Recap / Helluva Boss S1E4 "C.H.E.R.U.B"

Collin: You know, you three [imps] are so utterly c-c-cruel. We're just trying to give hope to someone in need.
Moxxie: Oh, and you three [cherubs] are so superior to us just because we want some selfish, greedy, authoritarian capitalist to keel over dead!
Blitzo: You're making things too real now, Moxxie. [sprays him with a squirt bottle]

When I.M.P is told to kill an old man as revenge for their client, things sure do happen — in this case, angels from Heaven in a group named C.H.E.R.U.B attempt to show the old man that life is worth living, while I.M.P tries to convince the old man that he should just die.

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Tropes for this episode include...

• Actor Allusion: The first disguise used by Blitzo in here is a reference to a character by his voice actor Brandon Rogers, Blah blah the clown.
• Aesop Collateral Damage: Several opera-goers die during the brawl between I.M.P and C.H.E.R.U.B, all so that Lyle could learn to appreciate life. Granted, it's I.M.P's job to murder mortals, but it just highlights how self-centered C.H.E.R.U.B is when they protest that their accidental murders weren't their fault.
• All for Nothing: C.H.E.R.U.B tries to convince Lyle to live and use his money to benefit the world so he can enter Heaven, but I.M.P’s antics cause them to accidentally kill him and get banished from Heaven. However, as Lyle was an unrepentant, greedy man who performed unethical experiments on the poor, he was doomed to go to Hell anyway, so C.H.E.R.U.B took a job that was doomed to fail. Making things worse, their attempts to save him ended up dooming them to roam the Earth for eternity.
• All There in the Script: While Cletus and Collin are identified during the episode, Keenie and Deerie are only named in the credits. As for the other cherubs that appeared alongside Deerie, their names were given in a tweet by the show's lead character designer (the short bee is Bea, the tall bee is Honey and the sheep are Rachel and Beau).
• Ambiguous Situation: Blitzo believed that the ominous shaking at the start of the episode is from a hellshake, Hell's version of an earthquake, before it turns out to be Loopty making his entrance. Moxxie thinks something like that doesn't exist, but Millie and Loona freak out.
• Ascended Fridge Horror: Early on, fans had noted that with the Easy Road to Hell nature of the setting, it's likely that the targets I.M.P kills would end up in Hell, where the clients would be stuck with them forever. Blitzo even points this out to Loopty Goopty when he wants to hire them. Turns out that Loopty is counting on Lyle going to Hell so he can torture his former business partner for eternity, though it's subverted when it turns out that he just wanted to see his best friend again.
• Asshole Victim: As Moxxie points out, their current target Lyle is a "selfish greedy authoritarian capitalist", and Lyle himself doesn't hesitate to admit that he is a child hating jerk, who gleefully performed unethical experiments on poor people and only ever cared about accumulating wealth. Even C.H.E.R.U.B calls Lyle a "shitty old man", but they intend to save his life anyway.
• A-Team Firing: During the gunfight at the opera house, C.H.E.R.U.B is unable to land a single hit on anyone from I.M.P with their holy arrows. I.M.P's bullets, meanwhile, kill everyone but their target Lyle, and the cherubs who are trying to kill them. Somehow, only the pianist survives the chaos.
• At Least I Admit It:
  • Lyle ends up in Hell as Loopty wanted. Because C.H.E.R.U.B pointed out the potential good their invention would do that could result in him being in Heaven, the imps assume that he would ascend. Lyle callously admits he profited from experimenting on poor people, resulting in his damnation.
  • I.M.P see C.H.E.R.U.B as Holier Than Thou, judgmental prudes who pretend to be better people than they are, whereas I.M.P (and, by extension, most imps and demons) are at least upfront about their flaws and shortcomings.
• The Bad Guy Wins: C.H.E.R.U.B accidentally murders the man they were supposed to convince to go on with life, and they get banned from returning to Heaven for it. Meanwhile, I.M.P escapes scot-free back down to Hell. And even though they technically didn't kill their target, he still ended up in Hell, which their client considered a success because it's what he wanted. In short, Villain Protagonists win, Hero Antagonists lose.
• Bad Santa: Blitzo unmasks a Mall Santa as being a pedophilic sleaze who wears a shirt mentioning the controversial Netflix film Cuties (which was notorious for ostensibly being intended to condemn sexualizing children in spite of depicting its child actors in decidedly inappropriate situations).
• Bad Vibrations: Loopty's entrance is heralded by the I.M.P office shaking due to him climbing the walls and trying to smash into the room. Said tremors are first signified by a Jurassic Park-esque display of Loona's drink cup rippling before spilling over, and the crew panic over whether or not it's a hellshake/hellquake before Loopty finally breaches the wall (crushing Moxxie in the process) to introduce himself.
• Bearer of Bad News: Deerie, a higher-up cherub, delivers the bad news to the C.H.E.R.U.B trio that their actions have led to their access into Heaven being revoked, and they have no way of getting it back. She does this sounding sheepish, but overall condescending.
• Big "WHAT?!": C.H.E.R.U.B react this way when Deerie banishes them from Heaven after accidentally killing Lyle.
