It is Charlie analysis time and whatever else I noticed because I like to yap.
Trigger warning for mentions of abuse and drugs.
Let's start off with her design:
In my opinion, she is one of the better designed characters. Charlie was one of the later additions to the cast, Viv had the general idea for Charlie back when she at SVA. Charlie does not suffer the curse of being designed in the lates 2000s like Alastor and Angel Dust.
I do wish her roundness of her pilot design was transfer over. Shape language is one of favorite things about character design. Pilot Charlie has roundness to her like her hair, her chin does not look like it can cut diamonds with ease, and her eyes are much smaller on her face.
I dislike how her skin and shirt are too close in hues; her father also has this same issue. The hues of red used for her suit looks bad together, I do not have a problem with her not looking like 'royalty' because it would not make sense for her to be all dolled up, she is an manager of a hotel. I like her apple shaped eyes and her hair because big hair is peak. I dislike how her hair when it is loose, Sonic the Hedgehog looking ass hair style.
Her bang seems to be an issue when she is side profile like it is not even a part of her hairline. It has a mind of its own.
I do not think all of Viv's character designs are bad, minus Alastor like his design is one of the worst. I think the main issue with her designs is her choice of colors. Color palettes can make or break a character design. If the color scheme is bad, the design starts to fall apart.
This is just a quick sketch of my edit of Charlie's design. I tucked her shirt in because she is a manager, professionalism is important especially if you want to be taken seriously and I remove the shoulder pads because they look goofy and too many damn characters have them.
I make her suit have more roundness to it, mainly at the end and giving her bigger sleeves because I like chunky long sleeves. I gave her actual define lips because all of Viv's female characters have thick line art disguising as lips. I think it Charlie's lips are just black, and it is not lipstick because as a child her lips are the black. I have no issue with Charlie have the aesthetic of a porcelain doll, I kept the rosy cheek marks but just made them apart of her mouth.
Ok, no more talking about her design, let's get started:
Episode One
Skipping the beginning of the episode and 'Happy Day in Hell'. I am not analyzing the songs because, I do not know how to analyze song lyrics and two, the songs are my least favorite thing about Hazbin, same goes to Helluva too. I just do not vibe with that style of music.
'Happy Day in Hell' is basically Charlie's "I want" Song, it should have told use why she wants to put an end to the exterminations. She is the only character from Hell that cares about them and has a dislike for them. You would think Overlords would hate exterminations too because if Sinners that they own dies in them, they would lose their power.
During the meeting with Adam, Charlie talks about the Hell is overpopulated [ignore that plot point because it does not come again], her dislike of the exterminations, and that Sinners are her people and mentions that Sinners are human souls that just made mistakes.
How does Charlie know that every Sinner is just someone who made mistakes? If during the music video for 'Happy day in Hell', she was going around asking [more like singing] Sinners what they think got them sent to Hell and some said that a simple mistake and freak accident got them sent to Hell, that line would have work, but it does not.
The majority of those Sinners probably deserve to get wiped out, why should we care about all of those unnamed Sinners getting murked? The show only focuses on the ones that live/works at the hotel. The show fails to show the good of some of the Sinners. During the music video, she saw Cannibals eating someone right in front of her and a Sinner flashed her before entering the clock tower.
Charlie gets a moment to pitch the idea of the hotel after Adam's yapping, but she flops hard why because she does not have proof that her hotel can actually work. She just pulls out childish drawings to pitch it. She has no statistics, case studies, NOTHING, just drawings.
This is funny [not in a laughing sense like a sad giggle]. Charlie is in her 20s, biological like she has a mindset of someone in their 20s even though she has been alive longer than any of the Sinners just ages slower thanks to being a child of two immortals which makes herself one.
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Charlie had to be sheltered like crazy during her childhood because did she think this would actually work? No wonder Adam roasted her via song, this is not a good way to pitch your idea of a redemption hotel especially to the leader of the thing you are trying to put an end to. Yikes, girly.
[Girl where is your eyebrows, lmao]
After being bullied for two minutes and twenty seconds Charlie goes back to the hotel defeated, she was about to be cheered by Vaggie telling her about the commercial, but 666 News interpreted it by dropping the bombshell that another Extermination is happening in six months. Adam already told her this but seeing on the news made it 1000000% worse, whatever should Charlie do?
