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On Stolitz, Desire and Misunderstandings
I’ve thought about them so much for the past few days that I just have to put my thoughts somewhere. This might be far from structured/coherent but contains everything that has been running around in my brain lately. Feel free to interact with me about this because they’re driving me insane (in a positive way).
Quick disclaimer: I’ve watched everything in nearly one sitting a few days ago and am new to the fandom, so I might be unaware of commonly known info or things the creators have said or confirmed. If you come across any of my questions that have been answered already, please forgive me for not knowing and feel free to enlighten me! Let’s begin~
The main thing that got me thinking about this so much is Blitz’s line in ep 7 when he brings Stolas home after their failed date: “Don’t act like what we have is anything but you wanting me to fuck you, okay? You make that really clear, all the time.”
But the thing is, he is wrong. We as the viewer know this, how Stolas chokes on his food when he sees that Blitzy calls, how he lunges to pick up the phone and how his eyes turn into little hearts when he hears the question. If anything, Stolas is smitten with Blitz.
He even calls Gabriella a “mood” when she asks Alejandro why he won’t love her. It’s indisputable that he’s thinking about Blitz here.
And how much he actually likes Blitz becomes even more clear to us at the start of season 2, when they’re kids. Stolas falls in love at first sight and blushes several times.
And then, 25 years later, he is delighted to meet Blitz again. After the initial (joking?) assumption that Blitz has come here to “ravish him”, he tries to make gentle conversation and asks him how he’s been. Blitz is the one who decides to initiate sexual relations—that is, he pretends to start it, and decides to keep it up when he hears Stolas chirp about how happy he is that it’s his “first ever friend” who wants to do him. But Stolas, before this, was surprised by Blitz’s advances and unsure how to react. Stolas, if anything, has to believe that Blitz is very sexually attracted to him.
That is why Blitz’s line in episode 7 fascinates me this much; one would think the reverse of what he says is true. Stolas has no reason whatsoever to believe that Blitz ever wanted more from him than sex/the grimoire, especially with how their relations began. So it strikes me that apparently, to Blitz, it hurts him to think that Stolas wants nothing else from him. He even begins to cry there in the van as he begins to reject the prince.
See the tears in his eyes? Why is that? Is he embarrassed? Angry? Does he feel guilty for putting Stolas in a “disgraceful” picture? Is he thinking about entirely different things that happened to him in the past?
And Stolas cries when Blitz is gone, because, well, he does think of Blitz as more than a sex friend. He was so excited to be asked out by him, he made himself look pretty, tried his best to make conversation with him, thought Blitz was actually taking him on their first date ever! He thought Blitz had called him out because he wanted to spend time with him, so he did his best to make the date a success, but all he received from Blitz was, well, nothing… He even tried to end the night on a more positive note by asking Blitz to come inside for something other than sex, perhaps to drink some wine and talk about what happened (or watch a movie, or cuddle 🥺). But when he hears that his sentiment of just wanting to spend time together has never come across—not now, not ever before—and Blitz actually believes Stolas just wants to frolic, that’s when Stolas leaves it for what it is and ends up crying.
(God I feel so bad for him, my heart)
And he spends a LONG time trying to show Blitz, via his texts, that sex is not the only thing that he’s after.
But he only gets one-word responses from Blitz. Nothing, literally nothing to keep going on. It’s no wonder he loses faith in that whatever they had could ever be anything more. And Blitz probably has commitment issues or is afraid of things not working out and he ends up keeping Stolas at a distance—until it’s too late.
And it just kills me that he does care about Stolas but somehow won’t admit it, won’t show it. And yet he sounds so hurt there in that van, when he accuses Stolas of merely wanting to be his sex friend. And he actually cries. For that reason, and for many other reasons not all clearly laid out for us.
Meanwhile Stolas has been crushing on him for 25 years. It’s only natural for him to propose the deal they made: he wants Blitz to be close to him (and he assumes Blitz enjoyed sex with him that first time, since he slept there for the entire night while at first only claiming he could do it “real fast”) and Blitz wants his grimoire. This is the perfect way for Stolas to get Blitz to be with him, because, frankly, he doesn’t have many other reasons to meet up with him. So they make this deal: Stolas gets to be together with him for once a month, and Blitz gets the grimoire. Perfect right?
Except when Stolas discovers that Blitz doesn’t even begin to know how much Stolas actually cares. That’s why he keeps sending those long texts, he tries so hard to let Blitz know they could be doing anything else and he’d love that too. That night after the date he already begins with those attempts, by telling him he enjoyed spending time with Blitz and suggesting things to do inside which Blitz misunderstands for him trying to get him into his bed.
But damn, if that was all Stolas was after, he wouldn’t get so depressed that he’d drink until passing out. He is heartbroken. And somehow, for some reason, so is Blitz. The first thing he does when he gets home is opening his phone to a selfie he took of them while Stolas was asleep.
And others have pointed this out as well, but Stolas doesn’t know about this picture and that Blitz smiled while he took it. On all the pictures Stolas has of Blitz, Blitz looks like he’s not enjoying himself at all.
So what must he think when he sends Blitz his reply that he could be in the hospital for a while in case he wants to visit, and Blitz doesn’t answer?
Well, that Blitz doesn’t want to come. That he doesn’t care enough.
Indeed, if there’s anyone who hasn’t been showing his true feelings or intentions, it’s Blitz. Stolas compliments him, calls him darling and “his” Blitzy, makes himself pretty for their date, and (for instance in ep 2 of season 2) blushes big time multiple times.
He’s had it bad for Blitz for ages, but he (correctly? incorrectly?) concludes that this is not mutual. And he has every reason to think so! Blitz treats their sexy adventures as a business transaction, is all serious and stoic to Stolas about it except for the rare occasion where he does show how much he likes it, like after Stolas rescues him from the demon hunters and he grins and seduces Stolas before kissing him.
But the times when Blitz talks about them to others? Those are moments Stolas doesn’t know about and doesn’t get to see, like when Blitz talks to Striker and stutters like mad trying to explain what they are and aren’t. He never outright says that they’re not dating. He doesn’t even deny Millie’s words when she says they’re boyfriends.
(M&M totally know I’m wheezing)
It just drives me insane how Blitz isn’t honest with his feelings, especially towards Stolas. He probably chooses to believe that Stolas only wants to have sex with him, because that’s more convenient and safer for him, and enables him to keep Stolas at a distance.
Perhaps that is why he never properly responds to Stolas’s texts, never jumps to the opportunity to agree to Stolas’s indirectly asked questions or suggestions. Getting closer might be a bad idea somehow—but after those texts he has to understand what the prince’s intentions are, right? They just don’t talk about it at all; we also aren’t told whether they still do it or not, or just exchange the book like Stolas’s texts suggest. This is striking compared to season 1, where we got scenes of them in bed or talking about their next meet up.
It isn’t until Stolas’s life is in actual danger when Blitz begins to realise how much he cares.
“He can get hurt?” His eyes are trembling with disbelief. After that he finally sends Stolas a text first, and then begins typing again, and stops. I imagine he started typing a yes, but stops himself for some reason. I really hope they’ll show us what Blitz was thinking in that moment. Why would he not go to see Stolas? Because he feels guilty? Because he’s afraid he’ll start caring even more when he sees him wounded in that bed?
But again, for Stolas this just means that he doesn’t care, and the poor owl curls up and turns away from his phone.
#stolitz#helluva boss#my brain is doing things#also if I'm posing any questions I should've already known the answer to please be gentle with me#stolas#stolas goetia#blitzo#stolas x blitzo#helluva boss meta#stolitz meta#I am greatly enjoying this show#not planning to interact with criticism#click on the pics for better quality etc etc#ngl their kissing scene was my fave moment lol... they looked so happy together#can't wait for the next ep uuuuuuugh sobbing
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Establishing Shot
Episode 3: Spring Broken
To catch up on the rest of this analysis series or see other essays referred to here please refer to the Master Post.
This analysis may be a little shorter because this episode is less of a story driver and more of a backstory drop. That’s not a criticism of the episode, but the two major things to come out of it (Loona and Blitzo’s relationship and Verosika) are also explored in other episodes so it’s one you could skip technically without losing anything. It’s more of a setup episode to dig into things deeper down the line without them coming from nowhere. This episode does have some really important relationship parallels though and some cute and fun moments I enjoy a lot.
The episode opens with Blitzø loudly and badly singing along with a song on the radio. Millie looks pleased, Moxxie is covering his ears, our first indication he is a music snob but not the last, and Loona is rolling her eyes as per usual.
The song itself really evokes that sense of bad early teens and 20’s relationship decisions, there is a kind of nostalgia with it in the sense that you had fun being fucked up and irresponsible and it reminds you of that, but you wouldn’t want to go back to that place. I think this is intentional with Verosika being a youthful indiscretion, a different time in Blitzo’s life. I don’t think he’s necessarily nostalgic for it, he seems to resent it and view it as a waste of time, but I think the song serves to put the audience in that mindset.
Verosika steals Blitzø’s parking space and we have the episode conflict right up front and center.
We are given A LOT of information in dialogue drops. I found the amount of information dropped in such a contentious, snappy scene to be super fun. I love efficient dialogue and this delivers.
Verosika and Blitzø used to date, Verosika has a drinking problem but she left rehab early due to her fame and obviously hasn’t handled it if the flask in her hand is any indication. She pulls from it immediately and it is a fun little plot device later you aren’t necessarily expecting. I actually didn’t pick up on it until my second rewatch. I liked this detail a lot and appreciated how naturally it was worked in.
Blitzø is revealed to have a sister that is also in rehab and based on his reaction he is upset about that. Blitzø has a lot of resentment about Verosika in general, it carries through in every interaction, and seems misplaced given she reveals he is the one who ran off, leaving her to foot the bill and then maxxed out her credit cards. This could be because of something yet to be revealed, or it could be just a nod to how people act with toxic early relationships.
Their argument uses a lot of gendered insults and sexual aggression, which speaks to why it didn’t work out between them.
To digress for a moment, I think Blitzø’s reaction to women in general is interesting. I’m keeping an eye on it this rewatch but he is always much more verbally aggressive towards female characters, excepting Loona and Millie. In Murder Family he is very misogynistic with the client. In LooLoo Land he yells at the offended mother. In the Hellbie’s clinic he yells at the waiting mom and the secretary and when he goes to visit Barbie in rehab he is super intense with the nurse. He shuts up Octavia in LooLoo Land, and he is kind of nice about it, calling her sweetie, but ultimately dismissive and he also says some really gross things about her on the phone in LooLoo Land.
