'Hazbin Hotel': Angel Dust's Tragic Backstory Will Break Your Heart

Grab your tissues! The fourth episode of Prime Video‘s new animated musical comedy Hazbin Hotel shows a fan-favorite character at rock bottom.

Based on Vivienne Medrano’s viral pilot, Hazbin Hotel follows Charlie (Erika Henningsen), the Princess of Hell, as she opens a rehabilitation center for sinners with the help of her girlfriend Vaggie (Stephanie Beatriz) and a few pals. 

Famous porn star Angel Dust (Blake Roman) is a rehabilitee at the hotel and seems to be in no hurry to leave. In fact, one episode makes it obvious that he doesn’t have much of a life to return to.

The show is produced by A24 and premiered its first four episodes on January 19, 2024.

Hazbin Hotel dedicates time to each character and crafts thorough foundations for the hotel crew and the antagonistic Overlords, while teasing what’s to come. The seemingly confident and loud-mouthed Angel finds his facade begin to slip in Episode 2, “Radio Killed the Video Star,” when his relationship with overlord Valentino (Joel Perez) comes to light.

At the top of the episode, Valentino is arguing with another overlord Vox (Christian Borle) over Angel. Vox tells Valentino to “stop chasing whores” and reminds him that he owns Angel via contract. Valentino is advised to cancel his plans to go to the hotel and “shoot someone.”

At the hotel, Angel grows frustrated with Charlie’s team-building exercise, so he retreats to his room. He pulls out his phone and checks his messages, which are bombarded with voice notes from Valentino, ranging from superficial love declarations to death threats. Pink smoke emanates from the phone and wraps its way around Angel’s neck as he listens.

The subject is dropped until Episode 4, “Masquerade,” which follows Angel through a day at work and its aftermath. The porn star displays an incredible amount of emotional vulnerability in the episode as he flits through several shoots involving dangerous BDSM scenes and has arguments with multiple peers. Through these conflicts, Angel strengthens his friendships and his relationship with himself as he is encouraged to detour from his path of self destruction. 

The episode centers on Angel’s tragic backstory and life, and his abusive relationship with Valentino. The porn star acts fearful when told to perform in violent sex scenes with multiple people, and turns to drugs and alcohol when he’s feeling beaten down.

“Masquerade” starts with Angel proudly showing off his award-winning adult video during a show-and-tell exercise at the hotel. He quickly enters a squabble with the grumpy hotel bartender Husk (Keith David), during which Angel is accused of being “fake.” Angel dishes insults back and eventually tells Husk, “Fuck you, I don’t give a shit.” He leaves for work despite the bonding exercise not being finished, and Charlie decides to intervene. 

Charlie’s presence at the porn studio is not welcomed and after she causes a literal fire, Valentino forces Angel into a private conversation. The boss pushes Angel to the ground and hurls insults while pink smoke forms chains around Angel’s neck. Valentino reminds Angel of their contract, telling him, “I own you.” Upon reentering the main room, Charlie ambushes Valentino for his behavior towards Angel, and Angel demands that she leaves. The scene segues into the neon musical number “Poison,” which was released early as a single.

Later, Angel returns to the hotel and bickers with Husk as usual, however this time when he storms out, Charlie and Vaggie push Husk to follow. The bartender follows Angel to a seedy bar where the porn star is loudly schmoozing with a group of men. A suitor goes to bring Angel a spiked drink and Husk intervenes, causing a scene. Angel storms out of the bar and they two enter a yelling match until Angel breaks into tears and explains that he behaves promiscuously as an escape to forget about his life. “Maybe if I can ruin myself enough… if I end up broken, I won’t be his favorite toy anymore and maybe he’ll let me go,” he reveals. 

Husk responds with an emotional revelation of his own, telling Angel that he used to be an Overlord but lost his power through a gambling bet. The moment transitions into a musical ditty, where Husk sings to the porn star, “you’re a loser just like me” and “you’re a power bottom at rock bottom, but you’ve got company.” The two end up dancing together and causing a disruptive scene of their own.

With Hazbin‘s deep history comes a devoted fandom, which has been active on social media and fanfiction websites for years. “Masquerade” will leave Angel fans and Huskerdust shippers on Cloud Nine. And if you’re like me — going into the show with little knowledge of thelore — the episode will leave you craving more. 

Hazbin Hotel Episodes 1-4 are currently streaming on Prime Video. Episodes 5 and 6 will release on January 26, 2024.