• Black Comedy: Saturated in this episode, from the animal against animal cruelty to the Mall Santa who is unmasked as a pedo. The main focus is literally I.M.P trying to get an old man to kill himself.
• Book Ends:
  • Wacky Wally advertises his "idea factory" at the start of the episode, which has him admittedly desperately finding potential innovators to mooch off of. In the end, he invites the late Lyle and Loopty to employ (exploit) them.
  • Moxxie ends up crushed by debris during the start and end of the episode, and everyone oblivious to help him.
  • Millie and Loona tells a calm Moxxie to calm down at the start of the episode. Keenie does the same to a panicky Collin near the end.
• Both Sides Have a Point: While C.H.E.R.U.B trying to stop a man from committing suicide is quite admirable, I.M.P is also right to point out that the man they're trying to save is a greedy asshole who probably won't be getting into Heaven anyways. Additionally, they're both right about the state of the world; it's a mix of good and bad.
• Bottomless Magazines: Subverted. Most of the guns wielded by Blitzo and Moxxie aren't shown getting reloaded, due to them having an entire arsenal of automatic weapons to burn through, Blitzo's personal Flintlock pistol has an elaborate reload process and a limited ammo capacity, with him wasting a few bullets to Shoot the Television near the beginning, so when he ends up in a prolonged gunfight with Cletus from C.H.E.R.U.B, he eventually runs out of ammo since he forgot to reload before taking the job and can't do so mid-fight.
• Breather Episode: This episode completely lacks drama and the only episode where the heroes dealt with the antagonists without a problem.
• Brick Joke:
  • Early in the episode, a commercial plays on TV for Wacky Wally Wackford's Wacky Idea "Factory", where a demon attempts to convince inventors to sell him their ideas. Wally Wackford shows up at the end of the episode after both inventors are in Hell, trying to talk them into working for him.
  • When Loopty performs a Dynamic Entry and destroys a wall at I.M.P, Loona tells him that he should use the front door next time. Later, at Lyle Lipton's manor, Blitzo jumps through a window when confronting C.H.E.R.U.B but faceplants, unconscious for a few moments. Moxxie and Millie, meanwhile, use the front door of the manor.
  • Episode 3 had a billboard in the background advertising Holy Water 'now with 32% more piss.' In this episode Blitzo sprays Moxxie with a spray bottle marked 'Piss' and he reacts with a pained hiss.
  • Blitzo shoots at two TVs in the beginning of the episode, and we clearly see him in the process of loading his second shot while Moxxie flips through the channels, showing how complicated and time-consuming reloading his Flintlock pistol is. During the fight with C.H.E.R.U.B he attempts to shoot Cletus, only to find his gun empty due to having used up the ammo earlier and never getting the time to reload.
• Call-Back:
  • During the C.H.E.R.U.B advert, a billboard can be seen which reads "Injured? Good!" and features the doctor and pink-haired nurse from the pilot.
  • Blitzo mentions trying to get "that insurance thing". He initially didn't know what insurance was in the pilot episode.
  • Loona calls Moxxie "fatty", more blatantly than faxing him a weight loss ad in the pilot.
  • The whiteboard includes Robo Fizz getting eaten by a dragon ("Loo Loo Land") and Verosika angrily parking away from I.M.P ("Spring Broken").
• The Cameo: One of Mrs. Mayberry's students appears as one of the children lining up for the Mall Santa. Interestingly, she still seems to be recovering from her teacher throwing her up a roof, based on a bandage on her forehead and a couple of chipped or missing teeth.
• Censored for Comedy: The jingle in C.H.E.R.U.B's commercial starts with three people dying violently, by parachute mishap, train, and shotgun. Their grisly ends are all pixelated and covered with cutesy speech bubbles.
• Chekhov's Gun: Early in the episode, Moxxie is seen pulling multiple guns (and a few melee weapons) out of his coat when Blitzo asks him what options they have for Lyle to off himself with. Later during the opera fight, while swinging on a rope together, Millie reaches into Moxxie’s coat and draws two submachine guns to use against C.H.E.R.U.B.
• Cherubic Choir: The C.H.E.R.U.B jingle is a fairly unorthodox version. It's not the traditional style of music you hear from this trope, but the song is still a sweet if highly energetic tune about blessing people and spreading positivity sung by literal cherubs.
• Classical Music Is Cool: I.M.P are at a loss on how to make opera look bad. Blitzo devises a way to fix this by sabotaging the performance, accomplishing this via stage light accident.
• Continuity Nod: The imps start using disguises to blend in with Earth society, as Loona called them out on this oversight in "Spring Broken". The only exception is during the opera show, where they hide behind the scenes.
• Creator Cameo: A number of the opera goers are actually the crew who worked on the show as revealed in a number of tweets and posts of theirs.
• Denser and Wackier: It's described as "the wackiest episode of the season", and it delivers. There's more use of Toon Physics and a focus on Black Comedy instead of Character Development or backstory.
• Designated Girl Fight: Keenie focuses on Millie in the two groups' fight, both being the only females. With the males, Colin and Cletus focus on Moxxie and Blitzo, respectively. Moxxie does consider shooting into his wife’s melee, then thinks better of it and shoots loose a sandbag instead.
