#helluva analysis

[geekgirles]

Ok, but you don't understand. This is such an understated moment for both of them.

Most of the time these two don't get along, partly because Loona can be a nightmare to work with and is horrible to Moxxie, the one thing Millie will never forgive, and partly because, if you think about it, Millie never really makes the effort to reach out first and level with her.

Out of the entire IMP, it's always Millie who treats Loona like she's just Blitzo's hellhound. Not his adopted daughter, not even a real part of the team.

But here, she's reaching out to Loona, being vulnerable with her and trusting her to do the right thing and keep an eye on Moxxie because Millie can't keep up with both him and Blitzo at the same time.

And Loona gets that. She gets Millie needs help and, whether she likes it or not, she's the only one she can rely on right now. So, begrudgingly, because that's Loona for you, she accepts the responsibility.

And Millie's response? That little pause she makes before saying her name? Pretty sure that's the first time she's ever said Loona's name since the pilot. It's meaningful, and they both know it.

[jubileemon]

When Millie reveals that she's pregnant, she's unsure of what to do and hasn't even told Moxxie. While it could be pre-birth jitters many women have when they first learn they're pregnant, she might have more to fear.

Her and Moxxie's line of work is a very dangerous one. There's no guarantee that they can survive every mission they get, leaving their kid a potential orphan should Millie choose to give birth. But I.M.P has many enemies in Hell who're out for their blood, be it Striker, Crimson and of course Andrealphus, whose ass they kicked literally just hours prior. Millie has more to be worried about outside the typical pregnancy fears.

[anthurak]

Little detail I really liked in this episode:

The fact that Loona clearly knows enough math to not only follow along with what Moxxie is doing, but also catch his mistake.

Basically I like that this is continuing a subtle running theme that Loona is actually VERY smart, skilled and capable in several areas (tracking, assassination, reading people, ancient demon magic and now math and potentially finances)...

EXCEPT dealing with random people. AKA, the one job she has actually been stuck doing at I.M.P.

TLDR; Loona and her talents have been CRIMINALLY mismanaged by Blitzo and I am very much looking forward to where this leads XD

[onehelluvafan]

Uhhhh… so apparently there’s a plant that looks just like Blitz’s tattoo??

It’s called monstera deliciosa (literally delicious monster) and Stolas’ garden is full of them.

Throughout the entire opening scene of Apology Tour, Blitz’s tattoo is shown next to the leaves of this plant over and over again.

In most of these shots, the leaves are even angled in the same direction as his tattoo.

Even Stolas' robe is sporting these leaves, which look even more like Blitz's tattoo than the surrounding plants do, with cutouts/splits that are more circular than triangular.

And he definitely isn't just wearing it out of habit because all the way up through the morning of Full Moon, we only ever see him in his signature red and black robe.

Even his closet in the Ozzie's episode shows a red robe hanging with no sign of this white one.

Which also means that this is likely a very recently acquired robe.

We know that Blitz spent the afternoon of Full Moon buying sex toys... maybe Stolas went shopping that afternoon as well??

But whether or not it's canon that this is a conscious choice by Stolas, it’s sweet and rather telling that he chose to surround himself with these visual reminders of Blitz, even while feeling freshly broken hearted by him.

Also, I cannot get over the fact that the name of this plant is delicious monster.

[voidsquidd]

Octavia's character is actually so well written like

The first time we see her is her having a nightmare about not being able to find her dad in the palace no matter where she looked. Her fear is already clearly shown in her first appearance, and from then on every time we see her is her having that fear re-instilled

In loo loo land, Stolas is unable to understand how she is feeling, that she doesn't want to go to the circus with him (this is a trait Stolas has throughout the series where he cannot tell what other ppl feel, and viv has made posts hinting at this being an intentional character flaw). So not only is he dragging her somewhere she doesn't want to be but then makes it worse by inviting blitzø becuz he wants to spend time with him. We know Stolas could defend himself, it's clear he wants him there not as a body guard but becuz he genuinely wants him to be, ignoring how via may feel, ignoring why he was doing this to begin with. He just invited the guy he cheated on vias mother with to spend time with them while they went somewhere to try cheer her up, and via puts up with it the whole time.

And remember, she was awake when Stella was screaming abour Stolas cheating, she knows what's going on already. They didn't do anything to try and hide what happened from their daughter.

It's also implied that Stella has always yelled and been like this, since we see a picture of younger her in s2ep1. This is important to show how via has always been living in a dysfunctional household. Her mother reacts to issues by yelling and throwing things, potentially physical violence too, and Stolas has needed anti depressants since before he met blitzø again. While Via doesn't know about that, his depression is going to have affected the way he raised Via.

Both her parents are unable to cope with emotions in a healthy way and that will have caused her to struggle as well.

When she finally has enough during the ep and runs off, Stolas goes after her and talks to her but isn't able to tell her the real circumstances for the marriage, she doesn't know why her parents act the way they do, or why they don't love each other. she doesn't know why Stolas cheated with some other guy or why he invited him just to flirt with the whole time. She's scared her nightmare will come true, she always has been due to her unstable environment and now there is someone Stolas could leave with. That is terrifying for her, that is where she starts to hate blitzø.

