Seeing Stars

"I mean, try to cut your dad some slack. He may not always get it right but he's trying. That's more important than you think."

- Loona, to Octavia

Seeing Stars is the second episode of the second season of Helluva Boss and is the ninth episode overall. It premiered on October 19, 2022, on Vivziepop's YouTube channel.

Synopsis
Octavia steals the grimoire and things sure do happen.

Plot
Sometime in the past, Stolas tells a young Octavia the story of Azathoth's tears, a special display that resembles meteor showers. Stolas promises her daughter that one day he will take her to see them. Octavia looks forward to this event, as years later, she has kept track of the specific date. As she looks for her father around the palace, she notices Stolas, on the phone with an angry Stella,. Being moments in after the divorce, Stolas is forced to move all of Stella's stuff out of the palace while he rants to her. This occupies him as Octavia tries to remind him about the stars event that he had promised her. However, with little time Stolas had to pay attention to her, Octavia angrily walks off, planning to see the stars on her own.

Meanwhile, back at I.M.P. Headquarters, Blitzo is trying to escape an angry Loona from pulverizing him, in an attempt to talk to her about her attitude towards clients, via Moxxie's advice. Loona mentions the very thought of replacing her role as receptionist, and Blitzo goes along with the idea to consider it, upsetting Loona even further. Little does everyone know, Octavia sneaks past them (albeit Loona spotting her but not saying anything) towards Blitzo's office to look for Stolas's grimoire. Once she finds it, she asks the book to "take her to the stars", in which a spell is activated to do so. It is only then that Blitzo, and the others notice this, seeing Octavia enter a portal with the grimoire in her hands, while an angry Blitzo scolds at Loona who neglected to tell them that someone was here.

Octavia finds herself in a place unknown to her, with a bunch of humans making it harder for her to get around. She runs into a corner to hide from people as she panics. Blitzo, also panicking, has no idea how to tell Stolas about the situation, until some time he does reach him on the phone. Thinking the situation went well, Stolas, in his full demonic form, is seen visibly furious. Meanwhile, Octavia struggles to get around, asking people for help in how she can see the stars. When she finds a pamphlet with the words "Starstruck Tourz" on it, she figures she can find what she's looking for there. Back to a frantic Stolas, trying to figure out why and where Octavia left, and how they would find her. Loona, using her scent, depicts that Octavia is somewhere in Los Angeles.

As Stolas and the rest of I.M.P. enter a portal to L.A., both Stolas and Loona transform into their human forms. Without his grimoire, Stolas can't use his powers to give the Imps human disguises. As the Imps follow from behind, Moxxie and Millie are stopped by a series of people trying to promote their businesses. A mix of music and art salesman. Moxxie realizes he needs money to pay people for the work they are trying to sell and does what he can to get them, despite Millie's opinion on how pointless they may be. After a bus tour, Octavia realizes her desire to look for the stars was misdirected.

Blitzo exits a costume shop, finding what he can to disguise himself. It works all too well when he is mistaken for a celebrity named Brennon Ragers. As fans pile on top of him, asking for autographs and selfies, a TV crew tries to take him for a show that Brennon Ragers was supposed to guest star in. Blitzo immediately refuses and attempts to escape, but his attempts remain futile as he is thrown into a truck. As a crowd fights over his disguise, Stolas, posing as "Brennon's agent", is also thrown in the truck. Blitzo, still seeing hope, breaks the window, and advises Loona to look for Octavia.

With the tour over, a visibly annoyed Octavia continues to wander around the city, ignoring the things around her, until she passes nearby a souvenir shop. She takes a picture of the location, as well as check out the inside. Back to a protesting Blitzo, he's expected to perform in front of an audience in a sitcom, which visibly haunts him from the last time he ever performed. Stolas reassures him that he'll do a great job, and throws him onto the stage. As Blitzo is expected to say his lines through a teleprompter, and the audience laughing at his wisecracks, this boosts his confidence a bit and he proceeds to play along with the show.

