Radio Killed the Video Star

"Alastor... came back, and he is with Lucifer's DAUGHTER...and that wasn't the first FUCKING THING YOU TOLD ME?!"

- Vox to Valentino after learning of Alastor's reappearance

Radio Killed the Video Star is the second episode of the first season of Hazbin Hotel, and the second episode overall. It premiered on January 19, 2024, on Prime Video, and a week earlier on the A24 app as part of pre-ordered packages.

Synopsis

 * The Vee's: Vox, Velvette, and Valentino rule their corner of Hell unchallenged, but Alastor's return to the airwaves may shake things up. Meanwhile, a new Hotel guest tests Angel's patience.

Plot
The episode opens in the hotel with Charlie panicking about having only half the time that they thought they had to save Sinners. Vaggie manages to calm her down, saying that they’ll be able to handle it. Angel Dust says that they have even less of a chance than they did before while reading his texts from Valentino. Vaggie realises that sinners, being desperate to escape the Extermination, may come to the Hotel for a chance at surviving.

Suddenly, Sir Pentious arrives at the hotel in his ship, blowing up a hole on a wall of the hotel in the process, announcing that he is there to fight Alastor. Alastor asks who Pentious is, and Pentious introduces himself as "inventor, architect of destruction, villain extraordinaire", hoping to be acknowledged by the "Vees". Niffty wonders who they are, and Alastor claims them to be nobodies.

Meanwhile, Vox, in V Tower observing, gets called by Velvette, who tells him that Valentino is having a tantrum and that he is destroying her department and killing some of her staff. Vox, going up the lift, meets with some reporters, who ask him about his opinion on the new deadline for the Extermination. Vox says that VoxTek was planning a new branch, VoxTek Angelic Security. He then hypnotizes the reporters and leaves. Then, Vox meets Valentino in his room, who tells him that the reason he is angry is because Angel Dust moved to the Hazbin Hotel without asking him first. Valentino wants to go and shoot everyone at the hotel, but Vox manages to dissuade him, saying that it will be bad for the Vees' image if he goes "chasing whores around town". After being calmed down, Valentino reveals to Vox that Alastor is also staying at the hotel and shows him some drone footage from the Hazbin Hotel.

At the hotel, Alastor easily defeats Sir Pentious, but Pentious manages to rip off a piece of Alastor's coat. Alastor sends him flying away with an explosion, before announcing to the rest of the hotel's residents that he is going to the tailor to get his coat fixed. However, he leaves some of his shadow creatures to fix the wall while he's gone. Vox, angry that Alastor is back, begins a television broadcast where he denounces Alastor and mocks him for his irrelevance, saying that he "should've stayed away" (Stayed Gone). Alastor, coming out of the tailor, notices Vox doing this and hijacks Vox's broadcast (and song) with his first radio broadcast since his disappearance. Alastor mocks Vox, saying that he has to constantly update and keep changing to stay relevant, and pointing out that he was only powerful as long as he had the other two Vees backing him up. Vox, getting angry, glitches out and causes the entirety of Pentagram City to have a blackout. Alastor, going into his full demon form, tells Vox that he is "gonna make him wish that he'd stayed gone," before cutting the signal, much to Vox's dismay.

Later, when the Vees have a meeting where they discuss Alastor, Vox addresses that their primary concern now is that Alastor and Charlie never made a deal, so they need to make sure that never happens. The three of them together come up with the idea to employ Sir Pentious to act as their spy in the hotel.