And all Stolas can do is promise he won't, but he repeatedly fails to change his behaviour. It's shown in all episodes we see via play a large part in: Stolas does something wrong without thinking about via, ignoring her feelings, forgetting important dates, he apologizes but then goes on to do the same again and again.

That is not enough, that makes via lose trust in him, makes her wait for the next time he fucks up, for the next apology, for the cycle to continue. It is meaningless if he doesn't change.

But that's all Via has, Stella is shown to be mostly absent, not wanting anything to do with Via. If her dad leaves then she will have no one and she constantly feels like he could leave at any moment.

In loo loo land, he paid more attention to blitzø than her.

In seeing stars, when she saw him again after running away becuz of the divorce she was also now having to cope with (which she could easily blame on the cheating and blitzø), blitzø is there, and had been with Stolas the whole day

In sinsmas, blitzø is there when she went to find her dad, blitzø who was the reason this was happening to begin with in her mind, was the one Stolas was now spending all his time with

And let's talk about the divorce a bit more.

For 17 yrs she has had both parents present, even as toxic to each other as they are, Via had always lived with both of them. And now she won't. Now she has to get used to both of her parents separating, living away from each other, all the moving their stuff out, the arguments, procedures and the legal side.

Suddenly everything has changed, her fears are getting worse, nothing is stable in her life anymore. And at 17 too.

When a divorce happens when the child is young, they get used to it, their memories of it get vague over time, even if having seperate parents will always have its own issues, they get used to it and adapt better since young children are overall better at adapting to changes like this, they haven't developed their emotions properly yet and are unable to understand what's happening.

But she is 17, she has always had 2 parents, she isn't used to it, and by that age she is old enough to understand, to feel those emotions. She is dealing with a lot and her fathers continuous issues are getting to her.

And then mastermind happens

Stolas thinks he is going to die when he goes to save blitzø, when he claims to have committed crimes he never did.

Via watches him do this, she probably saw how they were about to sentence blitzø to death, and now her dad is taking the blame, believing he would die; she believes the same.

Her father, after promising he would never leave, after repeatedly messing up and leaving Via last, after prioritizing blitzø and getting carried away with him and focusing on him so much, after being unable to do anything but apologize only to do the same again until those apologies mean nothing.

He is going to permanently end his life, leave his daughter behind forever, for the guy Via was always scared of losing him to.

Her nightmare that she has always has is coming true.

Her dad is leaving her for someone else, we dont even see him think or speak about her while he is doing it, she doesn't cross his mind.

Her not being able to find him was her fear all throughout her life and she had told him multiple times, ask if he would, and he was still going to die for someone else.

And then he doesn't even remember to call her till the next day, and they can't even speak becuz Stella doesn't allow via contact with him.

She has to deal with not having her dad there, for a month. She is with Stella and Andy and unable to speak to her dad all month. He tries to call her but she can't answer and she feels more abandoned than ever. Her mother still seems uninterested in her. The only one who cared even a little bit about her is gone and she's all alone having to cope with how she feels, how much has happened.

She was right, after everything, after all her fears, after constantly feeling like he was close to leaving, the insecurity she dealt with her whole life became true and she was proven right. All her fathers promises mean nothing, they were empty and his actions never reflected what he said he would do.

She clearly misses him, but she expected this, she was just waiting for it to happen.

Then she finds the pills, realises how unhappy he was in the relationship and she goes to find him.

And when she confronts him, this is what she says.

"You lied to me, you said you would never leave me, you promised . . . It was your choice. You chose him . . . You don't love mother, you don't love me, you love him . . . So does that mean you just stayed miserable because of me? Was I some fucking obligation? Is that why you didn't even hesitate when you got a chance to leave?"

When Stolas asks to explain she just says she can't. This isn't her genuinely blaming him, she isn't mad at him really. She just can't handle that conversation. So much has been changing, her life's been more unstable than ever, she never had ppl in her life who could manage their own emotions and she is a teenager and struggling to manage her growing emotions already, and that lack of guidance only makes her ability to worse. She was never taught how, she cannot deal with how she is feeling and simply cannot stand to hear the explanation. Seeing Stolas is hard for her.

And what I think makes this scene even sadder is what Stolas says in s2ep1 to Stella:

"You and I were arranged for one reason, to birth a precautionary heir to the Goetia family . . . The only reason I have endured your constant insults and cruelty was for that girl to have a normal life . . . And the only thing the Goetia family wanted out of our marriage is already 17, so it's over, I'm done."

Via wasn't even wrong. Stolas said exactly what she is accusing him of, even if he didn't mean it like that, even if she didn't hear. Even if it was for him to explain to Stella why he was finally thru with it, why nothing she did could change his mind. He still said those things, he still left once he had a chance, he still chose blitzø.

He didn't leave Via once he got the chance, he left Stella, but in the end his actions still had an affect on Via, one that he once again failed to realise.

And Via doesn't have the full story either.

