The Show Must Go On

"Tomorrow, the Exorcist Angels will face a Hell ready to defend itself and win! And we are going to win! But, in case we don't, I want you all to know that... getting to know you has been the biggest honor of my life. Whatever "redemption" really means, I know you all tried. I have seen the good in all of you and it's... I-I'm just... I love you all so much, and... live tonight however you want-"

- Charlie's speech

The Show Must Go On is the eighth and final episode of the first season of Hazbin Hotel, and the eighth episode overall. It premiered on February 1st and 2nd, 2024, on Prime Video.

Synopsis

 * In the Season One finale, all bets are off as the confrontation between the legions of Heaven and Hell begins.

Plot
As the inhabitants of the hotel and cannibals help out with reinforcing the hotel, Charlie attempts to express her appreciation for how hard they have tried at redemption, whatever it may actually be- though her uncertainty at whether they will actually survive, is also clear. The night before the battle, over drinks, Sir Pentious nearly confesses his feelings to Cherri Bomb (who does not seek redemption, but accepted Angel's invitation to the battle) but gets cold feet- though Angel Dust later suggests to her that Pentious may be worth pursuing. Alastor observes the group from the mezzanine with Niffty, who expresses her fondness for them; while agreeing they are entertaining, Alastor merely says that they might be moving under other circumstances.

Later, Charlie shares with Vaggie her fears that she has lead everyone to their deaths, though Vaggie replies that even if her actions ultimately redeem just one person, it will have been worth it. Reaffirming the strength of their feelings for each other, the two sing ‘More than Anything (Reprise)' and kiss.

Extermination Day arrives and a portal opens over the hotel, allowing a horde of Exorcists led by Adam to dive-bomb it. Alastor forms a forcefield around the hotel to keep the Exorcists' main force at bay, trapping a large number of angels inside, where they are picked off by the cannibals, the hotel staff and guests, and various Angelic weapon systems designed by Sir Pentious (who has appointed himself General). However, Adam finally smashes the forcefield apart; spotting Alastor and recognizing him as the forcefield's conjuror, he heads for the Radio Demon while the Exorcists attack the Sinners' main force.

After Alastor introduces himself, the two battle, with the Overlord goading Adam and employing various abilities to maneuver around the Archangel's wild attacks. The Vees observe the duel through their surveilance, with Vox practically crowing for Alastor's humiliation. Alastor appears to have the upper hand for most of the fight, his greater versatility and cunning countering Adam's greater sheer power and increasingly annoying him. However, Adam eventually breaks Alastor's microphone when the latter makes a miscalculation (causing Alastor to visibly lose his composure, though not his smile). Adam then deals him a severe wound across the chest, forcing Alastor to vanish into the shadows (much to Vox’s fury).

Adam returns to the main battle and begins raining destructive bolts of "holy light" on the combatants, disrupting the Sinners' defenses and allowing the Exorcists to press forward; realizing that Alastor lost and may have been destroyed, Charlie begins to panic. Understanding that Adam must be stopped at any cost, Sir Pentious finally confesses his love for Cherri Bomb, kissing her, before sacrificing himself (and most of his loyal Egg Boiz) in a failed attempt to destroy Adam with his airship.

Distraught and enraged by the loss of her friend, Charlie enters her demon form. She and Vaggie ride Razzle and Dazzle, who have entered their own demon forms, toward Adam, only for Dazzle to be killed by Lute, dropping Vaggie back into the hotel's lobby with Lute in pursuit. Charlie goes after them but is attacked by Adam and thrown into the hotel's sign, electrocuting her. Pursuing her to the roof, Adam mocks her idealism and the fact that she's risking her own immortality to protect the Sinners, condemns her for being Lucifer's daughter and refers to her as 'girlie', only for Charlie to stab him in the shoulder and declare, "That's Princess of Hell to you, pig!" Surprised and enraged that she actually managed to wound him, Adam lunges forward.

In the hotel's lobby, Lute and Vaggie duel as Lute vows to carve out her other eye, increasingly wrecking the room around them. Lute gains the upper hand and manages to impale Vaggie through the hand, but Vaggie reveals her restored wings, crushes Lute under some rubble and spares her. However, Lute tears her arm off to escape the rubble and continues attacking Vaggie, keeping her from reaching Charlie and Adam.

Meanwhile, Adam overwhelms Charlie as the Exorcists encircle Angel Dust, Husk and Cherri Bomb. Just as Adam has Charlie in a stranglehold and all seems lost, Lucifer appears and hurls him backward with a punch, apologizing for his late arrival. The two commence an aerial duel where Lucifer easily outmaneuvers, humiliates and enrages Adam with his shapeshifting, mocking his apparent incompatibility with both his first wife (Lilith) and his second (Eve). In the course of the fight, Adam fires a beam that splits the hotel in two, causing it to collapse; Charlie starts to fall into the chasm, but is caught by her father. Adam tries to strike them from behind, but Lucifer and Charlie intercept his blow and hurl him to the ground, destroying his mask as Lucifer angrily beats him to a pulp for threatening his daughter. However, just before Lucifer can strike the final blow, Charlie steps in, attempting to show mercy.

