Truth Seekers

"I believe your subconscious is trying to tell you that you simply cannot fathom proper intimacy, but, also crave it, as well. It's rather unfortunate, sir. Considering it's often how you treat those who stand by you, such as myself. Are you worried I may have enough of it one day, as well?"

- Hallucination Moxxie to Blitzo

Truth Seekers is the sixth episode of the first season of Helluva Boss and is the sixth episode overall. It premiered on August 21, 2021, on Vivziepop's YouTube channel.

Synopsis

 * Characters talk, and things sure do happen!

Plot
Two agents are monitoring footage that shows the I.M.P in action on their previous Earth missions; the agents confirm they are looking at the creatures from Hell that have been killing off specific individuals. According to one of them, they attack randomly throughout the country, and it's impossible to guess where they will appear next. Suddenly, a disturbance occurs outside of their hideout; the agents peek out of the window and discover, with convenience, that it is one of the demons they have been investigating.

Blitzo noisily climbs out of the dumpster he fell into and, after harshly telling Moxxie and Millie to be quiet, he falls into a trash can. Moxxie chastises him for being louder than the both of them, and Blitzo angrily tells him to shut up. As Millie goes through the portal generated by Loona and the grimoire, Blitzo tackles Moxxie to the ground as a capture net flies past them. The two agents prepare to fire again, and Blitzo quickly tells Loona to close the portal; despite Millie's protests, Loona does so. Moxxie and Blitzo prepare to fight the agents, but Moxxie is quickly tranquilized. Blitzo grabs Moxxie and runs down an alley but finds a dead end; he threatens the agents, but they fire an electric shock that knocks both of the Imps unconscious.

Back at I.M.P headquarters, Millie is crying and punching the wall in anger. She tells Loona that they have to go back, but Loona points out the seriousness in Blitzo's tone when he tells Loona to close the portal; therefore, she must keep it closed. Before she can finish speaking, Millie angrily grabs Loona by her shirt and orders her to open the portal again, which Loona finally relents. Loona grabs Blitzo's backpack of emergency supplies, dons her human disguise, and opens the portal. At the same time, Millie leaps through the portal with a double-headed battle axe. Seeing no trace of Blitzo and Moxxie, Loona soon picks up Blitzo's scent, and they follow the trail.

Moxxie wakes up tied to Blitzo with the two agents, who begin questioning them, but their efforts quickly falter since neither Blitzo nor Moxxie take them seriously or are even slightly intimidated by them, much to the agents' frustration. The agents become repulsed when both Imps respond positively to the thought of torture and go to leave. Blitzo quips they deserve a phone call; when asked who they would call, he mocks them once again and causes Agent One to cry after a callous comment about his dead mother.

Loona and Millie reach the headquarters of D.H.O.R.K.S., where Blitzo and Moxxie are being held; they find a way inside and begin stealthily avoiding the other agents. Unfortunately, they are spotted by security cameras, and an alert goes out. Millie and Loona are surrounded by agents, but the two make quick work of killing the agents and continue searching.

After more insults from Blitzo, Agent Two leads Agent One out of the room to come up with a plan; overhearing Blitzo and Moxxie taunting about how they can break them by continuing to be obnoxious, the agents decide to turn the tables on them and release a truth gas into the room. Moxxie worries about Millie and notes they have never gone up against the human government before. Blitzo angrily lashes out about him constantly worrying about his wife and how he never makes time to hang out, mentioning how it is pathetic. After a moment, Moxxie and Blitzo realize it was an oddly personal attack and then notice the gas. The two begin uncontrollably confessing the lies they told the other; this quickly turns to them insulting one another and hurting the other's feelings. They then both start experiencing individual hallucinations. Moxxie shares one involving Blitzo tormenting him about his constant worrying. At the same time, Blitzo undergoes one that addresses his toxic and selfish personality. Blitzo tries to deny it, but hallucinations of Striker, Fizzarolli, Verosika Mayday, and Stolas tell Blitzo he's afraid of intimacy and drives others away from him. Conversely, Moxxie admits to the Blitzo hallucination that he tries to please everyone and, as a result, keeps his true feelings hidden away.

After the gas wears off, Moxxie tells Blitzo of a memory of when he first joined I.M.P; he could tell that Blitzo wanted to say something judgmental but instead said Moxxie did an excellent job and was proud to be a co-worker. Blitzo then admits he is hard on Moxxie because he knows what he is capable of, and he spends too much time caring about what others think of him. The two make up and hear a rumbling sound; Millie falls through the ceiling, and, much to Blitzo's surprise and concern, Loona breaks through the glass and yells they must go. More agents surround I.M.P, and Blitzo orders them to "fuck these fuckers up".