• Diegetic Switch: Once real fighting breaks out between I.M.P and C.H.E.R.U.B, the fight scene is scored to the same opera song that was being performed onstage a moment ago, only now it's clearly non-diegetic, since the catalyst of the fight was I.M.P killing the singer.
• Disappointed by the Motive: After Loopty is done explaining his backstory and why he wants Lyle dead, Blitzo comments that Lyle getting their empire all for himself isn't really evil, as Lyle never betrayed him. Loopty tries to justify it by saying that Lyle's greed is "evil towards him". Given that Loopty never actually hated Lyle and just wanted to be together with his best friend in Hell, it makes sense in hindsight why Loopty's "hatred" motive was so flimsy.
• Divine Intervention: C.H.E.R.U.B takes this direct approach to convince people like Lyle to live. I.M.P decides to follow suit, instead of their usual assassination tactics, and try to convince Lyle to, as Moxxie worded it, "commit die".
• Driven to Suicide: Lyle Lipton, having become a frail old man due to an experiment gone wrong, wants to kill himself. C.H.E.R.U.B attempts to convince him that life is worth living, while I.M.P tries to convince him to get it over with. It escalates into battle between C.H.E.R.U.B and I.M.P which causes Lyle to decide that he no longer wants to die, only to get crushed by a piano shortly after saying that.
• Dude, Not Funny!: Keenie reacts in disgust from Blitzo's tasteless joke.
  Blitzo: You're gonna buy that load of shit from a baby and the sheep it fucks?
  Keenie: (gasps in horror) That is so inappropriate!
  Millie: (giving Keenie the double deuce) Oh, kiss our ass, prude!
• Easy Road to Hell: The episode provides an incredibly rare, borderline unique variant: "Easy Slide from Heaven". Apparently angels becoming Fallen Angels only requires the slightest bit of sinning, even if it's indirect and completely accidental, such as a case of Accidental Murder brought about through being manipulated by demons.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Set up and subverted. Wally Wackford makes a pun and starts laughing, but everyone else just stands around awkwardly and eventually Blitzo just yells at him to get out. Apparently, the episode was going to end on a straight example of this trope.
• Evil Old Folks: Deconstructed. Unlike some cases of Evil Old Folks being fully functional despite looking like they could keel over at any moment, here the reality of a human body forcibly aged to either Nothing but Skin and Bones or intense obesity causes major problems for the duo, as Loopty suffers a fatal heart-attack while Lyle is so physically frail he's bed-ridden and requires life-support.
• Exact Words: Loopty never says he will hurt Lyle when he gets to hell. When Blitzo warns that Loopty will be stuck with Lyle forever if he goes to hell, Loopty says "I'm counting on it," and shows off weapons. This foreshadows that he just wants to see Lyle again.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: Blitzo attempts to crash through the window of Lyle Lipton's mansion after C.H.E.R.U.B shows up, knowing that C.H.E.R.U.B is going to interfere with the assassination attempts. Blitzo gets as far as "Don't listen-" before he breaks through the glass, faceplants, and lies there for several seconds.
• Flipping the Bird: Millie does this to the cherubs twice.
• Fluffy Cloud Heaven: The C.H.E.R.U.B commercial displays a brief look at what Heaven looks like, showing the golden gates and a "Cherub Towne".
  Cletus: Welcome to Heaven! Guess you did something good to get here, and good people deserve to give loved ones special blessings!
• Foil: C.H.E.R.U.B and I.M.P are both just trying to do their job of influencing a mortal human's life on the request of their client, and both get frustrated with the other for interfering with their work.
• Foreshadowing: Loopty states that he and Lyle would test their inventions on the poor, and when C.H.E.R.U.B gets annoyed and decides to fight I.M.P, Cletus says "We are saving that shitty old man's life, whether he wants it or not!", it foreshadows that Lyle was always as rotten as Loopty, and that even though C.H.E.R.U.B are the ones that kill him, he still ends up in Hell for his wickedness.
• Fountain of Youth: The machine that killed Loopty was supposed to be an anti-aging machine, created to save the [only three] trillionaires of the world. However, both he and Lyle neglected to test it on poor people as they usually do out of hubris, and the machine was set to old instead, killing him while Lyle was left a feeble old man.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: As usual, there are some Funny Background Events that go by very quickly, mainly in the C.H.E.R.U.B jingle:
  • Near the beginning of the jingle involving an alley-critter attack, there's an upside-down newspaper in the corner.
    ALLEY CRITTER ATTACKS AT AN ALL TIME HIGH! In other news huge dork reads upside down newspaper in cartoon. Experts say "sad as hell."
  • The scene of Collin working through paperwork has a Fauxtivational Poster that states "Surround yourself with people who will lift you up. So ditch your loser friends who you can't use". Said cynical motivational poster was apparently made by God Himself.
  • The scene of them saving a man from a car-crash has two: the man apparently got drunk on booze called "The Holy Spirit", and there's a sign in the background featuring the doctors from the pilot that says "Injured? Good".
  • Shortly after Loopty's Dynamic Entry, Loona is seen on all fours in an angry feral position.