It may just be my perception but he tends to back off when faced with other males, or is certainly not as intense with them. Vortex in this episode, Asmodeus in others, and he’s almost deferential to Striker and Crimson. He gets a little aggressive in his language with Stolas but he is clearly the dominant one in that relationship.
Back to the episode.
Loona is clearly interested in the Verosika proceedings. She is a fan. It’s a more positive emotion than we’ve seen from her thus far.
Verosika mentions that Vortex is her new bodyguard and he does a better job than Blitzø ever did.
The running theme of people telling Blitzø he is bad at his past jobs is one of my favorite little character details. Each little jab speaks to his insecurity and the entire show being about him finding his place and something he can prove he’s good at. It’s a really subtle way to drive that insecurity home for the audience. This comes up later in his conversations with Striker, Fizz and Crimson, some from a place of building him up as a manipulation tactic and others bringing him down.
The IMP gang are all shocked he dated a famous pop star, and like I mentioned in my Ozzie’s essay he is very dismissive, and annoyed about it. Eyes narrowed, arms crossed, “Yeah we dated, so what?” “Why are you all acting like that’s such a shock.” They are fairly insulting to him about it.
“You are all making it a way bigger deal than it needs to be. I don’t pry into your stupid personal lives.” Which they all rightly point out he absolutely does. And in this episode in fact, not only with a Loona but asking if Millie pegs Moxxie.
Millie asks what sex with Verosika is like showing us Blitzø is not the only one with boundary issues, and Blitzø, the most sexual character on this show save for Stolas, who is equal and limits it to Blitzø only for the most part, asks them to drop it. He does NOT want to talk about this. It is such a departure even this early on you can clock it as significant. There is history there and Blitzø does not like it.
Loona bemoans that she did her makeup shitty on a day when she met such a famous person and Blitzø tells her she looks perfect like always. He is in full on simpering dad mode, which is always cute. Loona FINALLY drops that he is her Dad for the audience, though she takes it back immediately and calls him Blitz, so now we know this is a thing: he is her dad and he is over the top in his affection and she rejects it.
Another digression, apologies, but this is SUPER IMPORTANT.
I find it really telling that Blitzø’s “unwanted” affection for Loona is treated very differently than Stolas’s by the *ahem* more critical fandom. Because they are essentially the same. They just aren’t both sexual. To be extremely clear, I do not in anyway think Stolas’s sexual advances are unwanted, just like I don’t think Blitzø’s parental desperation is. We have two very opinionated characters, who absolutely leave situations they find truly undesirable. In this very episode we have evidence of it. Blitzø left Verosika. Blitzø leaves Loona on the beach after they fight. Loona storms off repeatedly and Vortex even praises her for standing up for herself.
Blitzø is over the top affectionate, he uses a baby voice, he offers her treats, he calls her a silly name she doesn’t seem to like. And she shuts him down, she scoffs, she rolls her eyes, she runs away, she is visibly annoyed. Repeatedly. All things Blitzø does to Stolas. She is JUST AS uncomfortable with it but through her expressions when he’s not looking, her body language cues, and her deflection via dialogue like when she calls him Dad and corrects herself, we can tell she craves that familial love and she even gives into it at times when she can tell Blitzø needs her too even though she fears getting too close, like in Queen Bee.
Blitzø does the EXACT SAME THING with Stolas. Stolas baby talks him, offers him little treats. (Of the more sexual variety), calls him a cutesy name he is annoyed about but when Stolas seems to truly need him to be softer Blitzø gives in even though he fears getting too close, and I firmly believe this parallel is incredibly intentional. These are two very important relationships in Blitzo’s life and they directly mirror each other.
There is more to the Loona & Blitzø vs Stolas/Blitzo relationship parallel for me than even the Fizz and Asmodeus one because it really shows that Blitzø and Stolas come from the exact same place, they are just in different positions in each relationship.
What works the most about it is that BECAUSE Blitzø is on the rejected side of the Loona relationship it actually feeds into his rejection of the Stolas relationship. The one person he should be able to give and receive love freely with, his actual family, even pushes him away. Because he feels unworthy of a romantic relationship, he tries too hard with his familial one and the cycle repeats. There is also a lot to say about their positions of power in these relationships as well.
Blitzø took Loona in. He houses and feeds her and gave her a job. He feels comfortable expressing his affection because he is the “power” holder. He essentially secured Loona’s place in his life by taking her in and giving her a job in his business. I wouldn’t normally put it in those terms for a teenage adoption, but it’s an appropriate way to look at it in this show, especially with what’s said in the episode. Blitzø feels like taking her in and giving her a place should count for something and Loona resents it, she was almost an adult anyway. We even see him more or less “shopping” for her when we flash back in Seeing Stars. He bought her from a pound. Loona feels like she didn’t need him. She does, but she doesn’t want to.
With Stolas it’s the opposite for Blitzø. Stolas secured Blitzø’s place in his life with the grimoire. Stolas is why his business runs right now. Just like Loona, Blitzø needs Stolas, not just for the grimoire, just like Loona doesn’t need Blitzø for just her job and her home, but he doesn’t want to need Stolas for anything either.
(I want to be clear that this is JUST in the context of this cartoon show. I in no way look at actual adoption in real life through this lens, just need to say that for the weirdos.)
We also see that Loona is more alike with her father than she wants to admit, even rejecting affection the exact same way. Their relationship development is on a similar track and pace as well. We get a change with Stolas and Blitzø in Ozzie’s and directly after a change with Loona and Blitzø in Queen Bee. I will…. probably write a whole separate essay on this with all the examples to flesh it out more. It’s that crucial, but I don’t want to spend too much more time on it here. It was just too critical to leave out.
Okay, sorry, back to the episode.
Moxxie offers to ease the tension and talk to Verosika. The succubi crew attack him and then Blitzø gets really pissed. It’s one of those little “he really cares about his employees” moments I adore. We also get the first hint Moxxie is bisexual when he doesn’t reject the male coded incubus for any other reason than he is married.
Blitzø is very clear he is only throwing down the challenge they can kill more people than the succubi can fuck because they went after his employee. I’m interested in the lore of a “demon challenge” but Verosika backs down for an unrelated reason so no clues as to how binding they are.
We also get a good glimpse of Verosika’s tattoo, which is a heart with Blitzø crossed out. She was obviously way more into the relationship than he was, and as I speculated in the Ozzie’s essay I think he fled because of her trying to get too close to him and he was intimated by her increasing fame and the eyes and scrutiny that brought with it. I’m sure there is more to it they’ll explore but that is what we have so far. I find it interesting as well that we don’t get any more info about their relationship than got in Spring Broken in the Ozzie’s episode, she was solely there as a contrast with Stolas just like Fizz.
Like many of the characters from Blitzø ‘s past she continues to pointedly use BlitzO instead of the name he prefers.
I think this is less of a deadnaming thing as some people interpret it, than an “until he reconciles his past with them they won’t let him forget it” thing. Names are a big deal on this show and only the characters that knew him before pointedly use the O. As he makes amends to these people he hurt, intentionally or not, they will accept the new life he’s trying to lead.
It is possible he could revert back to BlitzO as well by the end, that’s a viable direction to go, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the former. They won’t call him Blitz and accept the change he’s trying to make until he makes amends.
Stolas gives Blitzø a new name altogether, one that he doesn’t appear to like either, but for different reasons. I think in that instance instead of the changing his name to escape his past he dislikes the nickname because of his fear of the future and the intimacy and romantic love that it could come with. Blitzø sees cutesy nicknames as a sign of affection, and he uses them frequently with people he loves LoonyToony, MillieBillie, etc to express his love. Having Stolas do the same to him scares him.
Blitzø breaks down the plan on the board with a little cartoon. He maintains that intense aggression about Verosika throughout. Moxxie and Blitzø argue about the plan and drop a cute little art school joke.
Loona asks if she can come this time and Blitzø forbids it with a fourth wall break about people over sexualizing her.
We get some lore about the human disguises, Loona has one but the imps don’t. This is a problem in this universe and is called back to in TruthSeekers and Seeing Stars. This potentially has plot implications later, either with D.H.O.R.K.S or an overarching Hell authority. I have some theories that both IMP and Stolas will be in trouble over this eventually.
Blitzø makes a flyer that hints at his dyslexia, Moxxie is wrong again, and they have the clients they need to kill for the challenge.
We arrive at the beach, which conveniently has all the targets the clients require. Loona sniffs a piece of paper and can somehow find them. I will take no “but the world building consistency!” criticisms about this show, specifically because of this scene that tells us “sometimes you just hand wave shit to get the plot moving, it doesn’t have to make sense, it’s not that deep”.
We get a little murder montage. Blitzø is being cocky and then Verosika starts the episode’s song. Verosika puts up a Fuck You Blitzo sign, which is echoed by a sign hanging off the building over the parking space at the beginning of the episode that says Buck You Flitzo. I do not know why that sign is there in the parking lot but it’s a fun detail.
Verosika can’t get through a song without drinking. I still really like the use of the flask as both a plot device and a character issues nod wrapped up in one so it bears repeating.
Loona seems to be captured by the energy of the song and approaches Vortex. There is an indication about the world building here, that the succubi can compel in some way with the song. Loona seems to almost be in a trance and the humans certainly are. Blitzø seems immune. He notices Loona is gone and yells out “where’s my baby” very dramatically with his very misplaced fatherly concerned about her.
Meanwhile, Verosika chucks her flask into the ocean. Trouble is brewing.
Loona approaches Vortex and she is very different to how we’ve seen her thus far. She’s awkward and strange and reveals she doesn’t have any friends. This is much different than how she interacts with the human men she lured into their deaths. She was very sure and not at all awkward with that. When confronted with someone she likes and is attracted to she falls to pieces a bit. Vortex is genuinely really nice, not playing into her little crush but still being friendly and teasing her a bit. I really like him as a side character.
Blitzø inserts himself into their conversation and says one of my favorite quotable lines “Conversation leads to HPV”.
He uses his authority as a boss first to get her back to work but it’s really coming from a place of parental concern. It’s a good character moment, instead of just telling her why he’s worried he defaults to boss Blitzø first.
