Hello my fellow redditors and fans of the IMP. I'm here today to give you my ranking of the episodes of Helluva Boss Season 1. I have many thoughts on each episode, which will likely differ from the consensus. However, that's alright, we all have our own opinions on each episode.
For the sake of the Ranking, I'll try to stick to these episodes in the context of Season 1, without bringing Season 2 into things.
Number 8: The Harvest Moon Festival
And with that, I am marked for Death.
This episode is usually regarded as one of, if not the best episodes in the entire show. And I have the gall. The GALL to say I didn't care for it. but why is that?
For starters, I did not care for Striker as a Villain. I feel like his introductory episdoe don't quite paint him in the best light, mainly due to the holes in his plan. Why did he leave his gun case open? Why didn't he try to use talk no jutsu on Moxxie? Why did he leave M&M alive? I found his design to be somewhat bland, in my own personal opinion. He's just a demon snake cowboy, which sounds cool, but, for some reason, I felt it was kind of bland. Additionally, I saw the fact he was the villain coming from a mile away. Also, his song wasn't very good, in my opinion. The only real plus for him as a character were that his voice, provided by Norman Reedus, was pretty cool, and his speech to Blitz near the end was Awesome.
Also I felt like the M&M Vs Striker fight scene looked kind of Ugly, animation-wise. I'm not sure why I think that... I just thought it was ugly. Speaking of fight scenes, I found the end of Moxxie and Blitz vs Striker to be pretty bad, as Loona justs ends up shooting one of Moxxie's cooler moments in the dick while Striker runs away. However, the rest of the fight was pretty nice.
Additionally, I found it strange that, despite the IMP crew going to Millie's family, it's a Moxxie-centric episode. While Moxxie is my favorite of the IMP crew, I felt like this episode could have used to give a more detailed view on Millie's backstory -while the fact she lived on a farm with a pretty big violent family does explain why she cares so much about Mox, and why she's a decent fighter, we could have gone into more detail about her past and history than just a few throwaway lines.
Aside from Most of that, I thought the humor in this episode worked pretty well, the funniest being the Shark gag in the festival games. Additionally, the voice work and animation was pretty good all around, as is per usual.
Overall. Harvest Moon Festival has a pretty interesting concept, with some decent jokes, but a weak plot, missed story opportunities, and a villain who did not quite come off as cool as the writers wanted him to be.
Number 7: Queen Bee
Queen Bee has no plot to comment on. Barely any. It does help capture the feeling of a party, mainly vibewise.
While I enjoyed Cotton Candy as a song, it did really nail the vibe of a early 2010s Kesha song, I felt like it went on too long, and I started questioning if The whole thing was basically going to be a series of Kesha Music Videos.
Speaking of Kesha: Queen Bee. When I first saw the episode, I thought, "wow, She seems like an interesting, new, original character. She has a fun personality and demeanor, and a nice design, even if it is another one of Viv's wolf characters that she likes so much."
Note the Original Character. I did not pick up on her being Beelzebub at all. Even when the credits listd her name as Queen Bee-Lzeebub, I thought that the 'Lzeebub' was supposed to be pronounced like she was from New Orleans or something like that. I supposed it would be pronounce Bee Lazeebub, still. Maybe I was just being dense.
Regarding my not-recognizing her design, It could be that her design doesn't contain very mainly insectoid attributes, sans the wings and the long hair-tuft things that look like Antennae. I'm not saying that you have to ditch the wolf parts, you could have given her, like, a few more insectoid qualities, like more eyes or more bee-like wings. I thought the fact that she was concerned on Blitz's overindulging to be strange, coming from the queen of gluttony. If she was just a random Gluttony Hellhound, I'd be find, but I question the Sin representing Alcoholism being concerned that Blitz was going too far. Asmodeus seemed, at least publicly, all about lust, so Bee not wanting everyone to overindulge to be strange, even if she's concerned in the context of Blitz being depressed rather than him just being a Glutton. Yes, Asmodeus didn't look like the typical Asmodeus, but at least you actually knew who he was without havign to watch the credits. Additionally, I find it strange that, while Asmodeus, Verosika, and Fizz take potshots at Stolas and Blitz for being two lovers from different classes, no one seems to care that Tex and one of Lucifer's top minions are dating. Maybe they also don't recognize the fact that this deviant art OC is Beelzebub.