  • A few seconds before Loopty and Lyle enter the De-age-ifier, there's a quick scene showing off the device. The switch is visible off to the side, and looking closely shows that it actually was set to "young" like they intended, so barring the possibility of this being a blooper, there's potential implications that this was a murder attempt rather than an accident. invoked
  • At Lyle's manor, he holds a photo talking about his "one true love". A second later, we see the picture being money (likely $100 bills due to Benjamin Franklin's face on them). However, there is a caption that says "Free Stock Photo", likely showing how cheap he might be despite having a huge fortune.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man:
  • Subverted before the appearance of Loopty Goopty. When the building begins to shake, Millie and Loona yell at Moxxie that This Is No Time to Panic, with Loona even slapping Moxxie across the room. But among the three of them, Moxxie was the only one who was being calm.
  • Keenie slaps Collin for having a Freak Out after they accidentally kill Lyle Lipton. Keenie also yells at Collin for using the Lord's name in vain.
• Get Out!: Blitzo demands Wally to leave when he barges into I.M.P HQ and immediately overstays his welcome.
  Blitzo: No, I'm serious. Get the FUCK OUT!
• God's Hands Are Tied: Colin pleads for a way to get himself and his friends back to Heaven but, according to Deerie, there's no coming back since they accidentally killed Lyle Lipton.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: The conflict of the episode involves a variant, where the "angels" here are literal angels and demons. C.H.E.R.U.B repeatedly try to convince Lyle to live and become a better person, while I.M.P try to convince him to ignore the angelic efforts and kill himself.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Collin says "Oh my Gosh! Oh my Gosh! Oh my God!" after the piano killed Lyle. This gets him slapped by Keenie to get him back to his senses and as punishment for taking the Lord's name in vain.
• Hammerspace: How Moxxie manages to keep so many weapons in his coat is a mystery; Moxxie has several full-sized assault rifles and crossbows in his pockets. Even Blitzo seems a little concerned about how many weapons that Moxxie is lugging around.
• Hope Spot:
  • Constantly zigzagged by both C.H.E.R.U.B, who wants to give Lyle hope to live, and I.M.P, who takes that hope away.
  • Lyle is inspired to live on from the angels and demons fighting over his life, saying that he no longer craves death. Shortly thereafter, he's fatally crushed under a piano.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: Keenie calls out the imps for meddling in human affairs by killing their targets. Millie fires back at Keenie and the other cherubs for doing the exact same thing, albeit by saving people.
• I Can Live With That: Blitzo worries about Loopty wanting his group to drag Lyle to Hell after hearing his backstory. He warns the client that they'll have to spend eternity together if I.M.P accomplishes this assignment. Loopty is gleefully counting on it.
• Idiot Ball:
  • If Lyle Lipton's main gripe is that due to Rapid Aging caused by his and Loopty's machine, he is no longer able to truly enjoy his life and wealth, the obvious solution would be using said device again — this time on correct, de-aging setting — and reversing the whole process. However, it somehow never crosses his mind. Nor do any of the C.H.E.R.U.B members or anybody else suggest it.
  • The imps also grab hold of this. While previous episodes showed how quick and efficient they are at killing humans, here they try to win a game with C.H.E.R.U.B and convince Lyle to commit suicide instead of just shooting Lyle right then and there in his house or at least damaged his life support, despite Loopty never specifying onscreen how he wants Lyle to die. They only inadvertently wind up killing Lyle when they inevitably fought the cherubs at the opera house. It's implied they chose to do this simply to spite C.H.E.R.U.B.
• Ignored Epiphany: C.H.E.R.U.B spends their time convincing Lyle to not kill himself because there are still wonders to behold on Earth and he can do good with the time he has left, but I.M.P ruins it every time. It is only when both teams start fighting that the old man comes to an epiphany: humanity only has one life to live and if creatures beyond the mortal realm are fighting over his, then it can be considered worth making the best of it. This trope can be subverted because while the elderly Lyle's will to live is renewed as the cherubs intended, he decides that he can simply spend his fortune for himself, instead of generously donating it for the needy. Not that it mattered in the end.
  Lyle: Killing myself is not the answer. Plus, I’m still rich! I can just buy all the things! I no longer crave death!
• Insane Troll Logic:
  • When Moxxie states that there is literally no way to "make opera look bad", Blitzo tries to prove otherwise by literally stealing the spotlight from a singer, only to drop it and kill her by accident. Lyle, the cherubs, and the rest of the audience scream in horror, allowing the accident to disprove Moxxie's point.
  • Blitzo assumes that Lyle is going to Heaven because the cherubs ended up being the ones to (accidentally) kill him, rather than I.M.P doing the deed to bring him to Hell. Not to mention the fact that they actually convinced the human not to kill himself beforehand. He is Instantly Proven Wrong when Lyle comes as a demon because of his Obviously Evil nature behind his and Loopty's career.
    • A moment earlier, Blitzo texted Loopty of the mission, believing that method draws less ire than telling him upfront.
• Ironic Echo: Loopty calls Lyle a "no-good, heartless, son of a bitch" in contempt for surviving their experimental mishap, and outliving him, keeping all of their money. When he reunites with him in Hell, Loopty calls him a "no-good, heartless, son of a bitch", but with more generosity, revealing that he and Lyle have more of a Villainous Friendship than a traitorous rivalry that Loopty made I.M.P believe.