This is one of the cruxes of their relationship issue. Blitzø adopted her when she was almost grown, he thinks that should count for something and Loona is rebellious teen yelling “You’re not my real dad”. Neither of them are approaching this from a good place. Blitzø is pushing his authority as both boss and father and Loona is pushing back and remaining guarded even after years of Blitzø being there for her. It takes time to break down those walls for both of them. That conflict starts here in Spring Broken and remains a plot point throughout.
Meanwhile Moxxie and Millie keep killing folks for the business. Moxxie gets mistaken for a possum and thrown into some beer.
Loona attempts to reach out to Blitzø but he rejects her this time and storms off. Vortex comforts Loona and is genuinely just a cool dude all around. Seriously, I like him a lot. I like the direction the show chose, where some shows might have gone the douchey route with such a character and had Loona experience a heartbreak that way, we get a different approach. He is a genuinely nice guy who is with someone else.
Loona appreciates Vortex’s support but still looks troubled. She doesn’t break down and approach Blitzø any further however.
She drops a bit of dialogue that’s meaningful instead: “He’ll get over it, he always does.”
Narrator: He doesn’t.
Millie gets a drunken Moxxie out of the beer cooler and he’s the cutest bean. I loved this scene from a personal level because, like my own partner, when he gets drunk he simps for his wife even harder. It was such a cute moment.
Millie goes feral when he’s in danger as she tends to do. The high five when he’s in the demon fish’s jaws while she is trying to save him makes me laugh out loud every time. It’s great. Like A+ animation choice.
Moxxie and Millie have a couple’s moment and a resentful Blitzø rolls his eyes and crosses his arms and says it’s too wholesome for him. I point this out because of how intentional it is as a character reveal. Moxxie and Millie were already cuddling but they amped it up and had Blitzø comment on it in an episode where his ex shows up and presents a very messed up relationship from his past.
Verosika and crew approach the team. They try to pin the blame on IMP but Millie has the flask. It’s shown again that there are consequences for what they do in the human world. They all seem to genuinely fear whatever those consequences are.
Verosika points out IMP will get in trouble too but Moxxie counters with one of my other favorite lines “A human called me a potthum, I am NOT a potthum.”
They agree to give back the parking space, Verosika is pissed. Blitzø gloats. So many middle fingers in this episode.
Loona and Tex are still talking and he offers to invite her to a party and drops that he has a girlfriend. Loona is incredibly disappointed.
Everyone heads home, I especially liked everyone’s different drops into the portal.
Verosika and crew get arrested and it’s implied they’ll get out of it for sexual favors.
This episode is just a fun one. I don’t think it’s meant to be taken too seriously but it has some fun character tidbits and the Loona and Blitzø relationship setup. We get more insight into Loona versus the apathetic sarcasm of the previous episodes. She is awkward and lonely and seems to be interested in finding a romantic partner. The episode itself frames this around Blitzo’s own youthful indiscretion, and is most likely the source of his concern though it’s a subtle setup. I like to think Blitzø was probably around Loona’s age when it all went wrong with Verosika, and that’s why he’s so overprotective. He knows where relationships in your late teens and early 20’s can go.
Loona is closed off to Blitzø but seems to genuinely want that connection between them, but they are too similar.
I like the placement of this episode story wise. I hinted at this in my previous analysis, and while I don’t know this for sure, the reveal of Blitzø as her adopted father at this point seems very intentional. In the non canon pilot it’s just dropped as a bit of quick dialogue and not even in a creative way, it’s kind of forced actually but I like that when they sat down and developed it further they waited for the right moment. We go two episodes entire episodes without learning it in canon.
I mentioned in the Murder Family analysis that I initially thought Loona was an employee he was sexually harassing not his daughter. I can’t determine if the creators thought everyone watching had seen the Pilot or if they wanted to wait to introduce it on purpose. I lean towards the latter considering how carefully crafted Murder Family was as a true Pilot.
It would have been okay to just dialogue drop it again in Murder Family or made sense to mention it in LooLoo Land given the father/daughter focus of that episode but I think they made the right choice dropping it here. Not only is this a more Loona centric episode but we, the audience, can now directly contrast it with the preceding episode.
In LooLoo Land, Stolas is having a similar issue with Octavia, though the issue there is more of a family breakdown than an issue of independence, but whereas Stolas and Octavia resolve the conflict for the most part in that episode (though it will reappear in Seeing Stars in a slightly different way) Loona and Blitzø do not. They fight, they separate, they do not reconcile. This tells us this is an ongoing plot point, it will come up again and it will not be resolved in a single storyline, it is an ongoing thing they want to develop.
Not to keep being all BUT STOLITZ in an episode Stolas doesn’t even appear in, but I love the back to back contrast between LooLoo Land and Spring Broken and the fact that we are shown that, though Stolas and Blitzø are very different, they have similar issues in their relationships with their daughters. They are both fathers trying their best.
How the issues are handled speak to their flaws in character as well: Stolas fucks up because of his issues trying to force a happy family image and alienates his daughter, but he talks to her about it and she is receptive and forgives him and they reconcile. Octavia is very like her father in a people pleasing way in that she does go along with what Stolas wants (though she protests a lot more) and does this until she explodes and then she is soothed by actually talking it through and being receptive. Stolas has done similar things, he goes along with things to keep the peace and then he explodes, his blow up at Stella for instance. I’m hoping we’ll see more of him blowing up in future. Both Blitzø and Stolas are reflected in their daughters. Stolas even takes this same approach with Blitzø he does with Octavia, he reaches out and tries to talk, but because of Blitzø’s issues he gets rejected. Loona would do the same.
Blitzø and Loona’s conflict is both with his exerting his authority and being overbearing and overly affectionate which Loona doesn’t trust. Loona, because she is like Blitzø, rejects him for both, but because both of them default to ignoring the problem, neither talk about it and it goes unresolved.
I just really like this contrast. I also like how you can see how tied together all these characters are, they have thier own unique issues but they still parallel and mirror each other throughout.
I don’t like to refer to episodes as filler episodes, because no episode is truly just filler unless it’s a flashback episode and even then sometimes they matter, but this episode could be classified as such as it only gives us backstory hints and no real resolutions. As I said before if you skipped it you wouldn’t be missing any necessary context for the show as everything in it gets brought up again. It does introduce Verosika and setup Loona and Blitzø’s relationship conflict however. These are both important but we explore them elsewhere too so this is more of an establishing shot of those things rather than a typical setup and resolution. These are pins to be knocked down later.
We the audience know there is more to explore with both of them, whereas with LooLoo Land I don’t think they intended for Octavia to necessarily be a long term conflict for Stolas, they set it up and resolve it in one shot. Seeing Stars came later and was kind of a rehash of LooLoo Land but this time bringing both Loona and Blitzø into it and calling back to the issues of Spring Broken. Seeing Stars is what ties the issues of LooLoo Land and Spring Broken together, but that’s an essay for another day.
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OK I AM GRADING ESSAYS AS I WATCH THAT HOUR LONG CHRONO STOLITZ VIDEO AND I HAVE A THOUGHT AND IT MAY BE OBVIOUS AND MAYBE SOMEONE POINTED IT OUT ALREADY BUT BECAUSE IM NEW TO THE FANDOM I HAVEN'T BEEN EXPOSED TO IT SO HERE IT GOES, MY THOUGHT:
SO I constantly see the critique that Stolas' development seemed very random and out of nowhere, BUT you have to remember that we are only ever exposed to Stolas when he's out in public OR when he's interacting with Blitz during their monthly meet-ups. SO in a way we're seeing him from an "unreliable narrator" perspective of sorts if that makes sense. I have seen others point out that Stolas puts up a front because obvsl he was raised that way due to his hierarchical position. We only ever see his "true" self when he was talking to Octavia back in Loo Loo Land when she was honest with him and he decided to be vulnerable in that moment as well. The other moment we see that too was at Ozzie's before Blitz called him. We see him all down and tbh in a depressed state, serving himself some cereal and watching his hell-a-novelas (or is it hell-e-novelas?), there is NO ONE around for him to put up a front for, UNTIL Blitz calls him and even then, a bit of his true self shows, aka his excitement and surprise over Blitz inviting him out to a date. Then we switch back to him putting up a front once he arrives to meet up with Blitz. Still, throughout the entire date, we continue to see his "true" self BECAUSE that's how the episode started out, the "unreliable narrator" perspective is no longer there; it continues to stay that way in further episodes.
SO WHAT IM TRYING TO GET AT IS THIS:
The reason there are SO MANY PEOPLE who continue to say "Stolas' development is sooo random" or "Stolas is sooooo OOC, that's not who he is!" are in a way stuck in that "unreliable narrator" perspective of Stolas, which was VERY intentional from the writers. So they're seeing Stolas HOW BLITZ is seeing him too! Cause remember, Blitz is also VERY CONFUSED with Stolas' "change" in personality, and we are pointed to this in Oops! AND HEY I DON'T BLAME HIM EITHER, Stolas only ever spoke to him in a sexual manner and whatnot BUT I ALSO DON'T BLAME STOLAS EITHER BECAUSE THAT'S //HOW// BLITZ SPOKE TO HIM THE TIME THEY REUNITED! Blitz unintentionally set up to Stolas how he supposedly "talks/interacts" with him, iow, "Oh! So Blitz likes it when I talk this way, ok! I'll continue to talk to him in that way! This is his way of flirting!" type of shiz, if that makes sense. I mean Stolas mentions that during their first time in bed. SO YEAH
AGAIN, maybe I'm repeating what has already been said BUT STILL, I had to put my two cents out there too! More cents, yay!
#scrambled eggs#stolitz meta#stolitz thoughts#not actually tagging the stolitz tag cause askjnfajksnffank\
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i see all these comments talking about this after the new episode, but. i would like to state for the record that stolitz isn't. toxic.
first off, the concept of a toxic and a healthy relationship are such... vague terms. when you're online, drenched in language and tight moral boundaries, trying to put a nuanced story like helluva boss's into boxes is easy to attempt and impossible to do.
a toxic relationship is one where one or both parties is maliciously affecting the other. I'm talking fetid, nasty, rude interactions where there is more hurt than love. they're unhappy more often than not when they're with their partner, there's no respect or give from the other side.
stolitz is nothing like that.
