Ricky Church reviews the sixth episode of Hazbin Hotel season 2…
While not quite as compelling as the previous episode, Hazbin Hotel‘s ‘Scream Rain’ was entertaining and did well in pushing forward both its character development and story in a couple major revelations.
In the aftermath of Vox’s PR victory, support for him and his vision is at an all time high, enough so that he’s actually able to pressure and blackmail Carmine Carmella into helping him. Throughout the episode Christian Borle did a fantastic job conveying Vox’s growing ego as he talked down to several Sinners, including his own team. Yet we also saw more of his insecurities as Alastor again played on them to further drive the Vees apart, but Vox’s scene with Angel Dust and the revelation he had made Angel an unknowing spy for weeks was quite huge. It further showed Vox’s cruelty in how much enjoyment he was getting from torturing Angel and added more emotional weight to Angel’s already traumatic story.
Charlie has pretty much hit her breaking point after Vaggie called her out on her behaviour all season long with her refusal to listen to anybody’s advice, but it’s nice to see her finally realizing she has been dealing with Vox in the wrong way and treating Vaggie and others unfairly. It was good that her bickering with Vaggie didn’t last too long as the two of them made up through a very saucy song. While ‘Easy’ started somewhat abruptly in the middle of Charlie’s breakdown, it makes sense that Vaggie would do something drastic to snap her out of it and anyone paying attention these last episodes will have seen how Charlie’s lack of affection and intimacy was another factor in pushing people away. The animation for Charlie and Vaggie’s dance was incredibly detailed in their fluid movements and ‘Easy’ is quite catchy with both Erika Henningsen and Stephanie Beatriz providing great vocals for the song.
What also made ‘Scream Rain’ enjoyable was the spotlight it put on Husk and Angel, both of whom having been put on the sidelines since ‘Hazbin Hotel: Behind Closed Doors’ with the bigger events going on. Husk’s ‘Love In A Bottle’ is a fun tune while examining the dangers of addiction and Keith David’s smooth voice is always great to listen to. ‘Losin’ Streak’ is a nice companion to both ‘Love In A Bottle’ and season one’s Husk and Angel song ‘Loser, Baby’. Blake Roman did a very good job giving Angel a bit more of a sultry voice for this slower, more emotional song.
There were plenty of great humourous moments, but none more so than Vox being racist to Valentino and getting whacked in the face with Val’s Florida comment or Nifty’s band of roaches. The comedy provided nice levity from the otherwise serious and heavy moments while not detracting from them, giving audiences a nice balance between the two tones. It certainly does set up the final two episodes of the season well with Charlie coming out of her funk and Vox getting the last pieces of his master plan in place.
Rating: 8/10
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