Hazbin Hotel - Vaggie Finale Thoughts

Hazbin Hotel - Vaggie Finale Thoughts

My thoughts on Vaggie are… complicated. I think the last two episodes of season 1 do a really good job with her and I love the beats her character hits, but the rest of the season didn’t build up to some of these beats the way they should have to make all of them hit as hard as they could.

I’m just going to jump right in to explain what I mean.

Vaggie’s role in episode 7 where she has to go convince Carmilla to help them face the angels is at its core fantastic and the song that they get together is a banger, but the basis for this song– that Vaggie is being driven by vengeance and has to fight for love instead– rings hollow. 

Everything Vaggie has done this season has been for love. She’s been nothing but supportive of Charlie, putting all her effort into the hotel and Charlie’s mission. Her song and arc in episode 3 surround Vaggie’s belief and love for Charlie. Vaggie fighting for love has never been the central issue of her character because she’s been doing it all along.

I like the idea of Vaggie being driven by vengeance, considering how brutally Lute mutilated her and how she was cast out of heaven for the “horrible” offense of hesitating to kill a child this would make sense for her character, but this wasn’t shown at any point prior to this song. 

Where was this thirst for vengeance when she came face to face with Adam and Lute in the hotel room? Where was Vaggie’s anger at heaven when Charlie was calling out their hypocrisy? At what point in this season did Vaggie choose vengeance over her love and support for Charlie?

If vengeance was what was really driving her character then Vaggie would be pushing Charlie to call out heaven. She would take some impulsive actions to strike back that put Charlie’s goals in danger. She wouldn’t be the one telling Charlie to keep a cool head or singing about supporting Charlie no matter what.

This is the issue that’s been plaguing Vaggie this entire season. So much of her character has been tell rather than show. We were told by Husk that Vaggie hates herself. We were told by Carmilla that Vaggie was driven by vengeance. When Vaggie is faced with the decision to support Charlie against heaven or side with heaven to keep her secret the narrative lets Vaggie just not make a choice.

She doesn’t get to show her character and flaws through her actions. At least not the ones the show says she has.

I think this problem is a bit more obvious because when the show does build up something with her character it is really good.

Vaggie being the one to reach out to and convince Carmilla to help their cause is a great beat. We see early on that Vaggie isn’t a people person. She has trouble trusting and/or inspiring others, but here we get to see her reach out to and connect with someone else, and it's through this understanding the two have that she is able to get Carmilla to help her (by training her to fight angels) and the hotel (by providing weapons).

This exact struggle is also reflected in the moments with the hotel residents. Throughout the season Vaggie has always come across as being on their level. Charlie is well-meaning, but because of her privileged upbringing she has a very black and white view of redemption and struggles to deal with the more serious mental health issues that the hotel residents face. Whereas Vaggie is more jaded and has made massive mistakes in the past.

The other hotel residents can understand her struggle to do the right thing and redeem herself, which is why it was impactful to have Vaggie be the one to let them know that they can leave and that she’s the first one to see that they stayed. It emphasized the connection between them.

Vaggie’s fight with Lute was also amazing. Lute was the angel that cast her out, ripping out her eye and cutting off her wings. There’s a personal connection there that makes this battle investing. The way their battle ends really emphasizes the conflict between Charlie and heaven in episode 6 by showing that Vaggie, someone cast out of heaven, is more worthy of heaven and angel wings than Lute, Adam’s right-hand woman, through her decision to choose love over hate and spare Lute’s life.

It’s these moments that show the full potential that Vaggie has as a character and put the moments that they fumbled in stark contrast.

I really like this show, but I do think it has flaws. Vaggie’s character is a prime example of how the pacing of this season made certain character arcs suffer. 

I'm hopeful that the show can improve on some of these issues now that it officially has a season 2 and that it was the biggest animated release on Amazon Prime (which is impressive because The Legend of Vox Machina had the massive already established fanbase of critical role watching it). I really enjoyed watching this season week to week and can’t wait for what they have in store for us next.

Side note: The moment where Vaggie spared Lute is where she should have gotten her angel wings and specifically she should have gotten Lute’s angel wings. This would just heighten the thematic importance of this moment and show through Vaggie’s mercy– the very thing that got her kicked out of the exorcists– she has shown that she is more worthy of being an angel than Lute. I can’t take credit for this. I heard it from Sarcastic Chorus.

Amphibia Season 1 Re-watch Thoughts/Review

Amphibia season one was really fun and had an amazing finale. The choice to be an episodic comedy series works wonders for this season and I believe makes Reunion and season two hit all the harder. 

