Helluva Boss is a So-So Employer
Created By: Vivienne Medrano
Voice Actors: Brandon Rogers, Richard Steven Horvitz, Vivian Nixon, Erica Lindbeck, Bryce Pinkham
Millie: “Humans are full‘a secret nasties. It’s why so many of them end up here. Guilty and innocent aren’t our business, Mox. Killin’ who we’re paid to is our business.”
Helluva Boss “Muder Family (Season 1, Episode 1)
Helluva Boss is a workplace comedy set in Hell. A group of demons form an assassination business, sneaking into the human world to kill whoever wronged their clients. But killing’s the easy part compared to not killing each other.
Is Helluva Boss one hell of a boss or is it time to call H.R.? Let’s find out.
Scene Select
The Good
Immediate Murder Professionals
Collin: “You know, you three are so utterly c-c-cruel! We’re just trying to give hope to someone in need.”
“C.H.E.R.U.B.” (Season 1, Episode 4)
Moxxie: “Oh, and you three are so superior to us just because we want some selfish, greedy, authoritarian capitalist to keel over dead!”
Many people harbor a secret. There’s that one person they wish could meet a grizzly end. Well, ol’ buddy, ol’ pal, ol’ conspirator to commit ghastly vengeance from beyond the grave, seems to me that you need I.M.P.
Blitzo (the o is silent) is the founder of I.M.P., a group of demonic hitmen for hire. He’s crass, cruel, and a lousy lover, but great at his job. His adopted Hellhound daughter Loona acts as the company receptionist, designated portal operator, and cavalry. She hides a good heart behind apathy and an abrasive personality.
Millie and Moxxie are Blitzo’s field operatives. Millie is a bloodthirsty sweetheart from the Wrath Ring of Hell. She’s partial to massacres, but otherwise empathetic to coworkers and head over heels for her husband Moxxie. He’s an intellectual picked on by everyone except Millie, and also a surprisingly competent killer with a well-developed sense of justice.
I.M.P. are evil in every possible way, but they have strict standards. They always fulfill their contracts, never accept jobs that don’t pay or involve murder, and avoid killing anyone who they haven’t been paid to whack.
Love is One Helluva Boss
Stolas: “Am I going to get any thank you for the rescue, Blitzy?”
Truth Seekers “(Season 1, Episode 6)
Blitzo: “I suppose you should. Want me to fuck your brains out tonight?”
Stolas: “Very much so.”
Killing is fun, but it’s not at Helluva Boss’ heart. Half of the show is dedicated to Blitzo’s romantic struggles with the debatable real main character, Stolas.
Stolas is a flamboyant prince of Ars Goetia. He’s trapped in a loveless marriage with abusive Princess Stella and his moody teenage daughter Octvia. Blitz trades sex for a grimore he needs from Stolas.
Stolas and Blitzo’s relationship is discovered early, ruining his marriage for sleeping with a lowly imp, a commoner below his station, at that. Losing his wife and opening a rift with his daughter makes Stolas more open about his booty calls, describing in censored, but explicit detail what he wants Blitzo to do to him.
The prince and the hitman aren’t the only two with tumultuous relationships. Loona starts crushing on Vortex, another Hellhound working for one of Blitzo’s exes. Unlucky for her, he’s dating the Queen Sin of Gluttony, Beelzebub. Millie and Moxxie are the only two with a healthy relationship, but even that is tested because of her disapproving parents.
Hell is Empty and All The Devils Are Here
Robo Fizz: “Real or not, people love me! Does anyone love you, Blitz-o?”
“Loo Loo Land” (Season 1, Episode 2)
Blitzo: “…No. But I’m really good with guns now! DANCE, BITCH!”
People generally don’t hire a hitman without a good reason to want someone dead. The only thing worse than I.M.P.’s targets are the forces trying to interfere with their hits.
Humans are jerks in Helluva Boss. That heroic survivor of a jilted lover? She and her family are secretly satanic cannibals. A suicidal old coot? He’s been experimenting on poor people for years. There are some people that don’t deserve to die, but I.M.P. deals with the worst of the worst.
Fizzaroli is a demon jester with a grudge against Blitzo for unknown reasons. His robotic duplicate Robo Fizz is the first to hint at Blitzo’s dark past. The real Fizz shows up later to screw with the main characters, safe in the knowledge that his love, the King Sin of Lust Asmodeus, will protect him.
Several one-off threats bedevil our assassins. C.H.E.R.U.B. is their heroic counterpart, a trio of self-righteous angels out to save at-risk humans, even when they don’t deserve it. Striker is another assassin targeting Stolas with angelic weaponry. I.M.P. also runs afoul of D.H.O.R.K.S., an incompetent demon-hunting government agency.
The Bad
Hellish Hymns
Millie: “So how do we make this bad?”
“C.H.E.R.U.B.” (Season 1, Episode 4)
Moxxie: “We can’t. There’s literally nothing bad about opera. And that’s a fact.”
Blitzo: “Unless we ruin it somehow.”
Helluva Boss is billed as a musical like its predecessor Hazbin Hotel. But this is one arena where the sister show has the edge, because HB does the bare minimum.
The majority of songs in season one are teases. I.M.P. and C.H.E.R.U.B. both get jingles that are over as soon as they begin. Many songs play over headphones and radios and are only heard in passing. Even when villains get their own numbers like Striker’s Song or Vacay to Bonetown, the show cuts away to play it in the background.
There are a few hits here. Stolas’ You Will Be Okay is a heartfelt lullaby that could have come from Hazbin Hotel. House of Asmodeus features the main vocalists as the titular king upstages Moxxie’s romantic ballad for not being lustful enough. Kesha, who voices Beelzebub, wrote the upbeat pop party anthem, Cotton Candy, and season one plays out with Monster’s Ball.
Helluva Boss’ Plodding Plot
Moxxie: “You’ve had us tied up for what, hours? And haven’t even asked what we are.”
Truth Seekers “(Season 1, Episode 6)
Agent 1: “What are you?”
Moxxie: “I’m a Virgo.”
Helluva Boss is episodic, unlike its plot-driven predecessor. That gives the showrunners more freedom to tell stories, but undercuts the plot.
Heluva Boss’ episodes have a lot of variety, including a company retreat to a theme park, trying to talk a vile billionaire into suicide, or being interrogated by incompetent government agents. They are fun stories that lack connective tissue.
The first season’s story arc is mishandled. There’s no way to tell if an episode is self-contained, vitally important, or has a small element that comes roaring back down the road. It also struggles to balance when plot beats happen. Helluva Boss Season 1 should have ended with episode 7, but kept going with a mostly one-off episode that dealt with fallout at the end.
The Verdict
Helluva Boss is a mixed bag. The main characters, romance subplots, and reprehensible villains are a delight, but it never hits Hazbin Hotel‘s high notes and needs a stronger through line. Temper your expectations, but Helluva Boss is worth a watch.
Image courtesy of Prime Video, copyright Amazon MGM Studios
Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.
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