• Irony: Lyle Lipton decides he wants to live after seeing C.H.E.R.U.B and I.M.P fighting over his fate, but then dies after he gets crushed by a piano. Even then, it's not I.M.P that kills him. C.H.E.R.U.B was tasked with convincing him to live on, only to kill him after accidentally causing the piano-crushing disaster; something that Moxxie lampshades since the cherubs technically did the imps' job.
• It Amused Me: I.M.P could have very easily just shot Lyle or destroyed his life support system and quickly killed him, but instead they decide to toy with C.H.E.R.U.B by subverting all of the cherubs' attempts to convince Lyle that life is worth living and showing how cruel Earth really is. Supposedly for no other reason then they simply wanna take the piss out of the hypocritical cherubs.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • In spite of their goal being to murder Lyle, I.M.P is completely right to point out that C.H.E.R.U.B is no better then they are as both groups are still meddling in human affairs. Rather than admit that I.M.P has a point, unable to counter the argument, they instead attack I.M.P in rage after the point is made.
  • At Lover's Lookout, the cherubs claim that Lyle can still find love at his age. Blitzo has a good point, though, that the drivers/riders at the peak present don't want to date/fuck an old man when he asked them to; assuming they are all much younger.
  • Deerie (and by possible extension, God) banishing the cherubs from Heaven, for failing their mission to save Lyle, may be a bit much. To be fair, though, they did leave their post to focus on picking a fight with I.M.P, which in turn indirectly leads to his death, along with other humans close by.
• Just Following Orders: When Collin protests that C.H.E.R.U.B is just doing their job in trying to save Lyle, Moxxie counters back that I.M.P is just doing their job in trying to see him dead. This impasse ultimately escalates to a full-on battle to determine his fate.
• Karma Houdini:
  • A variation with both Lyle and Loopty Goopty, who were awful people who experimented on the poor. In one moment of hubris were aged up, but in the next moment, they both ended up in hell where their bodies are back in perfect health (and Loopty even got an improvement with all his new gadgets built into his), and are happily reunited together.
  • With Lyle dead, the imps exit the opera stage, leaving the C.H.E.R.U.B trio to suffer the consequences alone.
• Lame Pun Reaction: Blitzo doesn't take Wally's "Hole-y Operation" pun very well when he breaks in the HQ.
• Laser-Guided Karma: A variation with Lyle and Loopty Goopty. When they were alive, they exploited the poor for their own personal gain. But when they end up in Hell, they're at the mercy of being exploited themselves by Wally for his personal gain. Hell is supposed to be the place where people get punished for all time for their sins, after all.
• The Last Straw: When the stage lights fall to the floor during I.M.P and C.H.E.R.U.B's fight, it creates an impromptu catapult out of one of the floorboards, right under the piano. The pianist figures what's about to happen and hops off. Once the pianist is off the board, it's strong enough to launch the 1,400-pound grand piano into the air and onto Lyle's head.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: It's heavily implied that Moxxie and Millie start having sex while swinging on the rope, as shown by Moxxie's tie and Millie's bra coming off.
• Mall Santa: C.H.E.R.U.B takes Lyle to see one so he can watch the children's joy. It backfires when Blitzo rips off his costume, revealing him to be a creepy, obese man wearing a #Cuties T-shirt. Likely triggering a Pædo Hunt, the kids panic while Lyle cries.
  Random Kid: SANTA'S EVIL!
• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • Lyle and the cherubs have a few of these thanks to I.M.P's antics.
  • The children have one when Blitzo exposes the Mall Santa.
  • The cherubs themselves have a huge Big "WHAT?!" when their access to Heaven is revoked, and immediately after when they find I.M.P had disappeared.
• My Little Phony: Blitzo had used Loopty's advance payment to buy a jewel-encrusted, marijuana-marked toy unicorn wearing a hat with "Mare-ajuana" written on it.
• Nature Is Not Nice: C.H.E.R.U.B tries to show Lyle the beauty of nature, but Blitzo ruins it by showing him various scenes of animals mauling each other, as well as a lumberjack stung by bees and impaled by a deer. Colin and Lyle are horrified at the scene, as is Blitzo, but then smiles as his point is otherwise proven.
  Blitzo: Anyway, take it from me, a fellow genius. Nature is no picnic up close.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: C.H.E.R.U.B spends the entire episode trying to convince a suicidal Lyle to stay alive while feuding with the I.M.P's who are trying to encourage Lyle to kill himself. Unfortunately, an eventual fight breaks out between the two teams at an opera concert which ends up getting Lyle (and numerous others) killed anyway. Furthermore, the C.H.E.R.U.B's get evicted from heaven over this, and are unable to pass the blame onto the I.M.P's as they have already left.
• Nose Nuggets: While waiting in line to see the Mall Santa, one of the kids in line picks a booger out of his nose, then eats it.
• Obviously Evil: Lyle is the very definition of a greedy capitalist who stepped on the little guy to get where he is today, and whose only regret is that his artificially advanced age means he won't have time to spend it. He doesn't even entertain the idea of repentance or trying to be a better person, and takes positively to being a demon. Both I.M.P and C.H.E.R.U.B are aware of this, but it doesn't stop the latter from trying to change him. Their fight did allow him to reflect on his life and, while not enough to change his ways, it was enough to regain the will to continue living... just moments before he died in the crossfire.
