the first place if he wasn't his childhood friend. And he only felt comfortable being cringy because he viewed Blitz as his friend. 3. Blitz, being specifically weak for people from his past, only gave into having sex with Stolas because they were childhood friends. He wouldn't otherwise given how annoying Stolas was. 4. It established why Blitz and Stolas had such drastically different views on the nature of their relationship up until now.
It also parallels their current relationship: Blitz shows up with only the intention to steal from Stolas, but he ends up actually enjoying himself more than he thought he would, yet in the end he still does the thing he came to do because Stolas is just some “pompous rich guy.” Then it makes even more sense when Blitz is totally blindsided by Stolas wanting to change the relationship, because that’s not how this worked when they first met. Back then, they just met once and as far as Blitz knows, Stolas immediately forgot about him. So now, as adults, it’s going in a different direction and that makes Blitz uncomfortable.
@@darkeningfyre Oh yeah, all this as well! Cause yeah, Blitz remembers being sold to Stolas as a kid, while Stolas had a romanticized view of their first meeting, not questioning why Blitz was there in the first place.(tho Stolas may remember Blitz robing him as a kid based on what he says on Sinsmas. So he may be biased in seeing Blitz as using him from the start, not realizing that Blitz feels that way as well) And yeah, I love the parallel of how as a kid Blitz says "Ew, why?" at the idea of spending the day with a Goetia, but then smiles and runs back to spend the rest of the night after robing him, while Blitz as an adult says "Ew?" at the idea of being interested in a Goetia, but then stays the whole night when it wasn't necessary.
One thing about Wester Energy, is that i felt it shown Moxxy getting better on hand to hand combat, while also being the payoff of them being brutally beaten on Harvest Moon
So the thing is that the Magnus Archives doesn’t have canon designs, but there are very strongly adhered to fanon designs to that have developed over the nearly 9 years that the series has existed. It’s definitely Jon and Martin in the show, and the Magnus archives is really good and really sad.
No it's pretty clear that Blitz left Verosika due to fear of commitment and the possibility of hurting her more than the hurt she'll feel if he just ditched her. It seems their dynamic was more of a fling, but Ver then developed genuine feelings, and Blitz not knowing how to deal with someone caring for him just left out of self preservation mostly. You could say it's on her for suddenly altering the relationship by stating she loved him out of the blue, but Blitz definitely acted worse by not even acknowledging her vulnerable feelings.
I don't think it was just a fling to Blitz, he kept a photo of them both together and looked at it at a vulnerable moment. He also overreacts to her and shows a lot of vitriol towards her in their first scenes together, usually people only act that way when the relationship was emotionally charged. I think he was developing deeper feelings for her, and that's why he panicked and made a scene when he left her, avoiding a direct confrontation. If he didn't care he would have dumped her in person, in a detached way, not stolen her credit card and acted crazy and irrational by doinh self-indulgent stuff.
When it comes to Millie I get the feeling that her beeing a strong support to others makes it so the writers always pair her up with someone else. Sure she can handle situations on her own, but Blitz or Moxie are the ones who make situations happen, for better or worse.
For me Western Energy lands because to me Blitz just sending M&M after Stolas asked him for help makes a much stronger point than him showing up there in any capacity. Yes, there could be more drama quantitatively between Stolas and Blitz if they had shared screentime, but Blitz not even coming is just on another level. In hindsight this also shows how much the dynamic changed with Blitz saving Stolas from Andy in the finale. The one bit I didn't like though (and I bet I'm very much alone on this) is Loona going full dog in this episode. I would have prefered her getting some dialogue, or maybe even the vet bits being replaced with something else. Maybe the vet visit could have happened off-screen with Octavia getting some scenes instead. Dunno if she even knew about her dad being kidnapped.
0:00 Intro and Explaining the way the Episodes will be ranked 5:36 Episode 1 - The Circus 11:45 Episode 2 - Seeing Stars, and some Season 3 Wishes and Predictions 29:21 Episode 3 - Exes and Oohs 40:19 Episode 4 - Western Energy 55:56 Episode 5 - Unhappy Campers 1:09:40 Episode 6 - Oops, and talking about the Show's Villains (continues into the next Episode's bit) 1:16:43 Episode 7 - MAMMON'S MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL MID-SEASON SPECIAL (ft. Fizzarolli) 1:23:22 Episode 8 - The Full Moon 1:33:30 Episode 9 - Apology Tour 1:58:50 Episode 10 - Ghostf*ckers ... (will be updated along with my watching)
Them meeting as kids to me makes sense from the storytelling perspective. They needed to establish both Stolas' and Blitzø's upbringing and how it affected them, and putting them in one flashback instead of two separate ones is efficient. It doesn't make you question why there's a flashback, and to have one there needs to be a narrative reason. It saves time and doesn't feel as repetitive as two separate ones. I never read it as a "fated meeting", more of a way to not make Stolas look like an absolute moron for entertaining a strange dude who broke into his home. Him recognising Blitzø and having his guard down at that moment comes of as reckless, desperate and a bit naive, but not as much as it would if it was the first time he's ever seen him
The funniest thing about this video was that I was still able to recognize the episode’s thumbnails from the videos thumbnail. I also expected this to be longer or just about the same time as the Hazbin hotel one.
It makes sense for Stolas and blitz to meet as kids. It would be impossible for them to meet as adults, because of the class division and blitz not knowing what a grimore even is. But thats just me :)
He would probably come to know what the grimoire is. It’s not a secret, Stolas appears in wrath every year to use his book to open a portal to see earth’s moon. The imps know what’s up.
@HelloCompanion I do see how imps know about the grimore through the harvest moon festival. But Blitz isn't from wrath or is familiar with the harvest moon. So he wouldn't know.
54:16 This is exactly why the Shorts are genius, every idea that would probably drag down a main episode if they attempted to put it in a B-plot can now be presented in these 4-6 min shorts! This implies Season 3 and 4 will have a much heavier focus on character development and story arcs ❤️🔥
i would love for there to be an episode in s3 where we see the big moments of the series from octavia's perspective (maybe she has seen blitz sneaking in on the full moon, or god forbid heard anything, before, etc), and given that andrealphus's plan is to eventually kill stolas (given he promised that to stella in western energy AND he didn't get stolas permanently banished) i would really be interested to see if octavia overhears another assassination plot or something along those lines.
1:10:18 They shouldn’t have been back-to-back for pacing reasons. Putting “Oops” after “Western Energy” would have made sense to juxtapose Stolitzø and Fizzmodeus’ relationship dynamics and given us Blitzø’s emotional side of that text history. Then Unhappy Campers should have been used to give us a breather from the Fizz arc. And Blitzø reconnecting with Fizz would have made a good metanarrative impetus to reach out to his sister, which otherwise came out of nowhere.
Personally I feel like Western Energy works well as the impetus for Blitz reaching out to his sister. It shows us where his priorities are. Stolas is NOT someone close to Blitz at this point. He is not even remotely considered as someone Blitz could be emotionally close to. He is just a sugar daddy. Instead, when Blitz is reminded of the fragility of life or whatever, he focuses all his energy on finding his twin sister, someone that he feels a connection to and who actually matters to him and who he wants to check in on. Shippers understandably hated this reveal, but it was necessary to hammer in that these Stolas and Blitz are not a romantic couple at that point. Having Oops after Happy Campers gives Blitz an upwards trajectory that he desperately needs in order to develop as a character. If Barb had rejected him *after* he reconnected with Fizz then Fizz could have been written off as a one-off, and trying to connect with people wouldn't feel worth it. If that had been his emotional trajectory then I doubt he would have bothered with Apology Tour and instead gone straight to the Ghostfuckers stage of coping.
I wonder if he is intentionally referencing Moxxie saying "I should have been a theater critic, my opinions are objectively correct" while Blitz was " coping ".
Happy New Year, Skyen! I'm so happy I found this channel last year. I haven't animated since a fairly disastrous project back in high school that really took the joy out of it for me. But recently, I've been getting back into it, just for fun! Your passionate critiques and fine-grained analyses of animation are a huge part of that and when I work on my projects, whether or not I ever plan to let them see the light of day, I try to think about what I'm doing with the same level of detail and energy that you bring to your discussions and reactions.
I'm also glad they killed that demon in Ghost F***ers to avoid another situation like with Striker. As cool as it was having Norman Reedus voice him in Harvest Moon, it sucks if the character comes back and they can't get the same voice actor again.
I agree but I dont think Striker couldve been a one-off character, his paralels with Blitz are too obvious from his first appearance that killing him off wouldve left a big hole, and getting another character to have the same paralels would risk comparisons/feeling samey.