Before moving on, the Plot B of this episode is pointless. Is not seeing the commercial the joke because it is not even funny and just a time waster. There is probably another way to show off the Hotel cast and their different quicks and personalities. Maybe during the credits, the commercial should have been showed. I cannot believe there is in universe lost media. /j
Episode Two
Charlie is having a mini panic attack but the whole 6-month deadline but
realizes that since all the Sinners are freaking out it that means more of them will want to stay at the hotel. Too bad for Charlie, because that plot point goes nowhere. If the show did not shove the Heaven stuff so earlier, this would have been an alright storyline. It would have been a right way of showcasing Charlie's character more and motives her more to put an end of the Extermination from seeing scared Sinners coming to her hotel but of course it is just pushed aside because no Sinners want to live in that raggedy hotel.
After seeing Sir Pentious for a bit, the Vees [while more like Vox and Val featuring Vel], and Vox and Al's little singing battle, we return back to Charlie. Sir P comes back to the hotel because he wants to stay. Angel and Vaggie does not trust him because what Sir P did earlier but Charlies like 'He deserves a second chance!' and she is happy to have her first 'real quest'.
Charlie becomes a camp counselor by having Angel, Sir P, and Vaggie to play a rhyming game. Angel is right, this is stupid. I understand why Charlie was to put 'fun' elements into the exercises, but it is too childish. I am surprised she did not pull out a bouncing castle. It would be a better choice if she picked 'spin the bottle' for the exercise.
She has Angel and Sir P put on a little play based off a script she wrote for everyone. Giving Angel, a person who uses drugs to cope with his situation the role of the crackhead is messed up on Charlie's part. Does Charlie know anything about Angel at all?
She praises Sir P after his performance and does not even look in Angel's direction. Angel has a hurt expression on his face and his voice as a sadden tone to it, but Charlie still says nothing to him and continues to talk to Sir P and says that he is going to be redeemed in no time. I know Angel is basically staying at the hotel for a free roof over his head and have a place to get away from Val, Charlie should have made Angel feel welcomed regardless even though he is not into the redemption idea.
Anyway, Angel leaves his room and sees Sir P trying to place a hidden camera because he is a spy for the Vees. Speaking of the Vees, are they stupid? Vox knows that Al does not show up on camera, why not a tape recorder or two-way radio instead? These are going to be the villains for Season 2 by the way.
Time must fly fast in Hell because Charlie is yawning like she has been slept for a couple of hours. Angel exposes Sir P for being a traitor, Sir P flips out and tries to call Vees for backup, Vox just laughs in his face and tells him to 'keys' with the 'e'.
Sir P goes into the fetal position and asking to be killed, Vaggie is about to put an end to his sorry ass, but Charlie is not going for it. To talk about Vaggie for a second, why does she carry that spear with her everywhere? I guess that is just her exorcist nature to kill Sinners when given the chance. Instead of making Sir P into another stain on the carpet, she gives out a reaching hand to him and they sing and shit. Afterward that is over, Charlie saying 'this is a good first day' just goes back to bed.
Episode Three
I am skipping Episode 3 for my Chaggie post. I am only going to say that Charlie sucks at reading people even her own girlfriend.
Episode Four
This moment makes Husk come off as an asshole who cannot be trusted with secrets. Back to Charlie, Husk says that she likes to fix others issues instead of her own. Charlie is using the hotel as distraction from her own issues like her missing mother or her rocky relationship with her father.
When Angel tries to leave due to Val calling him, Charlie stops him and says that they are not finish with the show and tell. Charlie knows that Val is his boss [he mentions this in episode 2] and that Angel is a well-known sex worker, it is not like Angel hid this from her. Him leaving at random times should be the norm due to his 'job'.
Charlie is a mini freak out over how hard it is to run her flop of a hotel. Vaggie tells her that 'She is the princess of Hell' and Charlie replies 'So?' Charlie, girly, that means that you have power! I cannot decide if that line made Charlie seem humble or dumb, maybe both. Her response makes me want to see her upbringing to learn why Charlie does to use her authority more.
When Vaggie tell her to use that authority, Charlie replies with 'but that is so mean!' She is acting like Vaggie told her to go and kill Angel Dust for having the nerve to say no to her. I dislike this line because it makes Charlie come off as childish. Charlie is autistic coded like her father or AHDH coded due to Viv having ADHD and she said she relates to Charlie the most. Charlie cannot read people to save her life, has high empathy, is hyper fixated on her hotel/the idea of the hotel.
Instead of leaving Angel Dust to do his 'job', Charlie decides to kill - WITH KINDESS by convincing Val to give Angel time off so he can spend more time at the hotel. This makes Charlie came off as self-centered. It is not like she has proof that doing these exercises are actually helping Angel.
Charlie finds herself at Val's studio, which makes Angel freak out, Charlie tells Angel about her little idea, but Angel tells her to wait until his done with his 'job' and they will talk later, during this, the grape with eyeballs walks up to them.
