The critique defender has become the criticizer. Oh how I’ve entered my dark era.

Jokes aside, like I said, this video details what are my biggest problems with the show so trust me when I say I will be a lot more positive when I get around to talking about the rest of this season. I just feel the most passionately about Angel Dust so I coudn't help but talk about him first.

Is it a bad idea to open my discussion of this season with what will probably be my most controversion take? Yes. Yes it is.

When I hear the pilot vs the show, I feel like pilot angel dust is more fun and loves to mess with people because it’s in a jokey tone but when I listen to the show’s angel dust, I feel violated and it’s unpleasant
But overall, the writing and structure is the problem. I agree with everyone on that

I wish his mobster side wasn't basically completely irrelevant now. He was flanderized before the pilot was even released. Turning from a mobster who was a little bit of a pervert to a pervert whos kind of maybe a mobster If you turn your head and squint your eyes a little bit.

My only real issue with Angel was how the fandom just completely writes off his harassment to Husk. As someone who has been sexually harassed the way people just accept Angel's treatment to Husk genuinely disgusts me and I hate every scene where that occurred

Imagine if Hazbin Hotel stayed an indie series on YouTube, like The Amazing Digital Circus. I’m pretty sure a good chunk of the writing issues with the pacing and characters would’ve improved a lot instead of feeling so rushed.

I don't see this mentioned alot, but i prefer Nifty in the pilot than in the actual show. In the pilot, she actually acts like an adult women instead of an child who needs the other characters babysitting her. She was also one of the few characters that still retain viewpoints from the era she was alive (I'm betting they took that out in case their would be people who thought the show was agreeing with those views).

It's a really valid point, how fast Angel Dust's arc is done, and how quickly he stands against Valentino. But in the middle of Episode 4, when Valentino and Angel are in his dressing room, and Valentino tells Angel to get Charlie out of the studio, Angel Dust says "Just...don't hurt her." And the scene at the bar in the later episode, Angel Dust was saving Niffty. Me personally, I think that this just shows how much he cares for his friends.

I personally think the scene of Angel standing up to Val was pretty good, as I feel like the only reason Angel was willing or able to do it in that moment was because Nifty was in danger of being placed in his situation, and sometimes the only thing that can make you overcome a block like that and do something is when you realize somebody you care about is in serious danger and your brain reacts by suddenly having a brief, impulsive fight response where it has been trained to normally have a fawn or freeze response instead. That's happened to me a couple of times in less extreme scenarios. When it's somebody ~else~ you know getting damaged for once, it just hits differently, pushes a slightly different button.

As an Abuse Victim, the fact that Angel recovers that quickly and can just randomly stand up to Valentino is honestly straight up insulting.

Whenever I went to my old home, I was living in CONSTANT fear that I'd run into him again.

And to this day, I still am. I avoid that place at all costs. It's part of why my family moved to a new town in the first place.

I haven't recovered after 3 years, but somehow, this guy just talks it out with someone he vents to while drunk and then whoop-dee-doo, it's all fine and dandy! Now he can stand up to his abuser with no fear whatsoever! CUZ THAT'S REALISTIC, RIGHT???

No. Just...no.

I don't even hate the show, I actually enjoy some parts of it. It's a mess, but it's a mess that I enjoyed, but the show's portrayal of abuse was absolutely horrendous and straight up pissed me off.

The way I read them in the beginning is attempting to push buttons in order to distance themselves from others.

Don’t forget the fact that he just… quit drugs and “fixed” his addiction OFFSCREEN 😭 Honestly, I feel like Angel’s abuse and addiction are just used as set dressing. We barely see their impact. For all the characters bemoan his addiction, they don’t actually show the ugly side of it.

That explains so much- I couldn’t put my finger on why Angel felt so dif to me. He went from being more like Jax in the digital circus (out for fun and selfish reasons) to being much more rude and purposely harassing others for fun.

It's actually fucking embarrassing how much better the pilot is than the actual show

I love this critique cuz I too was absolutely obsessed with pilot Angel…I was surprised that despite enjoying hazbins first season, I didn’t enjoy him as much as I used to. While I was also really bummed kovach wouldn’t be reprising his role, I didn’t realize that he’s a lot less witty and silly in the show than in the pilot…like the problem is with the writing and voice direction more than the actor himself.

Also Blake Roman has so much respect for kovach it’s kind of adorable…he met Michael at a con and was like “aaahhh it’s the original!!!”

as a victim of both SA and all forms of abuse i was very much left with a bad taste in my mouth about how angels story was handled because it did very much feel as if they just sang that entire plot away. it felt very rushed and simplified and intern belittled. because no it isn’t that easy to realize this relationship is bad i’m experiencing abuse and then speak out about it then speak so strongly against your abuser especially in public.