I didn't want to suggest killing off Striker, but I see that it can be taken that way. I would have prefered if they had just gone with the current voice actor for him from the start and maybe had given Reedus a role that doesn't come back.
I really wish there was like a single episode without Blitz and Stolas. Just as both a calm before the storm moment where we get to pause and breathe. But also so we can examine their importance via their absence.
One thing I do wonder in regards to the future seasons: With how much season 2 builds up and how much was already teased, how are gonna fit all of this into about 30 episodes (because we know from Viv that Helluva Boss will have about 50 episodes total). Like, from the top of my hat, what can we (possibly) expect from season 3 and 4: -More Stolitz stuff (that one alone is gonna take up a lot of time) -Stella backstory (was confirmed to happen) -a divorce court episode (was teased) -some Stolas & Octavia reconciliation -Millie pregnancy arc (if they go the abortion route, this could take up 1 or 2 episodes, if she keeps the baby, it's gonna be way more content) -Blitzo & Barbie Wire reconciliation -Fizz & Ozzie vs. Mammon, round 2 -Moxxie vs. Crimson, round 2 -potential Millie/Chaz backstory -potential Striker backstory -more Loona backstory (maybe even more stuff about all the hellhound characters in general) -classism issues explored more -an episode for Belphegor and Leviathan respectively -I feel like Cherubs and Dhorks are also gonna come back somewhere -also there's definitely gonna be some more I.M.P. missions somewhere inbetween -more Sallie May (because I need Sallie May) I know that some of these points are probably gonna be connected, plot-wise, but man, this is a lot of potential story and not a lot of room for filler (luckily we have the shorts for that).
I do believe theres a smooth way to fill all of it bc none of these gotta be entire episodes of their own! Stella's backstory could touch on Andrealphus' motivation too. Vassago seems to be the last character of Genuine Importance we are introduced to, and his role is prob gonna be to become Stolas' first friend outside of IMP. With Millie I kinda like the idea that the reason why she is so anxious abt the kid is that she got pregnatn wtih Chaz and Chaz dumped her bc of it- is a very Chaz thing to do.
From what I can tell, Stolas calling Via took from lunchtime one day to breakfast the next. Via didn't know that Stolas would emotionally collapse, retreat inwardly, and sleep 12+ hours(?), so it does seem egregious that her dad would wait just under a full day to call her. It both was and wasn't a long time. If Stella hadn't stopped her from picking up the phone, Via might have been understanding on that particular point.
yeah,I'm already see people begging for season 3 to come out now like people really think animation takes 5 minutes to do,HA! it takes 2 years to do animation,sometimes longer,plus we don't know how much of season 3 is done,but if it's almost done,I'm betting it comes out later this year like during the summer or fall,or early next year,it just depends,and yet people demand something thinking animation is so simple it should be out now
Brandon and others have posted on their instas throughout 2024 when they were in the studio doing lines/songs for S3. So, they've got some parts of the vocal work done, but I have no idea how much more animation they have to do. So, we do still have quite a wait.
3:49:24 My theory is that she had a pregnancy scare before with Chaz and Chaz dumped her bc of that, so a part of her fears that Moxxie will do the same. I mean, I think it would be a good way to tie up the whole Chaz thing- because we know Chaz left her quite wounded, rigth? But we don't know why he left. And we see in Exes and Oohs that he is prone to fleeing when convenient.
A episode I would like to see I think would be a episode between verosika and Stolas, that delves into Verosikas past relationship with blitz. The current relationship vs the past
The Barbie Wire subplot from ep 5 should have been Blitz's subplot for ep 3 (but changed from the camp stuff obviously), it removes Blitz from the main plot of ep 3 while giving him something to do that's thematically relevant (estranged family stuff). Then the subplot for ep 5 could maybe be something with Octavia and Stolas tying into putting up facades or something like that. If ep 4 is still the same or at least ends the same it could be him trying to once again pretend he's fine for her sake but she's older now and has already been through her dad fucking up before so she can better see through it this time.
Honestly, if there's one thing about this season that just /utterly/ fails me, it's the pregnancy. I have somewhere between zero and absolute zero interest in basically anything that may come of that. A false-alarm that's meant to shake things up and force some character development, maybe... but that's about it. Whatever genes are required to think "oh, this is going someplace interesting" are genes I am entirely lacking.
weirdly i feel like they might use the fact that all the characters are sorta split off into their own groups to explore the other characters more. cause it kinda takes away the temptation of "lets explore this character, oh wait our mc's stolas and blitzo are on screen lets see what their up to for 20 minutes". with how it currently is its more likely i feel for them to be able to stay on one character or group that isnt stolas or blitzo for an entire episode. like millie and moxxie now that the pregnant thing is... well a thing. or maybe more loona and octavia stuff or even just each of them separately
We got Confirmed Shorts too, so they can handle some of the more lighthearted stuff in there too (theyve mentioned they dont want em to feel like obligatory watch)
I would argue the reason why the child thing works and why I wouldn't change it and I don't see it as fated love is the scene at the end where they talk about what they're going to do when they grow up. That is where Blitz0 got the knowledge of the grimoire and plotted to use it to make his assassin group more unique.
That one could be easily written around, as the grimoire isn't a secret; Stolas directly uses it to open a portal to the Harvest Moon during the Harvest Moon Festival, so idea of using it for Earth could be easily proposed by someone like Millie who grew up around it. Personally, I see the idea for them being childhood friends as a SUBVERSION of the star crossed lovers trope. Stolas' only experience with romance has been through these trashy, smutty romance novels, and because of that he carries a sort of naivety around it. He sees himself as this protagonist of a romance novel who gets swept off his feet by a dashing imp who was his only friend, and thus they were destined to be. However, Blitzø doesn't carry the same fondness for the time they spent together because he HAS other people he cares about, and because of that Stolas deeply misunderstood Blitzø straight from the conception of their situationship
Like Skyen said, Blitz could have found out about the Grimoire just by watching footage of the Harvest Moon festival. More importantly, we save some screen time by showing both their childhoods at once, so we don't need to sit though two separate flashbacks just to find out where their issues come from. They also contrast each other nicely so we can compare their respecive financial situations, their childhood social skills etc. It becomes more obvious that Blitz has always been a hardy and defiant kid when he's put next to Stolas who was more of a people-pleaser. Blitz doesn't even hesitate to tell Stolas that the books are boring, and Stolas is completely incapable of standing up for what he's interested in and instead goes all in on following Blitz' lead. At the scene in the end we find out that Stolas doesn't have any plans to do anything else than what is required of him, while Blitz already have the outline of his future company in mind. This was their starting points, and only *now* is Stolas learning to stand up for himself and his desires, and Blitz is (slowly) learning to consider the feelings of other people.
I think the childhood meeting does help to make more sense of Stolas' behaviour. The idea of him randomly sleeping with an imp that broke into his home felt so out there - by Blitz being someone he knows from the past, the whole thing makes a lot more sense.
Another argument against the Millie cheating theory: while the episode was themed around cheating Millie was the one character most insistent on actually killing the target, pointing out the (unconfirmed) cheating as a good enough reason to kill him. I feel that if Millie had actually cheated she wouldn't have acted like that. Maybe she would have acted close, still insisting on going through with the kill, but I think her attitude would have been a bit different or *something* that hints at her potentially cheating.
They could cut a lot of the B plot of each episode by splitting the characters narratives into multiple episodes rather than giving them useless nonsense to do. Spend one full ep on Blitz finding his sister with hints that Millie and Moxie are on their own camp mission that is dealt with in full in another episode. They did that with the Queen Bee ep and Circus where we found out how both Blitz and Stolas spent the night after Ozzies in seperate episodes. Would have loved to know where Octavia was during after Western Energy.
Oh, we’ve gotten to Ghostbusters, just 3 episodes le-why is there two hours left… I’ve been listening instead of watching so maybe the shorts are on here lol
One of the things I like about the Ghost busters episode, is how Moxie and Blitzo sort of mirror each other with their A plot and B Plot, something you mentioned you wished happened in Full Moon. Moxie's problem with trying to fix the budget is a joke but it does gube us a glimps of him interacting with Luna which is much needed. The closing joke where Luna just sits him down in front of the TV and puts on a musical is a nice touch, it let's us know that Luna to some level knows what Moxie needs which is to calm the frick down.
i think there was a solid theme/connection in Seeing Stars that tied Stolas Blitz subplot with Stolas and Octavia’s relationship. That is that Stolas is learning to observe body language and see past his image of Blitz and Octavia to read when they are hurt. He watched Blitz star in a sitcom where a laugh screen made people around him fake laugh till he saw that Blitz was having an episode and the audience were loosing their minds.