Many of the agents are slaughtered, and soon, only One and Two are left alive. One presses a red button that puts the entire facility under lockdown. I.M.P is trapped within the interrogation room, and due to the red lighting, Loona cannot create a portal to let them escape. As Two gloats about their capture, a sudden chill fills the area, and a massive shadow appears on the ceiling. A monitor suddenly turns on, and a shadow appears among the static before it turns off, revealing a four-eyed being. Several monitors fall to the floor as a demonic voice echoes at them for harming Blitzo; the agents notice several three-toed footprints appear in front of them, and One gets hit in the head with a monitor. He spots Two standing in the corner and twitching with a look of pure horror on her face as several dead agents arise behind her and begin drawing the symbol of Stolas on the ground.

One tentatively reaches out to Two, whose head turns around and has a demonic look on her face. She mocks him for being a weakling, cowering in the presence of an actual demon, and a black substance shoots upward from her mouth; several feathers are seen floating, and the agents, along with I.M.P, react in shock and horror at seeing the black mass form itself into Stolas; he first appears in a demonic form to threaten the cowering agents before slimming down to his more regal appearance. He glares at the agents before pressing a button that disables the lockdown.

Blitzo incredulously asks how Stolas knew he was in danger, but the Goetia demon coyly states he has ways of knowing. After asking and confirming that Blitzo is okay, Stolas then goes into a reprimanding tirade on how they were caught by humans, reminding them that if they get into trouble while on Earth, then so does he, which is something that they don't want; Moxxie defends Blitzo by stating they were caught off guard. Blitzo confirms this and how it will not happen again. Stolas then opens a portal back to Hell and asks Blitzo if he will be rewarded for saving him. Blitzo agrees and offers to have rough sex with him later but wants Stolas to keep quiet, or he'll be using those "bear traps," much to the excitement of the latter.

After they process everything that happened, Two asks what they should do now. One excitedly claimed they finally had the evidence they needed to be taken seriously, going to the damaged computer and showing that the security cameras had recorded all the events inside the interrogation room. One and Two smile as the agent chuckles, "nobody in corporate is ignoring this footage".

Characters

 * Employees of I.M.P
 * Blitzo
 * Moxxie
 * Millie
 * Loona
 * Stolas
 * Agents of D.H.O.R.K.S. (debut)
 * Agent One
 * Agent Two
 * Striker (hallucination)
 * Fizzarolli (hallucination)
 * Verosika Mayday (hallucination)
 * Satan (mentioned)

Locations

 * Hell
 * Pride Ring
 * Imp City
 * I.M.P Headquarters
 * Earth
 * D.H.O.R.K.S. Headquarters (debut)

Objects

 * Stolas's Grimoire

Songs

 * "Moxxie's Bad Trip"

Instrumentals

 * "Stolas Speaks"

Trivia

 * This is the longest episode of season one, lasting for a total of 22 minutes.
 * Just like all the released episodes of 2021, this has scenes shown in the trailer for season one, to which some shots were improved.
 * The 3D-esque action sequences were simultaneously animated with the crew at animation studio Chaos Emporium Inc. This marks the first time where Helluva Boss or any SpindleHorse project had outsourced animation from a different company. Coincidentally, the company also produced content for fellow Helluva Boss castmate, Jinkx Monsoon.
 * This is the first episode showcasing Blitzo and Stolas kissing onscreen.
 * This is the first time in the series where Moxxie calls Blitzo by his actual name.
 * When Stolas curses in this episode, he isn't censored, most likely because it was a simple swear rather than a vulgar and sexual rant.
 * According to clean-up artist, Nick Conter, who cleaned up scenes for "Moxxie's Bad Trip", the rough animation lines shown behind Moxxie in some scenes were intentional and was instructed to leave them in without explanation.
 * According to Sam Haft, the line "My precious little bitch boy" was improv on Michael's part.
 * Vivziepop mentioned that it was a challenge for her to write Doodle Moxxie's dialogue during Blitzo's part of the hallucination music sequence.
 * When Agent Two ask what Blitzo and Moxxie are, Moxxie states he is a Virgo, meaning he was born somewhere between August 23rd and September 22nd.
 * Because of the later reveal in a livestream that Hell years work differently as opposed to Earth years, it is unclear whether this was just Moxxie mocking the agents, or if this is factually true.
 * It is revealed that Blitzo is a college drop-out.
 * According to Millie, Loona is around five years younger than her.
 * This is later confirmed to be true in a livestream by Vivziepop, wherein she reveals that Millie is 27 and Loona is 22 in Hell years.
 * This is the first episode where Loona actively participates in battle.
 * This is also the first episode wherein Stolas and Loona are present in the same scene. Albeit, the two not having any direct interactions.
 * "Moxxie's Bad Trip" is the first duet of the series and the first to be performed by either of the main cast.
 * Additionally, it implies within the song that Moxxie knows partial Yiddish, as shown when he exclaims "Oy, gevalt!" which roughly translates to "Oh, violence!".
 * The text on the page Loona has opened in Stolas's Grimoire when translated using the runic alphabet says "How to open this stupid fucking portal" and "These bad drawings", respectively.
 * This is the first time Stolas makes an onscreen appearance on Earth.
 * A few instances of this episode were referenced in the characters' non-canon Voxtagram accounts.
 * Moxxie posting about how his coffee orders often misspell his name.
 * Blitzo posting about the "CATZ" musical Moxxie recommended him, which is also referenced in this episode.
 * Stolas posting about the aftermath of his night with Blitzo where bear traps were involved, as mentioned by the latter near the end of the episode.
 * The selfie that Blitzo quickly takes with his phone while holding a decapitated agent's head during the fight was also posted to his account.
 * At the beginning of the episode, there is footage that Agent One says was "the first sighting" which was of Blitzo watching earth horses in their paddock, this being the only scene not shown in a previous episode.
 * According to Vivienne Medrano, she feels "Truth Seekers" is one of the most balanced episodes that she has written and the episode where she took the most risk, and explains that it was the episode Brandon Rogers let her take the reigns and she felt really confident in it.