All she knows is her parents never loved each other and it always seemed like her dad would leave and she was always scared of that happening. Then suddenly he cheats and starts spending more time with the guy until he eventually almost dies for him without even thinking about her. And she finds out he needed pills, that he was miserable. And she's just so upset over it, so scared over the fact he almost did die, the fact everything she thought would happened did happen. She almost lost her dad and he didn't even say anything to her before going to get himself killed. He admits to being sad in the marriage, to Via being the only good thing, but Via's grown up in such a toxic environment, she misinterprets what he said, she feels like it's her fault he felt this way, and she doesn't even wait for any more apologies.

She's heard his all her life and they never meant anything, they were never a sign he would change, so why should she listen to another one while knowing it was just another lie?

She can't listen to that again.

[timkontheunsure]

A CBT look at Blitz's core beliefs

Boring explanationy bit

Ok first off a core belief is this how the world works sort of thought. It has a ton of evidence on it side, or some big life altering event. Acting within is designed to kept you safe. And everyone has good and bad ones.

Think of it as of a short bit of base code running in the background, helping you go with your gut. A quick a short cut, but one that's got a lot of logic and past facts behind it.

They're mostly set up in childhood. So if you have an abusive parent, or trauma, you can get ones that become unhelpful for you in other situations. Like with people that really care about you.

A distortion is a little different. They affect how you look at the wold based off your mood, and are always negative. They specifically don't have a lot of evidence on their side. Like a prism that makes things a little different than what's really there.

They are an action to do based on your mood: catastrophizing (when everybody I love leaves me next year)

Black & white thinking (yes there's all this evidence showing Stolas cares, but that doesn't count as it just sex).

Thought spiraling (this one goes to Moxxie heh)

Or snap judgments based only only how your mood is (Ghostfuckers is fun and sexy, so we should take the case when I know they don't exist).

Blitz's core beliefs

So 'all royals are assholes' and 'no royal will care about an imp' are a core beliefs. Because this is definitely true, the 1% don't give a fig. (Stolas and Ozzie are basically round errors from what we've seen).

"I'm going to die alone" is also one.

So is "I make everyone's lives worse"

But his good ones are: "we don't get rid of family",

Ok with these two good ones we're going to have to go into rules for life. Blitz core belief is about family sticks together and protects each other. That's his code that always wants to run.

But he's also got evidence that family will kick you out for not being good enough, and hurting/killing people on accident. When you get code clashing you get cognitive dissidence, which physically hurts.

So you do a patch to reduce that pain. A rule to live by. 'If X is right and Y is right, then the variable that off is me.'

'We don't get rid of family, but we do get rid of me = I'm the only one who we can get rid of'.

With Loona it's we get orphanage lady saying words that could have come straight out of Cash's mouth. (I want Blitz to get a song telling that git off so hard).

Those hit Blitz hard, so hard he changed his mind on adopting a small little child, to a older teenage. CBT says that when something hits that hard it's because it hit at least 1 core belief. He sees himself in Loona in that moment, and never want another kid to be gotten rid of.

And other one could be bad or good depending on what's around it. 'I will be of use to family/people I love'. Blitz needs to feel useful to the people he loves, especially with growing in a family business working from being a kid.

And the rule Blitz has made for himself between the "I'm going to die alone" + 'I will be of use to family' = 'But maybe if I'm useful they won't abandoned of me yet'

(Also how sad it is that Blitz feels he's only allowed help, and support if it's a tit for tat, favours for favours exchange).

So everyone has a mixed bag of these good and bad. The problem happened when trauma responses give you ones that don't help you in a new situation. Like say a demon prince falling head over heels for him.

The idea of CBT is that if your struggling to look at what's changed since the core beliefs were set up. And if it isn't keeping you safe anymore, then you try to replace the old one with a new one; that has new evidence that backs it up. A update.

Like how Millie shows Blitz concrete examples of him improving her life. Just telling him he hasn't wrecked her life wouldn't work.

(This is one of reasons why Stolas' confection doesn't stick with Blitz. Blitz needs to know reasons why someone like Stolas loves him. It why he asks him in apology tour. Stolas tell your boy why he's so amazing for flips' sake).

Millie shows how joining IMP positively improved her live. "He gave me so much...A career, a husband, a future. And now...He's my best friend."

And Blitz helping Millie through alot of her own negative self talk she had. That 'she's not good enough', 'she's only the muscle', 'that Pride's too fancy for imps', and 'no imp works for them selves'.

These we're all Millie's core beliefs before joining IMP, if she still had these Rolando's words would have hurt her. But through having the support and example of Blitz she's removed those old bits of code.

When see her mum it obvious where and why she has these ideas about herself. Lynn describes her full time job, being employed direct by a company; as "Freelance". Because Imps can't work for themselves. (Even if she is impressed by Blitz). It's like different between working for Uber, instead of taxi firm. No protections, and an unsafe unstable job.

She pulls up her daughter's valid explanation why she lost the fight as "Excuses!", because Millie was "'raised better than that' as the muscle of the team.

She's very against Moxxie for being too week, and not having the same melee skills as Millie.

It obvious that she wants her daughter to have a similar life as her, where she keeps her head down, and has a partner that is able to defend Millie. This because there's a level of safety in this crab bucket attitude. She'd very unlikely to come to the notice of higher-ups. Like how Stolas being very involved in IMP and with Blitz.