18:55 It would've been nice to get an episode where Octavia has to, first of all, sneak Loona into her mother's place to hang out and we get an indirect idea of what Octavia's relationship with Stella is like and a direct understanding of just how lonely and small Octavia's world is. It could also be a great opportunity to get some reflection and development for Loona and her situation with Blitzø. In Mastermind, when IMP sees that Blitzø is alive, Loona hugging him and calling him Dad would have more emotional impact if we had gotten more of Loona warming up to Blitzø as her father.
2:27:50 No, Octavia and Stella have never interacted with each other onscreen before this moment. The closest they were in the series before this moment on screen is when she is walking in on Stella throwing plants at Stolas in the beginning of Loo Loo Land.
You know, the friendship from a young age into lovers trope makes sense with how stolas is right? Of course he would want the story book thing for the hell he was in
Ok but hear me out, Mastermind is the main emotional climax, not Sinsmas, just like episode 7 was instead of the finale in season 1. The musical number in Mastermind is too good to put it anywhere lower than #1 in my tierlist. Very well done with all of these reaction and review videos. I already liked this show, but your discussion on the animation and thoughts about how their pain and trauma informs their shitty behavior really deepens my appreciation for all that this show is and has accomplished.
33:49 Yeah it wasn't his mom but it could have been her. It could have been anyone and it wouldn't make a difference, because the point of that scene was that Moxxie had just helped kill someone.
Omgggggg flip 2&3 and 8&11 and our tier list is EXACTLY the same. I feel like nobody understands when I tell them Western Energy is the weakest episode in S2, and that Unhappy Campers really isn't that bad
WIth your Apology Tour idea of Blitz having a failed apology, he did have that with his sister in Unhappy Campers. Another reason why her being dealt with in more depth would have been nice this season. We also got insight into how Blitz was hurt and wronged in his relationships as well as hurting others in Stolas' songs and the mirrors. I don't think I would be invested in a random party goer's experience besides Verosika's and Stolas'. Hope to see more Verosika and Barbie next season.
"how do you get John Waters?" you write him a postcard and send it to Atomic Books (where he collects his mail), or you lurk around enough Baltimore dive bars and inevitably run into him on a random Tuesday night. xD (forreals, i have had SO MANY friends run into him randomly at the bar. lucky bitches. i guess i've just been going to all the wrong pubs.)
42:22 Much, being the operative word. End of the episode, Stolas reaches out to Blitz at his most (physically) vulnerable and Blitz literally leaves him on read. It a what leads Stolas to evaluate his relationship with Blitz and it basically this episode the inciting incident that leads to The Full Moon. It’s a bit clumsy, I’ll grant you but it had potential to be better. I feel like as a finished product, it’s actually a rough draft for a better potential episode. Like, if you replaced Blitz’s story arc from Western Energy with the one from Unhappy Campers, we could have had something cool.
I feel like in mastermind, there are two big problems you didn’t address 1.Andy’s whole plan revolved entirely on the fact the Stolas would see that exact channel on the tv for it to work (we know this because Andy smiles when Stolas stops Blitzø from being killed 2.A big characterization of Stolas is he is very lonely and doesn’t have any friends and even though he’s related to Vassago, it feels like it directly counteracts previous characterizations of Stolas Mastermind is easily my least favorite episode of the show, and I could talk a lot more about things I don’t like about it but this is my opinion and no one has to agree with it
@ I would have to disagree because it shows Stolas flipping through a few channels before seeing it, also what if stolas just wasn’t watching tv at that time
He's not related to Vassago though, like- thats all fanon. It is true that Vassago seems to find him endearing, but theres no reason to believe theyre brothers or cousins or even know each other much. Personally I like the headcanon that Vassago is a fanboy of sorts. Stolas works with the stars, and Vassago seems to have a liking for them- but in the Ars Goetia Vassago is a truth seeker and a treasure finder, not an astrologist. I could see the whole Star thing being a hobby of him he is bitter he cant follow through, and liking Stolas for working on a field he loves.
Tbf, there’s a decent chance that Vassago isn’t Stolas’s friend, but just someone who admires him/his singing from afar or something like that (that’s what I assumed initially). Andy’s plan had a lot of issues though, like couldn’t he have just convicted Stolas directly instead of going after Blitz and hoping Stolas would sacrifice himself to save him…? What made him think Stolas cared enough about Blitz (an imp who’s more likely to be nothing more than Stolas’s plaything in Andy’s eyes) to go to the court room? It’s like the writers haphazardly put something together to make the episode play out the way they wanted (I personally didn’t mind it too much though).
@@ry5gaming he could be flipping through the channels when it automatically changed, both can happen Also it's pretty likely Stolas is watching TV, and even if he wasn't, what does andrealphus lose? Nothing, he doesn't care at all about blitz he will just try again
I have some disagreements with his take on mastermind. I feel like we know blitz isn't going to die well enough that the build up in dread in the court should be for stolas's fate, not blitz. you can still give the imps a scare but show the way stolas is getting set up during that build up and then have andy call stolas before the execution happens to make the plan make sense. stolas showing up should have you dreading for stolas rather than cheering for blitz because you know it's gonna go bad for stolas.
I don't mind the "they met as kids" trope as much here strictly because they have so much good reason to come back together as adults. I saw it less as setting up their romance, and more as a time-effective way to show off both of their backstories in the same episode. I feel like it does a lot more leg work for their relationship with their fathers than it does for stolas and blitz as a couple, and given how tight the show already is, that makes a lot of sense to me! (Plus the kid-versions were cute and very well acted which I can't complain about) Also 110% agree about Octavia and Luna not getting enough screen time. I do feel like both Hazbin and Helluva underserve their female characters (even though I enjoy both). Even in Hazbin where the main character and her partner ARE both gals, the most compelling romance/relationship for me was between Angel and Husk, which was disappointing as someone who is both sapphic and prioritizes following stories with female protagonists! And it's not even that Charlie and Vaggie were already together, since I find Moxie and Millie's dynamic more interesting in HB and they're super together. I really want to like Luna and Octavia, but HB has really given very few scenes to go off of to figure out what they want out of life. Even though Luna had more screen time last season, I still don't have any idea of her central character conflict beyond working with Blitz this season. I really hope both characters get a little more time next season and that some of your potential plot lines come to fruition since all of them were really inspiring and make me want to write fanfic lol 😅
It certainly does feel like the show feels the need to feature Blizo in every episode of the main show. Like every episode gotta have Blitzo doing something whether it's unnecessary side stuff or stuff that should have been it's own episode. When it's exploring other characters, it can get in the way with having Blitzo take away time that could be used on those characters. I get it's his show, but exploring other characters are important too. Especially since those characters & their dynamics play a role with Blitzo.
Octavia cutting out Stolas wasn’t her making some heroic sacrifice for his happiness. To her, Stolas loves Blitz more than he loves her, if he does at all. He promised to not run off with him and leave her, and he did. She cut him off to keep him from making another false promise and then running off with blitz the home wrecker The problem is they don’t address Stella as the true culprit An issue with HB is that they don’t allow two people to both be the bad guy in a situation. We see this with Stolas and Blitz where people have criticized that Stolas is NEVER called out on the abuse of power he has over Blitz, and when he is the aggressor is made to be wrong. This is because Blitz is the MC who is supposed to learn and grow and going “but what about YOU!?” Makes it seem like he is deflecting blame it seems Same with the Stolas family, they can’t call out Stella, despite how obviously evil she is, because STOLAS is the one who screwed up and must face the consequences. He chose Blitz over Via.
Conclusion? Move the Baelzebub episode from s1 to somewhere after the second episode of the second season and replace Blitz in that storyline with Octavia
Tbh I find sorta cute that Stolas and Blitz met as children but hasn't mentioned at all after the circus. Like the whole thing is just there to find an excuse for them to met as adults and was never addressed again. So is kinda cute but I do not know how to feel about it.
My main criticism for all of Helluva is the episodes feel like they move really quick, like they're rushed, trying to fit just a little too much into too small a span of time. That suggests to me that the writing team had a lot more they wanted to include, but a lot had to be cut for time to stay within budget--because animation is EXPENSIVE (but you know this, I don't need to explain that) and as a result, they have to make some really hard choices on what to keep and what to lose... that combined with--and I'm in pure speculation mode here--a team that is not just incredibly seasoned and experienced with writing a season-long story arc... I could be wrong about that, I don't know the experience levels of the writing team. But knowing my experience writing, I have gotten better over time and going back to see my older stuff, I can see just how flawed it was. Seeing how the show has evolved from season to season, and even from beginning to end of each season, I see a team finding their feet, finding their voice, and getting anchored in place where they can figure out what story they want to tell along with how to make sure to build up to it. But that's just me.