Loona wanders around the city, spotting the same souvenir shop Octavia was at minutes ago. She takes a picture and posts it on her Sinstagram. As she scrolls down, she notices Octavia took a picture of the same location she was at. She then looks at some of Octavia's recent posts of her at random locations in Los Angeles. For every picture she's in, Loona tries to find her at that same location, but to no avail. She stops at an observatory, but keeps on looking for her. Meanwhile, at Starstruck Studios, Blitzo is still going along with the acting. When he's expected to play a scene where a family adopts Uggie, this reminds him of the moment, as the scene flashback, when he had first met Loona at the adoption center. Seeing the depressing condition Loona was in, Blitzo felt sorry for her, until the scene cuts back to the present, on set. Blitzo, in a traumatized rage, refuses to give Uggie to the acting family, and so much as breaks character to the point where he tries to kill everyone on set. After everything is set on fire, Blitzo grabs Stolas's hand to escape this mess and search for their daughters.

Back at the observatory, Loona is still looking for Octavia, until she finally spots her on top of a ledge, sad and alone. This gives the two a moment together, as Loona, who reverts back in her normal form, talks to her about how Stolas is looking for her. She doesn't believe this, as Loona is the one who found her and he wasn't, visibly upset that Stolas was so caught up about hating Stella since the divorce, and had forgotten about his promise to her. Loona tells her that the idea of having a father around is never as easy, but they are trying they're best to be there for their children. She reveals that Stolas is somewhere in the city looking for her, and before she's ready to go and look for him, Octavia returns the grimoire to Loona, and thanks Loona with a hug.

As Blitzo and Stolas look endlessly for their daughters, Loona and Octavia reappear in front of them through a portal. Relieved that she is okay, Stolas hugs her daughter, then questions why she decided to run off in the first place, as Octavia reminds him about his promise to see Azathoth's tears. Having caught up in the divorce, Stolas had forgotten all about it, and apologizes to his daughter, who forgives him and says she's glad that he's here now. Suddenly, fireworks shoot up in the sky, and Octavia takes the time to enjoy the moment. Meanwhile, Moxxie and Millie are ready to head back, as they enter a portal to I.M.P. headquarters. Moxxie, having collected a lot of souvenirs, is stopped by another salesman, but Millie, having fed up with Moxxie's naivety, kills the salesman carries Moxxie into the portal.

Characters

 * Employees of I.M.P
 * Blitzo
 * Moxxie
 * Millie
 * Loona
 * Demons of Ars Goetia
 * Stolas
 * Octavia
 * Stella (voice only)
 * Goetia family butler (non-speaking cameo)
 * Verosika Mayday (pictured)
 * Wally Wackford (pictured)
 * Vortex (pictured)

Locations

 * Los Angeles, California, U.S.A

Objects

 * Stolas's Grimoire

Songs

 * "Til the Day We Die"
 * "I Like It"

Instrumentals

 * TBA

Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.