So it sounds like I don't like this episode. However, I do. While I find Bee's design and character strange in the face of her being Beelzebub, I like her aside from that. Kesha's voice does really nail the party-girl energy that Bee represents. Additionally, I like Cotton Candy, and the endign theme, and the backround music. I liked Looona's characterization in this episode, it really nails her social anxiety and the feeling of being at a party you don't 100% want to be at. The humor worked, with Blitz having some of his funniest Lines in this episode.
I think I like this episode more than Harvest Moon because it mostly succeeds at what its trying to do - being an entertaining Afterparty. .However, it doesn't have much more than that.
Number 6: Murder Family
There's a lot to like about this episode: it has a good sense of tension, Moxxie has a pretty decent character arc, and the comedy was pretty decent, with the best bit being Blitz's threat of Moxxie at the end. it has good action, solid animation, and introduces the character pretty well, as a first episode should. Additionally, it does provide a goo jumping-off point from the pilot, mostly capturing what the pilot promised, which i liked.
What I didn't like was the ending. I know that, early on, the show was way more of a black comedy, with the characters being far more obvious jackasses, but the ending felt rather mean-spirited, even for a black comedy. Additionally, it started the trend of having a lot of cool Moxxie moments getting ruined at the end, which is a trend that I hate in this series.
While you could still have the family being treated real badly at the end, the sudden missile felt like a slap in the face, and perhaps too dark to be funny, at least in my opinion.
Number 5: CHERUBS
Yes, Really. I put CHERUBS ahead of The Harvest Moon Festival. Really.
Yes, the set-up for the plot is weak. Yes, the CHERUBS theme is annoying. Yes, Blitz being concerned over Loopty's partner goign to hell seems strange. Yes, the plot was really Basic.
I just thought it was really funny.
All the Gagswork , each character has a lot of funny lines. Each Cherub, while being similar to eachother, is entertaining, and they do provide a strong contrast to the IMPs, being insincere saviors rather than heart-on-their-sleeve assassins. The structure of a lot of the scenes is pretty formulaic, but the formula works. Additioanlly, this episode has the first great fight scene, and Deerie, who is hilarious.
If I were to rag on the episode more, this episode was too much of a W for the Imps. I feel like IMP should take more Ls in their adventures, in general, so having Loopty being disappointed in them could have provided a different feel to the rest of the finales, as the only other L the crew takes is in Ozzies, where both M&M and Blitz's plans are ruined by the patrons of Ozzies, though M&M recover better.
Number 4: Ozzie's
I really like this episode., but, with most of these entries, I'll start by complaining.
I'm not a big fan of how the show seems to be trying to make us be more on the side of Verosika in her part of her number, as Verosika was introduced by shit-talking Blitz, trying to gang-rape Moxxie, and hypnotizing a crowd so she could perform her succubus duties, so I feel like I can't really sympathize with her as well as the show wants us to. Yes, she brings up points on how Blitz was a bad boyfriend, which is interesting, but I feel like her first episode perhaps made her actions too heinous to start with.
I think that it was kind of stupid on Moxxie to try to sing a love song at Ozzie's, especially since it supposedly take so long to get a reservation there. Did he do 0 research? Also, how was he the opening act? Does Ozzie do no background checks?
Also, I find the animation in the first 2 minutes to be... weird. I'm not sure what it is... it just looks... off. Off in a way I'm not sure of.
One last Nit-pick: Why is the place called Ozzie's when its named after Asmodeus? There is no Z. I keep forgettting his name is Asmodeus, and keep thinking its Ozymandias, due to that pick of nickname.