This season falls into a few of the usual trappings that almost all first seasons do but its biggest strength is that it knows what the series is about at its core and it focuses on that.

This show knows what themes are at its heart. Amphibia is about friendship, change, growth, and becoming your best self and that’s what the first season is just on a smaller scale than the second and third.

It allows for a gradual build up to the huge scale of the third season. The first season keeps the focus on Anne’s growth and how she learns self-love through her relationship with the Plantars. And it slowly opens the world to us by introducing one of the toad towers in Prison break, halfway through the season, then Reunion opens up how much the events of the season have effected the rest of the valley. 

All these actions that felt like they were occurring in a vacuum have wide reaching consequences. This is bigger than we initially thought. And that final shot in season one before the “End Part I” showed up on the screen where we see Anne and the Plantars overlooking the valley while hugging perfectly encapsulates how the world has now opened up to them. That the scope we saw in the first season will be widened exponentially.

The show needed this gradual build up. Suddenly making the show about all of Amphibia during this season wouldn’t have worked and expanding the view beyond Anne’s growth would have made it so that moments later in the series wouldn’t have felt as earned. 

I believe this was a good choice for the show but also a big reason why Amphibia was so underrated for so long. A lot of people looked at the more episodic problem of the week formula that the first season followed and didn’t think twice about it until the finale came along and shattered the status quo. It wasn’t noticeably serialized right out of the gate.

This is an unfortunate issue because it is based on first impressions. Something like the Owl House is an obviously serialized show from episode 1. Everything flows into one another and that draws in an older crowd easier than the seemingly episodic formula that Amphibia had out of the gate. 

There were hints of serialization in “Anne of Beast?” and “Best Fronds” but as early as “Cane Crazy” the show started with the problem of the week formula, which I want to emphasize once again was a good choice for the show because it really emphasized its themes of change and growth, but that also caused some people to not give the show a fair shot.

The choice to have the season air over the course of a single month also stunted Amphibia’s ability to garner a following. There wasn’t time for people to talk or speculate about the show episode to episode because a new one was coming out every day. 

Episodes that likely would have gotten fans talking and speculating about the finale like Prison Break, Bizarre Bazaar, and Anne of the Year weren’t given any time to breathe so this could happen.

It was just an unfortunate choice that caused Amphibia to be underrated going into its second season (which is phenomenal).

There are some genuine drawbacks from the episodic formula that Amphibia used in its first season though. Some episodes become formulaic because they use a similar structure with a basic life lesson being learned in almost every one. The interesting and unique world and how it was used could save some of these episodes from falling into tedium but not all of them.

It also takes a while for anything about the lore, Sasha and Marcy, or plot to really come into play which can become frustrating, especially for people that have never seen it before but were drawn in by what they’ve heard about it online. 

It can be a bit slow with divulging information with Sasha not being formally introduced until the episode Prison Break which was 10 episodes in and nothing about the Calamity Box explored until Bizarre Bazaar which was episode 15. 

There are long stretches that don’t expand on these very important and interesting plot points. This can exacerbate the flaws in certain episodes and make the pacing feel off or slow at times which is something the show greatly improves upon when season 2 comes around. This structure and slow build up isn’t for everyone.

This was what initially kept me from watching it when this season first aired (I regret this choice). Interestingly the thing that sold me on watching the show the first time around was the opening. Specifically this shot: 

This moment in the opening never failed to intrigue me. It was a hint of the themes this show would grapple with and how all the events seen are because of this broken friendship. There is genuine care between the people in the photo which can be seen by their closeness and the writing around the edges but it is literally out on a limb in the middle of a storm. It’s struggling to hold on and brings an air of tragedy to their current situation.

The lightning strike provides an even more ominous tone to the moment. The rain alone could have just made it seem tragic, friends torn apart by circumstance, but the lightning strike is what tells you there was something off/toxic about the friendship even before Amphibia. 

It never failed to make me wonder what exactly that was and it kept me watching to see what the reality behind it would be. This comes around in a big way with Sasha.

In Sasha’s introduction she is shown to be cunning and manipulative. There is genuine care for her friends but it is overshadowed at this point by her flaws.

It starts to paint a picture about what Anne’s friendships were like at home. This portrayal of toxic friendship and outgrowing connections is one of the things I think the first season does best in retrospect.

The first season makes it so that Sasha's (and Marcy’s) influence can be felt on Anne long before she even speaks through things Anne says and does. 

This makes it so that even though Sasha’s screen time is limited and she and Anne don’t interact until the very end of Anne of the Year the audience can understand why their clash in Reunion is so important for Anne’s character.

This is a great but subtle build-up to the finale.

