Charlie & Vox + blind spots
I know that it can be down right painful when Charlie fucks up because it feels like she should "see" some obvious things but this is why I made that post about her not being human and having no way of really understanding what human beings actually feel like. Lute and Charlie struggling with death more than the mortals already tells us a lot about the immortals. And Charlie being excited to tell Alastor that Vox was at the door telegraphs for us what she understands about what's really going on out there. What Charlie really misunderstands in episode three is that redemption being real or not probably wont create the behavior change she thinks it will, she fundamentally misunderstands humans constantly. I don't have an issue with Charlie being as short sighted as her father, I think her passion is her charm and they showed her running off into a song mid conversation with Vaggie in episode one, so long as she keeps growing she makes sense to me.
Charlie's missteps with Angel are stressful because her of lack of understanding can and does put him in real danger but she is also limited in what she is able to understand, which is why Cherri Bomb's choice to stay is meaningful in more ways than one. Charlie cares and that's wonderful but this episode also shows how painful it can be when the person who is actually trying to help you doesn't see your stressors. As we saw with Sir Pentious, the people in hell are often faced with unfair or difficult choices or have likely lived harder lives and it is likely that they will be vulnerable in ways Charlie will be required to understand.
Charlie's focus on explaining redemption and then clearing her name is already corrected by Vaggie, who keeps saying to ignore it and that the Vees are trolls who can't be leveled with. Similar to how we can see that Vox' priorities are skewed when he forgets to make the "me" a "we", we can take miscommunication between Charlie and Vaggie as a direct flag of where Charlie is at. She is, again, similar to her father in that she is devoted to her romantic partner and that love is usually enough to make her focus and slow down and see when she's going too fast. Vaggie will also act as a guard between Charlie and the hotel guest just as she will act as a buffer between staff and guests and anyone else. Charlie admits to wanting to be like her mother in episode one and explains that her mom doesn't let people get caught up in what doesn't matter but these are clearly the exact things she will be struggling with. She's trying to be something she is not, her mother, and she is the one who keeps focusing on all the small and unimportant things.
One of the biggest things that really happened to Charlie is that she lost her faith, her resolve, in redemption itself. She's actually surprised and relieved now that she felt what it was like to lose someone forever and that's part of why she misunderstands that all humans will be relieved by this. The small victory she does get in these two episodes is when Vox tries to get a moment of weakness from her only to be surprised that she will still look him in the face and defend the idea of goodness in all people.
Again, I know it bites that Charlie can make choices that cause problems but that's the conceit of the character, she was born into power and she wants to be responsible to that lot in life but she has to figure out how to do it because everyone else like her seems to have already given up. Charlie will eventually have to address a lot of the problems that her plan has brought up- the constantly increasing question about some people being impossible to redeem. Charlie WAS correct in asserting that it "starts with sorry" but now she has to deal with what is means when sorry isn't enough. Sir Pentious truly needed someone to invest any kind of time into him, Charlie was able to meet him where he was but she can't even understand the layers of what Angel is dealing with. She doesn't really demonstrate a difference in opening the door for Alastor or for Vox, per say, and he acceptance of all sinners is a double edged blade. Charlie passed off the hotel when she saw that Vaggie was doing a better job and had asked for it and she will expand and find a solution if she consistently causes problems for the sinners, she'll adapt!
What is sort of happening is that as Charlie opens one door she finds another one locked. Getting people to even believe it was possible used to be a miracle and now it might not even make a difference. The questions about some people never being sorry, being legitimate dangers and threats, and being willing to directly hurt those around her will keep coming up for Charlie. It's similar to how Lute is already trying to find a pressure point that might break her, some people will come after her directly and others will hurt those around her. Charlie doesn't allow people to disrespect her friends in front of her but she doesn't realize that the low standards she has for herself and her willingness to engage with anyone and try anything puts the people she's taking care of in danger. She said "you can mock me" but she shouldn't actually allow that! She's the type of person who would make sure to have a safety break but still be insane enough to tie someone to a train track in the first place, like she's just her father's daughter.