The scene where Val licks her arm and asks her to start in one of his 'films' annoys me. Charlie should have ripped his tongue out of his mouth and use her authority at the moment. Instead she stays around instead of just leaving. She goes up to the boom mic guy to talk about her hotel. That is pure hyper fixation right there. Seriously though, this makes it comes off that Charlie cares more about the hotel than Angel as a person and he is just a tool for her goal.
Charlie continues to fail at reading people because Val is clearly annoyed at her. She tries to pitch better scripts with the films but because Charlie sucks at pitching ideas, she trips on some wires and almost burnt the studio to the ground. I wish she did.
Charlie needing a fire extinguisher to put the fire makes no sense because she has Pyrokinesis. I am guessing she only control fire she summons herself and not made from other sources or made by other people.
Back to the episode, Val abuses Angel in his dressing room and Angel returns with a black eye. Charlie becomes enrage by the sight of this, but Angel stops her before she is able to turn Val into grape juice. How Angel acts here is not uncommon, people in abusive relationship sometimes protect their abusers, it is the sad reality of how abuse effects someone.
Once Angel returns to the hotel, she tries to get his attention but fails at getting his attention. Husk and Angel have a little argument, and Charlie tells Vaggie that all of this is her fault, but Vaggie tells Husk to go after him. Like what? Charlie should talk to Angel first then maybe Husk afterwards. Angel is Charlie's first quest to stay at the hotel, I wish they had more scenes together and maybe talk about how to break the Val's contract. Once the future couple returns, Charlie hugs Angel and tells him that she is sorry, Angel forgives her and says, 'Thanks for caring about me' and Charlie releases the water works. Angel has Charlie over to Vaggie like she is luggage. This scene comes off as infantilization and I do not like it.
Episode Five
Charlie is freaking out because the Hazbin Hotel is more like a Failure Hotel. Vaggie tells Charlie that 'It is time to call your absentee father' and goes Charlie like 'UGH!' But she can use her father to get a meeting with the big wigs of Heaven. On a side note, we need to put the end of the Hellaverse's Daddy Issues. I cannot take it anymore; it is like every character has them. It is used too much for drama and to give characters depth. The only character in the Hellaverse that has a normal relationship with their parents is Millie. I am fine with characters in the same universe but are in different shows being foils to each other. Maybe the only characters to have Daddy Issues should be Charlie and Blitz because they are the protagonists on their stories. Another post for another day.
It annoys me that Husk said that she has daddy issues like shut yo ass up. Husk is just there to tell us the audience details about the characters like Charlie pausing on her father's contact and her expression tells us what we need to know. Charlie reveals that her parents spilt [probably not a divorce because Lucifer's still has his wedding ring on], Lucifer did not want to see her [holy shit], and Lucifer sometimes calls her when he bored or need her to do something for him like in Episode One where he sent Charlie to the meeting with Adam.
I am wondering where their relationship will go in Season 2 due to Lucifer becoming a free loader and living at the hotel now. I hope their relationship still has the rockiness to it like Charlie is still uncomfortable when interacting with him, is still mad at him for approving the exterminations, and him not believing in her idea of the hotel like her mother.
Charlie calls Lucifer asking for help to get in contract with the higher ups of Heaven, Lucifer is like 'Nahhhh' but Charlie says that she needs him and wants to show him around the hotel. Lucifer accepts this offer because his daughter wants to spend time with him.
Lucifer's short ass arrives to Charlie's Fiasco Motel and Charlie is uncomfortable the whole time. She really wants her father's approval. She introduces him to everyone. It is wild to me that this is the first time Vaggie and Lucifer are meeting each other. Like Charlie never mentioned to her own father that she has a girlfriend or that she is bisexual? Thanks to Lucifer not being in Charlie's life, this made her vulnerable to Al's manipulation, oh no spaghettios and they start beefing over Charlie via singing the most viewed song on Amazon's YouTube channel, other stuff happens to like Mimzy popping up and wasting time by giving a sneak peak of Al's backstory.
We see the end of the little tour Charlie and Vaggie was giving Lucifer which should have gotten more screen time. Charlie asks her dad how he thinks of her hotel, and he is like 'Nah, Sinners are lame, and the big wigs of Heaven are closed minded asswipes.' I am Lucifer's side when it comes to the Sinners, the show failed to show us the good of some of the Sinners. The only Sinner that has a good side and believes in Charlie's dream is Sir P.
During the loan shark attack, Lucifer's pride is on full force as he talks about Sinners being violent psychopaths and Charlie says that 'Al is protecting the hotel' and 'He is doing it for me!' like no girly, he is just showing off and trying to intimidate your short ass dad. Al does not care about you and your washed-up hotel.