Funny how at the end of the day the only note is "For the whole season female characters are used for emotional bits but they don't get any damn time for themselves" Octavia, Loona, Stella, even Millie being sidetracked in Exes and Oohs.
*Chat is talking about piss again!* Also something I'm now thinking about there are goat demons, wouldn't it have been interesting if the cherubs interacted with one of them, since they'd see themselves physically in a demon??! We've yet to really interact with some of the other hell born species
I like the idea of linking Moxxie's crossdressing to Exes and Ohs. He's still angry and shaken up about what happened so as a fuck you to his macho and homophobic dad he cross dresses and tries to act as 'feminine' as possible to further that distance between the two of them. Then Moxxie gets mad cause he tried to do a fun liberating thing but he's still putting on a performance and trying to people please like he had to do to survive which causes him to lash out at Millie and ask how it's so easy for her to be herself. Then Millie can lash out and say fuck you it's not easy to be myself, I got excluded from events cause I was 'too much' for people, my family mocked me for loving a 'soft' city boy + I earned a terrible reputation for being myself (this hints that reputation is a touchy subject to Millie which is shown when she attacks Blitz when asked about it in the ghost episode). Then they have a heart to heart and celebrate the fact that they can be their authentic selves around each other + vow to not ever have to pretend to be something they're not for each other (Could set up some drama with Millie keeping the pregnancy secret for a while or pretending to be excited about it when she's actually freaking out?). I think this makes the episode make more sense + helps to develop both their characters more equally + in a more realistic way (cuz Moxxie's 'I wanted to lead for once 😢' as if they didn't just lead a rescue mission for a goetia the episode before + as if you have any right to complain about not being the leader when you've proven you would rather mess around than do the job that could have been done instantly is kinda dumb. Also they've already explored Moxxie not feeling 'dominant' or 'man' enough so I think the people pleasing approach is more interesting + spreads awareness of fawning as a trauma response)
If western energy got done away with, and instead we got Octavia senterd episode where we see her and her mom do stuff, mabye see how she really has no friends outside her dad and sami Loona. That we get a lead up to the finale episode and aslo that part in Mastermind with her mom that we see her mom still care for her own child, but only cuz she can use her ageinst her dad would be cool.
In the last episode, I don't think the wholesome couple are a reference to Magnus Archives, the characters don't have official artwork. They do look similar to fan art tho. Also I think you (and all who are reading this) reeeeally should give Magnus a try, it's the best media I experienced. Warning: It starts a bit slow, but it's totally worth it
The random chatter who said “my bet is 4 hours” at the beginning of the stream deserves an award
Considering this man spent 6 hours and 35 minutes ranking the songs in Hazbin Hotel, I'm frankly in awe that he didn't spend more than 4 hours on ranking this season. Skyen is restraining himself XD
@@helenanilsson5666he truly is using 1% of his power
I also usually don't love the "they met as kids" stuff, but I do kinda like it here.
I like that Stolas got so attached to this guy who he met just once because it was one of his few good memories, I think that it does a lot for his characterization as someone who wishes to live a love story like the ones in the books and tv shows that he likes
After all, what's more tropey and romantic than meeting your soulmate when you were young and then finding him later in life and living happily ever after?
Thats the same way I read it, part of the reason why Stolas asumes no harm from Blitz sneaking in and part of the reason why he starts the deal its bc the whole thing reminds him of an erotic/romantic novel.
He literally feels like he's living a romcom.
I wish the show covered this fact a little more explicitly, idk about anyone else but i didn't realize this was why we saw them as kids until seeing comments about it
it also highlights further the difference between stolas and blitz and how they feel about the relationship, because for blitz it WASN'T special, he scammed some random rcih prick and then nearly 30 years later goes back to steal from him on a whim, which leads to him fucking the guy to get away with it.
I was unsure about it, but you've convinced me to accept it
Is it deconstructing the trope, or has it just been doing the trope for real, and will for the next 2 seasons? 🤔
I always liked the idea in the apology tour, the party started as just Blitz’s exes getting together to talk shit about him, but then they start bringing their friends and acquaintances who had trouble with different exes. Now the party is just about people helping other hurt people and are just using Blitz as a symbolic figure head of everyone exes (Oh your ex is such a Blitzs). It’s my head cannon because I refuse to believe Blitz has been able to date so many people long enough for each one of them to feel some sort of connection to him to feel hurt when they broke up (or could have been many horrible one night stands). Sorry for the rambling and bad grammar.
Oh, definitely. Case point, *Dennis* is there. That party is absolutely not restricted just to actual exes XD
I don't know if there's any evidence that suggests this but I very much enjoy the interpretation more.
The anti blitz party felt forced and extra, even for this show
MY SUNDAY IS MADE I CAN FINALLY DO MY PILED UP ERRANDS BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN GRACED WITH THIS PRISTINE BACKGROUND NOISE CONTENT!!
Me but with dnd session prep
Im glad I'm not the only one who has skyen to thank for my menial productivity
Fellow ADHDer checking in
1:44:24 We see this on almost all of Blitz's relationships, funnily enough!
MnM are his employees, he provides for them, ergo they can be friends.
He is Loona's boss, ergo he can be her parent.
He was a worker at his father's circus, ergo he gets to be his son.
Even with Fizz- his closer friend, he gets temporarily hired as a bodyguard.
Blitz can't ever have a relationship where he isnt directly providing something, and I think it speaks to how Cash raised him like he had to earn being a son.
And at the same time, gift-giving is not bad by itself, it's the fact that Bllitz sees these things as transactions or nescessity in order to not be a burden. So the moment he thinks he could become a burden or the one not giving, he just leaves the relationship. I'd make a guess that he left Verosika because once she was vulnarable, he relized if he stuck around he'd have to be vulnarable and reciving help - the exact thing he instinctivly wanted to avoid. He isn't better than the other person therefore he doesen't deserve them or even think they might want to be his support and it wouldn't burden them more than him leaving
.
you're the only one i can watch when i make animatics or draw without clicking off
I mean this completely genuinely; I expected this to be longer
If I may play devil's advocate for episode 1, the trope may be the point.
As viewers and knowing the future, we see the childhood friend to lovers as soon as it's shown, but it's something Stolas sees instantly, too. He's stuck in his romance novels so he'd instantly read too deep into Blitzo reappearing. Meanwhile, Blitzo clearly was so unbothered by Stolas that after stealing from him once, he comes back years later to steal his most prized possession and isn't especially afraid it seems when caught.
Stolas saw and read way to far into the trope; Meanwhile, Blitzo just saw an easy mark. It lays a pretty good foundation for where their relationship starts, considering a good portion of this season is their relationship and where it ends up.
I wish the writers had explored why Stolas is a romantic character. While we can speculate it relates to his relationships with his parents and Stella, the narrative doesn’t show this evolution. Initially, Stolas idealises his friendship with Blitz, but we don’t see his romantic desires develop.
I appreciate the line, "My very first crush is also my best friend," from Stolas in the first episode, but I wish they had delved deeper into Stolas's character.
5:21 I think murder family was necessary for setting up the plot and characters if you take into account that the pilot was de-canonized. Otherwise, yeah, kinda mid.
Yeah, it's not a BAD episode, but the story could've been anything else and it would work just as well as long as they mention the key points establishing the show's premise (since they aren't connected to the mission at all)
While you said that "Oops" and "MMMMSS(ft.F)" didn't really contribute towards the conclusion of the season... I'd argue they very much do, not by setting up directly for "Sinsmas," but by setting up for "Apology Tour/Ghostf***ers" ("Oops" specifically) and for Stolitz as a whole.
After having managed to reconnect with Fizz and get his first taste of actual forgiveness in "Oops" (especially after having been shut down so thoroughly by Barbie in "Unhappy Campers"), we get a Blitzo who is suddenly at least a little more open to attempting to make amends with people, even if he doesn't really start to commit to it until the very end of "Apology Tour."
Meanwhile, fleshing out Fizzerozzie in the episodes, especially "Mammon's...", makes them arguably a better foil for Stolitz than M+M given that it's another "Prince & Pauper" pairing, but one where the two are openly communicative in a way that neither Blitzo or Stolas are capable of being at that point - in addition to then setting up further in "Mastermind" how Bee and Ozzie are Sins who are more on the side of the little guy. Given that they're both Sins in openly romantic relationships with _the_ two lowest castes of demons, and that Bee actively hosts parties where the majority of attendees are of said castes, helps really set them up as allies if there eventually comes a point where the classism themes of _HB_ lead to some sort of revolt among the lower hellborn against the Sins and Goetia.
Couldnt have said it better myself
I don't know if chat had told you this, but apparently, we will be getting 8 Helluva Boss shorts between now and season 3, and of course Hazbin Hotel season 2.
