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 tenth 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 him on the phone with an angry Stella. In the process of the divorce, Stolas is forced to move all of Stella's possessions out of the palace. He is preoccupied with ranting at Stella while Octavia tries to remind him, to no avail, about their stargazing trip. She angrily storms 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, having upset her by confronting her, as per Moxxie's advice, about her poor attitude towards clients. Loona mentions the idea of replacing her as the receptionist, and Blitzo goes along with the idea, which upsets Loona even more. Little does everyone know, Octavia sneaks past them (Loona spots her, but doesn't say anything) towards Blitzo's office to look for Stolas' grimoire. Once Octavia finds the grimoire, she asks the book to "take her to the stars", and a teleportation spell activates. Blitzo and the others notice this and glimpse Octavia leaving the office through a portal with the grimoire in her hands. An angry Blitzo scolds Loona for not warning them of their visitor.

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, deduces 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. Meanwhile, Moxxie and Millie sing a brief love song, which catches the attention of several pedestrians and tourists.

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. Blitzo speaks his lines given via teleprompter, to which the audience laughs, boosting his confidence. At that point he decides to keep playing 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 takes pity upon her. The scene cuts back to the present, on set. Blitzo, in a traumatized rage, refuses to give Uggie to the acting family. This leads to an argument that escalates to the point where Blitzo breaks character and tries to kill everyone on set. The studio is set on fire, and Blitzo grabs Stolas' hand to escape the ensuing chaos 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. She is 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 relationships with fathers can be difficult, but they always try their best to be there for their children. Loona reveals that Stolas is somewhere in the city looking for Octavia. She returns the grimoire to Loona and thanks her with a hug, ready to return to Stolas.

As Blitzo and Stolas search for their daughters, Loona and Octavia teleport to them via portal. Stolas embraces Octavia, relieved that she is okay, then questions why she ran off. Octavia reminds him about his promise to take her to see Azathoth's tears. Having been caught up in the divorce, Stolas had forgotten all about it. He 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 by entering a portal to I.M.P. headquarters. Moxxie, having collected many souvenirs, is stopped by another salesman, but Millie, by this point fed up with Moxxie's naivety, kills the salesman and carries Moxxie through the portal.

Characters

 * Employees of I.M.P
 * Blitzo
 * Moxxie
 * Millie
 * Loona
 * Goetia Royal Family
 * Stolas
 * Octavia
 * Stella (voice only)
 * Goetia family butler (non-speaking cameo)
 * Verosika Mayday (pictured)
 * Wally Wackford (pictured)
 * Vortex (pictured)
 * Joe (indirectly mentioned; name only)
 * Seven Deadly Sins
 * Asmodeus (silhouette only; pictured)
 * Satan (name only)
 * Holly's Wood staff (debut)
 * Brennon Ragers (non-speaking cameo)
 * Producer of "Sweetie! I'm in the House!!"
 * Uggie
 * Hellhound Adoption Center Lady (debut; flashback)
 * Azathoth (mentioned)

Locations

 * Hell
 * I.M.P Headquarters
 * Stolas's mansion
 * Hellhound Adoption Center (flashback)
 * Earth
 * Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. (debut)
 * Holly's Wood
 * Starstruck Studios
 * Star Owl Souvenir Shop
 * The Observatory
 * Unnamed star system (cameo)

Objects

 * Stolas's Grimoire
 * Blitzo's pistol
 * Loona's phone

Songs

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

Instrumentals

 * "Why Does He Hate Her More Than He Loves Me?"

Trivia

 * The title of this episode also references the idiom of the same name.
 * This episode premiered on voice cast member Bryce Pinkham's 40th birthday.
 * This episode has scenes shown in animatics and storyboards from the 2022 trailer, to which some shots were completed and improved.
 * The hellhound from "Queen Bee" 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🦉💜".
 * 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 revealed that Loona was approximately one month away from turning eighteen 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.
 * Adding onto this, Blitzo's calendar shows that the episode took place on a Wednesday the 20th, given it says Sunday 10 days earlier, and shows the number. The calendar also shows that the month starts on a Friday and has 30 days, which the most recent year to have these factors is, while also being after 2021, occurred in 2022, possibly hinting at how the search for Octavia took place on Wednesday, April 20, 2022.
 * The binary text that was briefly shown in the proctor translates to "Did you actually translate this? Nerd."
 * In a Tweet by clean-up artist, Matthew Mortati, Octavia was initially going to fall next to and kick on a similarly looking incidental rather than Brennon Ragers himself, however it may have just been an earlier design of Brennon.
 * 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 (Hell) month.
 * The deer that appears alongside the group of animals onset bears a resemblance to Deerie.
 * It is revealed through Blitzo's text history with her that Millie sends Blitzo pictures of the sex toys she plans on using on Moxxie, asking Blitzo on what he thinks of them.
 * Stolas doesn't refer to Blitzo as "Blitzy" anywhere in the entirety of the episode.
 * Stolas reveals that, without his grimoire, his powers are limited in the human world.
 * Inside the office, there is a cactus that Octavia hides behind that was given to Millie by her father with a tag that says "To Millie / From Dad".
 * And that Blitzo's office safe passcode is revealed to be 1234.
 * This is the first episode to showcase Stolas going to Earth and turning into his human disguise onscreen.
 * And the first episode to have Loona and Octavia interact onscreen.
 * As well as the first episode to have Octavia going to Earth, albeit without a disguise.
 * Millie is shown to have a mug with an image of herself on it that she breaks to use as an improvised weapon.
 * As shown in the official concept art of the background characters for the episode, the girl Loona mistakes for Octavia is named Nottavia.