Adam breaks down in a rage, claiming that the fight is not over and begins ranting about how he started everything on Earth, and that everyone should be worshipping him. However, he is suddenly stabbed in the back, much to everyone's shock. As he collapses, dying, his killer is revealed to be Niffty (who was told by Charlie at the beginning of the battle, “If you see an angel, stab it”). Shocked, Lute and the other angels retreat, cancelling Extermination Day- which is soon (grudgingly) announced by 666 News: "Anyway, congrats to Charlie and her crew for not being totally fucking uselss for once." Observing this, Rosie, Carmilla Carmine and Vox are respectively shown to be pleased.

Walking through the rubble after the battle, Charlie mourns the loss of Sir Pentious, Dazzle, the slain cannibals and the destruction of her hotel, blaming herself for not finding a more peaceful solution. Lucifer and the others comfort her and remind her how her actions inspired them to stand up to Heaven and prove redemption is still worth going after.

Lucifer uses his magic to help rebuild the hotel to a greater state, with Charlie and the other residents assisting, as they sing ‘Finale.’ Back at V tower, Vox and Valentino celebrate the destruction and casualties from the battle (which opens a power vaccuum among the Overlords that they hope to take advantage of) and the apparent disappearance of Alastor, vowing that "the future of Hell belongs to the Vees!" As they dance in celebration, Velvette amusedly records them.

In the aftermath of the fighting, Alastor stumbles to his wrecked broadcasting-office, severely injured, and displaying extreme anxiety, fear and anger- over both how narrow his escape was, and the fact that someone else owns his soul. He expresses his desperation to find a way to escape the deal, remarking ominously that as soon as he does, "Guess who will be pulling all the strings!"

Later, the hotel is finally rebuilt, with Alastor reappearing to the rest of the residents, most of whom seem delighted to see him (though notably not Lucifer or Husk). Meanwhile, in Heaven, Sera and Emily are shocked and thrilled (respectively) to see Pentious appear before them as an angel, proving to them that sinners can be redeemed.

Lute, now in charge of the exorcists, confronts Lilith on a beach in Heaven. She presents Lilith Adam's halo as proof of his death and remarks warningly that "Your deal is done"- and that, if Lilith wants to stay in Heaven, she has to go down and confront Charlie herself.

Characters

 * Employees of the Hazbin Hotel
 * Charlie Morningstar
 * Vaggie
 * Alastor
 * Husk
 * Niffty
 * Razzle and Dazzle
 * KeeKee (cameo)
 * Clients of the Hazbin Hotel
 * Angel Dust
 * Fat Nuggets (cameo)
 * Egg Boiz
 * Cherri Bomb
 * Angels
 * Sir Pentious
 * Exorcists
 * Adam
 * Lute
 * Seraphim Angels (non-speaking cameo)
 * Sera
 * Emily
 * 666 News staff (cameo)
 * Katie Killjoy
 * Tom Trench
 * The Royal Family
 * Lucifer Morningstar
 * Lilith (official debut; non-speaking cameo)
 * Overlords
 * Rosie (non-speaking cameo)
 * Carmilla Carmine (non-speaking cameo)
 * Zestial (drawing only)
 * Zeezi (pictured)
 * The Vees
 * Velvette (non-speaking role)
 * Vox
 * Valentino
 * Cherri Bomb
 * Eve (indirectly mentioned)
 * Baxter (non-speaking cameo)
 * Arackniss (debut; non-speaking cameo)
 * Cannibal Town residences (cameo)

Locations

 * Hell
 * Pride Ring
 * Pentagram City
 * Hazbin Hotel
 * Radio Tower
 * Angel's room (door only)
 * V Tower
 * 666 News station (cameo)
 * Carmine's office (cameo)
 * Cannibal Town (cameo)
 * Rosie's Emporium
 * Heaven (cameo)
 * Sera's office
 * Unnamed beach
 * Garden of Eden (mentioned)

Objects

 * Charlie's pitchfork
 * Charlie's shield
 * Vaggie's angelic spear
 * Alastor's microphone
 * Sir Pentious' blimp
 * Adam's halo
 * Lute's mask
 * Dazzle's statue
 * Sir Pentious' portrait
 * Sir Pentious' first week anniversary banner

Songs

 * "More Than Anything (Reprise)"
 * "Finale"

