Malaysian Peanut

Firstly, I really love Alastor's whole arc in this season. Yes I think some things could be clarified more, like why was he so cold to the other people in the hotel, especially Charlie in the first few episodes, but I guess it was hinted through his broken staff and his injury in episode 4. Still, would have liked it more if there was more conversations shared between him and the others. But I was honestly impressed with how he broke all of his deals and even used his previous one to gain three wins in one go. That was smart play that some fans were theorizing on, but to see it happen and play out in the show was something else altogether. My expectation with his character was at least met and went above and beyond, and he had a few awesome action and fighting sequences that I could binge watch whenever I feel like I miss him or there is a drought of content. Haha.

Some people speculated that he would be the next big villain in the show in future seasons, and personally, I don't like that route, because one, it is predictable through his demeanour, but also preference wise, I prefer him to be a chaotic neutral character, or just someone who does sneaky, suspicious things for entertainment, but doesn't resort to doing actual evil things (and I mean like currently, not talking about his past). And I personally do like characters that put up a front to hide their true intentions in a positive way. Sort of like a tsundere type of character. I personally love to imagine him as an anti-hero type of character, a supposedly cunning, plotting character who actually has a heart. It's just what I love, but that's just personal taste. But it is hinted time and time again that he does have a small capacity to care about others, especially Niffty and to an extent, Charlie. Or maybe he's just using them, I don't know. I personally want to be optimistic about my favorite character haha.

I don't like Vox's past as a human. I think it's pretty blah. I would have personally loved to see him being depicted as a cult leader who manipulates and controls a group of people into doing horrible things in the name of religion, instead of just typical murder to rise to power kind of thing. Because the thing is, it is something that is relevant even til the current times, and it's not just exclusive to one kind of religion which has been misused in this way. It would have made him a little more interesting. If they still needed to tie it to television, then why not make him one of those cult-ish TV evangelist sort of character? I don't know, I just think it was kind of boring just to resort to murder again and again. Show other types of sins that are bad. But the animation was awesome and his human design wasn't too bad.

I, like many others, are disappointed with how Lute is used in this season? Like her song was one of the ones I really liked from this season, and seeing her break down, crying, and having her own song number with awesome animation, and her story just ended up flat and she barely had screentime towards the end. I am also surprised she agreed to follow along to give gift baskets with the other angels, but it was hilarious to look at xD She just surrenders or submits to Abel in the end because he reminded her of Adam and that's it? The trailer just shows a lot of her, so I assumed she was going to be one of the main antagonists but meh. And this is coming from someone who didn't care much about Lute in S1.

I don't care much for the other two Vee's. I find them entertaining and I do like that they ended up slapping Vox into some sense in the end and literally taking off his head to stop him from doing any more damage. But I wouldn't miss them if they don't return in the upcoming season, including Vox. Give the other characters more screentime.

At first I didn't like that Rosie owns Alastor's soul, because I wanted them to be buddies, but now in the ending, I find it interesting. It's kinda shown to be a mentor student relationship, where she looks so proud of him in that final shot of that sequence, even thought she was clearly mad at him for manipulating his way out of his deal with her. But then I was thinking, if you just fixed his staff in the first place, this wouldn't happen??? I do hope to see her again, I find her an intriguing character and some speculations of her being a more important character which if it does become true, would make it more interesting.

My biggest issue with this season is how Charlie is written and portrayed. It's just not as strong as the first season where we can see some kind of backbone and integrity in how she makes decisions and face danger and fight alongside others to protect the hotel. There are others who keep saying that it's part of her flaws to make mistakes due to being overwhelmed with what's going on. But when the main character keeps making mistakes, don't listen to others' advice, LASH OUT at others like her girlfriend and father for her OWN MISTAKES, don't even give two shits about what happened to some of her friends, like Alastor, Angel and even HER FATHER in the end, like how am I supposed to root for her? And please don't give excuse like, "it's going to be discussed in future season" "she's allowed to make mistakes" like wtf? Instead of giving screentime to unnecessary things, why not show important character moments that shows character growth? She is allowed to make mistakes, yes, but show her progressing from that mistake, learning to be better. She didn't even apologize properly to those she had hurt, like her father. I think it's bad when I feel like skipping her scenes in the show, since she is the MAIN CHARACTER. I really really wanted to like her, but man, the way she was portrayed, it is difficult. I understand the intention of the writers behind her character and why she did the things she did, but just how she was shown story-wise and visually (they kept animating her in a comedic way that I don't know whether to take her seriously or not) feels like it backfired on that intention. There are so many other things wrong with how they choose to portray Charlie, like her dependency on her absentee mother, her naivety on how to handle others who have devious intentions and dealing with insecurities, but I don't have a whole thesis to write right now. I'm tired.

I know this is a hot take, but I literally don't care about Sir Pentious and Cherri's romance. They don't have a lot of chemistry for me. I also don't care much about Cherri as a character. It just felt like she was just there to be Angel's friend, or Sir Pentious' love interest. That's it.