Uff, so true. Especially with Angels opening to others. Like, he somehow cured of his trauma in a second? I was really questioning that and also felt a bit disappointed by not seeing Angel taking more time for the opening. But their duo was a hit, the best song ever.

I'm so glad other people have noticed this. I think the thing that really hammered home the difference in Angel's general attitude for me was the scene where Charlie is upset with her dad. Despite seeing how visibly distressed she is and how the mere mention of calling her dad stressed her out earlier, instead of doing anything to help, he just cracks a shitty one-liner and eats a piece of popcorn. This blatantly contradicts the bond they formed in episode four, where he was willing to play the part of the bad guy to protect her from Valentino, the understanding they formed afterwards and his behaviour in the original pilot.

In the pilot, there's a scene where, after the crew get back to the hotel from the interview, Angel cracks a joke about getting some actual food in the place because of all the 'way-ward souls' they have running around, the obvious joke being that the place is completely empty. This visibly upsets Charlie and she curls in on herself, looking even more defeated than before. This causes Angel's face to fall, once he realises how much this remark actually hurt her. And, for a moment, he reaches out before letting his hand fall and walking away. This felt so much more genuine to me. It wasn't much but it told us that Angel was empathetic enough as a person to recognise when his behaviour wasn't on and that he had a desire to help, even if he didn't know how to reach out. It's honestly so sad how this largely doesn't carry over into the main show.

I think showing how victims of sexual assault/harassment can go on to sexualise others themselves, like he did with Husk, is incredibly important but they needed to balance it out with his other signature sense of humour so it didn't become all-consuming for his character.

Fair critique, but I do think I have to disagree with one thing in particular: The scene in the club with Val.

(Genuinely sorry, this got long)

I never got the impression that Angel is past Val and I don't think the scene gives that impression either. He's clearly still under his control, but he's coping as best he can. This is reinforced by the beginning of the episode where Angel comes in already complaining about a long day at the studio where Val has been merciless with his work. One big point made in "Loser Baby" is that he and Husker are both still trapped in their respective situations, but that they can take comfort knowing they're not alone and that it's okay to not be okay with your situation, which may also be why Angel is getting better about not always having to put up a front about it.

As for the club scene proper, you are absolutely right that abuse victims can have very strong reactions to being confronted with their abuser. And you can hear the panic start to rise in Angel's voice as he gets ready to leave. But the one key thing that stops him is Nifty.

Angel can be a jerk to his friends, but he still values them and will go to great lengths to keep them safe. We see this in Episode 4 with everything Angel does to protect Charlie. Even in the dressing room, when Val is having him repeat things back, he only stops when Charlie gets mentioned, even knowing that it'll make Val angry. And this isn't entirely unrealistic. Abuse victims can be defiant, especially for something that they believe is more valuable than their safety. An older sibling may actively goad an abusive parent to keep attention off a younger sibling, for example. ( Note: Of course this isn't always the case and I definitely don't want to diminish anyone who gets overtaken by flight or freeze responses. Like mentioned in the video, even the ability to speak can feel impossible, let alone actively standing up. And that is absolutely valid.)

In this case, the read I get is that Angel knows the consequences, but Val keeps making remarks like he's trying to recruit Nifty. Angel's already been spending the whole night going out of his way to keep her out of trouble and Val is the biggest trouble in the club. He likely sees Nifty as being in active danger. Angel is living this abuse just about every day and he knows how bad it can get, but he also knows he can survive and he doesn't want Val anywhere near his friends. He may even think his remark towards Val will draw attention away from Nifty. I don't think he's calm about it, either. His one best skill is being an actor, though you can still hear the tension in his voice and catch a glimpse of his facade breaking when Val first pulls him close.

As for the follow up gag of Nifty being a little maniac that grabs a trophy off of Val, I don't think it's meant to make Val seem like less of a threat, but instead is what a professor of mine once called the "silly cucumber trick" (alluding to cucumbers being palette cleansers). Following an intense scene, a quick quip or gag allows the audience a moment to breathe and let go of that tension before transitioning to the next one. Of course, whether or not it was actually effective in practice is for the viewer to decide.

I can definitely agree, though, that I do wish we had more time to simmer with all the characters and their arcs. I can definitely see where your interpretation comes from, especially with how rushed the story beats felt. I also genuinely hope Season 2 doesn't rush the conclusion of Angel's arc with Val.

But yeah, just needed to get that off my chest apparently haha

While I heavily relate to Angel Dust, even just during the pilot, due to how he handles SA trauma, I also agree that his character arc was really rushed. They wanted to have an entire show, with many deep characters, and multiple plot lines, but only had around 9 episodes to do that.

Finally, another person noticing the difference between pilot and s1angel dust!! I was so bothered by it but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. The same thing goes for alastor too, except he goes from bubbly to.. smug.