Al tells Mimzy in his own way to fuck off and she leaves and gives him the bird. She is so real for that. Anyway, Charlie confronts her father on not helping her. Lucifer does not want to due to whatever the higher ups of Heaven did him. The man is traumatized. Anyway, they sing a song together which puts on a band aid on their rocky relationship. Lucifer is like 'I am going to pull some strings for you' but he cannot come due to be permabanned from Heaven.
EPISODE SIX
Skipping the beginning because I want to talk about in my Chaggie post. I just want to focus on the meeting that went to shit. Charlie was awestruck to be in that court room....... until Adam's fat ass comes in. I am a huge fan of Charlie's expressions; she rarely makes the same expression twice and I like the range of her expressions.
Sera gives Charlie the chance to pitch her hotel and uses index cards like it is debate class. Of course, Adam being her biggest her biggest hater, he asked for evidence. Charlie using Angel Dust as an example is stupid like what process? I guess Angel is no longer using drugs because Vaggie said that they found all of his drug staches. Sir P would have been the better choice because we saw his heel-face turn, it was rush but still. Sir P went from a want to be bad guy to a generally good guy. It would have made Sir P's self-sacrifice more impactful and less of a gag. Charlie herself that Sir P would be redeemed in no time, he was the perfect choice.
Going off topic but the whole 'The higher ups not knowing what gets people into Heaven hurts my brain. Sera could have said, 'If a human soul does any of the Deadly Sins for the majority of their life, they get sent to Hell when they die and if a human soul who does the Heavenly Virtues for the majority of their life, they get sent to Heaven.' BOOM! Problem solved.
Why is Sera who is on a higher rank than Adam entertaining/using his dumbass list? He already has a bias because the exterminations were his idea, and he is the leader. Just a little rewrite idea, maybe Adam would have been used to judge Angel as a human because Charlie, Sera, and Emily never lived to the human experience, but Adam and Angel have. Of course, at different periods of time but still. Also, Charlie calling Val 'Moth Man' got a giggle out of me.
EPISODE 7
Charlie is not in a good mood. Her hotel is failing, Adam and his exorcists are coming to the hotel first, and Vaggie was hiding the fact that she was an exorcist angel who has killed thousands on her people.
Al uses the fact that Charlie is not the right headspace to make a deal with her because he knows how to kill angels. Making this deal with that ugly son of a bitch is going to bite her in the ass later on.
In Cannibal Town, Charlie is trying to recruit the cannibals to send them off to their death but she still in her flop era. Rosie has a small chat with her, and it gives Charlie the confidence boost she needed.
EPISODE EIGHT
Charlie sees Alex Brightman the Angel kill Alex Brightman the Snake. She becomes angry because of this, powers up, and rides on Razzle or Dazzle to beat Adam's ass but she flops again due to getting distracted by Lute attacking Vaggie. This gives Adam the chance to slaps the shit out of her.
I think we all know that Razzle and Dazzle are useless. They were made by Lucifer to protect Charlie, but they never do. They do not go with her to the meeting in episode 1 and when she goes to Heaven. They growled at Al in episode 7 when Charlie is about makes her deal with him, but she just pushes them back. I do not care to know what the name is of the one who dies but the other just disappears afterwards and is not seen until the end of the episode. The other one is going to be more useless due to Lucifer living in the hotel now.
Back to the episode, Adam mocks her to protecting the Sinners in the hotel and she says, "These Sinners are my family!" Uh, what? We only saw small moments of Charlie interacting with Angel and Sir P. She does not interact with Husk and Niffty that much or at all and these people work at her hotel. If Season 1 was all about the hotel and Charlie spending time with anyone to get to know them better, this line would have been great. Sadly, the show spends way too much time with the Heaven stuff. "But the Viv was only given eight episodes!" Sometimes you have to kill your darlings. Besides, the show was greenlit for 16 episodes that is being split into two seasons. I do not think the show was in the danger of being cancel after the first season. Hazbin had an existing fandom before it got greenlight thanks to Viv already having a fandom around her since the ZooPhobia days unlike other shows that have been cut too soon.
Back to the episode, Charlie stabs Adam and says that she is the Princess of Hell. Yes girly, use that power and authority! Sadly, this badass moment was short lived. I wish we actually saw their fight instead of cutting back Vaggie and Lute's little fight. What also annoys me is that Charlie should have used her firework ability to keep Adam away from her instead trying to fight him in close range. I am fine with her not knowing how to fight but what is the point of giving her an ability that is perfect for long range combat? Before Adam was able to make Charlie apart of the environment, Lucifer comes to save her. by punching the shit out of him. I do not have a problem with this because Lute did break the rule of not killing Hellborn by killing Razzle or Dazzle and doing so allowed Lucifer to jump in.