Aside from that, this episode is excellent. It has the best song in the entire series (Fight ME!), stellar animation, and some of the best voice-accting in the entire show. The jokes, in general, work, Fizz and Asmodeus have a great dynamic (Though I like Robo-Fizz Better), and Asmodeus is a very entertaining character to watch.
Finally, everything from the 14 minute mark onward really hit me in the feels, man.
Now, This episode has everything great: Animation, Writing, Songs. Why is it #4.
I only rewatched this episode maybe once or twice since it came out - the only season 1 episode I rewatched less was Queen Bee, which came out a week or so ago. I'm not sure why I don't want to watch it more - maybe because the ending, while good, is a downer, or maybe the other episodes are just better watches normally. I'm not sure. Still, its a pretty good episode.
Number 3: Loo-Loo Land
Well, most people place this episode High - sometimes number 1, sometimes number 2. Mine is number 3.
So, for the negatives, I find it strange that the first episode that focuses on a character focuses not on one of the main 4 IMP agents, but on Stolas, who was introduced as a side character. An important one, yes, but still a side character. Additionally, I find that this episode treating Olivia's disappointment at the whole thing as comedy somewhat cheapens the emotional impact of the final scene. Also the game Mox and Millie play is basically just that one scene from Despicable Me. You know the one.
Aside from that, the episode is great - It has the first real effective emotional scene, Robo-Fizz is the best one-off character in the whole show (Fight me!), the best song of the early 4 episodes, and some really effective comedy, especially with Blitz.
This is probably the first great helluva Boss Episode, and helps show some of the best writing and comedy in the show, and is an example of what the rest of the show should strive to be.
Number 2: Spring Broken
This episode was just really fun, which is possibly the most important thing for me, at least for this show. Verosika is a really fun villain, the dynamics between Tex and Loona were really fun to watch, and the Possum gag was perhaps the funniest gag in the entire series. I know, Its a kinda silly Gag, but I liked it, which is the only thing that matters in this ranking.
Additionally, I thought that the stuff regarding Loona's thing about her being poor with people was a nice touch, and helped make her character more likable and sympathetic.
This episode might be the most consistently good, writing-wise. There aren't any scenes that need any major writing revisions, and the character beats are understandable.
I liked the action scenes - whether they were the quick kills or Millie vs Fishzilla. They weren't the best fights in the entire series, but they were well done.
Overall, Spring Broken is probably the episode with the least flaws in the entire show. I'm not sure i can name one. However, despite the relative lack of flaws, and great comedy and writing, there is one episode that outdoes this one
Number 1: Truth Seekers
I'll get the obvious flaw out of the way: Stolas's save was a deus ex machina, and the decision to leave Agents 1 and 2 alive did not make a good deal of sense, additionally, I find the idea that the DHORKS agents thinking that they'd be taken seriously due to them having footage of Demons being real and attacking their men to be strange, as they clearly are taken seriously enough to exist, afford large amounts of Aerosol drugs, and train their agents in using medieval Japanese weaponry.
I really love the rest of the episode. Moxxie's bad trip was really entertaining - the animation for each scene was great - Moxxie's trip being a pastiche of Disney movie animation, while Blitz's has imagery out of a Prog Metal Music video, while providing interesting imagery that provides hints to his feelings about other people in his life.
The action scene is perhaps the best one in the series, with maybe M&M vs Striker, round 2 as the only one that beats it. Everyone gets somethign to do - Millie wrecks show with her axe, Blitz and Moxxie get to use some cool guns, and Loona gets her awesome bit when she steals the Kusarigama and uses it for herself.
Additionally, Stolas summoning himself via possessing the DHORK agent was super freakin' badass, and effectively showed off his power.
Finally, and the thing that secures this episode in the top spot: Blitz and Moxxie's interogation was really funny. Funniest scene in the whole show, probably.
Aside from a few writing mistakes, Truth Seekers is probably my favorite episode in the whole show, if not the series.
Do you disagree with my ranking? I'd like to see your thoughts in the comments!
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