We know they got 8 shorts recorded, not that theyre gonna air them all before S3.
Theres a bigger possibility of the shorts being separated 4 and 4
@@gearguts7259i heard theyre gonna do one every month
wait when exactly is hazbin s2?
@@sekischro5093We don't know the date exactly, just that it comes out this year.
@@Gaterman We dont even know if it comes out this year, its all speculation
I really enjoy your videos. I find the thoughts on the clearness of Via's plot so interesting because on one hand, I can respect people thinking more should have been done, but on the other, my impression was from S1-2 the lack of her presence in itself was part of the point that Via loved her dad and has good memories but as she grew more aware of the disfunction, as we see her being thrown into this thing with Blitz and her father she doesn't get and Stolas can't explain whats happening in the family, in addition to hearing Via say why does he hate her more than she loves me? was the continuation of this underlying fear the love she thinks she has with Stolas, isn't real and she's an imposition like the distance symbolically was happening gradually through out the show. She doesn't want to believe this, but then Master Mind happens leading her to sing in Sinsmas about how the life she thought she knew is falling apart and she questions everything Stolas said and how happy he was being with her. Thats just me.
I feel like Apology Tour is more about the line between love and hate. One line I feel exemplifies this is where Stolas says “There is a crowd full of people here who cared so much, they throw an entire party about hating you every year.” Blitz’s relationships fail because he wants them to fail. It fuels this belief he has that people are destined to hate him, but he fails to realize why they do. The reason he’s had such a negative impact on them is because of what of what a positive impact he used to have. An example of this is Verosika, because she loved him so much it’s what led her to hate him so badly. Hate is derived out of love. Because Blitz can’t recognize this, it’s why his relationships continue to fail. He believes he’s inherently bad when he’s not, he just chooses to be because everything around him has convinced him he already is. Thats why it ends with him breaking down that belief and realizing that love and hate are two sides of the same coin. That you can’t have one without the other like he believed.
Yeah but on the other hand it's a bit cartoony that this party even exists with this amount of people
@@tuvilloNah, Blitzø truly is that hateable.
Makes perfect sense that so many people would come together and care.
@@tuvillo I don't doubt that a big part of them were just one night flings, like Dennis, f you Dennis you suck.
@@NoDontb3lieve2o Please, it's hell. Blitz is nothing compared to others hateability
@@OhNoTheFace Literally no one else has HateTM parties thrown about them, nah.
He stands out as unique, people care enough to hate him annually
It was said on Viv's Patreon that S3 is more focused on Loona. I remember someone even saying that it was stated that the end of s2 was abt "getting stolitz out of the way so they can focus on other characters". Or something along those lines.
Also, I personally think the childhood friends trope works for stolitz because:
1. Blitz didn't like Stolas as a kid, he liked Fizz, so it doesn't feel like him developing them as an adult was predestined.
2. Stolas, being very shy and a hopeless romantic, wouldn't have been interested in Blitz in the first place if he wasn't his childhood friend. And he only felt comfortable being cringy because he viewed Blitz as his friend.
3. Blitz, being specifically weak for people from his past, only gave into having sex with Stolas because they were childhood friends. He wouldn't otherwise given how annoying Stolas was.
4. It established why Blitz and Stolas had such drastically different views on the nature of their relationship up until now.
It also parallels their current relationship: Blitz shows up with only the intention to steal from Stolas, but he ends up actually enjoying himself more than he thought he would, yet in the end he still does the thing he came to do because Stolas is just some “pompous rich guy.”
Then it makes even more sense when Blitz is totally blindsided by Stolas wanting to change the relationship, because that’s not how this worked when they first met. Back then, they just met once and as far as Blitz knows, Stolas immediately forgot about him. So now, as adults, it’s going in a different direction and that makes Blitz uncomfortable.
@@darkeningfyre Oh yeah, all this as well! Cause yeah, Blitz remembers being sold to Stolas as a kid, while Stolas had a romanticized view of their first meeting, not questioning why Blitz was there in the first place.(tho Stolas may remember Blitz robing him as a kid based on what he says on Sinsmas. So he may be biased in seeing Blitz as using him from the start, not realizing that Blitz feels that way as well)
And yeah, I love the parallel of how as a kid Blitz says "Ew, why?" at the idea of spending the day with a Goetia, but then smiles and runs back to spend the rest of the night after robing him, while Blitz as an adult says "Ew?" at the idea of being interested in a Goetia, but then stays the whole night when it wasn't necessary.
One thing about Wester Energy, is that i felt it shown Moxxy getting better on hand to hand combat, while also being the payoff of them being brutally beaten on Harvest Moon
So the thing is that the Magnus Archives doesn’t have canon designs, but there are very strongly adhered to fanon designs to that have developed over the nearly 9 years that the series has existed. It’s definitely Jon and Martin in the show, and the Magnus archives is really good and really sad.
I’m very happy that someone else agrees that Unhappy Campers is severely overhated.
No it's pretty clear that Blitz left Verosika due to fear of commitment and the possibility of hurting her more than the hurt she'll feel if he just ditched her. It seems their dynamic was more of a fling, but Ver then developed genuine feelings, and Blitz not knowing how to deal with someone caring for him just left out of self preservation mostly. You could say it's on her for suddenly altering the relationship by stating she loved him out of the blue, but Blitz definitely acted worse by not even acknowledging her vulnerable feelings.
I don't think it was just a fling to Blitz, he kept a photo of them both together and looked at it at a vulnerable moment. He also overreacts to her and shows a lot of vitriol towards her in their first scenes together, usually people only act that way when the relationship was emotionally charged. I think he was developing deeper feelings for her, and that's why he panicked and made a scene when he left her, avoiding a direct confrontation. If he didn't care he would have dumped her in person, in a detached way, not stolen her credit card and acted crazy and irrational by doinh self-indulgent stuff.
Oh y'know what? What if it was established that Loona and Via became sinstagram friends in the stars episode?
When it comes to Millie I get the feeling that her beeing a strong support to others makes it so the writers always pair her up with someone else. Sure she can handle situations on her own, but Blitz or Moxie are the ones who make situations happen, for better or worse.
For me Western Energy lands because to me Blitz just sending M&M after Stolas asked him for help makes a much stronger point than him showing up there in any capacity. Yes, there could be more drama quantitatively between Stolas and Blitz if they had shared screentime, but Blitz not even coming is just on another level.
In hindsight this also shows how much the dynamic changed with Blitz saving Stolas from Andy in the finale.
The one bit I didn't like though (and I bet I'm very much alone on this) is Loona going full dog in this episode. I would have prefered her getting some dialogue, or maybe even the vet bits being replaced with something else. Maybe the vet visit could have happened off-screen with Octavia getting some scenes instead. Dunno if she even knew about her dad being kidnapped.
Yeah, I liked Western Energy fine, but I will agree it couldn't have hurt to have a little bit of Octavia in that episode. At least, at the very end.
0:00 Intro and Explaining the way the Episodes will be ranked
5:36 Episode 1 - The Circus
11:45 Episode 2 - Seeing Stars, and some Season 3 Wishes and Predictions
29:21 Episode 3 - Exes and Oohs
40:19 Episode 4 - Western Energy
55:56 Episode 5 - Unhappy Campers
1:09:40 Episode 6 - Oops, and talking about the Show's Villains (continues into the next Episode's bit)
1:16:43 Episode 7 - MAMMON'S MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL MID-SEASON SPECIAL (ft. Fizzarolli)
1:23:22 Episode 8 - The Full Moon
1:33:30 Episode 9 - Apology Tour
1:58:50 Episode 10 - Ghostf*ckers
...
(will be updated along with my watching)
Them meeting as kids to me makes sense from the storytelling perspective. They needed to establish both Stolas' and Blitzø's upbringing and how it affected them, and putting them in one flashback instead of two separate ones is efficient. It doesn't make you question why there's a flashback, and to have one there needs to be a narrative reason. It saves time and doesn't feel as repetitive as two separate ones. I never read it as a "fated meeting", more of a way to not make Stolas look like an absolute moron for entertaining a strange dude who broke into his home. Him recognising Blitzø and having his guard down at that moment comes of as reckless, desperate and a bit naive, but not as much as it would if it was the first time he's ever seen him
I'm so proud of you, I expected 8 hours
The funniest thing about this video was that I was still able to recognize the episode’s thumbnails from the videos thumbnail. I also expected this to be longer or just about the same time as the Hazbin hotel one.
we NEED a character ranking 🙏🏻
OHH THIS WOULD BE FUN
We would of course need loopty to have his own tier above s tier
@@JS06-h5d or his own tier below everyone else
It makes sense for Stolas and blitz to meet as kids. It would be impossible for them to meet as adults, because of the class division and blitz not knowing what a grimore even is. But thats just me :)
He would probably come to know what the grimoire is. It’s not a secret, Stolas appears in wrath every year to use his book to open a portal to see earth’s moon. The imps know what’s up.