• Ocular Gushers: Following shortly after C.H.E.R.U.B become Fallen Angels, Cletus lets loose some sideways waterfalls of tears from his eyes out of shocked sadness. Fitting for a baby-like angel.
• Only Sane Man: When the building is shaking due to Loopty Goopty, Moxxie is the only one who's keeping a level head about it. This is in spite of Millie and Loona acting like he is panicking, telling him that This Is No Time to Panic.
• Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: For I.M.P, this episode's ending is a happy one as it was yet another successful job. Meanwhile from the C.H.E.R.U.B's perspective, it's a Downer Ending; All their efforts to keep Lyle Lipton alive do nothing but accidentally kill him and several other people and get them kicked out of Heaven, with I.M.P getting away scot-free. And as a final kick in the teeth, Lipton winds up in Hell anyway since A: despite all the good C.H.E.R.U.B claims his inventions did, he didn't get as rich as he did without testing them on other people, and B: while he no longer wanted to die, he had zero time to repent for his sinful ways before being crushed to death by a piano.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The trio take Loona telling them to have disguises from the last episode into consideration in this one. Of course, their disguises simply consist of wigs, makeup, and an alternate set of clothing, all while their horns are still showing. During one instance, they are even dressed as cats. Despite all this, nobody bats an eye.
• Pass the Popcorn: When they see Lyle tying his IV line into a noose, Blitzo gets out the popcorn.
• Piano Drop: What ultimately kills Lyle is when Cletus accidentally causes studio lights to drop onto the opera stage, leading to a piano being catapulted into air and falling on top of Lyle even as he tries to run away from the Shadow of Impending Doom.
• Precision F-Strike: While all of C.H.E.R.U.B devolves into frequent swearing after their Rage Breaking Point, the only time any of them utters a major curse is when Blitzo invokes an Eye Scream on Cletus to make him accidentally cut down some stage lights, causing the little guy do this.
  Cletus: Ah! You fucker!
• Professor Guinea Pig: Lyle and Loopty tested their Fountain of Youth machine on themselves. Loopty even admits that this was a mistake, saying that they should have tested it on poor people instead.
• Psychological Projection: Played for Laughs at the start of the episode, when Millie and Loona scream at Moxxie not to panic, despite him being perfectly calm and them sounding frantic.
• Pyrrhic Victory: While both sides of the conflict this episode got what they wanted, neither are better off for it.
  • C.H.E.R.U.B wanted to keep Lyle from killing himself on the off-chance that he uses what little time he has left to do some good. While inadvertent, their conflict with I.M.P makes Lyle regain his will to live by seeing how hard these otherworldly beings fight over him. Unfortunately the chaos their fighting causes kills him in the process. Not only are C.H.E.R.U.B banished from Heaven for all of eternity for killing a human, but Lyle's lifetime of greed and inhumanity makes him a demon in Hell, making all of their work and sacrifice All for Nothing.
  • I.M.P were sent to ensure that Lyle goes to Hell as requested, either by dying at their own hands or convincing Lyle to kill himself. While Lyle does wind up in Hell for his sins, they were not the ones who did the deed and thus they likely wouldn't have gotten paid... if not for Loopty paying them up-front in advance for the job. Even then he likely only paid about half the commission, so they still miss out on a proper payment, not to mention how them failing to personally fulfill the job is guaranteed to put a slight blow in their reputation.
• Rage Breaking Point: C.H.E.R.U.B's attempts to show Lyle the good of the world are frequently muddled by I.M.P. Eventually, at the opera house, they get so fed up with I.M.P interfering with their work that they snap in anger, pulling out angelic bows and attempting to kill the imps with holy arrows. The angels also start cursing, which they had never done until I.M.P pushed them that far.
• Rapid Aging: Loopty and Lyle managed to invent a machine that could make people younger. However, it was set in reverse when they tested it on themselves, resulting in this trope. Loopty died, and Lyle wishes he had.
• Rasputinian Death: During the scene where C.H.E.R.U.B shows Lyle Lipton a beautiful nature setting they find a human lumberjack downing a tree, before he gets a fallen beehive dropped on his head and repeatedly stung by bees. Then a chainsaw he throws up cuts off both of his arms. Then he randomly gets gored by a deer.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Keenie delivers this about I.M.P's constant and direct meddling, but it doesn't stop Millie from firing back an Armor-Piercing Response at C.H.E.R.U.B's hypocrisy.
  Keenie: You [demons] are all such disgusting, loathsome beasts! Your kind is nothing but dirt that shitty dead people tread on! And now you want to meddle in the lives of humans?!
  Millie: So are you! So why don't you shut your trap you judgemental, cotton candy, tit-havin' bitch?!
  Keenie: (Beat) Filthy demon brat! (attacks Millie)
• Rule of Funny: I.M.P goes through all this trouble trying to convince Lyle to commit suicide this entire time, rather than just shoot him. Well, the episode would not be nearly as funny without that.
• Running Gag:
  • The I.M.P wall being destroyed because someone wants to do a Big Entrance, and Moxxie almost dying from the debris.
