Hazbin Hotel's Problem with Plot | Narrative Academy

A huge problem this show has is that most of the lore and explanation happens off-screen in like live streams or social media posts. A lot of fans don't see the show as confusing because they follow all of that stuff, but casual viewers like myself were very confused.

The biggest problem of Vivziepop is that she ISN'T A WRITER she's an artist a commissioner a character creator. That's why the show has an already large cast but added MORE and MORE and MORE characters.

Basically, “kill your darlings” you can’t add everybody in such a concise shoe and with the limited time. If I have 10 oranges, but can only afford a crate to hold 5 oranges, I either need a bigger crate, or to drop a few oranges…

My problem is just the pacing. They rushed so fast over problems they set up. Who killed the angel? Oh, it's Carmilla. When was she introduced? Episode 3. And when did we learn she did it? The minute she's introduced. Sir Pentitous being sent to spy on the hotel. When did he do that? Episode 2. When did they find out? Episode 2. When did we find out heaven citizens don't know about the exterminations? Episode 6. And when was it revealed to them? Episode 6. When did we learn Charlie has daddy issues? (To be honest, her daddy issues aren't even daddy issues, but the show insists it is.) Anyways, Episode 5. When did she resolve it? The same episode. What ever happened to fleshing out your ideas and not rushing?

One thing I find annoying though is when a YouTuber is confused by one thing and the comments are flooded with explanations when actually you shouldn’t need to explain an important plot detail the show literally never fucking said in the first place… hazbin has a lot of that, they really don’t like explaining anything in the actual show ☠ (just something I notice when people make more critical videos on hazbin)

26:19 THATS WHAT IM SAYING!!! “did you know angels could be harmed?” Should’ve been changed to, “did you know angels could be killed?” To fix that plot hole. Vaggie should know angels can be harmed but not killed. Having her eye and wings ripped off caused a lot of blood loss, yet she didn’t die (same thing applies to lute when she ripped her arm off). Srry if my wording doesn’t make sense I’m bad at words

As much as I enjoyed the show....It seems more like Hazbin was written for people who have followed Viz since the start. Which isn't a horrible thing but it holds it back for sure. Longtime Hazbin fans won't have trouble connecting to characters or plot because Viz has been sharing information about these characters for years. While New fans can easily become confused and uninterested because so much is happening to a cast they just met. I agree that the first season should have been character focused. Longtime fans would have loved it because we would get a better understanding of what is canon for certain characters and what isn't. And New fans could become invested in these characters without having to learn about them from the wiki rather than the show.

The main problem with the show is that it’s more about heaven and hell going to war than Charlie actually using her hotel to get sinners to rehabilitate

Sir pentious was actually re-purposed because the fandom loved him, he originally was just gonna be a silly one off villian when viv first made him

A problem I also have is about hell born sinners, they did nothing to get there and Charlie doesn't stand up for them. It could have been a great point to tell the angels, because Charlie herself did nothing to be there either.

My biggest problem with Hazbin is that if you were a causal fan of the show you would know literally NOTHING about the characters. Most of the things we know about the cast are things said on streams or twitter or blog posts. We shouldn't have to do homework to understand characters. Angel for example: if your watching the show how would you know he's an Italian mobster? Nothing about his character tells you about the time period he was from or what he did when alive. As you said season 1 definitely should have been about exploring the characters. You shouldn't be expected to dig through streams just to get a basic understanding of their character (Edit: I have since changed my opinion on this point, my point on redemption still stands though) Another issue that botherd me was the whole redemption thing. Like how much would Charlie be willing to forgive just so she could redeem someone? Would she try redeeming Valentino despite what she knows about him? Where does she draw the line? What does she think is unredeemable? Hell what have the main cast done to be sent to hell?? Should they even be forgiven for their crimes?? If they are forgiven and sent to heaven, what about their victims? Do they just have to deal with the fact that the person who killed/ruined their life is now in heaven because they're 'sorry'? WHY WAS THIS NEVER DISCUSSED IN SEASON 1 WHEN THE WHOLE SHOW IS ABOUT REDEMPTION?!?

the way I went "you didnt know angel was there for redemption? but they talked about it in the pilot- oh..." says a lot about how you shouldnt lock important info behind supplemental material, like you said. it just kinda hit me that a LOT of viewers who didnt see the pilot likely didnt even realize angel was at the hotel for rehabilitation until at least episode 6, which is very clunky writing (at best)

Am I the only one that feels like the timeline went by really fast? We're told heaven is bumping up the extermination to 6 months, but the show never addresses how close it gets to that timeframe until maybe 1 or 2 episodes before the finale. Like, shouldn't they emphasize the fact there's a deadline to beat? Especially since the hotel itself would be targeted first?

Who could thought angels could be harmed. Said the one-eyed wingless angel (evangelion opening starts) WOMAN, YOU'RE THE Fμ¢KING ANSWER! How nobody noticed that?

I think the fact that the fandom will often expect people to know lore and stuff featured outside the show is something I find particularly annoying. Good analysis! I'd love to see you make one for Murder Drones tbh!😊

Your first point about them making so much plot in only eight episodes - i wish we could go back to 12 to 20 episodes per season

"this MAN... is STINKY" made me laugh 😂 Appreciate hearing a critique if this show that feels sort of disconnected from all the bile surrounding it. I've read/listened to some much much harsher critique ive agreed with but here I appreciate the genuine desire to see where the show couldve been better if given the tools/structure/time. Looking forward to more narrative academy in the future ^_^

my biggest problem was that a lot of things felt like they happened off screen especially with Alastor. Like, in the song “Hell’s Greatest Dad,” he says that he’s always helping around the hotel… except he’s not around for most of the time. He is supposedly this manipulative dangerous possible antagonist with his own agenda and plan, but he’s just never around leaving him feel unexplored.

I'm a bit surprised they didn't include the pilot on Amazon, because it effectively does what your idea for a rewritten Season 1 does. It's 20 minutes just focused on Charlie, Vaggie, Angel Dust, and their dynamic as a team

On the topic of the qualifications for getting into heaven being brushed off while in heaven, I think it’s very realistic, I’m getting “we are angels so everything we do is good” vibes from them instead of choosing to do good, the extermination is a perfect example of this as Sera clearly doesn’t want it but acts like it’s good because she decided it’s good, I feel like if I were her and I were confronted with “what does it take to get into heaven” I’d want people to forget that topic so that I don’t have to explain why I don’t know