“Hazbin Hotel” finished its second season in November. The show first released its indie pilot episode on YouTube in 2019. It was then picked up by A24 and made by animation studio Bento Box to be released on Amazon Video. The adult series accrued a lot of notoriety last year, finishing its first season in early February of 2024. There were a number of threads set up in the first season that were set to unfold naturally in the second season. 

A number of these plotlines did receive attention; however, many did not see much satisfying development. Without giving any notable spoilers, some characters were portrayed differently for sections of the season that made it harder to connect with them in the same way. Several characters suffered from not having enough time to develop adequately. 

This season included 19 principal and supporting characters across eight 20-minute episodes, which meant that some episodes struggled to give characters an appropriate amount of time to breathe. This season’s main villain, Vox, stole a lot of the spotlight, claiming the focus of many scenes. A measure of his pull is displayed through who gets a main feature in the songs this season. He sang in eight out of the 20 songs in the soundtrack for this season, when the average for everyone else was about two songs. 

Music is a central aspect of the show, and this season included two more songs than the last. It is not uncommon for media built on showtunes to be made more appealing for general audiences, such as the “Mean Girls” remake that removed key elements from its music to give it a more pop genre style. Luckily, many of the theatrical and musically diverse elements remained present in this season. The incredible talent of the voice actors remained on full exhibit and Andrew Underberg continued his songwriting work for the show, causing a number of songs to shine very brightly. 

An additional change has been the upgrade in animation quality. There are a number of incredible shots that show off a larger budget and the skill of the animators. Definitely a treat for the eyes. 

Overall, this season had some issues, but there is a lot to love. Many critiques about the show this season focus on the unsatisfying resolutions to certain plot points but two more seasons will round out the whole story.