After a long wait, with the last episode being back in October, episode 1 of Season 2 of Helluva Boss debuted today. So, I wanted to get a conversation started, and give a (spoiler-free) review of sorts for the first season, which, along with the pilot episode and the first episode of Season 2, can be viewed on YouTube here.
For those who aren't familiar, it's an adult musical comedy-drama series created by Vivienne "Vivziepop" Medrano. A spin-off of her other show, the still in-development Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss is focused on a trio of imps, the lowest rung in the society of Hell, and their hellhound secretary. They operate a small assassination business called, appropriately, I.M.P., short for the Immediate Murder Professionals. Their clients are the souls of damned humans who want revenge on the still-living who they feel wronged them in life. Their line of work is played for laughs, as is much of the comically bloody violence in the show. If you've been sleeping on this series, I'd definitely recommend giving it a shot. With the entire 7-episode first season having a run time clocking in right at two hours including credits, it's not a massive time investment at the moment (note that there was originally supposed to be eight episodes in Season 1, but Ep. 8 is apparently tangled up with some sort of rights issues; it was, however, supposedly not essential to the overall plot, hence why Season 2 got moved up). Season 2 will have longer episodes, with the recently-released first episode clocking in at 22 minutes (compared to 17 minutes on average for the first season's episodes).
I understand some people might have been less than impressed by the pilot episode, which debuted back in November 2019 just a few weeks after the Hazbin Hotel pilot. The Helluva Boss pilot was a bit disjointed, with rapid-fire cutaways and heavy use of insult comedy in the back-and-forth banter between the characters, giving it kind of an anarchic and sometimes mean-spirited Family Guy-ish vibe, quite different from the show that spawned it.
The series proper, though, which debuted nearly a year after the pilot is quite different. Much of the pilot is seemingly not canon anymore, and now comes across more like it was a rough introduction to the characters, what they do for a living, and their basic roles in the show (e.g., Blitzø as the boss, Moxxie as the sharpshooter, Millie as the brawler, Loona as the secretary, and Stolas as the benefactor of the group). Of course, this isn't the first time a pilot had significant differences from the series proper. And in the series proper the writing is improved and far more coherent. Characters have had some subtle and sometimes not-so subtle personality shifts. For example, main character Blitzø (the "o" is silent) is still an immature man-child who swears a lot and gives his straight-laced employee Moxxie a hard time, there's a lot more to him than that (can't say much without spoiling anything). Also, his adopted daughter Loona, while still a moody, snarky teenager, has mellowed out a good bit. And Prince Stolas, Blitzø's kinda-sorta boyfriend, is no longer a one-note character who makes obscenely horny (and heavily-bleeped for comedic effect) comments towards Blitzø, but is a well fleshed-out character with a difficult situation at home that's relevant to the relationship between him and Blitzø.
The show packs a surprising amount of heart, drama, and character development in its short run time to complement the heavy comedic aspect of the series. In fact, the comedy starts to take a back seat to the drama in more recent episodes, with a lot more serious moments. The show does a really good job at getting you invested in its motley crew of hellspawn, who really play off of each other quite well. While a couple of episodes focus on I.M.P.'s antics as assassins, most of the show focuses on the relationships between the main cast, with a heavy focus on the complicated dynamic between main character Blitzø and Stolas. Speaking of which, there is some pretty heavy LGBTQ+ rep in the show, and it's handled quite well I think. There's also several major and often evolving family and friendship dynamics between the characters as well. There's even some world-building involved, introducing many aspects of Hell and its society, something that wouldn't surprise me if it became relevant to Hazbin Hotel.
The visuals, music, and voice work are top-notch. Despite being an independent project funded entirely by the show's fans (I've bought a ton of merch myself), the crew at SpindleHorse does a really good job with the animation, with lots of cool character designs, a vibrant color pallet, excellent backgrounds and settings, and the occasional action sequence (seriously, episode 6's main fight scene was awesome). While the show is a musical, unlike Hazbin Hotel, which is a traditional musical, the songs in Helluva Boss are diegetic (though that may be changing in Season 2 if a scene in Episode 1 is any indication), so instead of randomly belting out songs for no reason, the songs are in things like commercial jingles, stage performances, what is possibly the most epic lullaby ever, and even a hallucinatory "Disney Acid Sequence." The cast, both main and recurring/guest, includes YouTube comedian Brandon Rogers (who also co-wrote most of the episodes), veteran voice actors Richard Horvitz (who also serves as series voice director), Erica Lindbeck, and Christina Vee, film/TV actors like Mara Wilson, Vivian Nixon, and Norman Reedus, and even Broadway actors like Alex Brightman and James Monroe Iglehart (Vivzie is a big fan of musical theater, obviously).
So, if you have a couple of hours to spare, I'd definitely recommend giving this show a watch. It may be independently produced, but Helluva Boss is a professional-grade production, and I'd definitely place it as one my favorite cartoons of all time. It's funny, fun, occasionally tear-jerking, and it looks and sounds great, and it's already been a helluva trip seeing the show start off its existence as silly antics and rapidly evolve itself into something far more than that in the span of just a few short episodes.
If you want another perspective on the show, Saberspark made a video about the show a few weeks back (which does have some spoilers, so watch the show first before watching his video):