Lucifer and Adam start beefing, Adam like the man child he is shoots a holy beam at Lucifer, misses, and destroys the hotel. Charlie almost falls to death due to this, but Lucifer saves her again. Lucifer saves her twice in the span of minutes is crazy, Vaggie would have been a great choice, just saying. Showcase that power of Sapphic love.
Adam tries to attack again but got Charlie's flop curse and she stops him with the help of a new ability. Sadly, she is not the one to throw Adam at Sonic the Hedgehog speeds to the ground but Lucifer. What the fuck!? Charlie should have been the one to do so. Adam was antagonizing to her every time he could and was about to kill her. That should have been Charlie's small victory over Adam being the biggest asshole to her. Woman-focused show my ASS!
Adam starts to yap about shit and Niffty puts a hole in his chest to make him shut up. Afterwards Lucifer tells Lute and the rest of the exorcists to get the fuck out. I feel like I am repeating myself, but Charlie should have should have been the one to do this! There is a running theme of no one respecting Charlie and her title of being the Princess of Hell.
Adam never says her name and gives her weird pet names like 'Lucifer's Brat and "Lillith's little hottie', Val in episode 2 calls her 'Lucifer's bimbo daughter', Vox does not say her name, and Val does not even know her actual name and says that is something 'Manish' and does not say her name in episode 4, and Sera calls her 'Daughter of the Morningstar', Charlie is views not as her own person but as a extend of her father and mother. Her just saying, 'It's over' and gives Lute a mean mugging expression is lame. BOO! 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅
Charlie starts to sing about some shit but Lucifer and her 'found' family cheers her up and rebuilds the hotel. See y'all in season 2.
Final thoughts on whatever this post is at this point, I have been working on it for so long. Now, I actually like Charlie. I am a basic person; I always like the protagonist. There is some charm to her character, but she gets overshadowed in her own show by male characters.
Hazbin is supposed to be about woman led stories but most of the men get the quirky character traits and more screentime. For example, compare the music video visuals of the songs sung by woman to the music video visuals of songs sung by men. The Hellaverse is a huge issue with the favoritism of male characters and sidelining the female characters.
Back to Charlie, is she interesting as a character, not really. Maybe if she goes through an arc that has nothing to with her hotel and is about those issues that Husk mentions in Episode 4. Thanks to Season 2 being the ‘Backstory Season’, I hope we learn more of her upbringing and her relationship with her parents, especially with Lilith. The Hellaverse has a lack of maternal relationships. For example, Blitz and Moxxie's mothers are dead, the status of Stolas' mother is unknown, and the relationship between Via and Stella is nonexistent. The only mother has a relationship with her kids is Camila and she is a side character, and her daughters are there.
Her goal of sending to Sinners to Heaven would have work if Viv's Hell had clear rules. Like if you committed even simple crimes like shoplifting or jay-walked, you get sent to Hell and spend your afterlife with the worst of humanity, even if you did good things in your life like donating to charity or helped an old lady cross the street.
Charlie keeps saying 'Sinners are my people', what about the Hellborn? Why is Charlie so focused on Sinners then though imps and hellhounds are oppressed by the class system which was put in place by her father? Lucifer is at the top of the Hell Hierarchy, so he has the be the one to create it. Charlie should also be helping her native people, not just the people who got sent there.
Rewriting
I would not change her personality too much, but I would show her angry side more. Forget getting the horns when she is mad, she just goes postal on anyone who pushes her buttons. Also, I would have Charlie have more a backbone and use that authority more like she would have smack the color off of Val before he would be able to lick her arm.
For the hotel exercises, I would make her use stuff that spills from Earth thanks to the succubi as a guide to help Sinners. Charlie never lived as human and grow up in Hell her whole life, she could have watch movies or documentaries to learn about the human experience. Charlie could use documentaries about certain time periods to understand the time period everyone is from. She could also have use psychosocial books to help her as well.
I would have the hotel be more like a fave haven for Sinners who have afwul afterlives like Angel. She would not push the idea of redemption onto them but let them warm up to the idea of redeeming themselves instead of Charlie pushing the idea onto them and not going around Hell telling people about her hotel. She would also be okay with people coming and leaving and she will always welcomes them back with open arms and always show them compassion.
I am ending this post here.
Have a nice day, night, week, or whatever.
Thanks for reading!
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