Masquerade

"This is my escape. Where I can forget about it all. How much I hate… everything. A place where I can get high and not have to think about how much it hurts. And, maybe, if I can ruin myself enough in the process... if I end up broken, I won't be his favorite toy anymore. And, maybe, he'll let me go..."

- Angel, dropping his facade to Husk

Masquerade is the fourth episode of the first season of Hazbin Hotel, and the fourth episode overall. It premiered on January 19, 2024, on Prime Video.

Synopsis

 * Angel struggles to juggle his work and his time at the Hotel. Charlie decides it's time to put her 'Princess' status to use with Angel's boss.

Plot
TBA

Characters

 * Employees of the Hazbin Hotel
 * Charlie Morningstar
 * Vaggie (cameo)
 * Husk
 * Niffty (cameo)
 * Alastor (flashback)
 * Residents of the Hazbin Hotel
 * Angel Dust
 * Sir Pentious (cameo)
 * The Vees
 * Valentino
 * Vox (non-speaking cameo)
 * Velvette (pictured)
 * Travis (cameo)
 * Loan shark demons

Locations

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

Objects

 * Husk's umbrella
 * Husk's playing cards
 * Husk's dice bombs
 * Angel's tommy guns
 * Love potion
 * Beelzejuice (name only)

Songs

 * "Poison"
 * "Loser, Baby"

Instrumentals

 * "Loser, Baby"

Trivia

 * The film Angel Dust shows the gang at the beginning of the episode has him in his pilot outfit.
 * It is revealed that Angel Dust sold his soul to Valentino.
 * Additionally, it is revealed that Husk was once an Overlord, before going to Alastor for help with his losing streak in gambling. And, thus, trading his status and foregoing his soul to him.
 * Portions of the dialogue between Angel and Valentino in the former's dressing room were partially adapted from the fan comic "Red Smoke" by Raphielle II (credited as Arielle Somerville), one of the series' main storyboard artists.
 * It is revealed that Valentino's coat is actually his pair of moth wings that he keeps wrapped around himself.
 * Travis is shown to be one of the directors of Valentino's studio. It is unknown whether this is his job, and, if so, how he was hired by Valentino.
 * One of the poses Angel does on his bed during the Poison music sequence is a nod to the official artwork of his redesign announcement.
 * This is the only episode to receive a +18 rating (as opposed to the standard +16), as this episode contains graphic depictions of sexual abuse.
 * Additionally, when the episode original aired it had no warning. Later, the episode starts with content warning about graphic depiction of sexual abuse.
 * This is the first episode wherein Alastor does not appear.

Cultural References

 * The episode title, masquerade, refers to a false display or pretense, referring to Angel Dust's facade.
 * The scene where Angel leaves with his sunglasses on may be a reference to a similar screenshot the official Hazbin Hotel Twitter posted as a teaser during pride month.

Continuity

 * Angel joking about how Valentino has poor eyesight may be a reference to the ADDICT music video, wherein Valentino had exactly three paper bills he couldn't seem to stop counting.

Errors

 * During the scene where Angel Dust says he is going to "do all of you" his butt freckles disappear.
 * In some scenes, the black eye Angel received from Valentino earlier on in the episode disappears and suddenly reappears after he tells Husk that he knows more than just being a sex addict.
 * Throughout the scene where Valentino crouches to Charlie's eye level to talk to her, his neck appears and disappears.
 * When the Loser, Baby song starts, the puddle Husk put his feet into disappears.

Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

 * Masquerade/Gallery