@HelloCompanion I do see how imps know about the grimore through the harvest moon festival. But Blitz isn't from wrath or is familiar with the harvest moon. So he wouldn't know.
He could have overheard it. Blitz knows Verosika, who is from the lust ring. He has probably been in the wrath ring before.
54:16 This is exactly why the Shorts are genius, every idea that would probably drag down a main episode if they attempted to put it in a B-plot can now be presented in these 4-6 min shorts! This implies Season 3 and 4 will have a much heavier focus on character development and story arcs ❤️🔥
I was just choosing which of your HB reactions to rewatch while doing some darning this is such a good timing 🥰
i would love for there to be an episode in s3 where we see the big moments of the series from octavia's perspective (maybe she has seen blitz sneaking in on the full moon, or god forbid heard anything, before, etc), and given that andrealphus's plan is to eventually kill stolas (given he promised that to stella in western energy AND he didn't get stolas permanently banished) i would really be interested to see if octavia overhears another assassination plot or something along those lines.
1:10:18 They shouldn’t have been back-to-back for pacing reasons. Putting “Oops” after “Western Energy” would have made sense to juxtapose Stolitzø and Fizzmodeus’ relationship dynamics and given us Blitzø’s emotional side of that text history.
Then Unhappy Campers should have been used to give us a breather from the Fizz arc. And Blitzø reconnecting with Fizz would have made a good metanarrative impetus to reach out to his sister, which otherwise came out of nowhere.
Personally I feel like Western Energy works well as the impetus for Blitz reaching out to his sister. It shows us where his priorities are. Stolas is NOT someone close to Blitz at this point. He is not even remotely considered as someone Blitz could be emotionally close to. He is just a sugar daddy.
Instead, when Blitz is reminded of the fragility of life or whatever, he focuses all his energy on finding his twin sister, someone that he feels a connection to and who actually matters to him and who he wants to check in on. Shippers understandably hated this reveal, but it was necessary to hammer in that these Stolas and Blitz are not a romantic couple at that point.
Having Oops after Happy Campers gives Blitz an upwards trajectory that he desperately needs in order to develop as a character. If Barb had rejected him *after* he reconnected with Fizz then Fizz could have been written off as a one-off, and trying to connect with people wouldn't feel worth it. If that had been his emotional trajectory then I doubt he would have bothered with Apology Tour and instead gone straight to the Ghostfuckers stage of coping.
Thank you Skyen for giving us the correct HB opinions lol
I wonder if he is intentionally referencing Moxxie saying "I should have been a theater critic, my opinions are objectively correct" while Blitz was " coping ".
I love this video so much. Thank you for all the work that must have gone into making it
"making her pregnant is an opportunity to do some storytelling" Someone should take the opportunity to do some storytelling with me
Underrated comment 😂
Ayo
Happy New Year, Skyen! I'm so happy I found this channel last year. I haven't animated since a fairly disastrous project back in high school that really took the joy out of it for me. But recently, I've been getting back into it, just for fun! Your passionate critiques and fine-grained analyses of animation are a huge part of that and when I work on my projects, whether or not I ever plan to let them see the light of day, I try to think about what I'm doing with the same level of detail and energy that you bring to your discussions and reactions.
I'm also glad they killed that demon in Ghost F***ers to avoid another situation like with Striker. As cool as it was having Norman Reedus voice him in Harvest Moon, it sucks if the character comes back and they can't get the same voice actor again.
I agree but I dont think Striker couldve been a one-off character, his paralels with Blitz are too obvious from his first appearance that killing him off wouldve left a big hole, and getting another character to have the same paralels would risk comparisons/feeling samey.
I didn't want to suggest killing off Striker, but I see that it can be taken that way. I would have prefered if they had just gone with the current voice actor for him from the start and maybe had given Reedus a role that doesn't come back.
@@Skirakzalus Oh yeah, agreed!
We eating good today!
I cannot wait to listen to this for half my shift tonight
I really wish there was like a single episode without Blitz and Stolas.
Just as both a calm before the storm moment where we get to pause and breathe. But also so we can examine their importance via their absence.
Not an episode, but hell's belles doesn't include either of them, so that's something
I'm gonna miss your helluva analysis videos while I wait (T_T)
Hey, absence makes the heart grown fonder, right?
One thing I do wonder in regards to the future seasons: With how much season 2 builds up and how much was already teased, how are gonna fit all of this into about 30 episodes (because we know from Viv that Helluva Boss will have about 50 episodes total).
Like, from the top of my hat, what can we (possibly) expect from season 3 and 4:
-More Stolitz stuff (that one alone is gonna take up a lot of time)
-Stella backstory (was confirmed to happen)
-a divorce court episode (was teased)
-some Stolas & Octavia reconciliation
-Millie pregnancy arc (if they go the abortion route, this could take up 1 or 2 episodes, if she keeps the baby, it's gonna be way more content)
-Blitzo & Barbie Wire reconciliation
-Fizz & Ozzie vs. Mammon, round 2
-Moxxie vs. Crimson, round 2
-potential Millie/Chaz backstory
-potential Striker backstory
-more Loona backstory (maybe even more stuff about all the hellhound characters in general)
-classism issues explored more
-an episode for Belphegor and Leviathan respectively
-I feel like Cherubs and Dhorks are also gonna come back somewhere
-also there's definitely gonna be some more I.M.P. missions somewhere inbetween
-more Sallie May (because I need Sallie May)
I know that some of these points are probably gonna be connected, plot-wise, but man, this is a lot of potential story and not a lot of room for filler (luckily we have the shorts for that).
I do believe theres a smooth way to fill all of it bc none of these gotta be entire episodes of their own!
Stella's backstory could touch on Andrealphus' motivation too.
Vassago seems to be the last character of Genuine Importance we are introduced to, and his role is prob gonna be to become Stolas' first friend outside of IMP.
With Millie I kinda like the idea that the reason why she is so anxious abt the kid is that she got pregnatn wtih Chaz and Chaz dumped her bc of it- is a very Chaz thing to do.
Vasago as well is supposed to appear in S3, wonder if we get to explore him more
From what I can tell, Stolas calling Via took from lunchtime one day to breakfast the next. Via didn't know that Stolas would emotionally collapse, retreat inwardly, and sleep 12+ hours(?), so it does seem egregious that her dad would wait just under a full day to call her. It both was and wasn't a long time. If Stella hadn't stopped her from picking up the phone, Via might have been understanding on that particular point.
yeah,I'm already see people begging for season 3 to come out now like people really think animation takes 5 minutes to do,HA! it takes 2 years to do animation,sometimes longer,plus we don't know how much of season 3 is done,but if it's almost done,I'm betting it comes out later this year like during the summer or fall,or early next year,it just depends,and yet people demand something thinking animation is so simple it should be out now
Brandon and others have posted on their instas throughout 2024 when they were in the studio doing lines/songs for S3. So, they've got some parts of the vocal work done, but I have no idea how much more animation they have to do. So, we do still have quite a wait.
i have now decided i have willpower to do my overdue assignments thank you for this serotonin producing background
3:49:24 My theory is that she had a pregnancy scare before with Chaz and Chaz dumped her bc of that, so a part of her fears that Moxxie will do the same.
I mean, I think it would be a good way to tie up the whole Chaz thing- because we know Chaz left her quite wounded, rigth? But we don't know why he left. And we see in Exes and Oohs that he is prone to fleeing when convenient.
A episode I would like to see I think would be a episode between verosika and Stolas, that delves into Verosikas past relationship with blitz. The current relationship vs the past
The Barbie Wire subplot from ep 5 should have been Blitz's subplot for ep 3 (but changed from the camp stuff obviously), it removes Blitz from the main plot of ep 3 while giving him something to do that's thematically relevant (estranged family stuff). Then the subplot for ep 5 could maybe be something with Octavia and Stolas tying into putting up facades or something like that. If ep 4 is still the same or at least ends the same it could be him trying to once again pretend he's fine for her sake but she's older now and has already been through her dad fucking up before so she can better see through it this time.