Tracks

 * Angel Dust's theme

Trivia

 * It is revealed that a sinner can be redeemed and ascend to Heaven, though the exact cause remains unknown.
 * Sir Pentious is the first sinner to ever be redeemed, as he was reborn as a winner angel in Heaven after being killed by Adam.
 * Despite being redeemed, his Egg Boiz were not redeemed alongside him.
 * The following characters are shown to have a battle outfit: Charlie, Vaggie, Sir Pentious, Cherri Bomb, Angel Dust, and Adam.
 * Sir Pentious finally confesses to Cherri Bomb he has a crush on her.
 * Sir Pentious and Dazzle are the first two major characters to die in the series.
 * The aftermath of the final battle are as follows.
 * Lute is defeated but survives while losing her left arm.
 * Dazzle has a golden statue of his full demon form built in his honor.
 * Sir Pentious has a memorial shrine built in his honor. Unbeknownst to the hotel staff, Sir Pentious is later revealed to have successfully ascended to Heaven.
 * The hotel is destroyed and is rebuilt and renovated by the end of the episode.
 * Adam is revealed to also be wearing a helmet.
 * It is implied that all the Exorcist Angels are exclusively women.
 * Alastor confirms through song that he also made a deal with someone and wishes to be free of it. Though, the constraints of the deal are left unsaid.
 * Lilith's whereabouts are finally revealed this episode, which is none other than Heaven itself, wherein she can be seen relaxing on an empty beachside.
 * Lute heavily implies that Lilith made a deal to stay in Heaven. However, since Adam has been defeated, Lute tells her that if she wishes to remain in Heaven, she must stop Charlie from starting an uprising against Heaven.
 * Lucifer claims that he had an affair with Eve once.
 * It is revealed that Lucifer can shapeshift, and that the infamous snake he transforms into is not the only animal he can turn himself into.
 * He can also be seen blinking like a frog.
 * The Vees' table has a handful of photos and doodles on a pinboard, one of which reveals Valentino can draw but can't seem to spell.
 * Another is a photo of Carmilla with the demon poop emoji beside her, implying that this was taken and filtered by Velvette.
 * The running text at the bottom of Katie and Tom's live news broadcast breaks the fourth wall by asking when the release for the show's second season is.
 * Charlie's pitchfork was first revealed in the official TCG cards set sold by Amazon.
 * Additionally, Razzle and Dazzle's full demon forms as well as the hotel being destroyed were also first revealed this way.

Cultural references

 * The episode title is a reference to the real-life phrase referring to having to proceed the performance despite any interruptions.
 * Incidentally, this episode, where Sir Pentious sacrifices himself, debuted a day after the real-life National Serpent Day.
 * The running text of the news broadcast mentioning "I'm shitting and cumming right now!" is a reference to the real-life meme text format expressing one's excitement and disbelief.

Continuity

 * Lucifer asking the gang if anyone wants pancakes after the battle subsided is a callback to Alastor asking the gang the same thing but with jambalaya in the pilot.
 * When Niffty is being interviewed by news reporters, she became frozen when being on camera as shown in "Overture" when Vaggie tries to film her for the hotel commercial.
 * This episode takes place a month after the previous episode.
 * Sir Pentious did everything that Adam had on his list from "Welcome to Heaven": he didn't steal, he acted selfless, and he "stuck it to the man [Adam]".
 * Lute exclaiming how she would rip out Vaggie's remaining working eye is also a callback to this episode.
 * The group picture of Angel, Sir Pentious, Niffty, and Husk from this episode is also seen on the door of Angel's room.
 * In Lucifer's song Hell's Greatest Dad, he mentions usually charging a "sacrificial lamb". During that scene, Dazzle is shown tied down on a silver platter for Charlie, foreshadowing his death.
 * Sir Pentious' first week banner from "Scrambled Eggs" is shown.
 * Carmilla's picture being filtered with a demonic poop emoji on the Vees' pinboard is also a callback to this episode, specifically when Velvette aims her phone at Carmilla while adding the same filter during the meeting.
 * Charlie's demonic arm is a callback to her original beta design with a similar arm.
 * Sir Pentious calling Vaggie "Vagatha" is a callback to the latter's pre-production name.
 * Velvette wearing a witch-like outfit is a callback to advertising posters and billboards for love potions.

Errors

 * Charlie singing "With a little sorcery", her elbow is not colored in.
 * In some shots, Lucifer's wedding ring disappears from his finger.
 * During Adam's last words, Lucifer's horns briefly disappear and reappear.
 * When the group drinks on the night before the battle, when Pentious talk to Cherri, Charlie is seen behind him seemingly shipping the two before Vaggie dragging her away, but the pair disappear behind Pentious' head.

Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

 * The Show Must Go On/Gallery