YMMV / Hazbin Hotel S1E4 "Masquerade"

• Abandon Shipping: The Angel x Valentino ship already lost lots of supporters after viewers saw Val's actions in the "ADDICT" music video and the prequel comic Dirty Healings. However, some shippers were still hoping that maybe Val's actions in the music video would get retconned and Val would show some redeeming qualities. After this episode not only confirms but outright shows just how vile Val's abuse of Angel is, any remaining shippers of Angel and Valentino immediately vanished. It also made many Vox x Valentino shippers drop that ship as well, because they were uncomfortable with the idea of Vox being in a relationship with a scumbag like Val.
• Accidental Innuendo: Some have taken notice of how the Ambiguous Syntax of the line "You're a power-bottom at rock bottom, but you've got company" in "Loser, Baby" can be interpreted as Husk not only saying that both his and Angel's lives suck, but that Husk is admitting that he's also submissive in the bedroom like Angel is.
• Catharsis Factor: Charlie reaching her Rage Breaking Point when she witnesses Valentino's abuse of Angel firsthand is immensely satisfying.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • When Husk goes on a rant about everyone’s “dirty laundry”, he spills the beans about how Vaggie judges everyone because she hates herself. In “Welcome to Heaven” is revealed that she is a former Exorcist (one of the best in fact) who became a Fallen Angel after sparing a demon child. It’s implied that she hates herself for destroying many souls that could have been redeemed for many years. Not to mention, she was very lucky she didn't let that slip when drunk.
  • Husk's comparing his situation with Alastor to Angel's with Val in "Loser, Baby" might seem a bit off as while Alastor is a sociopathic mass murderer he's never shown the level of petty and vindictive violence that Val does at most just annoying Husk. The next episode though shows that no, Alastor may be better at controlling himself but when pissed off enough he can be even worse than Val, especially because Alastor is far more unpredictable than Valentino. The fact that both like to show their ownership by materializing chains around the neck of their victim really brings home that yes, Husk is in the same position as Angel.
• He Really Can Act:
  • Blake Roman surprised many people who were still on the fence about his portrayal of Angel Dust with his absolutely heartbreaking performance throughout the episode.
  • When Valentino first debuted in the show, he was mainly a comedic foil to Vox and Joel Perez's nasally, bizarrely inconsistent accent was met with a mixed reception at first. Here, however, we see just how terrifying he can be as he physically assaults Angel and successfully gaslights him into making Charlie, his only potential escape, leave. Perez' terrifying performance in this episode won many fans over who previously doubted his voice acting in Val's debut.
• Realism-Induced Horror: Despite the show including yearly purges by genocidal angels and the sadistic Serial Killer that is Alastor, the scene where Valentino repeatedly assaults and verbally abuses Angel in his office and the subsequent "Poison" sequence where Angel is assaulted multiple times while filming are considered to be some of the scariest scenes in the entire show for being terrifyingly realistic depictions of domestic and sexual abuse.
• Spoiled by the Format: The episode's closed captions identify Angel's "interrogator" to be a porn actor several lines before it's revealed properly.
• Squick: During the horrifying scene where Valentino physically assaults Angel in his dressing room, if you look closely at the scene before Val throws Angel across the room, you can spot him groping Angel's chest fluff.
• Tear Jerker:
  • For the first time, we see in detail how broken Angel Dust really is. The second he and Valentino are behind closed doors, Angel can only beg Val for mercy and frantically protest his innocence as Val savagely beats and intimidates him before reminding Angel who he belongs to. Even worse is this display is enough to rouse even the normally gentle Charlie to anger, but Angel is so broken by Val's abuse that he steps in to send Charlie out partially for fear of her safety because he's so conditioned into thinking Valentino is invincible.
  • Angel's music number "Poison" shows him putting on his game face of the sex-crazed, confident demon he projects professionally. But throughout the song, all about how he's lost to Valentino, Angel repeatedly blames himself for the abuse and his facade keeps cracking to show how miserable/in pain he is beneath all of it as he endures painful sex acts for filming, which he's clearly not enjoying in addition to Valentino violating him between shoots whenever he wishes. The song ends on a rather miserable note with Angel collapsed on the balcony of his dressing room, wishing he had something to live for.
• Woolseyism: In the German dub, instead of calling the bartender at the Black Dot a "jackass", Husk calls him an "octopussy" (presumably since the bartender is an octopus demon).

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