Honestly, if there's one thing about this season that just /utterly/ fails me, it's the pregnancy. I have somewhere between zero and absolute zero interest in basically anything that may come of that. A false-alarm that's meant to shake things up and force some character development, maybe... but that's about it. Whatever genes are required to think "oh, this is going someplace interesting" are genes I am entirely lacking.
weirdly i feel like they might use the fact that all the characters are sorta split off into their own groups to explore the other characters more. cause it kinda takes away the temptation of "lets explore this character, oh wait our mc's stolas and blitzo are on screen lets see what their up to for 20 minutes". with how it currently is its more likely i feel for them to be able to stay on one character or group that isnt stolas or blitzo for an entire episode. like millie and moxxie now that the pregnant thing is... well a thing. or maybe more loona and octavia stuff or even just each of them separately
We got Confirmed Shorts too, so they can handle some of the more lighthearted stuff in there too (theyve mentioned they dont want em to feel like obligatory watch)
The best episodes involving Fizz... proof that he is the best character in the show.
Ah, a short one
If the fans had had to wait a whole month for the resolution to the axe blow, there would have been riots.
best background video to knit to
I would argue the reason why the child thing works and why I wouldn't change it and I don't see it as fated love is the scene at the end where they talk about what they're going to do when they grow up. That is where Blitz0 got the knowledge of the grimoire and plotted to use it to make his assassin group more unique.
That one could be easily written around, as the grimoire isn't a secret; Stolas directly uses it to open a portal to the Harvest Moon during the Harvest Moon Festival, so idea of using it for Earth could be easily proposed by someone like Millie who grew up around it.
Personally, I see the idea for them being childhood friends as a SUBVERSION of the star crossed lovers trope. Stolas' only experience with romance has been through these trashy, smutty romance novels, and because of that he carries a sort of naivety around it. He sees himself as this protagonist of a romance novel who gets swept off his feet by a dashing imp who was his only friend, and thus they were destined to be. However, Blitzø doesn't carry the same fondness for the time they spent together because he HAS other people he cares about, and because of that Stolas deeply misunderstood Blitzø straight from the conception of their situationship
Like Skyen said, Blitz could have found out about the Grimoire just by watching footage of the Harvest Moon festival. More importantly, we save some screen time by showing both their childhoods at once, so we don't need to sit though two separate flashbacks just to find out where their issues come from. They also contrast each other nicely so we can compare their respecive financial situations, their childhood social skills etc.
It becomes more obvious that Blitz has always been a hardy and defiant kid when he's put next to Stolas who was more of a people-pleaser. Blitz doesn't even hesitate to tell Stolas that the books are boring, and Stolas is completely incapable of standing up for what he's interested in and instead goes all in on following Blitz' lead. At the scene in the end we find out that Stolas doesn't have any plans to do anything else than what is required of him, while Blitz already have the outline of his future company in mind. This was their starting points, and only *now* is Stolas learning to stand up for himself and his desires, and Blitz is (slowly) learning to consider the feelings of other people.
That "aaaah my god, okay" at the beginning means we're gonna be in for a good time.
I think the childhood meeting does help to make more sense of Stolas' behaviour. The idea of him randomly sleeping with an imp that broke into his home felt so out there - by Blitz being someone he knows from the past, the whole thing makes a lot more sense.
Another argument against the Millie cheating theory: while the episode was themed around cheating Millie was the one character most insistent on actually killing the target, pointing out the (unconfirmed) cheating as a good enough reason to kill him. I feel that if Millie had actually cheated she wouldn't have acted like that. Maybe she would have acted close, still insisting on going through with the kill, but I think her attitude would have been a bit different or *something* that hints at her potentially cheating.
When I listen to you taking notes, it makes me hope that in thirty years when the Helluva Boss remake comes out, they base it off of your videos
They could cut a lot of the B plot of each episode by splitting the characters narratives into multiple episodes rather than giving them useless nonsense to do. Spend one full ep on Blitz finding his sister with hints that Millie and Moxie are on their own camp mission that is dealt with in full in another episode. They did that with the Queen Bee ep and Circus where we found out how both Blitz and Stolas spent the night after Ozzies in seperate episodes. Would have loved to know where Octavia was during after Western Energy.
Oh, we’ve gotten to Ghostbusters, just 3 episodes le-why is there two hours left…
I’ve been listening instead of watching so maybe the shorts are on here lol
One of the things I like about the Ghost busters episode, is how Moxie and Blitzo sort of mirror each other with their A plot and B Plot, something you mentioned you wished happened in Full Moon. Moxie's problem with trying to fix the budget is a joke but it does gube us a glimps of him interacting with Luna which is much needed. The closing joke where Luna just sits him down in front of the TV and puts on a musical is a nice touch, it let's us know that Luna to some level knows what Moxie needs which is to calm the frick down.
i think there was a solid theme/connection in Seeing Stars that tied Stolas Blitz subplot with Stolas and Octavia’s relationship. That is that Stolas is learning to observe body language and see past his image of Blitz and Octavia to read when they are hurt. He watched Blitz star in a sitcom where a laugh screen made people around him fake laugh till he saw that Blitz was having an episode and the audience were loosing their minds.
18:55 It would've been nice to get an episode where Octavia has to, first of all, sneak Loona into her mother's place to hang out and we get an indirect idea of what Octavia's relationship with Stella is like and a direct understanding of just how lonely and small Octavia's world is. It could also be a great opportunity to get some reflection and development for Loona and her situation with Blitzø. In Mastermind, when IMP sees that Blitzø is alive, Loona hugging him and calling him Dad would have more emotional impact if we had gotten more of Loona warming up to Blitzø as her father.
these videos subdue my rampant adhd better than my adderall prescription ever has
2:27:50 No, Octavia and Stella have never interacted with each other onscreen before this moment.
The closest they were in the series before this moment on screen is when she is walking in on Stella throwing plants at Stolas in the beginning of Loo Loo Land.
You know, the friendship from a young age into lovers trope makes sense with how stolas is right? Of course he would want the story book thing for the hell he was in
Ok but hear me out, Mastermind is the main emotional climax, not Sinsmas, just like episode 7 was instead of the finale in season 1. The musical number in Mastermind is too good to put it anywhere lower than #1 in my tierlist.
Very well done with all of these reaction and review videos. I already liked this show, but your discussion on the animation and thoughts about how their pain and trauma informs their shitty behavior really deepens my appreciation for all that this show is and has accomplished.
33:49 Yeah it wasn't his mom but it could have been her. It could have been anyone and it wouldn't make a difference, because the point of that scene was that Moxxie had just helped kill someone.
Omgggggg flip 2&3 and 8&11 and our tier list is EXACTLY the same. I feel like nobody understands when I tell them Western Energy is the weakest episode in S2, and that Unhappy Campers really isn't that bad
Yes, I'm a dirty cheater and looked ahead but now I'm gonna go back and enjoy the process ~
I think both UHC and WE are bad episodes, and the season would have been better if they were significantly reworked.
WIth your Apology Tour idea of Blitz having a failed apology, he did have that with his sister in Unhappy Campers. Another reason why her being dealt with in more depth would have been nice this season. We also got insight into how Blitz was hurt and wronged in his relationships as well as hurting others in Stolas' songs and the mirrors. I don't think I would be invested in a random party goer's experience besides Verosika's and Stolas'. Hope to see more Verosika and Barbie next season.
"how do you get John Waters?" you write him a postcard and send it to Atomic Books (where he collects his mail), or you lurk around enough Baltimore dive bars and inevitably run into him on a random Tuesday night. xD
(forreals, i have had SO MANY friends run into him randomly at the bar. lucky bitches. i guess i've just been going to all the wrong pubs.)
Imagine if they reacted to Twisted The Untold Story Of A Royal Vizier
i imagine that would be a pretty fun time. I think Skyen would like Starkid in general, if he doesn tknow them already.
loons arc being entirely off screen feels weird, like a couple small off handed scenes would of made it feel natural.
42:22
Much, being the operative word. End of the episode, Stolas reaches out to Blitz at his most (physically) vulnerable and Blitz literally leaves him on read. It a what leads Stolas to evaluate his relationship with Blitz and it basically this episode the inciting incident that leads to The Full Moon. It’s a bit clumsy, I’ll grant you but it had potential to be better. I feel like as a finished product, it’s actually a rough draft for a better potential episode. Like, if you replaced Blitz’s story arc from Western Energy with the one from Unhappy Campers, we could have had something cool.
25:39 That's a great idea, I would love to see that.
FOUR
FOUR (4) HOURS ON A TIER LIST
LOWKEY expected more😞
I feel like in mastermind, there are two big problems you didn’t address
1.Andy’s whole plan revolved entirely on the fact the Stolas would see that exact channel on the tv for it to work (we know this because Andy smiles when Stolas stops Blitzø from being killed
2.A big characterization of Stolas is he is very lonely and doesn’t have any friends and even though he’s related to Vassago, it feels like it directly counteracts previous characterizations of Stolas
Mastermind is easily my least favorite episode of the show, and I could talk a lot more about things I don’t like about it but this is my opinion and no one has to agree with it
It's implied the channel was changed automatically to the trial (the imp family and Verosika had it change automatically)
@ I would have to disagree because it shows Stolas flipping through a few channels before seeing it, also what if stolas just wasn’t watching tv at that time
He's not related to Vassago though, like- thats all fanon.