Back in the hotel, Charlie and Vaggie return from trying to find new hotel guests, having recruited nobody. Angel points out that people would rather spend their last days having as much fun as possible than staying at the hotel. Just then, there is a knock on the door. Vaggie answers it to Sir Pentious, who says that he wants to stay at the hotel. Angel attempts to stop Charlie and Vaggie from letting him stay, pointing out that he had tried to kill them 6 hours ago, but Charlie says that Pentious deserves a second chance and lets him in. She shows him around the hotel, saying that she is excited to have their first real guest. When Angel questions what he is, Vaggie says that he "constantly makes them look bad, sexually harasses the staff, and has literally never once tried to improve", causing Angel to look slightly guilty. Charlie then reintroduces Sir Pentious to Alastor, Alastor saying that he definitely remembers Pentious now that he ruined his coat. Charlie gets Pentious to apologise to Alastor, the former also returning the piece of fabric that he took off of Alastor’s coat. Alastor says that "not many people have managed to take even this much off of him" and that it must have meant a lot to Pentious, before burning it.

Later, Charlie, Vaggie, Angel and Sir Pentious are sitting in the parlor together, and Charlie is getting them to play a rhyming game as an icebreaker. Charlie and Sir Pentious each take turns, but Angel refuses, calling it stupid. Vaggie tells him that he better get used to it, because it was going to be his whole day. After this, Angel and Sir Pentious perform a skit while Charlie, Vaggie, Alastor, Husk and Niffty watch them. Angel Dust performs in complete deadpan, not liking the script, while Sir Pentious puts more effort into his acting. Charlie congratulates Pentious, saying that he would soon be redeemed if he kept going at the rate he was. Angel, looking sad, announces that he's going to bed. Going to his room, he sits on his bed and listens to his voicemails from Valentino, which alternate between him being nice and him being threatening, the last one saying that Angel can't change and that "addict trash" like him can't be redeemed. Angel, saddened by this, goes downstairs to get a drink. While he's there, he notices Pentious and follows him into another room, where he sees him putting a Voxtek camera on a shelf. Angel confronts him and accuses him of working for the Vees. When Pentious denies this, Angel attacks him, but Sir Pentious gets him off using hypnosis. Angel quickly shakes it off, though. When Charlie and Vaggie come into the room, Angel tells them that Pentious was a spy for the Vees and shows them the camera as proof. Pentious, panicking, attempts to contact Vox through a watch that the Vees gave him. Vox laughs at him, before saying that if the hotel's residents didn't kill him, he should just do it himself. Sir Pentious asks for them to just "make it quick", even though he doesn't deserve it. Vaggie and Angel want to kill him, but Charlie stops them and sings Pentious a song about apologising (It Starts With Sorry).

After this, Charlie, Vaggie, Angel Dust, and Sir Pentious go to bed. Alastor appears out of the shadows and turns on Vox's watch, telling him that he was going to have to try harder if he wanted to get to him before crushing the watch, leaving Vox in anger.

Characters

 * Employees of the Hazbin Hotel
 * Charlie Morningstar
 * Vaggie
 * Alastor
 * Husk
 * Niffty
 * KeeKee (cameo)
 * Clients of the Hazbin Hotel
 * Angel Dust
 * Sir Pentious
 * Egg Boiz (cameo)
 * Fat Nuggets (official debut; cameo)
 * Cherri Bomb (pictured)
 * Baxter (non-speaking cameo)
 * Overlords
 * The Vees (official debut)
 * Vox
 * Velvette
 * Valentino
 * Carmilla Carmine (mentioned)
 * Kitty (debut; non-speaking cameo)

Locations

 * Hell
 * Pride Ring
 * Pentagram City
 * Hazbin Hotel
 * V Tower
 * Unnamed tailor store

Objects

 * Angel Dust's phone
 * Sir Pentious' blimp
 * Vaggie's spear
 * Beelzejuice (name only)
 * Valentino's guns

Songs

 * "Stayed Gone"
 * "It Starts With Sorry"