Stolas actively cares about Blitz and actually has no fear or hesitation in ADMITTING IT OUT LOUD TO OZZIE. he has been calling, texting, commenting, laughing and finding ways to spend time with Blitz. he's throwing everything he has to the wind, finding the courage to move forward with the divorce, putting everything he has into trying to keep him. he's been alone in a palace since he was born, on medication, with such less people dear to him that he remembered the circus boy who spent a day with him DECADES ago- so when blitz comes into his life and brings back in laughter and color and sex, he's holding on with everything he's got.
and blitz does care!!! he cares a LOT, the whole series we see him falling in love with stolas through SHOW NOT TELL (his expressions, his choices, his fear, his lashing out) and utterly unable to process that stolas cares about him too when talking to fizz; almost a desperate kind of denial-
cause yknow. the first time he tried to confess something to someone he really liked, he accidentally killed half the people he knew and ruined the lives of the rest?
thats gonna leave just a teensy impact on the will to express your emotions in the future, methinks.
even before that, he clearly felt like on some level that he was unworthy and he's said twice that he despises himself for the accident even though it wasn't actually his fault. being self aware doesn't stop the emotions from emotioning.
he keeps insisting its only sex so urgently to anyone who doesn't ask because he can't even imagine it being anything else. he's both disappointed and relieved when he repeats that stolas sees him as a novelty, because what else can it be?
(there's a whole other spiel of how brave both Stolas and Blitz have to be to say it out loud even when asmodeus can't afford to, considering how publically and completely beaten down both were at the club.)
(there's also another whole spiel about how frustrating it has been for ME to see all these comments over time with such bad takes based on like,, 20 min worth of info of a show that takes months to release an ep. like godDAMN have some patience?? let the story UNFOLD MAYBE? IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO HAVE AN EXPLANATION WHY WOULD YOU CRITICIZE THINGS THAT ARENT EVEN FINISHED ESPECIALLY AN INDIE ANIMATION- i digress)
mind you, this has NOTHING to do with abuse. an abusive relationship is one where one is actively harming the other with full awareness. Stella is an abuser and their marriage is abusive.
and stolitz isn't that; it isn't even unhealthy or toxic. it's a consensual, transactional fuckbuddy relationship that slid into something more for both of them.
but!!!!! one of the main reasons for the problems that everyone looks over is-
they're in a BDSM relationship.
I can't possibly delve into dynamics without making this a 10k research paper BUT even though we've gotten only hints and costumes and dialogue- they're very clearly and undeniably in a BDSM contract. Behind the scenes of this crazy show is a whole different story, of these two delving into the most hardcore kinks out there- knifeplay, painplay, bondage.
if you've gotten into the community, if you've read a couple dozen particularly good fics by authors who know what they're talking about, hell; even if your only experience is fifty shades or 365 or whatever- you gotta know that BDSM scenes are crazy fucking emotionally heavy. there's so much that has gone down between them during their full moons that helluva can't get into!!
but you know how in so many of these popular medias and fics, the dom in the relationship is also like,, the billionaire/mafia heir/prince, etc, the one with financial and physical power? this isnt that. it has been very clearly stated that stolas is subbing, blitz is domming.
now take a moment and think about how much that fucks up the dynamics.
in stolas' eyes, blitz is a confident, dangerous individual who's an old friend and cherished memory of his, who he's trusted wholly with his safety during sex and he's lucky to have; and he has been in an abusive arranged marriage for the past eighteen Years, he's probably not going to be pushing his luck with his dom that much in the first place. plus, blitz is never cowed by him during their conversations- think back to the first phone call right after he stole the book, completely unafraid.
and for blitz, it's someone trusting him again- but it's also a royal- a blue blood who's nearly untouchable and so much more powerful- who couldn't possibly like a piece of shit like him, apart from the sex he gets out of it. he only flirts once he gets some sort of cue from Stolas; he's desperately trying to view this as only a Goetia trying to get his rocks off, despite all the evidence to the contrary, because anything else is unfathomable to him, no matter how clearly Stolas shows it, because of the ptsd.
both of them thinks the other has the power. both of them aren't expecting the other to keep shut if something's bothering them.
and there's so much conflicting messages from the other too!
stolas calls him a plaything when trying to intimidate the humans; stolas cups his face gently and asks if he's alright
blitz asks him on a date and tells him to get better soon; blitz yells that it's only sex and doesn't reply to his messages
ya see?
bring it to fizzozzie for a second now; even though they do look all good on surface, you can still see fizz's trauma and doubt in all their interactions, they're still forced to keep the relationship secret. do you see his face when Ozzie says in hyperbole that he's never leaving the house again, or when someone accuses him of being a pampered house pet or when he got sexualized in the 7th ep? whatever happened in the interim between the accident with mammon, it fucked him UP. even though oz seems to be well aware of this when he tells him not to apologise and in their general interactions, fizz still visibly has trouble separating plaything/commodity from healthy relationship.
shout the fuck out to Ozzie btw, man knows whats UP. rooting for these two so much omg.
i forgot where I was going with this point, I'll edit it when i remember. but yeah! lovely fucking relationship, but damn what angst filled issues.
anyway, to sum up- stolitz is not a toxic relationship. the relationship is stuck sludging through misunderstandings and careless microaggressions and trauma responses, but it's not unhealthy or toxic because of the simple reason that most of the current hurt comes from... a misunderstanding. stolas didn't realise blitz would need reassurance about what they were and blitz didn't see stolas as someone who could get hurt.
unecessarily calling it toxic, even online, is more impactful than people think too. almost all spindlehorse ARE on all social medias; so MANY YouTube animators i know have found jobs there; they see your words, especially since a lot don't tag posts with "anti hb" correctly to keep them out of the main tag. there are Very few queer medias made BY queer people that haven't gone through heavy corporate revisions- helluva boss is practically a historical landmark in its success. it's very very very fucking easy to forget that not ten years ago some of the only queer videos on YouTube were butter lover (one kiss at the end post credits), dirty paws and welcome to hell (subtext).
the amount of "critical talk" helluva boss gets for what it is is very unprecedented. it's a beautiful show. can't wait for the next episode.
#helluva boss#stolas#blitz#stolitz#fizzarolli#helluva boss ozzie#okay im gonna make SO much content but i had to get this off my chest first#because so many people were like omg fizzozzie is so healthy stolitz take a lesson!!#and theres so much more nuance to it thats its so. frustrating to see a statement like that#meta#anyways#i love this fucjing show
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This is a sort of response to a post I've seen floating around, drawing parallels between the chains in Blitz’s trip that bind him to Stolas and the chains that bind Husk, Angel, and Fizz to Alastor, Valentino, and Mammon respectively. I'm not commenting on that post directly bc I avoid Discourse (tm) at all costs for the sake of my health, and I don’t want to get drawn into an unproductive argument that will mess with my anxiety for a week. I'm not trying to start a fight, just get my thoughts out on why I feel that comparison is inaccurate, and hopefully provide some helpful context and nuance.
So! Let's start with a few disclaimers! First of all, I'm not going to debate the moral purity of any of these characters. I just don't think it's an interesting or valuable critique. On a related note, I am not trying to excuse any of their behavior. I'm happy to admit that my favorite characters in this show have hurt people and are sometimes total assholes. Stolas treated Blitz very poorly at the beginning of their relationship, frequently pushed or even ignored boundaries, and was just kind of a dick about things. My objection to a direct comparison between Stolas and the other characters mentioned above isn't because I think Stolas hasn't done anything wrong; I just think that saying they're similar without further clarification or commentary ignores the nuance of the situation.
Read on below the cut, it's gonna be another long one folks!
Let's start by examining the "agreements" forged by Val, Mammon, and Alastor. I think it's important to note that, in their cases, the person they got to sign their contract could have been anyone. Husk and Angel could have been any sinners, Fizz could have been any imp. They aren't interested in them as people; they were only using them to gain more power for themselves. The only thing that matters to them is, "What can you do for me?" Angel and Fizz quite clearly become cogs in the machine of Val and Mammon's businesses, and Alastor only thinks of Husk as a tool to be leveraged in specific situations to further his own mysterious goals. Each of them has demonstrated to their subjugates that they own them, body and soul. They have signed legally and spiritually binding contracts that essentially surrender their autonomy to a more powerful demon.
Stolas and Blitz’s agreement is... not that. In the most literal sense, they don’t appear to have made any sort of binding deal. They just made a verbal agreement, which I sincerely doubt has anywhere near the force of a signed soul contract. Additionally, Stolas did not ask for and does not seem to want that sort of total control over Blitz. He very clearly does not view this as any sort of power exchange (which may actually be part of the issue, since it leaves him blind to Blitz’s discomfort with their class difference), he sees it as "favors for favors." While this agreement is inherently unbalanced due to Stolas's status, it's worth noting that they’re both putting something on the line here. The other three risk practically nothing (if the person bound to them fails they can always get a new one), but Stolas IS taking on a real risk by letting Blitz access the living world illegally using his book. Again, that doesn't make his actions right, and probably helped him to justify them, but it does set their relationship apart from the others.
In my opinion, some of Stolas's greatest flaws are his thoughtlessness and his ability to justify his own actions to himself. This manifests in the fact that he clearly doesn't see the ways in which their relationship is hurting Blitz. He convinced himself that this was just an equal exchange, and a continuation of the dynamic Blitz established in their first encounter as adults: "I fuck you, and you give me the book". As he becomes more aware of his feelings for Blitz, though (stay tuned for a deeper analysis of this progression later), he also begins to realize that Blitz isn't happy with this relationship. And this, as @masonshmason pointed out, is the central fact that separates Stolas and Blitz from the other relationships. Stolas did not realize- or chose to ignore- how he was hurting Blitz. Once he came to terms with it, though, he understood that he had to make things right. He specifically says this in "Just Look My Way"; "I will try to make amends/ For making you means to an end". None of the others could say this, because in their case, that was the POINT. Angel, Fizz, and Husk were ALWAYS a means to an end, intentionally trapped for that purpose.
We also need to talk about the CONTEXT of the scenes in which the chain imagery appears. For both Angel and Husk, the chain is at least semi-literal, a physical (and perhaps supernatural) manifestation of the way their souls are bound to an overlord. In "Two Minutes Notice," Fizz purposely CHOOSES to represent his relationship to Mammon as chains around his wrists. However, Blitz's scene is part of a drug trip after being forcibly dosed with hallucinogens. It does not exist in any literal sense, nor is it a representation of Blitz’s conscious, literal thoughts. What it DOES do is showcase Blitz’s deepest fears and his greatest flaws through symbolism and metaphor. Blitz is not literally afraid of being forced to wear a clown costume; he is afraid he'll never escape his past traumas or Fizz's shadow. THIS is the context in which Blitz sees himself being chained by Stolas: a bad trip all about his fear of intimacy and vulnerability.