But Blitz talked Millie round, and also showed her that she doesn't have to pigeon hole herself like that. She has years of evidence that Blitz could do it, and him pointing out how good she is when she fell back into thinking of herself as just the muscle.

Rolando's trying to exploit vulnerability that she's updated against. (It's super ineffective).

Ok after that sight side tangent of with Millie's head, back to Blitz's.

The "your going to die alone" has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, tripping Blitz up alot. Because it comes twofold for his fear of hurting his loved ones, making their life worse, and his fear of abandonment. Because he was abandoned, that did happen.

Making him feel like he has it to push away the people he love for there own, and that they'll leave him eventually so might as well push them away now. He's got a lot of previous evidence tied to this.

It's going to take more then Fizz and Millie telling him he didn't ruin theirs, for him to start to be able to unpick this. Because he's still certain it's true. Even if he's improved the lives of most of the people he knows.

And even Fizz who were directly effected by the mistake Blitz still punishing himself for, has told him that being made disabled didn't ruin his life.

There's a whole debate in my head whether Barbie would have had such trouble with addiction; if she wasn't assuming/told that her brother started the fire on purpose, that killed their mum. I'm honestly not sure. But it does seem like her resentment over it has made it harder on her. And that all seems to stem from Cash abuse. (I'm sure Cash is the one to tell Blitz that Fizz said he'd die alone).

Ok on to how the these are interacting/fucking up his relationship to Stolas. Blitz is definitely is afraid to love Stolas for a number of reasons. (You knew I'd get there at somepoint right 😛).

Cus a whole load are clashes together for him, making it really difficult for him because about see things from the outside. with the "royal demons don't give a shit about guys like us" one.

Making Blitz rationalize that it's gotta be about the sex, and being of use. Anything that shows this assumption is wrong has to be disregarded with distortion.

But when Stolas takes sex off the table, and still talking about feeling, and relationships; it makes Blitz's fear of abandonment go turbo. It's not rational but it's the only rule Blitz has that might make Stolas keep him.

He feels like that sex is all he has to give to a prince after all. And he wanted Stolas to stay for a long while now. It's not a grimoire his hallucinations put on a golden pedestal after all. And there a a lot of similarity to how Stolas and his Mumma vanish.

(Debøra pør favør pointed out this emotion damage so now you have to suffer too 😭https://x.com/_Choco_torta/status/1859028103772955135)

"I'm going to die alone" and 'I must be of use' Blitz freaks out badly in queen Bee after Ozzie's. Blitz believed that he's be rejected by Stolas, he's been shoved back into the box of it just being about lust.

Because he wants more, but feels he's unworthy, it's got him hurt coming and going. He's got to shut down any attempt by Stolas to have something real. But he was also hurt constantly feeling sex is all that he's got to offer, and all Stolas would want.

"I make everyone's lives worse" and "We don't get get rid of family". Ok this is into theory level but think Master Mind and Sinsmas are going hit these last two harddddd. (We're one week from mastermind).

It looks likely that Stolas is going to lose Via, face punishment for the illegal deal, and be dragged for the affair. With Via swallowing a lot gaslighting about not being loved by Stolas (lines from the trailer).

Blitz will probably going assume it's another another life he's made worse, where he's caused them to lose their own family. Don't think this will play well with last guy he fell in love with he blow up.

It's going to make it much harder for him to remove the idea; that that him loving some will only hurt them.

Alot of the reasons Blitz thought it was ok to get close to Stolas are tied up in these beliefs. He assumes Stolas was powerful and immortal, so couldn't be hurt physically like Fizz or Mumma.

He assumed that a prince would never fall for an imp, so only he could get hurt emotionally. It couldn't end the same way as Verosika. Blitz thinking he's the only one to be able to be hurt, and get to be useful not just to Stolas, but provide a better life for his whole family. It would seem like a bargain. (And the self punishment aspect probably wasn't going be a turn off for him, cus Blitz thinks he deserves it).

This season seems slow be eroding that pedestal Blitz put Stolas on (and vice versa). It's hurts, and it's knocking the stuffing out of both of them; but it's bring Stolas to earth for Blitz. Making his more of a real person in his eyes.

Eh probably a lot way to go, but I'm here for it.

(was very loosely based on this post, because it got me thinking about distortions vs core beliefs. But then I went off on a whole thing, so thought it would be weird to put it as a reblog. Still loved @akirathedramaqueen analysis and would recommend giving it a read 😀)

[cute-little-fly]

Is there any good reason why Stolas didn’t divorce Stella after they had Octavia?

There are a few reasons I can think of.

First, we know the marriage was loveless and bad from the start, arranged since they were kids and forced. But I don’t see why Stolas would think that he should divorce from the start, since that is not common for their social class and society (Andrealphus mentioned this when they are signing the divorce, that this is a very uncommon case in the Goetia family).

Marry for love is a concept that hasn’t been present in all ages and in all societies as it is today in the western world. Some people have ended up loving the person they are arranged with, or they have managed to have a happy life with them, even if there is no love. Others have ended up marrying not the person they love but someone else they have a good relationship with (like lavender marriages), and they are not 100% happy… but they manage to live a peaceful and good life with the other person. Some of them even negotiate seeing other people outside of the marriage, others don’t and perhaps they always silently carry a cross. Some arranged or forced marriages end up being a nightmare too. But they just keep appearances.

