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
Series	Hazbin Hotel
Season	1
Episode	1
Air date	January 19, 2024 Early Access January 12, 2024
Writer	Vivienne Medrano
Director	Vivienne Medrano
Episode guide
Previous	Hazbin Hotel pilot
Next	"Radio Killed the Video Star"

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 levels at bay.

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'll be another year until the next 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 so 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, Niffty 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's Sinner populace due to the overpopulation crisis. Lute coldy tells her that unlike the human souls of Heaven, Sinners had their chance and earned damnation. She also reminds Charlie the only reason she is even alive today is because Lucifer's pardon for Hellborn demons allowed her to survive the annual Extermination. 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.

Features

Characters

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

Locations

• Hell
  • Pride Ring
    • Pentagram City
      • Hazbin Hotel
        • Charlie's bedroom
      • V Tower
      • Heaven Embassy
      • Cannibal Town
• Earth (storybook only)
  • Garden of Eden

Objects

• "The Story of Hell" book
• Charlie's hellphone
• Angelic drone
• Adam's plate of ribs

Events

• Extermination (mentioned)

Music

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 man to be ever created.
• Lute reveals that only Sinners are targeted by the Extermination, while Charlie and other Hellborn demons of Hell are pardoned due to a deal between Heaven and Lucifer. This also means that only the Pride Ring has to suffer from the Extermination.
• This is the first episode to show Charlie and Vaggie's bedroom, but it was fully shown better in "Dad Beat Dad."
• It is revealed during the angels' drone footage that angel blood is colored a yellowish gold.
• Alastor reveals he "has not been active in Hell for some time". 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 breaks the fourth wall by smirking directly at the audience.
• Despite heavily disliking post-30s' technology, Alastor is actually shown to be quite adept at using it. As shown in the end result of the first commercial he made for the hotel, wherein the use of a video camera as well as digital editing can be seen.
• Niffty is revealed to unknowingly be camera shy, as she is shown to completely freeze on the spot, but doesn't seem to remember it once the camera isn't pointing at her.
• Vivziepop stated that this episode is one that came from the early stages from working on the pilot, and explained that she knew she wanted the first episode to be the introduction of Adam and the first seasons arc, and have the side plot about making a commercial.
• Blake Roman sings the line "And a ton of barbed wire to shove in his hole!" in Happy Day in Hell.
• According to Amir Talai, in "Hell is Forever" when Adam sings "Bow-now-now-now-now, Guitar solo, fuck yeah!" was improv on Alex's part.

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 from Heaven to Hell pays homage to the animated films of Lotte Reiniger, notably The Adventures of Prince Achmed.
• 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 Lady and the Tramp.
• During the preparation for the Hotel commercial, Niffty does a Marilyn Monroe 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 animation of the hotel occupants' garments magically changing for the commercial shoot is reminiscent of the iconic ballroom dress transformation from Disney's Cinderella.
• 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.
• Like in the pilot, Angel Dust offers sex to Alastor, who once again sarcastically laughs it off and rejects his advances.
• 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.
• Angel Dust sarcastically complimenting Vaggie by saying "You're doing great, Vagina" is a callback to Angel's prequel comic, Dirty Healings.

Errors

• When Charlie says "maybe the tone is a bit off" in response to Alastor's commercial, she has an extra finger on her right hand when says the "maybe" and an extra finger on both hands when she says "bit".
• 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". Additionally, Lute's wings are inside out.
• 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.
• During "It's the question of fun" line, Adam's wings only have one stripe.
• Just before Angel Dust's costume is changed for the commercial, his bottom gloves are colored pink instead of white, and his choker is colored light pink instead of black.
• When the Hotel's commercial was about to air, Alastor's hair was not colored on the left side.
• When Alastor was first talking to the demons at the beginning of the hotel's initial commercial ad, the imp getting stabbed had red blood instead of black.
• Despite this episode taking place a week after the events of the pilot, Alastor refers to the hotel's opening as having happened "five days ago".
• When Adam kicks Charlie out of the embassy's meeting room, his hologram was able to grab her wrist when it was made clear earlier in the episode that he was merely an untouchable hologram.
• When the hotel residents react to their commercial being interrupted, the inner design of Husk's wings is missing.
  • Additionally, in the same scene, the line separating Vaggie's legs is missing.

Transcript

View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

• Overture/Gallery

Videos

The First 2 Minutes of Hazbin Hotel l Prime Video

The First 5 Minutes of Hazbin Hotel - Season 1 Episode 1

Hazbin Hotel- Charlie Meets Adam - Prime Video