Helluva Boss/Fridge

Fridge Horror

General

• Hell existing in this series, and that it's easy to get condemned. While most of IMP's clients admit they were terrible people and want revenge, one was a camp counselor drowned by a coworker, utterly confused and hurt about who wanted her dead, while another was a scientist killed by a penguin army and begging IMP to save his crew. At least in Hazbin Hotel Charlie can provide a refuge for sinners and demons wanting a home since Alastor and Lucifer enforce that it's off-limits to rogue demons and Exterminators. But in Helluva Boss? No place in Hell in safe.
• Stolas stressed to Blitzo in "Truth Seekers" that humans as a whole can't find out that Heaven and Hell is real, sending a message to the surviving DHORK agents that he only let them live both as a warning to not dig this deep again and because since there are only two left, they'll be seen as "kooks". Why? Think about it; DHORK by season two has built a working portal to Hell and tried sending Child Soldiers into it rather than a drone to scope out the place and find out what it really was. If the organization makes that portal big enough to send an adult army, you would have a war between two realms even bigger than a potential one between Heaven and Hell. And it would be Stolas's fault for lending out the book to Blitzo.

Season One

Loo Loo Land

• When Blitzo accidentally sets Loo Loo Land on fire, the frog and dog animatronic are seen trying to run but melt and burn beforehand. And before that, when Robo Fizz hugs Big Woobley, he lets out an audible yelp and it breaks him even more. How much sentience do they have in comparison to Robo Fizz? Does that mean they were stuck in those gross terrifying bodies, getting little to no maintentence compared to Robo Fizz? Maybe this was a Mercy Kill in disguise.

Season Two

Seeing Stars

• When Blitzo and Loona first met, she was a prisoner in a facility where she was a month away from being "aged out", something she seemed terrified at the thought of. The facility was both an animal pound and an orphanage for hellhounds, so one has to wonder, does "aged out" mean being released and abandoned, or being euthanized?

Mastermind

• Lucifer not showing up for trials as a judge due to his apathy is in-character for how he was portrayed in Hazbin Hotel. So... just how many imps and other demons went through a Kangaroo Court and were either genuinely innocent or scapegoated because Lucifer as a Reasonable Authority Figure wasn't there?
• No matter how the trial went, Octavia loses. Because either her divorced dad's squeeze gets executed, meaning Stolas would have been more likely to withdraw from her, Stolas gets executed, or Stolas is cut off from her entirely. It was a no-win scenario.
• Octavia asked if her dad would run away with Blitzo and leave her behind in "Loo Loo Land". Stolas reassured her it would never happen. When push came to shove, Octavia's fears came true: Stolas chose to save Blitzo and sacrifice himself without considering the ramifications on his daughter. Even if she wants to see him, she's unlikely to do so until she turns eighteen and gets away from whatever nightmare Stella cooks up while having her in custody. Sure enough, Octavia calls out Stolas exactly for this reason in the next episode.

Fridge Brilliance

General

• We realize in hindsight that Stolas wasn't semi-hiding the relationship with Blitzo because he was ashamed of Blitzo being a "thrust" as Asmodeus implied. Stolas was terrified that someone would find out about the grimoire lending. He knew that it was illegal and that Satan wouldn't likely accept extenuating circumstances and execute Blitzo for the sheer crime of using a resource above his imp status.
• The title "Helluva Boss" refers to two bosses: Blitzo and Stolas. Blitzo as the boss ofIMP was the main focus of season one while Stolas's arc as IMP's benefactor moves much of season two.

Season One

"Queen Bee"

• Beelzebub is the embodiment of Gluttony; how can she stay so thin? Even if you use the broader definition of gluttony, you'd think the sheer amount of desserts and liquor would take their toll after a while. Well, look at her torso - it's a lava lamp. Clearly, such odd demonic anatomy would result in a metabolism that burns through calories very fast. (This is confirmed by Word of God.)

Season Two

"The Full Moon"

• • The C.H.E.R.U.B.s lie to D.H.O.R.K. that they are Exterminators rather than cherubs sent to save a dying man's soul. It would be embarrassing to admit they lost their temper and killed said man, sending him to Hell by accident. In contrast, Exterminators like Adam have permission to be violent. So they could defend their actions in staging heroics and pickpocketing wallets to ID their marks.
  • Credit to the cherubs, they legitimately think that Blitzo is going to murder Stolas due to not knowing about Stolas being Too Kinky to Torture and not understanding sexy games. After all, I.M.P. killed a bunch of people at the opera where the opposing parties tried to convince Lyle to either die by suicide or regain the will to live. (They end up being Right for the Wrong Reasons; Blitzo doesn't kill Stolas, but he breaks both their hearts.)
  • Part of the reason that Stolas dumps Blitzo is that he wants Blitzo to treat him like a person and not like a bottom to please. That is, talk about any issues they may have, or what the ramifications could be of Blitzo continuing the relationship without needing the grimoire. Yet Blitzo can't, because he doesn't think he's worthy of that. It takes "Sinsmas" for Blitzo to truly get vulnerable with Stolas at the end of the episode, which is part of the reason they start mending their relationship for real.