Charlie will say things that aren't particularly good examples of morals sometimes like telling Angel to "dress modestly" and implying that "chan[ing] babies" is a particular example of good character. This is because she is similar to characters like Star Fire from Teen Titans and not because the writers of this show believe that dressing modestly is important. I feel that this should be obvious.
Charlie is able to learn something pretty useful from her time in episode three, which is that focusing on the sinner's specific sin might lead to a more direct redemption, but her misunderstanding of which labels and aspects of humanity matter is also telegraphed to us by her need to make Husk and Angel have gendered rolled. Charlie doesn't care about heteronormativity here she literally thinks this might have played into what happened with Sir Pen and Cherri which is why she has lines like "I'm a big, strong man". If Charlie doesn't see her own short comings, she could not save Angel fast enough which was her nightmare come true with Sir Pen.
Despite her good heart, Charlie's efforts to talk about redemption ask too much from Angel which is why part of their story is about how dangerous the role of "helper" can be. It really is painful when the person trying to keep you alive doesn't see the ways they are causing you to suffer but it happens to a lot of people in different situations and I think Charlie and Angel will be good characters to work through this with. He said no too many times and used the word boundaries and to be honest he probably should have kept his no. If Angel has anything to learn (I'm not blaming him) it's that he shouldn't do things just because someone he likes thinks its a good idea. I think there is the possibility that Husk takes Angel's aspirations for heaven so literally he in turn does not see his flirting as serious and he doesn't really know any better than anyone else. If Husk has a blind spot then its surely himself which is why he says "worse case, you're still stuck down here with me" and gives up as soon as he and Angel disagree. Just because Husk and Angel both struggle with addiction doesn't mean they are similar and just because Charlie loves from a good place doesn't mean she knows how to help. Both of these issues will naturally round out as the hotel learns to function more and more.
While Charlie's mistakes are obvious I feel like Vox is also meant to parallel Charlie's lesson about blind spots. We learn a lot about Alastor in episode four and it feels weird to finally be able to talk about it. But we still don't know how much Vox knows about Alastor's past or his deal and he actually took a lot less than he could, Vox actually got a BAD deal.
Alastor holds his own pretty well in a fight where he can't seem to move on command. We also hear Rosie tell Alastor that he is the strongest sinner in hell which implies that he might gain something if Vox literally does succeed in his power play. However, he's not in a great position and if Vox was thinking more carefully he didn't have to make a deal with Alastor to bring him down. He probably will never have a better chance than the one he had to defeat him, where Alastor is so seriously injured and down on his luck. Yet because Alastor agrees, Vox ends up asking for nothing. It seems like Alastor is the one who doesn't clarify enough during their deal, he just protects the trio and then Charlie by name, but Vox doesn't cash in on anything. If he had forced Alastor to come along he might have shocked him or tried all kinds of violence and dark implications to abuse Alastor into submission. The implications are all there and like we get that his interest in humbling Alastor is personal but he doesn't actual end up even trying to really debase him.
My point is that Vox accepted a lot less humiliation than he could have despite his effort and years and thinking about it because he fucking fell for "trust me" effectively.
Vox gets so caught up in being given an answer that was CLEARLY too good to be true that he makes it ten times easier on Alastor. Alastor is right to keep pointing out Vox' need for people because it really does make him easy to position. Giving Alastor a mask over his face for all of the camera parts was practically a gift and Alastor didn't even seem able to remove the static issue that happens when he is on tv.
Like maybe these types of gags can only happen when Alastor is playing along but Vox could have asked Alastor to actually host or sing on tv, to do things for his company, all he wants to cash in on is the fame from having beaten him. He isn't thinking of the profit or the business and he isn't thinking about what he might have made Alastor do if he caught him, cause that's what he was watching him for.
Alastor is still able to have a conversation with Vox because there is no need to really secure the chair or worry about him running away. Alastor is baiting Vox and getting into his head with or without both hands. I feel like despite both Rosie and Vox dancing with Alastor on strings he is still the point pulling them.
Ultimately, Vox came when called and it doesn't seem like Al, Val, or Vel can get him to hear anything he doesn't want to.