Stolas appears in this trip as someone elevated high above him, something he's climbing towards, reaching for, even though it means being chained to him. It's directly preceded by his ex girlfriend and his former best friend berating him for how he pushes people away even though he hates being alone. Then Stolas directly asks him, "Are you afraid to love people, Blitzy?" Furthermore, the WAY in which he is framed is alluring, slightly hazy, golden and tempting. It couldn’t be further from the ugly, slime-covered past he's fleeing. It's a new start, a chance for something better that seems too good to be true. This trip is all about Blitz’s inability to be vulnerable with another person. The chain around his neck is a representation of the fact that, by getting closer to Stolas, he's giving Stolas the power to hurt him emotionally.
And man, there's a part of him that wants to give Stolas that power. At this critical moment, he's not baring his teeth in defiance or anger. He's blushing, just slightly, and he looks... nervous. Blitz's instinct, when things get too real, is to cut and run. Hurt them before they can hurt you. Abandon them before they have the chance to leave you. It’s how he tanked his relationship with Verosika. This is a manifestation of what might happen if he stays. This is the sort of trouble he can't fight his way out of.
This is the emotional climax of the scene. There are so many ways they could have gone with this if they wanted to represent Blitz being chained and trapped by his agreement with Stolas. If that was the fear--if that was the POINT--they could have had the chains wrap around him until he couldn't move, or glow white hot and burn into his skin, or a million other more direct metaphors. But the chains aren't the thing that hurts him. It's the feathers: the thing that's left behind after Stolas abandons him, sing-songing "you're going to die alone" right alongside two other people who he loved and who now want nothing to do with him.
Finally, let's look at Blitz’s reaction to this scene. It's a moment of revelation for him, in which he realizes he's pushing everyone away and starts to make an effort to change. It's why he's a bit more open with Moxxie in the next scene. The trip sequence ALSO inspires him to get closer to Stolas, indicating that the trip didn’t make him realize "I'm trapped and I need to get out of this" in the same way Fizz did. Rather, he realizes that he doesn't want Stolas to leave him like everyone else, and he wants to start feeling out what it would be like to deepen the connection between them. As I've mentioned in other posts, their kiss at the end of "truth seekers" represents a level of intimacy that we haven't seen before; it's teasing, affectionate, shows Blitz’s interest in making Stolas happy, and takes place in front of M&M, who have repeatedly teased him about their relationship before.
In summary, while the image of chains may have been invoked in all four of these relationships, they don’t necessarily mean the same thing across the board. Blitz and Stolas's relationship differs substantially from the others in its dynamic, and the context of their scene also sets it apart. It's important to look into the details and the nuance of their relationship to interpret what's going on under layers of trauma and unreliable narration.
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Hot take: Blitzø's "arrangement" with Stolas isn't abuse. It's sex work.
From the beginning, Blitzø and Stolas's relationship has been mutually consential.
Blitzø is not going to starve to death in the streets if he doesn't fuck Stolas. He's a highly accomplished assassin/bodyguard/fighter-for-hire on par with people like Striker. (How else do you think he started dating a global superstar celebrity like Verosika? He was probably her bodyguard.) Hell, Stolas himself was perfectly willing to pay him regular money to be a bodyguard in "Loo Loo Land." Blitzø almost turned the job down because he wouldn't get to kill people.
Whatever his motivations are for starting his own business, it's not mere survival. It's probably a matter of personal pride since he always wanted to be his own boss and have his own circus, but he was an absolute failure as an enrertainer.
Blitzø is the one who built his entire business model off of having continued access to an infinitely powerful, one-of-a-kind magical artifact that belonged to a demon prince. Blitzø doesn't have any sort of right to the Grimoir; it was given to Stolas so he could serve the machinations of the upper echelons of Hell by interpreting the prophecies in the stars. So no, Stolas is under no obligation to just give it to him.
As seen in "Unhappy Campers", if Blitzø really, desperately wanted to travel to Earth, he could just steal an Asmodean crystal from a sucubus. He stays in this arrangement with Stolas because it's convenient for him. We're not shown how Blitzø actually feels about sleeping with Stolas, but he seems to be pretty neutral on the act itself.
This is Blitzø after sex that he hated. Dude looks borderline traumatized.
Blitzø looks, at worst, mildly annoyed when they're in bed together, and that's largely because Stolas wants the book back so he can perform a ceremony at the Harvest Moon Festival. Blitzø, in his own words, has a long list of clients waiting for heads to roll.
Blitzø straight up volunteered to fuck Stolas's brains out just to thank him for saving him and the rest of I.M.P. The first night they had sex, he spent the whole night with Stolas when he didn't have to. Stolas even offered to skip the whole kinky sex thing multiple times and literally just hand the book over, and Blitzø was relatively indifferent.
Blitzø can and has said no to Stolas when he isn't in the right headspace or just plain doesn't want to, and Stolas accepts it. He never gets angry or entitled toward Blitzø.
It's also worth pointing out as early as "Ozzies", Stolas was researching Asmodean crystal. He knows the transactional nature of their relationship is preventing them from forming any kind of meaningful connection, and it massively hurts the fiercely independent Blitzø's pride that he's basically Stolas's sugar baby.
So Stolitz is an absolute train wreck right now. It's been made very obvious that things can't continue as they are and lead to any sort of genuine, fulfilling relationship like what Asmodeus and Fizzarolli have. Their "arrangement" is unhealthy, sleazy, and exploitive on both sides: Stolas is using Blitzø as an outlet for all his pent up sexual frustration after being trapped in a loveless, sexless marriage with an emotionally abusive partner for almost two decades, and Blitzø is willing to seduce, manipulate, and lie to Stolas to get what he wants.
Look, I like Blitzø, but he is *not* a good person, or a good partner. Remember when Blitzø tricked Stolas into thinking they were on a date just so he could ignore him and spy on the M&M's? Or how he *aggressively* came onto a possibly drunk Stolas, shoving him onto the bed and straddling him when he clearly not ready for what was about to happen and was even protesting a little, all so Blitzø could steal from him. And this is totally in character for Blitzø. Look how he treated Verosika!
Ultimately, they're both very damaged, fucked up people who've done shitty things and hurt themselves and each other. I think they can cobble together some semblance of a functioning relationship when they actually start communicating with each other and admitting what they want.
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So I just rewatched episode 5 and I'm absolutely obsessed with the level of flustered Blitzø gets when Striker asks if he "conned that ditzy blueblood into getting you to the surface."
Like...Striker comes in already assuming that Blitzø is a badass con artist. It would have been SO easy and made so much more sense for Blitzø to give a simple affirmative answer - to just go "fuck yeah I did!" and move on. He could've even just stopped at "well, it's long and complicated but the short answer is yes."
But instead, he went into this whole awkward, completely unnecessary ramble to clarify that the relationship was just transactional when Striker already knew that! Despite Millie calling Stolas Blitzø's boyfriend, Striker clearly didn't need to be convinced of the nature of their relationship. Not only that, he seemed to assume Blitzø was basically the only one even getting anything out of it (hence his using the word "conned"). But then Blitzø, completely unprompted, accidentally calls Striker's high opinion of him into question because he's just that flustered. (And Striker absolutely realizes what's going on - his face goes all surprised when Blitzø starts over-explaining, then goes back to a slightly more smug version of the smile he'd been wearing before).
I just. i love that for one second Blitzø is actually managing to play it cool and then immediately ruins it because he's starting to catch feelings and he's in denial about it.
#helluva boss#stolitz#helluva boss meta#blitzo#striker#i also wonder if blitzø was a little offended that striker called stolas ditzy#whether he was aware of it or not i don't think it sat well with him#and then obviously he was worried about striker thinking he had feelings for stolas#and did the whole aforementioned overcompensating thing#which backfired and very much did make him look like he had feelings#because he does#even if it's potentially just on a subconscious level at this point#(i go back and forth on that bc it's hard to tell with him sometimes)#anyway i love this awkward boy
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Given the hurt dumbass energy that both Blitz & Stolas have, they‘ll manage to have a major misunderstanding, if Stolas ever gets around to giving Blitz those Crystals to access the human-world.
The reason Stolas does it, is because he doesn’t want to force Blitz to be with him anymore, since he realised, that he probably won’t get his love reciprocated & that the thing they have is kinda not healthy for both of them (or I guess that’s what’s happening). And honestly, I don’t think he‘s wrong.
What I do think might become a problem, since at least one of them has communication issues, is that Blitz will probably take it the wrong way. Which means the Stolas-doesn’t-want-anything-to-do-with-me-anymore-way, since they won’t have to regularly see each other anymore. Especially now after he got seriously hurt after Blitz refused to help him.
Blitz might even take it as a confirmation, remember that he thought/thinks/is trying to convince himself, that Stolas is only interested in him sexually.
But they won’t talk about that right?
It‘d probably turn into a scene where Stolas gives him those Crystals like I got those for you so you don’t have to borrow my Grimoire anymore, which between the lines reads as I love you so I let you go/if you love me too you’ll stay anyways.
And Blitz might either just take them and say nothing & be hurt, or he‘ll get angry, take them and go. I can’t really imagine him saying no yet? I don’t know why. He might be like where is this coming from, but that seems slightly unlikely, and even if they have that conversation, I still suspect the outcome will be the same. Said outcome would probably be radio-silence between them, because they‘re both (as mentioned) hurt dumbasses (affectionately - cause I relate).
Stolas will be heartbroken & sad, because he’ll think that he was right, since Blitz just won’t talk to him anymore. As a result he might either be too scared (or smth) to text him or his texts will stay unanswered.
Blitz on the other hand will probably think, that him keeping a distance is what Stolas wants, but if Stolas texts him he‘ll be angry and irritated because why would he end our deal like that if he‘s just trying to sleep with me anyways or smth like that. But on the inside he‘ll be hurt and sad, because he lost yet another person, who was important to him.
Or at least that’s how I think it might go.
How would we get out of that? Honestly I’m not sure.
They might not. Which would be sad, because even though they‘re both fucked, I personally want them to be happy together.
Another scenario I could imagine is a rather emotional moment? Like Striker strikes (haha) again and this time Blitz is there to help and then they make up, or they both get captured and have like a moment or smth. Or they have to work together and afterwards there‘s a quiet moment.