Trivia

 * This episode premiered on voice cast member Bryce Pinkham's 40th birthday.
 * This episode has scenes shown in animatics from the trailer for season two, to which some shots were completed and improved.
 * The hellhound from the aforementioned trailer appears in Loona's Sinstagram stories with the username "hellboy69".
 * Loona and Octavia's Sinstagram accounts use the same username as the one for their non-canon Voxtagram.
 * Additionally, even though it does not have an Instagram-counterpart, Wally's username is shown to be "wacky_wally.official".
 * As opposed to her real-life Instagram's bio, Octavia's Sinstagram bio reads "😢Sad😭🌙🌧✨ / 💔Depressed🦉💜".
 * It is implied that Blitzo still has lingering feelings for Verosika Mayday on some level, with him having an image of her on a calendar in the I.M.P. office, albeit with her face covered by a sticky-note with a poorly-drawn version of Blitzo's own face.
 * Brandon's drawing of Blitzo, which was made as a poster for the series' Streamily autograph events, can be seen framed in I.M.P's waiting room during the scene where Octavia sneaks into their office albeit in different colors.
 * It is implied that Loona was one month away from turning 18 when Blitzo adopted her; following up from her mention in "Spring Broken" that Blitzo adopted her when she was "almost 18", the hellhound at the adoption pound noted Loona would "out of our hair next month" reveals that Loona would be forced out of the adoption center within a month. It is also revealed that Loona was expected to amount to nothing, which caused Blitzo to feel great empathy for her blight.
 * The coin Moxxie picks up is printed in the year "2021", implying this is in or after the year the episode takes place.
 * The binary text that was briefly shown in the proctor translates to "Did you actually translate this, nerd?".
 * According to clean-up artist, Matthew Mortati, Octavia was initially going to fall next to and kick on a similarly looking incidental rather than Brennon Ragers.
 * It is revealed that Octavia has pyrokinesis, as she lights Loona's cigarette with a pink flame from her finger.
 * It is revealed that Blitzo and Stolas' monthly rendezvous takes place on every 14th of the month.

Cultural References

 * Blitzo's disguise is accordingly represented as a Hollywood star named Brennon Ragers, which is a spoof to his voice actor, Brandon Rogers.
 * The hot influencers' affair scene is a direct nod to the debunked and  affair rumor.
 * The costume shop Blitzo exited from was called "The Costume Shop of Horrors", which is a reference to the musical , one of Vivziepop's favorite musicals.
 * A street performer is dressed as a dinosaur version of from .
 * The paintings displayed on the street artist's stand Millie bumps into features crude paintings of what appear to be The Mona Lisa,, and.
 * A plush of Spanish dub actor Rubén Quezada's mascot Rubecai makes a cameo in the street artist's stand.
 * "Rottun's fruit snacks is a parody of fruit snacks.
 * The "Luvey" doll at the Star Owl souvenir shop appears to be modeled after Pennywise from .
 * The "Oh Weed Ya" board is a play on ouija boards.
 * One of the Starstruck Studios locations is based on the globe outside.
 * The cocaine-addicted actress in "Sweetie! I'm in the House" appears to be modeled after both Baby Doll from ' and Darla Dimple from the 1997 animated film '.
 * Azathoth's Tears and their primordial origins are a direct nod to 's.
 * The pop-up ad featuring Brennon Ragers has a statement that says "Ads by Gaagle", which is a parody of Google.
 * The location that appears on Blitzo's phone's map app search bar, "Not Topic", alludes to the real-life shop, Hot Topic.

Continuity

 * The tour guide from "C.H.E.R.U.B" reappears.
 * The car accident victim from the aforementioned episode also appeared in an investigation scene with his lower half-torn off and his organ exposed.
 * In the flashback, Loona is wearing the same clothes she had on in the adoption day picture that appeared in "Ozzie's".
 * The beachgoer with the Verosika tattoo from "Spring Broken" reappears in the exact same animation, albeit with his chest tattoo changed to "Brennon Ragers".
 * Loona calling Moxxie fat is a callback to both the pilot and "C.H.E.R.U.B" where she insists that he is overweight.

Errors

 * When Blitzo calls for Moxxie and Millie after being bombarded by fans of Brennon Ragers, his fake human ears disappear. During the next scene he appears in, they are back on the sides of his head.
 * Additionally, Blitzo's fake human ears alternate from having black line art to lineless line art in every other scene.
 * During the scene where Blitzo's show drags on for too long, most of the people of the audience already left, but after Blitzo snaps out of his flashback, the audience had the same amount of people as when the sitcom started.
 * Because the animation of the one Verosika fanboy was reused to become a Brennon Ragers fanboy, he is instead left mouthing "Verosika" without actually saying anything.
 * Stolas is revealed to not be able to memorize his grimoire's spells despite him claiming in the previous episode that he "has a very good memory".

Gallery

 * Seeing Stars/Gallery