Cultural References

 * A flyer in one of the alley walls advertises a film called "Shperk 2", a parody of the Dreamworks animated film .
 * Blitzo's depiction in "Moxxie's Bad Trip" is based on the titular character from .
 * According to animator Ames Heard, who supervised the "Moxxie's Bad Trip" sequence, the object of the animation style was for it to be reminiscent of musical sequences of Disney animated films.
 * The musical and artistic style of Blitzo's hallucination is very similar to that of the 1982 drama film . Blitzo and Fizzarolli's psychedelic designs are likewise influenced by the aesthetic of 1930s' cartoons.
 * The musical about "ugly, horny cats" Blitzo refers to could be a reference to the real Broadway musical, , or its heavily-criticized.
 * The scene of Agent Two being possessed by Stolas, with her head turning backwards and speaking in a different voice, is likely a callback to the 1973 film adaptation of .
 * The blast door, one of the soda machines, and the style and font for the direction for the building rooms in D.H.O.R.K.S. are identically the same ones from the 1998 video game, .
 * The passcode for the blast door being "11111" is a reference to the short film "Meet the Spy" from the critically acclaimed 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter game, .
 * The instrumental that segways into Blitzo's hallucination of the music sequence is reminiscent of the song "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin.
 * The plot-twist ending is a reference to M. Night Shyamalan's films. However, it is most notably compared to his 2019 superhero film, , in which Agent One and Mr. Glass orchestrated the following scenarios and secretly film it to achieve their goals in revealing the truth of the supernatural.

Continuity

 * At the beginning of the episode, footage from "Murder Family", "Spring Broken", "C.H.E.R.U.B" and even the pilot can be seen being viewed by Agents One and Two on several TV monitors as they study I.M.P's actions.
 * In this episode, Moxxie reveals to Blitzo that Millie pegs him sometimes, as Blitzo guessed correctly back in "Spring Broken".
 * There are callbacks to Blitzo's past enemies and struggles with Striker and Verosika which details back to their encounters in "The Harvest Moon Festival", and "Spring Broken" respectively. Fizzarolli also appears, although his history with Blitzo was not addressed until "Ozzie's", but was indirectly referenced in "Loo Loo Land".
 * Loona mauling an agent in the background is in the same motion from the pilot.

Errors

 * Agents One and Two alternate between having four and five fingers during certain scenes.
 * The texture of Blitzo's horns switch between being edged and smooth throughout the episode.
 * Millie appears to only reach up to Loona's waist when she entered the portal, but in the previous scene, her head ends at Loona's shoulders.
 * The candelabra Moxxie holds throughout the sequence of the song was absent when Blitzo flashes a spotlight on him, telling him he is "tripping balls" and only appears in the following scene out of nowhere.
 * The color of Moxxie's candelabra changes from a bright gold to the same color as the other candle holders in the background after he places it in a nearby table.
 * During the majority of Moxxie's Bad Trip, the blocking lines used for Moxxie bled through the layering as the song went on in his scenes.
 * During a few scenes, the backpack Loona is wearing occasionally disappears and then reappears on her.
 * Loona uses Agent Two to burst through the wall of glass Blitzo and Moxxie were behind of, resulting in Agent Two having glass shards poking out of her face that disappear from the following scene onwards.
 * The interrogation room switches from a regular-sized interrogation room to a room at least twice its size in the fight scene.
 * During the fight scene in the interrogation room, Loona kills two agents with a kusarigama but the next shot shows different heads flying off.
 * Also during the battle, after Loona kills some agents with an assault rifle, a string on the pentagram of her sleeveless crop top is missing.
 * In the quick scene when Stolas turns the lights back on, Loona's stockings are missing from her legs.
 * Additionally, Stolas knows which button to press to turn the lights back on in D.H.O.R.K.S' headquarters despite only coming in to save I.M.P last minute.
 * Despite Michael Romeo Ruocco doing Blitzo's singing voice, Michael James Ruocco is incorrectly credited, instead.
 * During the scene where Moxxie laughs at Blitzo's "Daddy likey dummy." line, Blitzo's left horn has an edged curve while his right horn has its usual smooth curve.

Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

 * Truth Seekers/Gallery