Where do I want to take this? That Stolas trying to make the marriage work at the start is not a uncommon or ilogical thing. Is the thing that would carry less issues to him, the family and his daughter. You can see that when Octavia was little they even shared a bed. So, maybe the marriage wasn’t as hostile as it is now since the start. But the issues where already there… we can see Stella far away from Stolas, taking all the sheets for her and leaving him colder.

In this same scene Stolas tries to make Stella more involved with Octavia’s raising. But Stella doesn’t want to, and he sighs like this is a common thing. He wants her to be with him in those moments, because since he didn’t had a present father and seemingly his mother wasn’t there (for some reason we don’t know), probably he wanted Octavia to have both of her parents present.

So, basically here we are seeing what Stolas says here:

Probably Stella started to turn more and more difficult with the years. Eventually they stopped sleeping together, or trying to have the family. Now, why Stolas didn’t divorved when things were more worse? At the start he tried to give Octavia a normal family life. But now, why?

Well, this might be a case when things start to get slowly worse and you just accept it as part of things, slowly normalize it even if it starts to harm you (like the analogy of the frog in the slowly heating water). At the same time Stolas started to get his depression, because all the abuse endured; and when Blitzø comes into his life, again he has given up happiness as a possibility for him. At all.

If you think about it, the reason why he ends up divorcing Stella is when he sees that the situation makes Blitzø feel bad and impedes them to be able to pursue something beyond the deal they have. Now he has something that gave him strength and something to fight for (trying to have something real with someone else). A choice for himself, after so many years of enduring things for Octavia. He wouldn’t have done it if Blitzø didn’t came into his life, because he had already accepted that was his reality.

This is why he says Blitzø is his light. Because it made him feel strong after a lot of time of feeling powerless. He made him feel alive after a lot of time of being dead in life.

[maxiemumdamage]

Hopefully any remaining Striker defenders will hush up after that, at least.

Like, you could not have had a more obvious way to show that he cares more about his personal interests and profit than he ever did about Imp Rights or Sticking It To The Rich.

Because Striker had the chance to rat out Stella and Andrealphus when he was called to testify! He could’ve said “that one paid me to kill her noble Prince Goetia husband and that one paid me to lie about it and blame an Imp.”

No, it might not have worked — an Imp’s testimony alone wouldn’t have gotten Goetic nobles indicted, even if with Andrealphus’s help it was enough to execute another Imp.

But Striker testifying against Andrealphus would’ve raised questions about the legitimacy of the trial, and at minimum would’ve gotten Stolas in the room. From there, Blitzo would’ve been acquitted, and Andrealphus and Stella would’ve received some kind of punishment. Given that Stolas outranks them both as a Goetic Prince and still got a 100 year sentence…I mean, their punishment wouldn’t be nothing.

But the thing is: it’s not about class for Striker at all. It’s about his personal profit, he only whines about social inequality because the current class structure doesn’t benefit him. He’s all too happy to do exactly what he critiqued Blitzø for and roll over/show his belly to a blueblood prick if it means he gains something — in this case, immunity for his pointless attack on Stolas.

(It was the same thing then. Killing one elite for profit even when it benefitted more of them for Stolas to die than for him to live and continue his relationship with Blitzø.)

Never mind that another innocent Imp will die in Striker’s place for a crime he didn’t even commit. Never mind that Blitzø being publicly executed for having ambition and daring to run his own business is worse for Imps’ rights and social development. Never mind that telling the truth and calling Andrealphus and Stella out might make all these elites turn on each other by exposing their hypocrisy and petty power plays.

It doesn’t benefit Striker, personally, so it’s not worth doing.

[impsandstars]

Let’s talk about these two.

As many have stated before, the main conflict at the end of full moon was the miscommunication coming from both sides. We as the audience have a key advantage of being able to understand these characters in much greater detail because we are shown their actions and follow their lives. The problem with Stolas and Blitz is that their interactions are mainly focused on a once a month meeting (that revolves almost exclusively around having sex), periodically looking at each other’s pictures on social media (which is not always a great indicator who someone actually is) and some scattered meetings like loo loo land and the harvest moon festival.

All this to say the both of them have not really gotten to know each other the way we, the audience, know them. They instead, I feel, have created a version of who they think each other is and that is where the main source of their miscommunication comes from. The true heart felt feelings and the depth of understanding one another, going beyond romanticism and just who the person is at their core, is not seen on screen between these two.

Stolas has constructed a version of Blitz as a character from one of his romance novels/ soap operas and wants him to be this romantic tough guy who will come waltzing in to sweep him off his feet. He flirts with him endlessly because he thinks that’s what Blitz likes. Blitz has constructed a version of Stolas as a negative embodiment of royalty: assholes, users and abusers, classist, and just like the thrill of doing something considered taboo in their social circles. It is difficult then for these two to sometimes see and take in contradictions to those constructed versions. Stolas does not know about Blitz’s traumatic past that helps to explain a bit about why he acts the way he does and although Blitz does know a bit about Stella, he too doesn’t really know how lonely Stolas is, or the years of abuse he put up living in an arranged marriage trying to keep both himself and Via afloat, or that he just desperately wants to find someone that he can finally be his true self around.

