Overture

"My dad just called, he said the leader of the angel army wants to meet, he asked if I could go instead!"

- Charlie to Vaggie after the phone call from Lucifer

Overture is the first episode of the first season of Hazbin Hotel, and the first 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

 * Charlie pitches Heaven her plan to save sinners by way of redeeming themselves through her Hotel. Vaggie enlists the staff to make a commercial to promote the hotel.

Plot
The episode begins with Charlie Morningstar narrating a story of how the universe was created by Heaven, which was ruled by Angels. Her father, Lucifer Morningstar, a mischievous angel with idealistic creative ideas, was scolded by the elders of Heaven for his behavior, and was deemed dangerous for his creation. The higher angels created the universe, as well as Earth, with the intention of being good. The angels then give birth to the first Humans on earth, Adam and Lilith. However, Adam was controlling towards Lilith, so the first woman rebelled from her husband, and fled to get away from him. It is there that Lucifer's journey took a turn as he fell in love with Lilith, and Lilith fell for Lucifer too. By then, Adam had gained a new bride named Eve, and together, Lucifer and Lilith came to the curious Eve to share the gift of free will with humanity; however, this inadvertently invited the bad and evil into the world. Outraged by Lucifer's recklessness and his "betrayal", the angels casted both Lucifer out of heaven and punished him and Lilith into the depths of a new underworld called Hell, with Lucifer the ruler of all the Sinners and Demons. Although Lucifer was depressed that he was casted out of Heaven, Lilith thrived in Hell and brought the demons to new heights with the powers of Hell spreading unchecked. The angels saw the the rise of Demons as a threat to their existence, and so, every year, they send in exorcists to commence the Extermination as population control to keep the number of demons and sinners at very low levels.

Fast forward to the present, Charlie, the daughter of Lucifer and Lilith, has seen the slaughter every year and vows to transform Hell through her Hazbin Hotel. As Charlie watches the city burning to the ground after another yearly Extermination, Vaggie, Charlie's girlfriend who helps to manage the hotel, comes by to see her, having heard her story, which surprises her. Vaggie wonders if she's heard anything from her mother, Lilith, and Charlie tells her that she hasn't received anything for about seven years since then. Still, Charlie still remains hopeful that she will save her kingdom. Vaggie leaves to show Charlie something that their new co-worker, Alastor to help them with their hotel. Just before she leaves, Charlie hears the bells ringing, indicating that it's another year long wait for another extermination.

Alastor shows the managers a promotional commercial he created for the hotel with the help of its other residents, Angel Dust, a gay pornstar, Husk, the bartender, and Niffty, a small one-eyed and sadistic hotel maid, to convince others to join the hotel. However, the advertisement has a tone that clashes with the intended message of redemption and is bad for promotion due to its misleading portrayal of the Hazbin Hotel, leaving Vaggie outraged knowing it wouldn’t get sinners to come to be redeemed, though Alastor claims that the commercial was supposed to be hilarious, and because he's been out of touch with Hell for however long that he prefers his own radio show and not something from a TV set, which he considers to be practically useless. Angel Dust suggests to do a porn video commercial to attract the horniest sinners to the hotel, but Vaggie shoots him down, and while he proceeds to extravagant himself, Charlie receives a phone call from her father, and takes it. As she listens, Charlie is very excited to hear that the leader of the Angel Army wants to meet her in person. The urgency of the meeting raises questions about the intentions of Heaven, especially so soon after an extermination. Charlie, filled with excitement, prepares to attend the meeting, leaving Vaggie and the residents in anticipation. So ecstatic, Charlie starts to sing Happy Day in Hell along her way to the headquarters of the Angel Army. Upon entering, she meets the leader of the Angel Army, who is revealed to be arrogant, cocky, and egotistical, and is disturbingly harassing Charlie, even though he is a hologram.

Meanwhile, Vaggie gathers the residents and employees and comes up with a plan to make a new commercial that Charlie will like and attract other sinners into the hotel. Vaggie has Alastor conjure up a video camera and they can began making a new commercial. However, the project is very bad and frustrating for Vaggie. Husk is constantly reading lines on a script he was supposed to say because he's not very good in acting; Angel Dust is making flirtatiously horny remarks in his line to Husk; and Niffty has video camera shyness because every time Vaggie points the camera toward her, Niffy goes into a hypnotic trance which creeps Vaggie out. Infuriated, Vaggie turns the camera toward Alastor for his part, but when the camera records him, the screen turns to static and violently goes red, frightening Vaggie so she drops the camera, as Alastor informs her that his face was meant for radios, not for screens. Alastor offers to help with the commercial so long as Vaggie doesn't force him to use television technology, which she agrees. Alastor takes away the camera and conjures up a camera crew of demons, a set, and the residents with new clothes.

As for Charlie, her meeting with the angel leader isn’t going so well, as he is exaggerating himself too much, and reveals him to be the original Adam, to Charlie's surprise. Frustrated, Charlie reminds Adam of their main problem: the extermination of Hell populace due to overpopulation. Adam reminds Charlie they are almost out of time, and Charlie rushes her presentation and starts singing a song, only for Adam to interrupt her by singing Hell is Forever, telling Charlie that the sinners had their chance to go to Heaven while alive and they cannot be redeemed, and decides to change the date of the Extermination to six months, much to Charlie's shock, before Adam kicks her out of his office.