  • The imps are seen with different disguises throughout the episode.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: As Moxxie and Millie swing from a rope attempting to shoot the cherubs down, they start making out. When we cut to Blitzo, a bra and bowtie can be seen flying through the air in the foreground.
• Shaped Like Itself: Loopty justifies breaking the wall instead of using the door by saying "I am eccentric, and must therefore do eccentric shit!"
• Shoot the Television: At the end of the C.H.E.R.U.B commercial Blitzo shoots the TV I.M.P was watching it on. Then tells Moxxie to set up another TV and find some other program for him to shoot.
• Shout-Out:
  • During the death montage in C.H.E.R.U.B's commercial, a man gets run over by an engine resembling James from Thomas & Friends.
  • As Colin is rapidly filling in paperwork, a puppet of Mona from Nanalan' can be seen on his desk.
  • A poster in the C.H.E.R.U.B commercial has a character named Gerbert, from a 1988 Christian puppet TV show of the same name.
  • A black-and-white cartoon on TV, involving a dancing woman with massive bouncing breasts, looks suspiciously like Betty Boop.
  • The logo for Wacky Wally Wackford's Wacky Idea "Factory" looks quite a bit like the opening titles from a Looney Tunes cartoon, complete with similar fonts.
  • In his first disguise, Blitzo carries around a sock puppet that resembles Kyubey.
  • After C.H.E.R.U.B shows up and Blitzo smashes through the window, Moxie tells Lyle that he should "continue the process to commit die", a reference to a memetic screenshot◊ of a Roblox player saying "go commit die". invoked
  • Furry disguises that I.M.P wears look like characters from Cats.
  • The very first shot of the mall Santa has a plush toy that bears a strong resemblance to Jack Wells, a character from Vivziepop's webcomic Zoophobia and the protagonist of the animated short "Bad Luck Jack", shown to the left of Santa's chair sitting in front of some presents.
  • After being undressed, the noise the mall Santa makes is taken from the "You've been gnomed" video, complete with wearing a gnome hat.
  • The child who was sitting on the mall Santa uses the stock Family Guy death pose after the latter was undressed.
  • Deerie's dialogue, attitude, and even her very outfit are reminiscent of the condescending Bill Lumbergh from Office Space.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Loona tells Loopty that he should have used the front door instead of pulling a Dynamic Entry through a wall, but he simply retorts with "Shut up, dear furry!".
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Millie's response against Keenie's "Reason You Suck" Speech to Blitzo is that she and C.H.E.R.U.B are no better than they are. It's enough for Keenie to attack her.
• Sole Survivor: By the end of the fight at the opera, almost every human is killed, including Lyle. Surprisingly, the pianist not only walks out of the carnage alive, but unscathed.
• So What Do We Do Now?: A now demonized Lyle asks this trope now that he's reunited with Loopty. Cue Wally Wackford bursting through the wall into the room trying to recruit the two.
• Spoiler Cover: The title card/thumbnail up top somewhat spoils C.H.E.R.U.B's attitude towards I.M.P once their friendly facade drops.
• Suicide as Comedy: The conflict of the episode is Lyle Lipton wanting to kill himself, feeling like he no longer has anything to live for. C.H.E.R.U.B wants to convince Lyle that life is worth living, whereas I.M.P wants Lyle to "commit die" because it would be easier for them after a client wanted Lyle dead. All of this is played for truckloads of Black Comedy.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: Not that he was going to listen to the cherubs anyway, but Blitzo reveals that his group is now obligated to kill Lyle because he had already spent an advance payment from Loopty on a bejeweled miniature horse figure. It can be justified by the fact that they would be need to return money if they failed (which Blitzo blew up).
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Blitzo tries to perform a Dynamic Entry by invoking Super Window Jump, but since he did so through a thoughtless spur of the moment and entered head-first, he instead lands flat on his face, resulting in a Failed Attempt at Drama. Moxxie and Millie do a better job making a dramatic entrance by simply walking through a nearby door. It's especially contrasted by an earlier example of Dynamic Entry, with Loopty bursting through a wall, as instead of using his body to break through like Blitzo, he formed a wrecking ball out of his tentacles, allowing for a more effective use of the trope.
• Take That!: The Mall Santa is revealed to be wearing a shirt with "#Cuties" written on it, adding to his horrifying appearance as a pedophile.
• There Was a Door:
  • Loona chastises Loopty for bursting a hole in I.M.P's wall, saying that "the front door would have gotten you here just fine". Loopty justifies it by saying that "[he's] eccentric, and must therefore do eccentric shit".
  • Later, Blitzo crashes through the window of Lyle Lipton's mansion, to stop C.H.E.R.U.B from saving Lyle, only to faceplant. Moxxie and Millie opt to go through the front door instead.
  • C.H.E.R.U.B performs a variant when showing Lyle the "joys of childhood", where they do technically use the door... by smashing down it and the surrounding frame to fit Lyle's bed in the building.
  • At the end of the episode Loopty and Lyle burst through the wall in order to thank I.M.P for reuniting them, followed shortly by Wally Wackford crashing through the ceiling in an attempt to recruit Loopty and Lyle. The fact there's barely any wall left afterwards causes Blitzo to complain about how Moxxie will have to fix it.