Or, also a possibility, the others are so fed up with them, that they just set them up to talk/trick them into seeing each other. Lock them in a closet or whatever and just leave ‘em there until they figure it out or something. Sounds like an M&M thing to do.
Anyways, I think you get what I was trying to say. I was actually about to take a nap but then I saw a fanart of Stolas meeting up with Asmodeus and I binge watched Helluva Boss yesterday and now we‘re here. Just had to get this out of my system, I’ll leave it here if you don’t mind bye~
#this me tryna be a fortune teller#ever seen an interesting show where all the characters have communication skills?#yeah me neither#helluva boss#posted this after S2E4#stolas#blitzo#blitzø#helluva blitz#helluva stolas#stolitz#helluva blitzo#stoliz#helluva boss asmodeus#helluva boss meta#helluva boss prediction
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Stolitz Thoughts
I just rebinged the Helluva Boss episodes, and I have a new take on the Stolas x Blitz relationship. It wasn't that I didn't see it before, but I think when I wait so long between episodes, it inflates the time in the show to me.
The first six episodes of the first season it very much seemed they had a fuck buddy relationship, and that was all. I'd argue that Stolas showed his feelings a bit more as I found he seemed very protective of Blitz, but to me, it seems Blitz was very much sticking to their arrangement- he wouldn't allow himself to think it could be anything more.
I think in episode 6, we can see that he feels chained to the arrangement they have between them. I feel like he sees himself as beneath Stolas. He doesn't allow people to get close, but he craves it all the same.
Then episode 7, we see, I feel, for the first time that Stolas really does want Blitz for more than just sex. We can tell he's starting to really have feelings for Blitz, and this is just the first time we see how excited he gets because Blitz called him first. He's likely been waiting for this same call for a while, we just don't see it. And it makes Blitz's outburst at the end make more sense to me. To Blitz, it's never been said that they are anything other than fuck buddies, and now that Stolas is trying to change the dynamic, he doesn't know what it means, and it probably feels a little weird. Or that maybe they'll start doing the nonsexual things but Blitz thinks it will end in sex no matter what. But I think it's important that Blitz is setting boundaries and saying no. I feel like that's important.
The Circus is by far my favorite episode. I love that we get that backstory, and it sort of makes sense why Stolas falls for Blitz first. He was his first friend and thinks Blitz came to seduce him. For the first time, with Blitz, he feels passionate, emotional, more himnself- something he never felt while married. Meanwhile, to Blitz, it was a means to an end, and while he doesn't dislike Stolas, he didn't actually go there for that. So they came into the relationship with different reasons, and it makes sense how Stolas starts wanting more but Blitz doesn't really think about more. At the end of the episode, we see Stolas has been looking into the Asmodeus crystals, seemingly thinking about giving Blitz an out of their transactional relationship.
Then season 2 episode 4 is where things are going to start taking a turn. It's the first time Blitz realizes Stolas isn't infallible. I wonder if seeing this is what is making Blitz try to make amends with Fizz and Barbie Wire. Life is short, and he doesn't want to be alone.
Season 2 episode 6, we hear Stolas confirming that he has feelings for Blitz and is actively trying to find a way for Blitz to not be dependent on him for his job.
It really makes me excited for what's to come, and with all the growth that Blitz is showing with Fizz, that maybe once Stolas says out loud how he feels about Blitz that Blitz might actually listen. Can I also see Blitz running from his feelings or laughing it off as a joke? Yes, I can.
#helluva boss#helluva boss meta#helluva boss thoughts#helluva boss blitz#blitzø#stolas goetia#stolitz#stolas x blitz#blitz x stolas#I am sure many people have said this before#but I really needed to write this all out
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Preemptive Helluva Boss Season 2 Episode 2 Defense
Okay so obviously I can't tell the future, but I have the sneaking suspicion that some people might take issue with the fact that, in this episode, Blitzo and Stolas are pretty much right back to where they were before the whole date debacle.
And I get that! It can easily be seen as odd! But I have a few things to say about it! (Call copium if you want, but I stand by what I'm gonna say here)
We're still missing an episode.
Viv did say that the final episode of Season 1 isn't super plot-heavy, BUT we still haven't seen it which means that we're not currently privvy to what might have been said in there. With how this episode went, it's easy for me to imagine that Blitzo and Stolas might have spoken to each other and ended Season 1 on a "haha let's just forget about whatever that was haha" kind of thing.
2. They're kind of real for all that tbh
I feel like in my (admittedly short) adult life I've been in multiple situations where I've left things off with a person kind of awkwardly or maybe we were mad at each other or whatever. But then when circumstances forced us back together, we kind of defaulted back to our status quo? That seems to me what's likely to have happened here, too. Blitzo and Stolas haven't really talked since Ozzie's, maybe only business-wise, but then Via goes missing and Blitzo calls him up and they just... Default back to the way they usually are! Stolas is flirty, Blitzo is brash and kind of rude (though he seems to be like??? Way more flustered arund Stolas now, talk about a mood right there, that's what happens to me every time I admit to having a crush on someone to myself) because that's just... Easier than sorting out ALL THAT while also dealing with a whole other problem.
3. Well, you might still wanna have your main characters interact while saving the big confrontation/reconciliation/whatever for later
It's the second episode of the season, so obviously we're not gonna make huge headway with regards to character-development yet. I think it's smart to still have Stolas and Blitzo interact and I think if anything, this episode kind of established that even if things are awkward and lots of feelings go unspoken, they can't really stay away from each other. They can't stop being flirty with each other.
4. Unrelated miscellaneous things I liked
I love how this episode was more about Octavia and Loona (you know, I don't want you to get the impression that I didn't get that via me ranting about Stolitz for too long here, but I did get that and I enjoyed it!) I liked how they bonded over having flawed fathers who, nonetheless, care about them immensely. I thought this episode was unabashedly hilarious in a way the last 2 (S1E7 and S2E2 at the point of posting) weren't. I loved human Stolas, he was so lanky and cute! Also, I love a good massacre, too, we haven't had one of those in a while.
ANYWAY, I really liked this episode and idk maybe everyone else did too and I'm acting prematurely here, but I just thought I should get my thoughts out there okay bye
#helluva boss#helluva boss spoilers#stolitz#meta#is this copium? it might be#i'm certain some youtubers are gonna tell me it is but i don't care#okay bye for real now
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Today I wanna rant talk about this
Versus
This
A lot, and I mean A LOT of people use these two moments as a way to compare Stolas and Blitzø with Fizz and Asmodeus. Specifically, Asmodeus with Stolas. And I get it, both Tiny Clown Imp with Giant Bird Aristocracy. Both dealing in different ways with the social hierarchy of hell. People keep using it as a “well Stolas HID while Asmodeus declared” and yes, that’s true but I don’t actually think we’re meant to be comparing Stolas and Asmodeus, at least not about this specific thing.
Blitzo doesn’t need someone to declare their love for him, he needs to declare his love for someone else.
People put the “Stolas is ashamed of Blitzo because of his station” on Stolas a lot and it is shown multiple times that it is not a factor for Stolas. He even like…sings about how it’s not an issue? Explicitly. The different stations was an issue for Asmodeus for awhile based on thier convos and the hiding. And it was for Fizz, though for different reasons I’ll get into in another post cause this is already going to be long as fuck. But this social hierarchy, famous person conflict is 100% Blitzo.
Blitzø is the only person who should be interpreting Stolas hiding his face as being because of the social disparity because that is a hangup of his. We, the audience, should know better because we’ve been shown the truth, or the reality of the situation in the scope of the show, MULTIPLE times. Blitzø is the one who harps on the class disparity, he’s the one who has the perception that Stolas is only looking for a fetishcentric fuck with the common rabble. The audience is supposed to see Blitzø’s reaction and know he is wrong, that this interpretation is because of one of his character flaws of feeling not good enough, and being compared to people, not because of the reality, because we have proof otherwise. Including the canon song where Stolas fucking says it outright.
There is a lot of talk about the “solution to Stolitz” being Stolas loudly and publicly declaring their relationship ala Asmodeus. But…Stolas already did his big public declaration at the BEGINNING way BEFORE Asmodeus. Stolas did it in The Circus flashback. He reinforced it at the Harvest Moon festival. He reinforced it at Ozzie’s.
His initial public declaration was following up a Imp leaving his bedroom in front of the Ars Goetia yelling “Sorry I fucked your husband” after a big aristocratic party by coming out well fucked and loudly screaming he was getting a FUCKing DIVORCE and ripping a banner in front of some of the most socially influential people in Hell. He then publicly thirsts over Blitzø at the Harvest Moon festival, multiple times and by name AND species. He takes Blitzo’s hand, and goes on a public romantic date with him, even reminding the doorman of who he was and who he was with and THEN when all eyes are still on them after the song at Ozzie’s, despite everything said, reaches out to him across the table and then gets up and leaves with him even taking his car home when he has the ability to just portal. No one who converses with him about Blitzø is left with any ambiguity that they are involved, not Stella, not Striker, not Octavia, he loudly declares he is into the imp to anyone who will listen, often in front of Blitzø, which he cringes away from and insists is just a transactional fucking.
The contrast to be drawn between Asmodeus making a public declaration shouldn’t be on Stolas but BLITZØ. He’s the one who needs to declare it, Stolas already has, repeatedly and out loud, and in public already.
Blitzø is the one who can’t say it out loud. He’s the one who shies away from conversations about it and dismisses it when anyone brings it up. He uses the excuses of social class and it being only for sex to justify his own inability to own it. There’s a reason all his exes are massively famous people who got famous after he destroyed the relationship. With Verosika it’s pretty clear she was super into him and he dipped. It’s not clear if it was because she was getting famous, that might be revealed, but the hints we have (her tattoo, his stealing her credit cards and disappearing) is that the end of that relationship was all Blitzø. When people find out he was in a relationship with her he is uncomfortable with the fact that she is famous, he goes out of his way to separate himself from her fame. Because people react exactly as he expected them to, incredulous someone famous could be into nobody Blitzø.