"Mastermind"

• • So why didn't Satan put Stolas on trial for lending out the book? It would have benefited Andrealphus more to smear his ex in-law and ensure that Stella gets all of the Goetian assets plus Octavia. There are two obvious reasons:
    • Satan found it more offensive that an imp used the grimoire than the fact that Stolas was using it to receive Sexual Extortion. He said that Goetian princes are too valuable to kill while imps are a dime a dozen. And he wanted to make sure that no other imp got ideas to rise above their station.
    • Stolas doing said extortion with a "commoner" is not out of the ordinary in Hell. After all, Mammon did a similar thing by exploiting Fizzarolli and Asmodeus claimed he was doing the same thing with "Fizzie" before outright admitting that he loves the clown demon. And they're both on the jury so they wouldn't see a thing wrong with Stolas using the book in such a fashion. With a jury of seven including Satan himself, four saying "not guilty" would spare Stolas. In contrast, Vassago, Asmodeus and Beezlebub are the only ones who defend Blitzo because Ozzie owes Blitzo for saving Fizzarolli, and Beezlebub saw up close that for all the imp's murdering and swearing, he's not a bad guy. But most of the other sins don't care, can be bribed, or point out that technically Blitzo did break the law, no matter his intentions.

"Sinsmas"

• Stolas's behavior makes much more sense in this episode if you realize that he is suffering antidepressant withdrawal. He has a hard time thinking, his mood swings are all over the place, and he makes suicidal decisions like fighting Andrealphus without any chance of regaining his powers.
• It's likely that if Stolas had stayed in the IMP offices like Blitzo told him to, that Octavia wouldn't have been as furious when talking with him. No one was attacking the office, making holes in walls, or getting into petty disagreements about parking spaces. He wouldn't have been in danger from confronting Andrealphus and violating the terms of his sentence, something that might have earned an even worse punishment from Satan. Octavia chewing out her dad could also constitute Anger Born of Worry that he is clearly unstable while off his meds and depressed about losing everything. Having a relationship with him right now wouldn't make sense if he is going to risk his life recklessly.
  • Octavia also isn't wrong that Stolas for all his intentions has been a terrible parent. Rather than divorce and kick out Stella as soon as he realized he was in love with Blitzo or move out, something that would have reduced the amount of fighting Octavia was forced to hear for weeks on end before "Loo Loo Land," he continued to carry on the drama with no regards for his daughter's feelings. Then in "Seeing Stars" he prioritized fighting with her mother over listening to her reminder that they were going to see an astrological event, which motivated her to go to IMP and steal the grimoire. Octavia had to disappear to Earth for Stolas to realize that he had forgotten his promise to her, and they almost missed the meteor shower. Trying to confront Andrealphus was Octavia's Rage Breaking Point, that once again Stolas was not being a proper father. And she's almost an adult so she's done.
  • Blitzo, for the only time ever, calls off a hit. It might not just have been that he saw himself and Stolas in the target; in "Weaboo Boos," he killed someone who didn't deserve it and faced Laser-Guided Karma as a result when his target became an Abhorrent Admirer in Hell. And "Ghost Fuckers" had him facing karma as well for how he bankrupted IMP and got mind-raped by a demon due to his insistence on doing the hit personally so as to get laid by a ghost. Oh, and he nearly died in the previous episode after Satan found out about the many times he's used the grimoire illegally. Perhaps Blitzo didn't want to risk more karma coming his way or bad luck after IMP's narrow escape.
  • Millie isn't ready to tell Moxxie she's pregnant. They will have to talk about it, though, after the holiday. But Millie saw that hurting families is Moxxie's Trauma Button and she saw outright that his dad Crimson is a "psycho" in her words. Perhaps she didn't want to ruin the Sinsmas gathering by bringing all that up when her husband was relaxing after a very exhausting day.
  • Signs that Loona and Blitzo are getting closer; she brings all of her new friends over to their place to celebrate Sinmas and tells Blitzo to join in the party games. "Queen Bee" and nearly seeing him die the previous episode helped her realize how much Blitzo truly is her father.