It is true that Vassago seems to find him endearing, but theres no reason to believe theyre brothers or cousins or even know each other much.
Personally I like the headcanon that Vassago is a fanboy of sorts. Stolas works with the stars, and Vassago seems to have a liking for them- but in the Ars Goetia Vassago is a truth seeker and a treasure finder, not an astrologist. I could see the whole Star thing being a hobby of him he is bitter he cant follow through, and liking Stolas for working on a field he loves.
Tbf, there’s a decent chance that Vassago isn’t Stolas’s friend, but just someone who admires him/his singing from afar or something like that (that’s what I assumed initially).
Andy’s plan had a lot of issues though, like couldn’t he have just convicted Stolas directly instead of going after Blitz and hoping Stolas would sacrifice himself to save him…? What made him think Stolas cared enough about Blitz (an imp who’s more likely to be nothing more than Stolas’s plaything in Andy’s eyes) to go to the court room? It’s like the writers haphazardly put something together to make the episode play out the way they wanted (I personally didn’t mind it too much though).
@@ry5gaming he could be flipping through the channels when it automatically changed, both can happen
Also it's pretty likely Stolas is watching TV, and even if he wasn't, what does andrealphus lose? Nothing, he doesn't care at all about blitz he will just try again
I love your notes on apology tour
I don't think that's a moon. I think that's literally heaven.
Putting Mastermind on the same level as Happy Campers is insane to me.
Who is going to tell him there is a new Noxus Arcane show trailer that dropped literally like 1 hour ago.
Thank god this dropped I have to finish a drawing today
I have some disagreements with his take on mastermind. I feel like we know blitz isn't going to die well enough that the build up in dread in the court should be for stolas's fate, not blitz. you can still give the imps a scare but show the way stolas is getting set up during that build up and then have andy call stolas before the execution happens to make the plan make sense. stolas showing up should have you dreading for stolas rather than cheering for blitz because you know it's gonna go bad for stolas.
I don't mind the "they met as kids" trope as much here strictly because they have so much good reason to come back together as adults. I saw it less as setting up their romance, and more as a time-effective way to show off both of their backstories in the same episode. I feel like it does a lot more leg work for their relationship with their fathers than it does for stolas and blitz as a couple, and given how tight the show already is, that makes a lot of sense to me! (Plus the kid-versions were cute and very well acted which I can't complain about)
Also 110% agree about Octavia and Luna not getting enough screen time. I do feel like both Hazbin and Helluva underserve their female characters (even though I enjoy both). Even in Hazbin where the main character and her partner ARE both gals, the most compelling romance/relationship for me was between Angel and Husk, which was disappointing as someone who is both sapphic and prioritizes following stories with female protagonists! And it's not even that Charlie and Vaggie were already together, since I find Moxie and Millie's dynamic more interesting in HB and they're super together.
I really want to like Luna and Octavia, but HB has really given very few scenes to go off of to figure out what they want out of life. Even though Luna had more screen time last season, I still don't have any idea of her central character conflict beyond working with Blitz this season. I really hope both characters get a little more time next season and that some of your potential plot lines come to fruition since all of them were really inspiring and make me want to write fanfic lol 😅
It certainly does feel like the show feels the need to feature Blizo in every episode of the main show.
Like every episode gotta have Blitzo doing something whether it's unnecessary side stuff or stuff that should have been it's own episode. When it's exploring other characters, it can get in the way with having Blitzo take away time that could be used on those characters.
I get it's his show, but exploring other characters are important too. Especially since those characters & their dynamics play a role with Blitzo.
Octavia cutting out Stolas wasn’t her making some heroic sacrifice for his happiness.
To her, Stolas loves Blitz more than he loves her, if he does at all. He promised to not run off with him and leave her, and he did. She cut him off to keep him from making another false promise and then running off with blitz the home wrecker
The problem is they don’t address Stella as the true culprit
An issue with HB is that they don’t allow two people to both be the bad guy in a situation. We see this with Stolas and Blitz where people have criticized that Stolas is NEVER called out on the abuse of power he has over Blitz, and when he is the aggressor is made to be wrong. This is because Blitz is the MC who is supposed to learn and grow and going “but what about YOU!?” Makes it seem like he is deflecting blame it seems
Same with the Stolas family, they can’t call out Stella, despite how obviously evil she is, because STOLAS is the one who screwed up and must face the consequences. He chose Blitz over Via.
The beauty of differing opinions.
I think I am reverse on almost everything here.
Hoooooh man! Time to have this in the background while doing chores! Gonna be a good time!
Conclusion? Move the Baelzebub episode from s1 to somewhere after the second episode of the second season and replace Blitz in that storyline with Octavia
Tbh I find sorta cute that Stolas and Blitz met as children but hasn't mentioned at all after the circus. Like the whole thing is just there to find an excuse for them to met as adults and was never addressed again. So is kinda cute but I do not know how to feel about it.
My main criticism for all of Helluva is the episodes feel like they move really quick, like they're rushed, trying to fit just a little too much into too small a span of time. That suggests to me that the writing team had a lot more they wanted to include, but a lot had to be cut for time to stay within budget--because animation is EXPENSIVE (but you know this, I don't need to explain that) and as a result, they have to make some really hard choices on what to keep and what to lose... that combined with--and I'm in pure speculation mode here--a team that is not just incredibly seasoned and experienced with writing a season-long story arc... I could be wrong about that, I don't know the experience levels of the writing team. But knowing my experience writing, I have gotten better over time and going back to see my older stuff, I can see just how flawed it was. Seeing how the show has evolved from season to season, and even from beginning to end of each season, I see a team finding their feet, finding their voice, and getting anchored in place where they can figure out what story they want to tell along with how to make sure to build up to it. But that's just me.
Funny how at the end of the day the only note is "For the whole season female characters are used for emotional bits but they don't get any damn time for themselves" Octavia, Loona, Stella, even Millie being sidetracked in Exes and Oohs.
imagine if the b plot in full moon was like o story of some couple's love confession thats very much like stolitz but they did it right and everything
*Chat is talking about piss again!* Also something I'm now thinking about there are goat demons, wouldn't it have been interesting if the cherubs interacted with one of them, since they'd see themselves physically in a demon??! We've yet to really interact with some of the other hell born species
First video of 2025🥳🎉🎉🎉
Hello RUclips, my old friend
I record for you again
I can finally do my finals work! I need my fav professional yapper to keep me company!
I like the idea of linking Moxxie's crossdressing to Exes and Ohs. He's still angry and shaken up about what happened so as a fuck you to his macho and homophobic dad he cross dresses and tries to act as 'feminine' as possible to further that distance between the two of them. Then Moxxie gets mad cause he tried to do a fun liberating thing but he's still putting on a performance and trying to people please like he had to do to survive which causes him to lash out at Millie and ask how it's so easy for her to be herself. Then Millie can lash out and say fuck you it's not easy to be myself, I got excluded from events cause I was 'too much' for people, my family mocked me for loving a 'soft' city boy + I earned a terrible reputation for being myself (this hints that reputation is a touchy subject to Millie which is shown when she attacks Blitz when asked about it in the ghost episode). Then they have a heart to heart and celebrate the fact that they can be their authentic selves around each other + vow to not ever have to pretend to be something they're not for each other (Could set up some drama with Millie keeping the pregnancy secret for a while or pretending to be excited about it when she's actually freaking out?). I think this makes the episode make more sense + helps to develop both their characters more equally + in a more realistic way (cuz Moxxie's 'I wanted to lead for once 😢' as if they didn't just lead a rescue mission for a goetia the episode before + as if you have any right to complain about not being the leader when you've proven you would rather mess around than do the job that could have been done instantly is kinda dumb. Also they've already explored Moxxie not feeling 'dominant' or 'man' enough so I think the people pleasing approach is more interesting + spreads awareness of fawning as a trauma response)
If western energy got done away with, and instead we got Octavia senterd episode where we see her and her mom do stuff, mabye see how she really has no friends outside her dad and sami Loona. That we get a lead up to the finale episode and aslo that part in Mastermind with her mom that we see her mom still care for her own child, but only cuz she can use her ageinst her dad would be cool.
In the last episode, I don't think the wholesome couple are a reference to Magnus Archives, the characters don't have official artwork. They do look similar to fan art tho.
Also I think you (and all who are reading this) reeeeally should give Magnus a try, it's the best media I experienced. Warning: It starts a bit slow, but it's totally worth it