Somewhat ditto with Fizz, at least at first. Fizz was shown to be already pretty well known by the end of their friendship. Because of Blitzø’s self worth issues he doesn’t believe someone like Fizz could reciprocate his feelings, he sees him surrounded by people and doesn’t feel worthy to be one of them so he turns away and accidentally burns down a circus doing so. While a confession from Fizz first, if he felt the same way, might have prevented the catastrophe we have no way of knowing if Blitzø would have done the same thing to Fizz he did to Verosika and let his self worth issues eventually destroy their relationship too, especially after he signs on with Mammon. A big theme of their comments to each other before their reconciliation are about the disparity in fame, Fizz is also an imp so it’s not social class, but that Fizz is a beloved, famous figure and Blitzø failed at becoming one.
The Circus illustrates this so well, Blitzø is the failure who keeps trying his hardest and Fizz is the one who steps in and just kind of naturally does it. Blitzø’s dad makes no secret of the fact that Fizz is the more desired one. We also see Stolas appreciating Blitzø for who he is. Laughing against the crowd, just like during the sitcom taping, he doesn’t care about the public’s reaction to Blitzø, it doesn’t lessen Blitzø in his eyes at all.
We have also seen Blitzø be told very publicly a person loved him already as well and it STILL wasn’t what he needed. Verosika has it literally tattooed in a prominent place on her body, out there for everyone to see.
He doesn’t want a public declaration, he fears making one of his own and being compared to the one he declared for. “That guy is with THEM?!” It happens when Verosika steals his parking space and everyone realizes they dated, and it happens when the crazy fan goes after Fizz. People dismiss Blitzø in favor of the famous person he is with.
Hearing that, again, would invite the scrutiny that would just further validate that he’s not good enough, that he’s lesser and lower. That’s been his experience so far. Stolas declaring it would just put the spotlight on him once more, and I think it would actually make things worse for him mentally and emotionally. His reaction to Ozzie outing Stolas as his date to the crowd shows us this. I believe it’s why he split up with Verosika, the more famous she got the more eyes on him that could find him lacking. He’d be in the spotlight and his act wouldn’t be able to measure up to hers.
Just like at the circus with Fizz when they were kids, or during the sitcom, when eyes are on Blitzø he fails. Stolas gave him a bit more confidence each time. Not by loudly yelling “Hey, I like him!”to sway the audience, but just by quietly and genuinely laughing at his jokes and appreciating Blitzø for who he is. Stolas I think realizes this consciously, he sings it in Look My Way that the realm doesn’t appreciate what Blitzø is and because of this Blitzø built up walls around himself to protect from that lack of appreciation. Stolas tries to hype Blitzø up, he does so in the Harvest Moon Festival early on in their relationship but it makes Blitzø uncomfortable because the public declarations bring eyes to him. He has like….relationship stage fright in a sense. Imo the last thing Blitzø needs is another loud declaration.
Stolas though, he does NEED it. He has had one romantic partner publicly declare they don’t love him to all who will listen for like well over a decade, and now he needs a partner who will make it really really clear they do and I think preferably out loud where others can hear.
Stolas’s conflict and flaw is his family and his desire for reciprocal love. The shame of being an adulterer, of destroying the idealized family he strived for and the image he projected for so many years. And especially, the loneliness of his “romances” being one sided. With the exception of Octavia all of Stolas’s surrounding family and “friends” don’t give a fuck about him and he knows it. Why would Blitzø be any different? He also needs someone to choose him outside of a business or familial relationship. Stella was an arranged marriage to produce a heir. Blitzø was a sexual transaction for the grimoire. Octavia is his daughter. His relationship with his father shows that he isn’t special to him either. Paimon doesn’t even know his name. Stolas has no one declaring for him.
There’s a reason most of Stolas’s issues are told though “images”. The family portraits, the Sinstagram posts of Blitzø appearing annoyed or disinterested while Stolas does not see the picture Blitzø took, because that is his primary issue, he destroyed the image of himself he was trying to project for a chance at a reciprocal relationship. That image maintenance has nothing to do with Blitzø’s imp status, but more the public lack of perceived reciprocity in his romantic dealings.
He knows he looks like a fool, putting himself out there and not getting a confirmation back. This is why every problem Stolas had with his marriage seemed to come down not to attraction or status but mutual feeling. He doesn’t feel bad for cheating because Stella made it clear she didn’t care about him for him. Stella tells everyone loudly and publicly, even before Stolas cheated, how she feels about him. So as soon as Stolas can he jumps at the chance to say “HEY EVERYONE SOMEONE DOES LIKE ME! HE HAD SEX WITH ME AND EVERYTHING”and yelling out “THE ONLY MAN WHO CAN FUCK ME”. Flirting with Blitzø in front a crowd of people. He desperately wants to be publicly desired, to know he’s loved and for others to know he’s loved too.
I don’t think it matters to Stolas at all that who he cheated with was below him in terms of social hierarchy, or that people know about it, and he hasn’t ever indicated visually or with words that Blitzø being an imp was the root of those issues for him. Stella brings it up because she’s obsessed with status and EVERYONE KNOWS that her husband fucked an imp and is now divorcing her. Asmodeus brings it up because the entire Lust song at Ozzie’s is to distract the audience from his very real love affair with Fizz and maintain the public fiction that what he and Fizz have is just physical.
The whole social hierarchy issue is a deflection, and a misdirection.
This is further emphasized by the fact that Fizz and Asmodeus fucking isn’t even really an issue? People seemed to know they were fucking, like them being walked in on at breakfast and loudly declaring “ we are just banging, we are not in love”. The social hierarchy conflict as an external factor kind of falls apart on that alone but let’s move on. It’s not 100% clear if people outside of the household knew about Fizz and Asmodeus so we can maybe assume the public at large did not. But higher level demons being in a relationship with lower level ones doesn’t appear to be an issue? Like most of the powerful demons we see are actually in relationships with someone from a lower class. Even Mammon surrounds himself with imps and relies on one for his business.
Blitzø sure as fuck brings it up as a justification for why he’s not good enough. But Stolas doesn’t.
He’s even been shown visually and deliberately as forgetting that it’s even a factor, starting with his bowing to Blitzø as a baby owl and then again as an adult. So the comparison of these two moments as being about shame regarding social status for Stolas doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t think it’s about social status at all really. I think that’s the excuse Blitzø uses to push people away and that’s just as much about social status as it is their fame. I’m not saying it’s not a larger theme of the show, but I think in this instance and for Stolitz it’s a distraction from the larger issues Blitzø has.
Stolas doesn’t need to publicly declare their relationship for an audience to solve their relationship issues because he already did, and I think we’ll see that the reason it’s such a huge plot point for Asmodeus and Fizz (beyond it being tied to their specific roles in Hell as the King of Lust and a public figure) is that it needled to be removed as an obstacle in BLITZØ’S mind.
Blitzø was the one present to witness the public declaration between Asmodeus and Fizz at the competition, not Stolas. If the comparison was between Stolas’s behavior and Asmodeus’s he would BE there, we, the audience, would have him there to connect that conflict in our mind as being rooted in Stolas. But he isn’t, because that conflict is 100% Blitzø. He won’t be able to use the imp versus demon thing as an excuse anymore as there is a very public example of someone even higher than Stolas loving an imp that he personally knows. Not only that but we see no indication in the episodes after Ozzie’s that there was ANY fallout for Stolas or Blitzø having their relationship outted so publicly. We see a big press todo about Stolas going to the hospital but not a single scene of like press asking Blitzø or Stolas about their relationship or the scene at Ozzie’s. Because no one but Blitzø actually cares? Scenes in media show us what’s important and if it was actually important to the larger world of Helluva Boss we’d have scenes to show that. There is no press coverage after the Not Divorced party, none after the Harvest Festival and none after Stolas officially makes moves to divorce Stella. He has assassins follow him around but not press. We DO get those press scenes when Fizzarolli and Asmodeus come out as being in love, because they are big public figures, but the only people who even mention Stolas and Blitzø are contained to Ozzie’s alone, and really it’s just Wally, Fizz and Asmodeus. The rest of the club is just interested in the spectacle.
The point of the hiding Stolas’s face behind the menu was not to tell audience he was ashamed of Blitzø, or that his being with Blitzø is a problem for him socially, but to reinforce Blitzø’s excuses to himself that it is, and highlight Blitzø’s self worth issues. This is further confirmed when Stolas reaches out to him across the table even though they are still in public and then later when he verbally expresses to Blitzø that he’d like to spend time with him without sex, tells him he enjoyed spending time with him outside of the arrangement, makes himself physically uncomfortable in the van just to spend more time with him. All of which Blitzø refuses to believe and dismisses. All of their interactions are shown as Stolas being the one to put himself out there, sometimes to a desperate cringe inducing degree, and Blitzø shutting it down and only expressing that his external protestations are not his true feelings by his avoidant looks, stumbling over his words and excuses, and his “protesting too much”. We as the audience see he’s full of shit through the reactions of others, Millie and Moxxie and Fizz specifically calling Stolas his boyfriend or being skeptical of the bullshit Blitzø spews to diminish the relationship.
For Stolas the song at Ozzie’s was a reminder that he had done something that fucked up his family and frankly his life as he knew it, tarnishing his image as a husband and father, and that fuck up has nothing to do with Blitzø being an imp, everyone knew that already for the most part from the very first time they had sex, but because Blitzø was the catalyst for the risk he took. He used to have the image of his family and his Princely appearance to hide behind and now we’ve shone a spotlight on who he really is, a lonely, soon to be divorcee, on a date with a demon who has acted completely dismissive of him, even outright ignoring him and ghosting at times.
A good way to highlight this issue with image is when Stolas nervously giggles and tries to over the top declare “we are having a perfectly normal date!” to the waitress by playing it off as being okay and trying desperately to get Blitzø to participate. He’s being publicly humiliated again and he tries to play it off and cover it up.
We see it again in his text messages from after Ozzie’s, he is so desperately trying to show Blitzø that it didn’t bother him, but that if it bothered Blitzø he’d like to talk about it. He tries to front it as “I don’t mind jokes about myself, it was pretty funny hahaha” but we as the audience see it for the pathetic attempt at faking it is. Laughing it off and pretending it doesn’t bother him is what Stolas does but he still made an attempt, he still tried. Stolas is from what we see extremely comfortable expressing his feelings, loudly and at length. It when he gets rejected for them that he pretends it’s not how he feels. And once again, he reaches out to Blitzø, gets shut down after putting himself out there and then acts as if everything is fine.