I really wished and hoped they show Alastor's past with Husk and Niffty because it was intriguing to see him react to them joining the fight in episode 4, Niffty's immediate reaction to help Alastor, and Husker's comment about him fighting the Vees "again". Especially him stopping the fight to stop Val from killing Niffty, which shows some level of caring inside him. I know it was probably part of his ultimate plan or whatever, but still, why show it if it didn't play any part in the later parts of the show? So in the future seasons, I hope they do show how they got to know one another.

Another relationship I don't care much and this is again another hot take: Husker and Angel. Only because I feel like their relationship is better as a mentor type of friendship rather than a romantic relationship. Even though I like the song "Losin' Streak", I think just the way they go about progressing the relationship into romance didn't feel that natural to me. I liked it better when Husk protects Angel and sees Angel as someone he can guide through good and bad, rather than a romance. Someone online said it well, that Angel doesn't need a love or romantic relationship, he needed a friend.

I'm sad over how they chose to end Angel's story this season, but I do find it more interesting than redeeming him because that would just be a repeat of what happened with Pentious. I did see him leaving because of all the shit Charlie tried to pull, but also over his guilt, but I think at least they could have handled it better than Angel walking back to his abuser? Maybe Angel could have just walked out of the hotel or left to go elsewhere but not go back to Val? But I guess it's because his contract with him didn't end. Still, I felt it could have handled better. I also didn't like that he kept getting physically abused and manipulated in this season. I know they needed to show how evil the villains are, but he seems to be the only character being the punching bag sometimes.

Lucifer is so useless in this season. And I kinda get it. It would be so much better than him being the OP character who solved all problems in hell so you need to nerf him in some way. But my God, this is the King of Hell? Really? Maybe they'll talk about this in the next season, but that is the problem. Everything is going to be talked about in another time, not right now. And there is no sign of them wanting to discuss about this in the current season so they could be doing anything next season and we'll just need to accept it.

I didn't like the power of friendship resolution to the conflict that much but it makes for a wholesome entertaining musical number in the end. I wished they would go the mature route of handling the situation rather than everyone shoots power beams like Care Bears. This show is supposed to be mature, right? Not just adult because explicit materials, but talking about mature themes of redemption, sins and all that?

Someone said this online and it's true, Emily is a better MC than the current Charlie is. She actually did went through a character arc (seeing the atrocity of what hell sinners went through and speaking with Sera, showing empathy to Pentious and trying her best to make him feel welcomed) and is the reason why everyone banded together in the end to stop the machine from exploding. She had a lot of heroic moments (flying around to save sinners, saving ALASTOR, the power beam thing). WTF, give the show to Emily instead. I'd be so totally down for that.

So far those are all my thoughts I could conjure up now. Maybe there are more, I'll add on here. Again, this is my own personal feelings on the show, it doesn't have to dictate yours. But if you feel the same way, I hope it resonates with you.

Look, as much as I appreciate the Alastor and Vox immense fan service in episode 4, I am kind of disappointed at how they showed Charlie this season so far. She's just all over the place, and she moves like Ren and Stimpy character like 80% of the time. I'm not quite sure where they are going with her at this moment, but so far I'm not liking her character development. Maybe it will improve in the 2nd half of the season, hopefully. Because she is the main character and I want to like her.

She's completely oblivious to Vaggie at times with how much she's trying to support her and that episode 3 really pissed me off with how much danger she put Angel and Husk in. It's almost as if she is using them to show how successful the hotel can be with no regards over what they want. The fact that Angel was uncomfortable over Vox being in the hotel and she disregards that because needing to show the legitimacy of the hotel just shows her priority now. I need her to take some responsibility and accountability. I get that maybe she's just having a mental breakdown over Pentious being redeemed and the stress over the hotel, but it doesn't excuse these behaviours.

The pacing of the story is a bit off where I feel there is too much and there is not enough at times. Not to mention episode 4 where her reaction to Alastor being captured seems more annoyed than grief over her supposed friend being in trouble? Not saying she doesn't feel that way, it's just how the animation is portraying it in the show. I wish they could choose if they want to be more comedic or serious, because sometimes I feel like they can't decide.

That said, the good things are good. I can tell Alastor is getting a lot of love, at least in episode 4, so as an Alastor fan, I really appreciate it. I'm not sure how the rest of the season is going to go. Maybe he'll just completely disappear after episode 5 lol. Whenever I watch this show, I just try to have lower expectations and not feed into fan theories or conspiracies because it can get draining.

And I like seeing more of the Vees as villains and getting the spotlight. They are entertaining and I love their dynamic together, and my favorite voice actor from this show is Christian Borle, the one who does Vox. He did pretty awesome.

Animation, I can tell has improved a vast amount, but at times I see an issue of the art style changing slightly at times and not being consistent, which I don't honestly mind as long as the character design is still the same but it is noticeable sometimes which can be distracting. So far the latest episode song's pretty good (the one with Rosie, Al and Vox), and I really like Gravity song as well. There isn't one where I feel I am attached to yet, but their songs are always slow burn with me. I ended up loving them months later anyway.

There are some comedic moments as well. The one I found funny the most was in episode 4 where Niffty just dragged Husk out of the hotel to go help Alastor. xD And I do love seeing the dynamic between Husk, Alastor and Niffty. I wanna see more of them together!