Trivia

 * It reveals that Valentino owns a Robo Fizz that he calls "Kitty".
 * It is revealed that Vox has a camera drone he uses to spy on Alastor and the hotel.
 * It's revealed that Alastor can make elk bugle noises when he's going full demon.
 * According to Alastor in the song Stayed Gone, he was allegedly invited by Vox to be a part of his team prior to the events of the series.
 * In the same song sequence, Vox's screen flashes an error message for a split second, it reads: "A problem has been detected and Vox has been shut down to prevent damage to his systems. The problem seems to be caused by the following file: Alastor.exe Vox.exe_crash_error_eat_shit_alastor Check to make sure all ((1930s' looking ass)) hardware and software is up to date and properly installed. Ask Vox for any VoxTek updates you might need. If problems continue, ((fuck you, Alastor)) disable or remove any Alastor(s) from the general vicinity. If you need to use "unsafe mode" reset your VoxTek device, press F5, and select "Advanced startup options" then select "unsafe mode". Technical information: Stop Alastor.exe old-timey prick radio."
 * According to Vox, Alastor has been absent for seven years prior to the events of the pilot, making him share the same number of years missing as Lilith.
 * As mentioned by Valentino, Alastor almost beat Vox one time.
 * As of this episode, Sir Pentious is now a client, and thus a permanent resident of the hotel and part of the main cast.
 * Before this, Sir Pentious was heavily hinted to become a part of the main cast throughout the official teasers for the show. Ranging from Vivziepop's change of her Twitter header to the various clips and GIFs taken from the series.
 * According to storyboard artist Nicole Rodriguez, the details of the voicemails Valentino sent Angel on the latter's phone has the ones where Valentino tries to coax Angel to return by sweet-talking him be shaped like hearts, whereas the ones where he is reprimanding Angel has the voicewaves shaped like spikes.
 * During the Stayed Gone sequence where Vox excitedly sings the line "Who gives a shit?!", for a split second a poster on the wall of the Vees' redesign announcement from the show's official Twitter can be seen.
 * Additionally, the drawing that Vox showed in his news report in the same song sequence is the same drawing Vivienne Medrano posted on her Twitter to tease Alastor's redesign.
 * The word "Dildo" is also written in cursive by Valentino using a pink pen.
 * This drawing also confirms Vivziepop's statement on Twitter of Alastor having hooves for feet.
 * In a Tweet, Vivziepop mentioned that one of her favorite jokes she wrote is later in the scene where Angel Dust and Sir Pentious are rehearsing.
 * In another Tweet, Vivziepop stated that one of her favorite jokes is when Vox says "It hasn't even been a DAY?!" to Sir Pentious.
 * In a Tweet, Sam Miller stated that one of her favorite character moments is where Valentino meticulously bedazzles his gun using crafting glue, which she revealed was something she pitched with Skye Henwood.
 * One of the posters on the V Tower's walls advertises a Love Potion featuring the collaborative efforts of Velvette's powers with Valentino's saliva. This same potion is later expanded on in "Masquerade".
 * Thirty seconds of Stayed Gone, starting with "Breaking News", is one shot and one ToonBoom file that was keyed by Skye Henwood, but animated by all the Hazbin Hotel leads as one of the first major shots.
 * The plant next to Valentino's firearms cabinet is reminiscent of Asmodeus' tail feathers.

Cultural references

 * The title of the episode is a reference to the classic song "".
 * Sir Pentious being sent to spy on and double cross the residents of the hotel may be a reference to how snakes are a popular symbol of betrayal.
 * The "Obey-N-Pay" bit of the Stayed Gone sequence may be a reference to the Obey and Pray gimmick of real-life televangelism where viewers have the option to pay in hopes of their prayers getting answered.

Continuity

 * On Vox's face monitor screen, Velvette's contact icon has her appear with a very similar outfit and hairstyle to the one she had in the pilot.
 * The dress that Velvette puts on her model and likes is similar to the one she wore in her pilot design.

Errors

 * When Vox is talking to the reporters, he is momentarily shown with five fingers instead of the usual four.
 * Before Charlie shows Sir Pentious how to apologize, the buttons on her shirt disappear.
 * When Charlie describes Sir Pentious as a "Sithery, slippery, special little man", the lineart for her bangs' highlight briefly disappears.

Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

 * Radio Killed the Video Star/Gallery