This is why I think the turning point in all of this started the night of Ozzie’s, in particular the scene after where blitz is dropping Stolas off. We get, I believe, for the first time, Blitz being vocally and legitamitely truthful about his feelings. It’s not played as a joke, it is not in response to Stolas saying something cheeky and flirty, it is real. It is a Blitz that Stolas I don’t think has seen before. This is the start of something important, the start of some communication.

Without this event at Ozzie's happening, I believe Stolas would have continued their arrangement, loving Blitz from afar and hoping one day that Blitz will look back at him, and Blitz would have continued to “keep it light” and not change the status quo even though he was having feelings of his own.

Stolas reacts to this truthful confession by doing some intense soul searching and moving forward on the path to telling Blitz some of his own truths and finding a way to make up for wrongs he has done.

This incident at Ozzie’s was the catalyst for Stolas to begin his forward journey.

The incident at the end of Full Moon, where now it is Stolas’s turn to tell his truth (even if there were some problems with his delivery of this) is the catalyst for Blitz to begin his forward journey. To do some soul searching of his own to figure out what he actually wants and more importantly who he wants to be.

[helluva-fixation]

I hate hate hate when helluva fans baby-fy the characters. There's a difference between soft vulnerability and being out of character. And all of them are morally grey. They live in hell. None of them are innocent or a victim. Their relationships are written to be messy.

I see this the most with Stolas. I enjoy his character, I do. He makes me laugh, and sometimes I think he's silly. I recognize his flaws. He's classist, self centered, a hopeless romantic, and incredibly ignorant. He can be so frustrating. But I also recognize his strengths. He has a big heart for those he loves, he is a good listener, he enjoys making people feel good, and he is sacrificial. Stolas is a morally grey character, and though he can be a little dense and present as one dimensional, there's more to him than that.

I see many HB watchers either hating Stolas and wanting him to get killed off, seeing him as the villain, completely ignoring his positive traits; or loving him in a way that's unheathly, romanticizing his negatives, reframing him in a solely positive light saying he can do no wrong, having the "he's just a little guy" mentality 24/7.

I respect a like or dislike for a character, and I can't tell people what to do, I just think it's overwhelmingly annoying and unhealthy all around.

[breakandbuildfiction]

Andrealphus Is An Idiot

I think enough time has passed between Mastermind's release and now that people have cooled off a bit, so I hope this gets read all the way through and not dismissed out of hand for being a critique.

Andrealphus is an idiot and his plan makes no sense.

NOT because it hinged on Satan not giving a shit, everyone else just going along with his hearsay, and Stolas seeing the trial going on at the perfect time to intervene after Andrealphus destroys Blitzo's chances at living and before Blitzo gets his head chopped off, but because his end goal wouldn't have been achieved even if Stolas was executed or permanently stripped of his title.

Think about it. What is Andrealphus's goal? He wants the power that comes with Stolas's position as a Prince of the Goetia. Fair enough so far. But Stolas dying or being kicked out of the family wouldn't get him those things. Not for any real amount of time anyways.

Andrealphus only has a claim to Stolas's titles and authorities due to being his brother in law. He is Stolas's brother in law because it was determined that some of the Goetia needed precautionary heirs. Octavia is 17 and is recognized as the heir of Stolas. Hell's age of maturity is 18 if Loona's aging out of foster care is any indication. So Octavia is LESS than one year away from being eligible to take over for her father.

Do you all see what I'm getting at?

Octavia's existence prevents Andrealphus from ever getting what he wants from Stolas. He literally CAN'T inherent or lay claim to Stolas's estates because Stolas is both married in a system that recognizes female rulers, and has an heir extremely close to their maturity. Sure he got to humiliate Stolas and see him stripped of his titles, but that was never Andrealphus's goal. It was just a bonus. So why go through the effort and risk of dethroning Stolas when he KNOWS that he can never reap any real benefits from it?

Seriously. Octavia will never have a good relationship with her uncle now, not after his actions lead to her father being taken from her. And her relationship with her mother is shaky at best. So it's not like Andrealphus can turn Via into his puppet after she hits 18 and takes the crown/throne/whatever of her father. So all the peacock did was make an enemy of the most dangerous imp in Hell, one of the few who can threaten a Goetia in open combat, lie to Satan's face, make an enemy of Asmodeus and Beelzebub, destroy his relationship with his niece-- which was his only real avenue to having proxy control over Stolas's estate-- and probably piss off a few other Goetia who either A) liked Stolas or B) don't like the idea of one of their own betraying them and potentially stealing their estates and titles.

There is literally no benefit to Andrealphus's plan. All he did was buy himself a few months of princely income and some temporary soldiers before he loses them all. And now, in one hundred years-- or more likely a few months-- Stolas will be back in charge and will be out for blood.

So yeah. Andrealphus is an idiot.

[geekgirles]

If you think about it, what got both Moxxie and Millie on board with partnering up with Blitzo is that he made them see they could do better.