Cultural References

 * Blitzo's disguise is accordingly represented as a Holly's Wood 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 and  rumor.
 * Azathoth's Tears and their primordial origins are a direct nod to.
 * 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 .
 * Holly's Wood is a parody of.
 * The paintings displayed on the street artist's stand Millie bumps into features animal-like paintings of what appear to be The, , 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 the horror board game,.
 * One of the Starstruck Studios locations is based on the globe outside.
 * The cocaine-addicted child 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, '.
 * The mom with blond hair seen in Sweetie! I'm in the House!! looks similar to Pickles Oblong from . Along with them both having to wear a wig due to hair loss.
 * The pose the producer makes when he knocks over the teleprompter is the memed  death pose.
 * The pop-up ad featuring Brennon Ragers has a statement that says "Ads by Gaagle", is a parody of.
 * The location that appears on Blitzo's phone's map app search bar, "Not Topic", alludes to the real-life shop,.
 * The trolley bag belonging to the mother the Kanye West lookalike is kneeling to bears a resemblance to the default red crewmate from the multiplayer game, .
 * The unnamed male hellhound from episode "Queen Bee" has his Sinstagram username as "hellboy69", possibly referencing .
 * Octavia's Sinstagram bio reading "😢Sad😭🌙🌧✨ / 💔Depressed🦉💜" may be a jab at how real-life people, often young teenagers, self-diagnose themselves with depression, amongst other mental illnesses, and putting similar text in their Instagram bios, thinking that mental illness is merely a trendy aesthetic.
 * According to storyboard artist, Mariya Kharlamova, the flashback scene with Loona's cage having tally marks on the walls is a homage to the film  as the aforementioned film had Fiona having tally marks on her castle counting the days until she would be rescued. The purpose was to symbolize Loona waiting for the day she'll finally be adopted, which she was surprised on how it made it to the final animation.
 * This is the first episode where I.M.P go to Earth for the sole reason that was not an assassination job, excluding "Truth Seekers", where Millie and Loona went back to rescue Blitzo and Moxxie who were captured by a human organization as they were returning from a job.
 * As revealed in the official concept art of the background characters for this episode, the first guy to try and sell his demo CD to Moxxie is named Roblogs - a reference to the video game Roblox.

Continuity

 * The tour guide from "C.H.E.R.U.B" reappears.
 * The car accident victim from the aforementioned episode also makes a reappearance, seemingly having gotten into another car accident, and in an investigation scene with his lower half torn off and his organs exposed.
 * In the flashback, Loona is wearing the same clothes she had on the adoption day picture in Blitzo's phone gallery 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" instead.
 * The girl that screamed at the monster fish also makes an appearance at Starstruck Studioz, being the first to scream when the studio catches on fire.
 * A date on Blitzo's office calendar having the reminder "Horseriding lessons" is also a callback to the aforementioned episode.
 * 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.
 * Blitzo alludes to his comedy career that was established in "The Circus". The dark jokes and Stolas being the only one laughing is also a callback to when they were kids and a young Blitzo tried to tell a joke about a horse with no legs while young Stolas was the only one laughing.
 * Some items from previous episodes are thrown out of Blitzo's desk by Octavia after she barges into I.M.P's office. Such items include:
 * The toy figurines of Millie and Moxxie Blitzo made of them using office supplies, as well as the paper crown he made, and a souvenir cup from Loo Loo Land all from the titular episode.
 * The Mare-ejuana horse figurine from "C.H.E.R.U.B".
 * The male hellhound whom Loona developed a crush on in "Queen Bee" is seen among her Sinstagram accounts.

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' cape is missing just before his transformation to his human disguise.
 * 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".
 * Additionally, Millie briefly disappears during this entire scene.
 * Uggie's mole goes from being on the left side of his cheek to the right when Blitzo snaps out of his flashback.
 * Despite Blitzo saying he witnessed the child actor "doing lines of coke in her dressing room", she was actually doing so backstage, where Blitzo and the others were also present.
 * The sunglasses Stolas takes for himself are not aligned properly in its display, compared to the other glasses.
 * Millie's mole disappears during the scene where Moxxie agrees to buying the street vendor's fan merchandise.
 * Part of Loona's hair briefly clips over her left arm when she spits out her coffee after seeing Octavia's Sinstagram post.
 * When the camera pans over to Uggie having wet the couch, the pee stain was next to Uggie. But, in the next shot, Uggie was sitting on top of it.
 * Loona does not get mad at Moxxie and Millie for not bothering with human disguises unlike in "Spring Broken", where she scolds them both including Blitzo.
 * Blitzo is the one who responds with "Thnx!" to Millie despite Millie the one asking for him to make a portal, which Blitzo responds by telling her he already asked Stolas.
 * Additionally, despite being sent by Blitzo, the "Thnx!" text is drawn on Millie's side of their chat history.
 * Octavia's knapsack (and, by extension, the grimoire) changes positions in every other shot of her at The Observatory.
 * The woman who brings notice of "Brennon Ragers" to the crowd refers to Holly's Wood as its real-life counterpart, Hollywood, instead.
 * In one scene, the producer can be seen heading towards Blitzo and the crowd surrounding him during the commotion. But, in the next scene, the producer is seen loitering by the set before being hit by the bottle of acidic L.A. water thrown by Stolas.
 * While going on a shooting rampage in the shooting set, Blitzo says "Pervert!" before shooting a guy on top of him, but his mouth is not moving.
 * The building in the first picture Loona sees on Octavia's Sinstagram does not match the one that was behind the former at the time, even though she treats it as such when looking for Octavia. The building that actually matched the building Loona sees only appears halfway through the search montage.

Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

 * Seeing Stars/Gallery