• This Is No Time to Panic:
  • Subverted and Played for Laughs near the beginning. When the building starts shaking before Loopty's entrance, Millie and Loona tell Moxxie not to panic, even though he's perfectly calm.
  • Keenie slaps Collin and yells at him to get a hold of himself when he starts panicking so hard he uses God's name in vain.
• Threatening Shark: Alongside a rat, a bear and a dog, a SHARK is present during the alley segment of the C.H.E.R.U.B commercial.
• Throwing Your Gun at the Enemy: During their fight with C.H.E.R.U.B, Blitzo runs out of ammo. In response, he chucks his gun at Cletus, resulting in the cherub accidentally shooting the rope of the bar Blitzo is standing on.
• Together in Death: Loopty Goopty after dying and being sent to Hell hires I.M.P to off his surviving business partner Lyle Lipton with the implication that Loopty would personally torture and torment him for leaving him. After Lyle dies, it reveals that Loopty simply wanted to be reunited with Lyle: his best friend.
  Loopty Goopty: Thank you for reuniting me with my best friend!
• Toon Physics: Lyle Lipton's death uses a lot of this. First, Blitzo throws his gun at Cletus, which causes Cletus to accidentally shoot an arrow to cut the rope holding up some light rigging, which only falls when Blitzo realizes that it should fall. Then, a loose floorboard flings the opera's grand piano into the air the moment that the pianist steps off of it. Finally, when the piano starts to fall towards Lyle Lipton, he scrambles out of the way of the Shadow of Impending Doom. The piano inexplicably shifts in mid-air and crushes him anyway.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: I.M.P plays this straight, wearing different sets of clothes and costumes for most of the episode. C.H.E.R.U.B, meanwhile, wears their default clothes until the opera scene, where they appropriately wear fancier outfits, making their example more subverted.
• Unreliable Expositor: Loopty's flashback on what happened to him and Lyle has a big "VERY DRAMATIC RE-ENACTMENT FROM EARLIER THAT DAY" disclaimer in the beginning of it, meaning that while the events he describes most likely did happen as he told them, details like how he and Lyle looked before Rapid Aging are probably exaggerated.
• The Unreveal: We never find out what C.H.E.R.U.B stands for, or who hired them to save Lyle.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
  • A tour guide doesn't so much as bat an eye when I.M.P goes up to Lyle Lipton's mansion, intending to kill him. According to the guide, I.M.P are just crazy stalkers, and stalkers killing celebrities is an everyday occurrence.
  • No one really seems to notice or care that three cherubs are dragging around an old man's hospital bed or that three imps are running around in goofy costumes in the same places.
  • Though horrified about the opera singer dying, the audience doesn't bother running off as the cherubs and imps' fight kills them. Some of them are more focused on Lyle reaching his epiphany as they themselves die.
• Villain Cred: Blitzo gives Loopty some respect for issuing a hit on his business partner just shortly after he died. Though, after hearing Loopty's backstory, he becomes suspicious that the mishap doesn't sound evil enough to warrant an assassination.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Blitzo and the gang disappear from the opera stage before Keenie pins the blame on them for getting Lyle killed during her and the other cherubs' punishment.
• Villainous Friendship: Loopty and Lyle were genuine friends in addition to business partners when alive, and Loopty just pretended otherwise with I.M.P so they'd take the case to kill him and reunite the two sooner.
• Villain of the Week: The C.H.E.R.U.B group (technically speaking, since they're Hero Antagonists)
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Millie vomits after smelling Lyle, whom she believes hasn't left his bed in months. While we don't see her puke we later see the bile on the floor.
• We Will Meet Again: Subverted. After Lyle is killed by the piano crushing him, Cletus tells I.M.P that "this isn't over!" as the angels attempt to go back up to Heaven through a portal. But as they try, they're immediately thrown back out, where Deerie tells C.H.E.R.U.B that they've been kicked out of Heaven.
• Wham Line: When his team finally snaps, Cletus delivers this to the imps, Holy weapons at the ready, and revealing their clear awareness of Lyle's cruel nature, but still determined to change it.
  Cletus: ENOUGH! We are saving that shitty old man's life, whether he wants it or not!
• Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: With the three cherubs banished from Heaven, it is uncertain if they are forced to Walk the Earth or get sent to Hell.
• Whole Costume Reference:
  • Loopty's outfit is similar to that of The Riddler; he also has mechanical limbs like Doctor Octopus.
  • When Lyle shows up at the end, he resembles Bigweld from Robots with the face of Dr. Eggman. As a bonus, his younger self◊ has a similar look to Jim Carrey's take on the character.
• The World Is Just Awesome: Subverted. C.H.E.R.U.B attempts this with various forms of worldy wonderment and happiness, from nature to children to love to art. Each time, I.M.P ruins it by making the situation much worse, such as pointing out how the animals kill each other in grisly ways. The only source of joy they can't find anything inherently bad about is opera, as like Moxxie states, it's a fact that "there's nothing bad about it", and Blitzo proves even that can be ruined by outside forces like deadly stage accidents (or stage murders styled like accidents).

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Episode can be viewed on YouTube here.

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