‘Hazbin Hotel’ Season 2 Prime Video Series Review - Sound vs Screen

I recently heard a politician's speech on the news, where he blamed mobile phones for spoiling the youth. He called them the 21st-century addiction, comparing them to drugs that waste time and serve as a refuge for unemployed men who merely watch reels on their smartphones. If these screens are poison, serving propaganda and brain-rotting content (two things that nowadays instantly go trending), then it makes sense that the main antagonist in the second season of Hazbin Hotel is Vox (Christian Borle), a media mogul hungry for views and likes. Vox has a voracious appetite for high approval ratings, which he gets through sensational headlines and edited clips. His face is a flat screen, his eyes are dark red, and his grin is very, very devilish. Vox loves feeding negative content to his audience as they receive more views, more clicks. I don't think it's an accident that his name rhymes with that of an American news company that's notoriously conservative. The hosts at Vox News, or the 666 News Channel, encourage the audience to trust them with everything. They also assert that they deliver nothing but pure truth, with a wide grin that tells a different story. 
 

The central drama in Season 2 revolves around manipulation, incitement, and the mobilization of mobs through fake news. On top of all this, creator Vivienne Medrano adds a conflict between radio and TV. Which is more poisonous — the image or the voice? Both are equally terrible in the hands of terrible people, but the latter comes across as more distasteful in this series. Alastor (Amir Talai) remains sneaky and wily. He is someone who extends one hand in friendship and uses the other to conceal a knife. The word "trust" doesn't exist in his dictionary. But Alastor is mostly relegated to the shadows this time. To avoid spoilers, let's just say that even though he's present quite often on the screen, he doesn't capture your attention completely. He works in the background like a silent assassin, waiting for the right opportunity to strike his enemies. He might have a more dominating presence in future seasons, but here, the focus is more on Vox and his fragile ego, which requires a lot of stoking. Vox wants to prove how powerful he is, and that leads to something ugly. Again, to avoid spoilers, let's just say that heaven and hell once again find themselves in peril.

Like the first season, Season 2 is an amusing, bingeable offering that's just...fine. Charlie Morningstar (Erika Henningsen) is a wonderful lead/comic relief who cracked me up when she said, "The bar needs you," with her big, gooey eyes. I also smiled at her childish antics, as when she refused to come out of her diabolical villain character to prove something. What does she want to prove, actually? Redemption is possible for souls who have sinned. She wants everybody in Hell to meet the same fate as Sir Pentious (Alex Brightman); she wants to send everybody to Heaven. The methods Charlie applies obviously don't work for Angel Dust (Blake Roman) because Angel Dust is not Sir Pentious. What worked for the latter won't work for the former, since they are different individuals. There is a good message in this scene for children, but Hazbin Hotel is "adult animation." Its "adultness" comes from suggestive humor and banners like Slots N Sluts, Welcome Back Addicts, and scribblings on walls that read "Porn" and "XXX." But beneath such, um, obscenities, Season 2 is utterly simplistic. It expands the range of its story by shifting its attention towards the human realm temporarily, and what it digs out is that hell is filled with murderers, losers, and greedy lunatics. I am sure every soul in Heaven would have helped a stranger or donated to a charity. This facile notion of what's good and what's evil, who goes to hell and who goes to heaven, renders Season 2 a show that's actually made for kids. The adult tag comes from juvenile humor and expletives.
 

Medrano, though, isn't preoccupied with intricate concepts or profound themes. She wants to create an easy-to-watch series that also allows her to dispense creative jokes through the medium of animation. In that respect, Hazbin Hotel is a success (look out for the journalist who really isn't fond of his wife and that scene where a Yes/No poll vote is converted into a weapon). It keeps you watching, but it doesn't offer great delight. Like a soapy bubble, it floats around in your mind, and it bursts after a few weeks. Season 2, in the end, is serviceable. It, however, doesn't astonish.

Final Score- [5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times
Note: All eight episodes are screened for this review.
Premiere Date: October 29, 2025 on Prime Video