Western Energy

"I seem to have been stolen by that little cowboy friend of yours."

- Stolas, to Blitzo when he got kidnapped by Striker

Western Energy is the fourth episode of the second season of Helluva Boss and is the eleventh episode overall. It premiered on May 20, 2023, on Vivziepop's YouTube channel.

Synopsis
Striker returns and things sure do happen.

Plot
The episode starts at a cafe where Stolas has a meeting with Stella and her brother Andrealphus regarding their divorce. After a back and forth of Stella and Stolas insulting each other, Andrealphus states Stella needed more compensation, adding Stolas technically cheated on her, while Stolas defends himself because Stella never cared about him during their arranged marriage. It's at that moment Striker barges in causing Stolas to flee, but not before getting captured.

Later he calls Blitzo who was on his way to the Sloth ring to get Loona's five year shot. Stolas tells him about his current ordeal as he was currently tied up with blessed rope and couldn't do anything, and Striker hangs up. Moxxie volunteers for him and Millie to rescue him, as they had a score to settle with him, to which a reluctant Blitzo agrees.

Blitzo and Loona arrive in the hospital where he schedules her appointment, but the lady on the counter is illiterate, and constantly calls Blitzo as spelled, much to his annoyance, while Loona is terrified of getting her shot.

After a western style musical number, Striker takes Stolas to his lair where he is tied to a train track, noticing the cliche of it. He also questions the statue of Striker which he made (with an erected penis) before Striker starts stabbing him with a blessing tipped knife. Striker claims how the royal clan always take over everything and doesn’t care who get hurt or dies. Stolas points out Striker’s hypocritical claim saying how Striker himself is working for a royal and kick him in the face. Striker responds by stabbing Stolas’s leg and even breaking it but Stolas managed to subdue the pain saying Blitzo torture him better in bed.

Meanwhile Moxxie and Millie arrive at the gas station where Millie asks the whereabouts of Striker, while Moxxie tangles with a motorcycle gang because the leader points out his hat, which Millie had given him earlier, was the same as his. When Millie gets the help they need, they head off, but not before the gang leader gets killed in the process.

With Stella and Andrealphus, they relish how Stella had sent Striker earlier, but Andrealphus questions the situation, as he points out that if he dies, Octavia will have his throne as she was the current heir, and Stella would get nothing out of it, so reluctantly she agrees to tell Striker to call the kill off. However, Striker decided that since Stella didn’t say what kind of condition Stolas has to be in, he decided to cut out Stolas’s eyes as a trophy.

At the moment Moxxie and Millie come to the rescue, as it frequently cuts to Blitzo trying to get Loona to hold still so the doctor could give her the shot. Ultimately it ends with Millie chopping the statue down on top of Striker, but he gets away. But a horrified Moxxie and Millie saw how badly injured Stolas is and is now unconscious.

Later, they take a badly injured Stolas to the hospital as Blitzo and Loona walk out, with the latter wearing a doggie cone. A crowd of people trample over him as they get Stolas inside, and after being told what happened, is surprised that Stolas could get hurt that easily. In his hospital room, Stolas gets a message from Blitzo to get well soon. when he texts back that he would be in the hospital for a while, and he could visit anytime, he gets no response. The episode ends with Stolas setting his phone on the counter, where all the petals from one of the hell roses have fallen off.

Characters

 * Employees of I.M.P
 * Blitzo
 * Loona (non-speaking appearance)
 * Moxxie
 * Millie
 * Goetia Royal Family
 * Stolas
 * Stella
 * Andrealphus (debut)
 * Octavia (mentioned)
 * Striker
 * Doc (debut)

Locations

 * Hell
 * Pride Ring
 * Richest Cup (debut)
 * Andrealphus's mansion (debut)
 * Lust Ring
 * Ozzie's (mentioned)
 * Wrath Ring
 * Striker's mine shaft (debut)
 * Unnamed gas station (debut)
 * Sloth Ring (debut)
 * St. An's Hospital

Objects

 * Striker's statue
 * Angelic Weapons
 * Blessed Knife
 * Blessed Rope
 * Blessed Revolvers
 * Holy Bullets

Songs

 * Ballad of Striker
 * Whatcha Thinkin' About?

Trivia

 * This episode has scenes shown in animatics from the trailer for season two, to which some shots were completed and improved.
 * As of this episode, due to Norman Reedus' busy schedule, Striker is voiced by Edward Bosco.
 * This episode features the guest music of Silva Hound and Andrew R. Butler, who both produced the pop song "Whatcha Thinkin' About?" and with the latter producing Striker's theme song "The Ballad of Striker". Silva Hound previously produced and wrote the song ADDICT based on the Hazbin Hotel pilot. Joel Perez and Blake Roman, who provided vocals for "The Ballad of Striker", would also become cast members on the Hazbin Hotel series.
 * According to background designer and Spindlehorse' HR leader, Sam Miller, some of the swear words (e.g. "cunt") were censored due to YouTube's restrictions on sexual content and profanity. As a result, some of the profanity in this episode were either spelled out or hinted somewhat with mondegreens.
 * Blitzo restricting himself from calling the nurse a "retard" (a nod to the pilot episode), in which he backtracked into saying that he can't say "the word anymore" was written for the same reason.
 * The hospital Blitzo takes Loona to is called "St. An's", a play on words on "Satan".
 * This episode marks the onscreen debut of the Sloth Ring, with it being the 5th to be shown out of the 7 Rings of Hell.
 * As of this episode onwards, Striker shares the same voice actor as Alastor, Joe, Jesse, and the unnamed hellhound from the unreleased season one special, with all of them being voiced by Edward Bosco.
 * This episode reveals that imps also come in sizes small enough as to fit the average human palm.
 * As of this episode, Stolas has found out that Striker was hired by the former's wife to assassinate the Goetic prince.

Cultural References

 * According to the episodes' lead animator Mel Mzorak, the exterior shot of Bombproof roaming in the dessert was inspired by  specifically the scene where Simba roams through the desert. Mzorak pitched the idea to the crew, dubbed it "The Lion King shot" and it was approved for the episode.
 * Andrealphus' mansion may bear a resemblance of Elsa's castle in the.
 * The scene where Moxxie and Millie break through the ceiling of the caves and drive down the mine shaft may be a possible reference to a repeating gag in the game , in which everytime a protagonist uses the phone booth to call Nico, she will drive to the protagonist's location, which usually involves destructing things.
 * The shot of Blitzo, Loona, and Doc chasing each other around in circles as "Whatcha Thinkin' About?" plays in the background could be a nod to the comedic chase sequences of Hanna-Barbera's .
 * Moxxie saying "harder!" seductively while striker was choking him is a nod to Angel Dust saying "Oh! harder daddy!" while being chained up by Sir Pentious in the Hazbin Hotel Pilot

Continuity

 * At the end of the episode, it is shown that Stolas made various text conversations with Blitzo to make things better between them after their unfortunate night in "Ozzie's".
 * There are also texts of Stolas' thanking Blitzo for helping find Octavia in "Seeing Stars".
 * Stolas's lockscreen wallpaper is the same portrait of him and a young Octavia that can be seen hanging on the mansion walls in "The Circus".
 * Stolas apologizing for calling Blitzo at yet another "bad time" is a callback to when he first did so in "Murder Family".
 * Blitzo claiming how Stolas was a "lucky bitch" for being tied on a horse is a reference to the former's love of horses.

Errors

 * Erica Lindbeck is listed in the credits despite Loona not saying anything other than growling multiple times through the episode.

Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

 * Western Energy/Gallery