Reunion is a fantastic and very interesting episode. It is in many ways the most formative episode of the series. It creates the mold that Amphibia’s finales follow moving forward.

For example, it makes the decision to bring the audience back to the day Anne, Sasha, and Marcy get whisked away to Amphibia and provide context for what led Anne and Sasha to that point. This is an important part of True Colors, All In, and The Beginning of the End as well.

It also starts the trend of what I’m going to call Amphibia’s “wham” moments with Sasha letting go of Anne’s hand. This is continued in the other season finales with Marcy getting stabbed and Anne’s death.

Lastly is how the episode addresses change and the ways people fight against it. The series as a whole tackles change but the finales are where the trio and their issues with accepting change come to a head.

Leading up to Reunion Sasha has had her negative traits encouraged by amphibia- they allowed her to flourish at toad tower- and as a result she hasn’t grown and changed in the same way Anne has. Anne landed in Wartwood with the Plantars and has had her old mindset challenged constantly which led to her growth. This growth allows her to stand up to and best Sasha.

This is repeated in True Colors, where Sasha and Marcy’s bids to fight against change cause things to come crumbling down for them, and in The Hardest Thing where the core (a being that can’t let go of the past) is taken down by Anne because of the calamity trio’s growth and acceptance of change.

These similarities make it so that all the finales feel like they build on one another. This creates a cohesive through line in the series.

Overall I think this season built a solid foundation. There are instances of the show struggling to find its footing and it does become repetitive in some areas, but it’s really fun and has a strong heart.

Extra Thoughts

This is more of a deleted scenes/excerpts of analysis that didn’t fit in my review.

Reunion also plays into Amphibia’s overarching themes of change. The way it interweaves present day with flashbacks to what led Anne and Sasha to opening the music box really showcases this. Sasha is practically unchanged. She landed in toad tower where her negative traits are encouraged and cause her to flourish. Whereas Anne has grown so much because she landed with the Plantars in Wartwood and has had her mindset challenged constantly by those around her. The clash between Sasha and Anne can be seen as a clash between accepting change and staying stagnant with accepting change (Anne) coming out on top.

There’s an interesting parallel between Toad Tax/Prison Break and Reunion. Toad Tax has Anne stand up for what’s right instead of taking the easy path and submitting to “bullies” to gain the Wartwood citizens’ respect. Prison Break introduces Sasha’s toxic traits and shows how they help her get free and flourish at toad tower. This is exactly what their conflict is about in Reunion.

I love how Anne’s heritage is explored this season in Lily Pad Thai. The exploration of Anne’s culture is one of my favorite things about the series.

The use of someone to lean on in the finale is really interesting because on the one hand it stands out in a jarring way because the show doesn’t use non-diegetic licensed music at any other point in the series but on the other hand it fits really well thematically and provides insight into Sasha and Anne’s mindsets during this moment. 

The music in this season is the weakest of the 3 but that doesn’t mean it’s bad by any stretch. It is more washed out because of the sound mixing and not given the chance to shine until the finale. Reunion has a very good score with my favorite part being after toad tower falls and Anne makes eye contact with Grime. It’s tragic and foreboding and it’s the first time this season that the score is allowed to be the loudest part of a scene. This decision makes it so that this scene is given a different feel to all the ones that came before. It’s a transition in the music just as much as it is in the series. The music paired with the look clearly indicate that the conflict is far from over. This is just the beginning.

The only other episode where the music is allowed to shine is Prison Break. TJ Hill goes all out giving toad tower a completely different feel from Wartwood and I believe the music/title card (”far, far away from Wartwood”) is in part a Star Wars reference/homage (I could be wrong).

The dark humor of this show is amazing. Hop Pop is the one primarily used for this type of humor this season and gets the best jokes because of it.

Sasha doesn’t embrace or even really have to accept the changes that living in Amphibia naturally brings unlike Anne. After she is released from prison she gets herself plumbing and makes the toads make human cuisine. She forces things to be like they are back on earth (the parts she likes anyways). 

I know Reunion isn’t the first episode to use flashbacks in the series, Best Fronds is actually the episode that has that honor, but the way Reunion uses the flashbacks is what is brought back in True Colors, The Beginning of the End, and All In. 

I really like going back to the beginning of a series like this to see how all the characters changed as the show went on. Watching Anne in this season right after watching season 3 kind of smacks you in the face with just how much she changed (in the best way. It reminds you of just how far she’s come). It’s a lot easier to remember in a fair amount of detail just how much someone like Sasha or Grime has changed because of their limited screen time and massive character growth in that limited time. But Anne is the main character so her change is more gradual and can blend together because of this. I just like this aspect of re-watching a series.