Upset, Charlie returns back to the hotel, just as Vaggie comes to get her to set with the other residents to watch the new commercial on TV. However, just as the commercial is about to begin, the commercial is interrupted by a breaking news bulletin, much to everyone's, except for Niffty and Alastor's frustration. Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench make an important announcement: the Heaven Embassy has announced the new Extermination deadline to be six months instead of a year, and then switches to the Extermination clock where it changes to six months while everyone in Pentagram City panics as chaos and anarchy spreads.

Meanwhile, Adam and his subordinate, Lute, have found what they were looking for: a dead body of the Exorcist. Lute suggests they should start the Extermination already, but Adam declines, wanting to buy time to find out who had killed the angel, and vows that this Extermination will be the end of Hell, smashing the projector with his bare fist, and the episode ends with his glowing evil smile blinking into darkness.

Characters

 * Employees of the Hazbin Hotel
 * Charlie Morningstar
 * Vaggie
 * Alastor
 * Husk
 * Niffty
 * KeeKee (debut; cameo)
 * Razzle and Dazzle (cameo)
 * Angel Dust
 * Angels (official debut)
 * Exorcists
 * Adam
 * Lute
 * The Royal Family (silhouettes only; mentioned)
 * Lucifer Morningstar
 * Lilith
 * Eve (silhouette only)
 * Anchormen of 666 News (cameo)
 * Katie Killjoy
 * Tom Trench

Locations

 * Hell
 * Pride Ring
 * Pentagram City
 * Hazbin Hotel
 * V Tower
 * Heaven Embassy

Objects

 * "The Story of Hell" book
 * Charlie's hellphone

Songs

 * "Happy Day in Hell"
 * "Hell is Forever"

Trivia

 * The episode was also temporarily available on Vivziepop's YouTube channel until February 17, 2024.
 * It is revealed via Charlie's telling of the "Story of Hell" that Adam's first wife was to be Lilith before she was replaced by Eve after the former refused to be subservient to Adam and fell in love with Lucifer.
 * Additionally, Adam reveals that he is the same Adam who was the first human to be ever created.
 * Lute reveals that only sinners are targeted by the extermination, while Hellborns are pardoned due to a deal between Heaven and Lucifer.
 * It is revealed during the angels' drone footage that angel blood is colored a yellowish gold.
 * Alastor reveals he "has not been in Hell for a while". This is further expanded upon in "Radio Killed the Video Star", wherein it is revealed he has been away for seven years.
 * Mick Lauer, the pilot voice of Husk, returns for this episode as a cameo voice role of the slug demon offering Charlie to "touch his parts".
 * The advertisement poster Alastor drew for the commercial says "No tacky circus decor! I promise", which may be a reference to Lucifer's role as a circus ringleader and the Hotel being filled with circus-theming.
 * The pose Charlie does near the end of her Happy Day in Hell song is the same screenshot used as one of the promotions for the show on its official Twitter.
 * When Adam says "ugly people", he smirks directly at the audience.

Cultural References

 * The episode title, Overture, refers to an orchestral piece at the beginning of an opera, suite, play, oratorio, or other extended composition.
 * Much like the opening of the Hazbin Hotel pilot, the silhouette animation of Lucifer's banishment pays homage to the animated films of, notably .
 * The name of the delivery service of the truck Charlie hitches a ride on is a reference to Helluva Boss, the sister series of Hazbin Hotel.
 * Adam eating ribs is a reference to how his second wife, Eve, was created by using one of his own ribs in the biblical story.
 * The two cannibals seen eating intestines together in Cannibal Town during Happy Day in Hell is a dark reference to .
 * During the preparation for the Hotel commercial, Niffty does a pose.
 * Adam and Lute doing the "pound it" fistbump may be a reference to the fistbump of the same name the titular heroes do in the Miraculous Ladybug franchise.
 * One of the trucks Charlie passes by during Happy Day in Hell has "It's All Cake" may be a reference to the real-life show called "Is It Cake?".
 * The windows of the Heaven Embassy are adorned with the Christian Cross, the primary symbol of Christianity.
 * Adam mentions a sexual encounter with a "Virtue chick". In Christian theology, Virtues are the fifth highest tier of angels listed in the hierarchy of angels. The term "Virtue" is also often the angelic counterpart of the Seven Deadly Sins, each one being a direct inverse of the respective sin. It is unknown which use of "Virtue" Adam was referring to.

Continuity

 * The episode takes place seven days after the Hazbin Hotel pilot, as seen when the clock tower countdown has "358" days while the pilot had "365" immediately after the yearly extermination.
 * Angel sarcastically complimenting Vaggie by saying "You're doing great, Vagina" is a callback to Angel's prequel comic, Dirty Healings.
 * When Alastor and Vaggie prepare to make a commercial for the Hotel, Alastor puts himself, Vaggie, Angel Dust, Husk, and Niffty in outfits similar to the ones from Alastor's Reprise in the pilot.

Errors

 * When Charlie starts singing Happy Day in Hell, a jumpcut edit is made where Vaggie briefly disappears.
 * The plate of ribs Adam was eating disappears when Charlie tells him about Hell's "biggest problem".
 * The small magenta-colored heart on the back rear end of Angel's outfit is missing when he asks Vaggie if she knows what "fixing something in post" means.
 * During the scene where Vaggie is recording Husk and Angel for the commercial, the position of the video camera she's holding is ambiguous making it unclear whether she is holding it to her left or right eye.
 * When the Hotel's commercial was about to air, Alastor's hair was not colored on the left side.

Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

 * Overture/Gallery