Blitzo met Moxxie at the lowest point in his life. He grew up in a cold, loveless, violent household where the only way to survive was being a cold-hearted monster. And seeing as he was the Don's son, that was probably all he thought he could ever aspire to be.

And then he met Chaz. His first love, probably the first person since his mother who ever made him feel happy and appreciated. ...only for it to go down the drain when the very same person who was supposed to love him unconditionally and always support him left him to rot in jail.

He probably believed it was all his fault for thinking he could trust anyone anyway.

And then, Blitzo shows up. Within a minute of knowing the guy (without even knowing his name), he'd already included him in his escape plan and won him over by mentioning his daughter and proving he's a caring and involved dad all in a matter of seconds.

In a matter of seconds, he made Moxxie realise he deserved and could surround himself with better people. People who love and appreciate him.

Millie's a whole other story, but just as meaningful.

Millie comes from a farm, from an imperfect family, but a family that's loving and close nonetheless. Millie's never wanted for love and companionship.

However, she's a Wrathian. An Imp coming from a ring where you're either a farmer or an assassin working for somebody, where you can never strive to be anything else because the world is stacked up against you. You're someone's lackey, not your own person.

And then Blitzo comes along looking for her. Not because he wants to make her pay for stealing their hit, not because he's got anything against her, but because he is genuinely impressed by her talent and wants to give her a chance to work for him. To make something of herself.

Of course, she doesn't believe him. Why should she? Everyone knows Imps are the lowest link in the food chain. There's no way this wacko can back up all that talk.

But he does. He proves not only that he's just as capable as she is, but that she is even more capable than she already thought. And if she wanted to, she could take the world by storm.

Blitzo made Millie realise that she's worth so much more than what anyone thinks, even herself.

In the end, this all comes to show she was right when she and Blitzo had their heart-to-heart. Blitzo doesn't destroy everything he touches—after all, he single-handedly made two lives infinitely better. Three, if we count Loona.

[jubileemon]

Verosika Mayday was well-liked for her design and her history with Blitzo, being one of many people he had wronged in her past. However, some find her to be too spiteful and petty, having trouble feeling sorry for how Blitzo treated her.

Despite her career success and seductive prowess, Verosika's encounters with substance abuse and her history with rehab hints at a deeper struggle, possibly a search for meaning or stability amidst the chaos of her lifestyle. She is one of several individuals who have been wronged by Blitzo, as their shared history is marked by betrayal and heartbreak.

When Blitzo confronts Verosika in the recording studio she is shown to have a tattoo, a heart with the name "Blitz" written on it. Except now it has a big cross over it. It seems likely that she loved Blitzo, only for him to break her heart by stealing from her. That fact that Blitzo is so desperate to be loved and believes that no one in his life does love him makes it even sadder. He had someone that truly loved him and through his own self sabotaging antics turned that person into a bitter enemy.

In the episode 'Ozzie's', Verosika's musical confrontation with Blitzo serves as a cathartic moment for her character. Her lyrics paint a picture of a deeply hurt woman, reflecting on their broken relationship. As she sings about Blitzo, it becomes even clearer about how she was very hurt by whatever happened in their relationship. After pointing out what a selfish, unreciprocal lover he was, she describes him as "a reckless, heartbreaking freak".

It makes perfect sense for Verosika to accuse Blitzo of being a bad lover. After all, they were at a sex-centered restaurant in the Lust Ring. Regardless of what other ways he might've made a substandard boyfriend, sex is what the others there would've been interested in. She wasn't just insulting him to vent, she was insulting him to damage his reputation.

I mean, it's the Lust ring. The highest "virtue" in that ring is doing everything and anything to satisfy your lust. Therefore, helping somebody else satisfy their lust is also a virtue and expected behavior. So, doing the opposite of that, denying somebody their satisfaction is the greatest sin one can commit in the Lust ring. Add in that they are in Hell, which is looking at most things through the lense of transactions, and the behavior of which Blitzo is accused makes him look not only inattentive substandard lover but straight out thief and fraud. Because Verosika did her expected part of the deal, and Blitzo didn't do his. Nobody in Lust would care if he stole her money and car, but breaking her heart ("heartbreaking freak" part of the song) after not giving her anything in return for all the things she did to satisfy his lust? Horrible "sin" in that ring.

Despite getting to chew out her ex in a much better fashion than in "Spring Broken", Verosika still doesn't leave the episode on a positive note as she's last seen sulkily swirling a wine glass and taking a drink while Moxxie sings the rest of his love song.

[anthurak]

Something I think is very much worth considering when analyzing the oppressive, classist societal system we’re seeing in Helluva Boss, most notably in the latest episode:

Satan is not really a ‘tyrant’ in the way I think a lot of people have started viewing him as. At least, he’s NOT some ‘usurper’ who has ‘seized power’ in Lucifer’s absence and now ‘rules with an iron fist’ with no one powerful enough to stand against him. For one, I think it’s pretty clear that this position as the ‘Lawman of Hell’ is a role that Satan has always held, even before Lucifer left.

Rather, let’s consider the fact that while Satan might be the one enforcing this oppressive system, he is FAR from the only one supporting or BENEFITING from it.