I felt like adding to this list just to make fun of how consistent the characters I project onto is.

Me: There is definitely not a pattern to the characters I project onto.

The characters I project onto:

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - What We Leave Behind

“You don't make a name as a cyberpunk by how you live. You're remembered by how you die.”

And yet after David’s death when Lucy is on the moon she remembers him for his life. She remembers who he was when she first met him and why she was drawn to him in the first place. She remembers how happy and passionate he was when she showed him her dream. It was that part of him that pushed her forward and made her fall in love.

She remembers David Martinez, not the edgerunner, but the human.

So much of Cyberpunk Edgerunners focuses on just how little we really leave behind once we’re gone. Many of the characters die suddenly without warning and there is nothing tangible to remember them by. The only characters that leave something physical behind are Maine and Gloria. Their keepsakes are carried on David and are later destroyed during David’s final mission.

Even David’s death has nothing tangible to show for it. He didn’t get the chance to leave a keepsake or a physical part of himself. Even how he died is covered up by the Arasaka corporation so it isn’t replayed on those chips we saw at the beginning.

But people aren’t just measured by what they physically leave behind but by how they impact the people around them and how their memory is carried forward. That’s what that final scene is about. 

The show ultimately places the emphasis on the connections you make when alive and the impact you had on the people around you. 

Lucy’s dream was to go to the moon but after his promise to take her there it shifted to going to the moon with David. He can’t be there in the physical sense but she carries him with her on the moon through her memories.

The final few shots even mirror episode 2 when Lucy showed David her simulation of the moon and Lucy even takes David’s place in a few of the shot recreations to emphasize the point.

This show is tragic with so many layers but this was what hit me the hardest when watching the finale. 

Alastor Theory

Okay, I'm gonna throw my hat into the ring when it come to who has Alastor on a leash and I'm not gonna say Lilith.

I think Eve might also be an option for being the one that owns Alastor's soul.

I think the Lilith connection is a bit too obvious and Lilith hates being forced into subservience canonically within the show, so it would be weird if she chained another soul to do her bidding. And Eve is easily the character that would have the most issues with the Morningstar family, heaven, and hell. She was made out of Adam's rib and given the apple by Lilith and Lucifer. She's been a pawn in other people's plans since the beginning. She's the one blamed for original sin and it's clear she's not in heaven. She was the scapegoat while Adam got off relatively Scott free.

She has so many reasons to want to get back at everyone and what better way to gradually gain a foothold without drawing attention to herself than enlisting the services of a sinner in hell?

It’s said that Alastor immediately started taking out overlords that had been dominant for centuries the moment he stepped foot in hell. There has to be a reason for that. It feels too calculated to be a coincidence.

Plus Lilith’s disappearance coinciding with the Alastor's isn’t necessarily a factor against this theory because it can be explained as Eve essentially throwing Alastor into a battle with Lilith where Alastor was injured and had to take time to recover.

His reaction when Zestial said people thought he had been struck down by holy arms was a bit telling to me. The way he took that moment to look away and collect himself to brush it off read as Zestial hitting too close to the mark.

He's super touchy about why he was gone for 7 years and we've seen that Alastor's berserk button is his pride and he dislikes his strength being questioned. He absolutely would not want to admit he was gone because he was recovering.

That comment seemed too pointed by the writers to be completely written off.

Maybe in this battle Eve got Lilith's soul. If she doesn’t why would Lilith be gone from Charlie’s life for seven years? Why wouldn't she return around the same time as Alastor? She seemed to really care about Charlie. Charlie still tries to call her and she doesn’t seem to hold any resentment toward Lilith, so I think there would have to be a reason beyond nebulous plans that's keeping her away.

Alastor also clearly does not have a good relationship to whoever has his soul, so I kind of imagine if it was Lilith he would be a bit more hostile towards Charlie or it would show a bit more in the moments where he was alone or when Charlie isn't looking. (Alastor is the only character this show is truly subtle with)

I just wanted to put my opinion out there because I've seen so many Lilith owns Alastor's soul theories out there and I wanted to offer a different angle.

I want to elaborate even further on why I think Alastor’s breakdown in the finale was (at least in part) motivated by the fact that he has come to care about the people at the hotel. A few people have responded to me saying they don't believe he actually cares or asking me about my opinions on certain counterarguments against the interpretation that he cares and I figured it would be easier to just make one post in response. (this is just meant to expand on my thoughts. You don't have to agree. That's half the fun of media interpretation.)

The consistent throughline I keep being told is that his breakdown was purely motivated by pride and loss of control and I do think these were massive parts of the breakdown.

Alastor is very aware of the fact that the situation around him is spiraling out of his control. That the notoriety he had cultivated as an unchallengeable overlord is crumbling. His time away allowed the fear he sowed to dull. He keeps coming face to face with beings that rival or surpass his strength. People who wouldn’t dare question him before are banging on his door. His foothold in the world isn’t secure like it once was and that has him reeling.

Alastor's pride is a driving factor in his actions, but, like I said in my last analysis, I think this is only part of it. I think this breakdown is motivated by the fact that he feels like he’s losing control of himself on top of the situation around him.

I'm going to start with the points/questions I've been asked first then expand on my thoughts after.

The first one I was asked about is the interpretation that Alastor was mocking the very idea that he would sacrifice himself for someone else when he says "Great Alastor, altruist, died for his friends." and I think that would work if it wasn't for the visuals paired with this line.

He literally looks like THIS when he is speaking the line. This isn’t the face of someone mocking the very idea that he would do this.

It was actually this shot that convinced me there was some truth to the words he was saying because it looks like he’s beginning to have a breakdown over the fact that this is almost exactly what happened.

The second one that I was asked about was the idea that he was forced to fight and protect Charlie by whoever owns his soul. But if he was forced to fight in this battle due to his contract why not describe it this way when alone? How could he even leave if he was forced to fight and protect the hotel? I doubt there was a caveat that he could leave the fight if he was seriously injured if he was ordered to fight and protect Charlie and the hotel.

I do think he's at the hotel because of whoever owns his soul, but I don't think it's why he fought or why he helped Charlie get Cannibal Town to aid them through his connection to Rosie.

And the last one that I was asked about was the idea that the demons had to be fighting for love like Carmilla said to Vaggie to defeat the angels and the reason Alastor didn't win was because he was fighting purely for his own interests. Freedom, power, and control.

And, while I think the base idea of this is really interesting (This is a genuinely cool idea!) and could challenge Alastor's more selfish motivations, the show itself doesn't really back this up.

Charlie is the literal embodiment of fighting to protect those she cares about-- she has the biggest heart out of anyone at the hotel-- and yet she doesn't defeat anyone in this battle.

Before she faces Adam all she uses is a shield to protect herself and the other residents. She apologizes to those she hits, while Vaggie finishes them off. When she does face Adam she doesn't beat him. She gets in a good hit, but she isn't able to finish him off. She would have been killed if Lucifer didn't step in.

Plus, Alastor's shield killed multiple exorcists before Adam destroyed it, so I don't think this means he hasn't grown to care about the residents of the hotel or that there wasn't some part of him that was fighting to protect them.

Now to expand on my own thoughts now that I've answered the questions I've gotten, it's not just the final battle/fallout that brought me to believe he had come to care about the hotel and its residents.

The show itself seems to want us to think he is starting to grow “accustomed” (In Alastor’s words to Niffty) to the group with little moments that are played straight like when he sends Mimzy (possibly his oldest friend) away, telling her she can stay if she truly wants to try for redemption, but if she just wants to put the hotel in danger then she has to leave.

When he says he believes in Charlie and wants to mentor her in cannibal town. He even gives her his microphone which is a literal extension of himself to help her.

When he talks to Niffty (who he is clearly fond of) and admits he finds the group enjoyable to be around. He says he could grow accustomed to them after Niffty says she really likes them almost in agreement with her.

There is no sinister undertone or hint of the usual facade Alastor puts on in these scenes.

Like I said above I don't think that the fact that Alastor has come to care about the residents is the only factor in his breakdown or the only reason he fought in the first place (Alastor's blatant overconfidence in his fight against Adam makes it clear pride was a factor. That overconfidence is why he lost that battle). It's a combination of multiple things (his pride, loss of control, desire for freedom, etc), but I do think it's a valid reading that it was a part of it considering all the information the show has given us.

This isn't to say I think Alastor is going to melt and be a team player for the hotel from now on. In fact, I think he's going to lash out against this internal change.

Alastor has always put himself first and in the finale he almost died trying to protect this hotel and it's rattled him. It's challenged his entire self-perception. He doesn’t like that it’s being challenged. That he’s losing control of himself on top of the situation around him. So, he doubles down on his initial goals.

I think this internal conflict is fascinating. I wouldn't have written so much about it if I didn't. I genuinely can't wait to see what they do with it in season 2.

If you feel differently feel free to send an ask, message, or respond to this post. I'd love to hear what other people think! Differing views and connections to characters is what makes media so impactful and fun to consume.