We have Mammon, possibly Leviathan, and basically the ENTIRE Goetia royalty who are clearly in FULL, enthusiastic support of this system.

Meanwhile Leviathan and Belphagor (assuming the former isn’t in full support of this system like Mammon) seem to be either too apathetic or too blissed out to really care, which likely also applies to pretty much any ‘not enthusiastically classist/racist’ Goetia as well.

Which just leaves Asmodeous and Beelezbub and MAYBE a handful of Goetia like Vassago who actually DO care and want to do something to help.

Really, I think the ‘vote’ we saw this episode is a clear demonstration of why there is only so much Ozzie and Bee can actually do. They are outnumbered, even among their fellow Sins.

I think it’s not so much that Satan ‘seized’ power in Lucifer’s absence. Rather, without Lucifer there is no one to truly CHECK the power that Satan already has. Sure, maybe a majority of the other Sins might be able to do that as well, but as we see, THAT isn’t happening either.

Satan is not some all-powerful tyrant running an oppressive system. While he may be considered the ‘face’ of that system, he is simply the enforcer of an oppressive system run by many powerful people who benefit from it. With any in power who might want to change things being too few to really do anything about it.

This is why I feel like what we are seeing here is not so much setup for conflict in Helluva Boss, but rather setup for a future plotline in Hazbin Hotel.

Because unlike Blitzo, Stolas or even Ozzie and Bee, CHARLIE is in fact someone who COULD do something about all this.

Even without Lucifer’s help (who I imagine will be indisposed due to other factors for the sake of not making all this TOO easy), Charlie DOES have the influence, charisma and if all else fails the raw strength to actually change things.

Whether by giving Asmodeus and Beelzebub the support they need, snapping/slapping Belphagor and Leviathan out of whatever detached apathy they’re in or maybe just giving Satan, Mammon and the entire Goetia court a brutal ass-kicking.

Probably all of the above.

All in all, I think Satan is a really great example of an antagonistic character who is very much A 'bad guy', but at the same time is not THE 'Bad Guy'. In the thematic sense that Satan is very much part of the oppressive system yet is very much NOT the root cause of it.

And in the narrative sense; both short-term in the fact that Andrealphus is very much the actual 'main bad guy' of this episode, and in the long-term of Satan likely being much more of an antagonist for Charlie in Hazbin Hotel, rather than anyone in Helluva Boss.

[onehelluvafan]

Confirmation that even just receiving the crystal is a painful memory for Blitz because he associates it with the end of their arrangement 💔

[borgorbelly]

HELLUVA BOSS S1E8: Queen Bee [MY PERSONAL ANALYSIS/OPINIONS]

hoping these two become the “unlikely” opposite super bestie duo

despite Loona’s guarded persona taking Bee’s tone over her words I really have hopes that they’ll grow closer.

LETS DECONSTRUCT SOME FACIAL EXPRESSIONS SHALL WE?

sorry for low quality first pic lets just dive in

okay wait but can we talk about how crisp their facial expressions are? like idk im amazed at how expressive they are for lil animations *sob*

OKAY so as @bibluebutterfly so perfectly highlighted it in a post that wont let me link for whatever reason so im using a screenshot:

I may be reading Beelzebub wrong but I think she’s pretty genuine. Tone-wise she comes off bitchy but I think that has more to do with her character design being the “HBIC” or popular party girl. Her words matter more than the tone of voice they come off in IMO, and during the episode her words and actions show kindness and genuineness (is that a word?).

Her sin is gluttony, so she’s for funsies, for what you want. Throughout the whole episode we see Beelzebub being pretty much a perfect hostess, making sure everyone is okay and having a good time. Bee also alerts Loona of Blitz not doing well - which, lets be objectively honest here- anyone would want someone to do if their loved one is clearly not okay at a party. So W for Queen Bee on that one.

the only time she gets “spicy” so to speak is when Loona took her words the wrong way and got spicy first. She also is shown apologizing to Tex for being that way toward Loona. though i do hope we see a future scene where they acknowledge this and it sparks their friendship or something.

I do think that the “spat” between Loona and Bee was just a simple miscommunication. Loona took Bee’s words differently than Bee meant them. Beelzebub literally meant Blitz was “not okay” emotionally/on an energetic level. NOT that he was a “not okay” kind of guy. and, at no real fault of her own, Loona took it in a hostile way because of her traumatic history. She’s looking for threats everywhere as a safety precaution, and is being self destructive in the process.

I’ve been seeing discourse about the lack of dimensionality to the writing of the female characters and while it didn’t originally cross my mind i do totally agree and want to acknowledge that here. i’m praying that they’ll fix it by giving us a beautiful friendship between Bee and Loona that is vulnerable and multidimensional and fulfilling. maybe even a lil fruity lmao. i love Tex and Bee together tho don’t get me wrong, i’m just musing atp.

also honorable mention to this post by @stolitz-is-endgame that for some reason again i can’t link:

okay so that wasn’t really an analysis of the whole episode, just of the parts that’ve been taking up so much of my brain space. but yeah those are my thoughts. apologies if im just saying things everyone thinks/knows i am just excited and love this show and cant hold in my thoughts any longer.

pls if you have anything to add leave a comment!