During the song at Ozzie’s , when the spotlight comes to Stolas, Asmodeus starts reminding him he “destroyed” his life, his family, and his image for a dude who does not outwardly appear to return his feelings, who is in fact just fucking him, and not even because he is interested in Stolas, but because he is using Stolas for the book. Every time Stolas tries for more he gets slapped back. He threw everything away for more of what he already had, a loveless business arrangement. He’s not shamed by the fact that Blitzø is an imp but that he ripped apart his picture perfect life for a guy who was acting distracted and ignoring him, who at times is completely turned away from him, and who is sitting across from him visibly uncomfortable at being called out as being on a date with him, and who he cannot get to agree to anything more despite his desperately trying.
Stolas’s part of the Ozzie’s episode opens with Gabriela yelling “Why won’t you LOVE ME ALEJANDRO” and then the man puts a streak in his hair to call back to it and people are still thinking it’s about status for him?
He just watched Blitzø stand up for Moxxie and Millie but when the focus turns to Stolas Blitzø cringes and makes himself small.
Lets break down what actually happens on screen because it is ALL in the visual choices made by the artists and what the song is actually about, lust being more acceptable than love because love is embarrassing and Blitzø hates to be embarrassed:
Moxxie starts singing, and after he sings “I loooove you” the shot jumps to Blitzø who CRINGES and shrinks a bit behind his menu. Publicly declaring your love for someone in public like that? Fucking Yikes. Bro.
Blitzø stands up and defends Moxxie and Millie but not necessarily to support their love, but their sexual relationship. This says a lot about which one Blitzø thinks of as being publicly acceptable.
Fizz turns his attention to Blitzø and the entire call out is about his bad love life, not his social status, and not even necessarily his level of fame but his failures as a romantic partner and the state of his relationships. It’s interesting that the song turns to this lack of love since just a few verses previously they act as though a romantic relationship is anthema to what they are all about. As soon as Fizz starts talking about his LOVE life Blitzø looks nervously at Stolas out of the corner of his eye.
Stolas is shocked as the song starts in on Blitzø but he doesn’t leave or shrink away immediately, he makes this absolutely hysterical face when Verosika is singing.
Blitzø does NOT like that Verosika is singing about their relationship. He crosses his arms and gets very sour pussed.
Then when Verosika starts getting more predatory, and going in on Blitzø physically, Stolas STANDS UP and looks as though he’s going to intervene.
The Wally Whackford yells “Are you sleeping with an Imp?” And Stolas remains standing, in the spotlight for several seconds. He doesn’t even start to move away to get out of it until Asmodeus comes up into his space and the scrutiny is all on him. He still doesn’t hide his face nor does it look necessarily shamed, it looks surprised and scared with where this is going and to have the attention on him but he does not look shamed. In fact, he doesn’t react to the imp comment at all, he is just as shocked and surprised as before Wally yelled as he is after. He keeps making this same shocked and scared face the whole time. We continue to see the crowd throughout all this and the scene is from a wide shot. It’s from the main POV, which is largely Blitzø’s.
The POV then switches to ONLY Stolas’s, we are seeing THROUGH his eyes and what HE sees is his family turning away from him and then they shove Blitzø in a chair, make him the center of Stolas’s vision and he’s left with Blitzø’s embarrassed, cringing face. The crowd, the club, everything else is painted out. From Stolas’s POV he doesn’t see or register the public, he sees and registers his family and Blitzø. They are center of his vision and the club and its patrons aren’t even present in the shot. If the issue was the social status we would have no need to remind the audience of Stella and Octavia by projecting their images and then having a sequence where they turn, walk away and burst into flames. Wally’s comment would be enough to establish it. The crowd would be visible because they would be what matters to Stolas. But it isn’t, we have to dive into Stolas’s POV, get a visual reminder of his family and see how Blitzo looks from Stolas’s POV.
We pull back to the outside POV and Stolas sits and stares for an entire beat after the POV shift (a technique used to tell the audience THIS was how Stolas saw the situation, now we’re back to the main POV), Blitzø is still shrinking away from him and THEN after Asmodeus says “you sold your life for a thrust” is when he hides his face. Yes, I did slow down the animation to actually see the sequence shot for shot and yes, it is a sign I have lost my mind.
But it’s important! This technique is really common in literature and media, you introduce one character’s conflict or flaw and then, to show that it contrasts with another character’s situation you jump into their POV, this is to remind the audience that there is a difference between them, that they are seeing this situation from two different places. The shots are wide for the social status implication that speaks to Blitzø’s issues with public declarations and his own self worth and we jump into Stolas’s just to remind the audience HEY, THIS IS ISNT WHAT STOLAS IS THINKING IN CASE YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE MAIN REASON THEY ARE NOT ON THE SAME PAGE, and then we just jump back to wide shots and bringing Blitzø back as the character whose flaw is being depicted.
The rest of the shots are from main POV and show Blitzo reacting to that. A deliberate contrast is set between what Stolas perceived and what Blitzø did. They present this direct visual contrast using a POV switch to show it. From Stolas’s POV he is being shamed not by the public, who didn’t factor into his POV at all, but by the loss or strain of his familial relationships and by Blitzø presenting himself completely differently when the focus is on HIS relationship with Stolas versus how he reacted to Moxxie/Millie and even Verosika.
From Stolas’s perspective and the audiences Blitzø was relatively okay up until Verosika pushed him, then we see Stolas’s reaction to that. That’s when Blitzø’s entire demeanor changes. He wilts, he shrinks, he makes himself small. Before that he winced a little but mostly he seemed annoyed. Until it gets turned on his date with Stolas. And we see this confirmed through Stolas’s POV, that we are seeing Blitzø how Stolas is seeing him looking sheepish and unhappy right in the center of the shot.
You sold your life for a thrust” is so important in this sequence, Blitzo just basically confirmed from his contrasting reactions and body language throughout the song that what they have is just sex, and we know from Stolas asking Asmodeus about the crystal and following up on it that he is really focusing on the transactional aspect of it and the situation he put an unwilling (at least in his mind) Blitzø in. This is just another bad arrangement like his marriage.
We don’t have onscreen confirmation, so this is more speculation but I imagine Stolas is probably comparing himself to Paimon a bit. His father purchased an unwilling imp to play with him as a child, the imp pretended to be into him to use him for the family treasure and now he’s essentially purchasing the same imp and that same imp appears to once again just be tolerating him for material gain.
Anyway, enough thoughts that depress the fuck out of me.
When we switch back to Blitzø after M&M finish their song we see the public again through their clapping and see his reaction. Now the issue at large is firmly back to the inferiority complex. Blitzø started shrinking and cringing away as soon as the famousness of his date was revealed, as soon as the crowd does exactly what he fears, comparing him to his partner and finding him lacking. Then we have Stolas reaching out, with no regard for the crowd who is back around them in the shots until the hand close up, and Blitzø shuts him down. Again. Once more we have Stolas visibly reaching out and trying to give Blitzø what Blitzø is outwardly projecting he wants (just like Stolas does with the dirty talk), and Blitzø being the one to say something annoyed or dismiss it. There is literally nothing Stolas can do to resolve this, because it’s an internal issue for Blitzø. Stolas externally declaring to every realm in hell won’t fix Blitzø needing to believe it and declare it for himself.
The conversation at Stolas’s house after reinforces everything, that Stolas is trying to do what Blitzø is projecting he wants. Blitzø appears to have an issue with their relationship being just about sex, the same person who goes out of his way to force all his non-familial relationships to be just about sex (even Moxxie and Millie, and when he turns a heartfelt reconciliation sexual with Fizz by asking to make out) and Stolas offers him multiple options for more of a romantic or comforting evening, because it’s what he wants as well, and Blitzø ignores that entirely, just outright refuses to acknowledge it. In the hospital we see Stolas tried AGAIN after Ozzie’s via text to work it out, and talk it out, but when Blitzø shuts it down again and when his initial approach didn’t work, Stolas tries just brushing it off and putting up that happy EVERYTHING IS OKAY image again.
So all this billion words and unhinged analysis to say that Stolas is not Asmodeus, he isn’t the one who needs to make the declaration, that won’t actually solve Blitzø’s problem and he already has put himself out there multiple times. Stolas is Fizz, obsessed with putting on a show.
Blitzø’s issues are internal and multiple people have tried to show him in external ways they love him and he either relates it back to sex, dismisses it entirely or physically removes himself from their lives. This is understandable considering when he does put himself out there he gets rejected, (circus audience, Barbie, his various gigs before I.M.P, Loona sometimes) or people act incredulous that someone could be with him. So the only way for him to complete this character journey is to internally reconcile and externally express.
Stolas is much more external about his issues, he tries putting on a happy face, laughing things off, trying to have a perfect day at LooLoo Land with a disinterested daughter, flirting outrageously with a disinterested partner, he wants the external situation to reflect what he feels inside but those around him don’t give that to him. He tries to have a perfect marriage, he gets a partner who throws obnoxious parties for what appears to be the chance to ridicule him publicly. He tries to have a perfect day at LooLoo Land to recapture happier times and accidentally alienates his daughter. He talks about how much he wants to bone Blitzø because that’s how Blitzø approached him and what he seems to be into in his relationships and is the only way he allows Stolas into his life at all, and in return he gets annoyed looks and insults.
“Or Is it Me?” In Look My Way makes me tear up every goddamn time because Stolas believes there is some internal problem within himself, that he cannot give Blitzø what he needs because he’s BEEN TRYING to be what Blitzø seems to want and gets nothing back no matter what approach he takes. No one will externally acknowledge him. Stolas doesn’t have an internal problem accepting his feelings and who they are for, regardless of status or consequences, he clearly says this in Look My Way and shows it before that with his over the top behavior, he needs someone from outside himself to acknowledge and reciprocate it.
So yeah, I disagree with the idea that Blitzø is the one who needs a public declaration. He might need a private one to take away his excuses but I don’t think he needs Stolas to do what Asmodeus did. What Blitzø seems to need is to be brave enough to declare his feelings for once and not shy away from the attention that comes with that. To accept himself as he is, like Stolas accepts him, and that realize he is just as worthy of love as the other people in his life. Stolas needs a declaration to validate his internal feelings, ease some of his loneliness with confirmed reciprocity and to have outwardly what he wants inwardly.
Thanks for reading if you did. I am sorry for being the way I am.
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Yo Vizziepop and Helluva Boss critical people- I have a solution for you: Don’t watch the fucking show
#Them realizing they don’t have to watch something they hate: 🤯#Like Bro Why Are They Posting in Tags AND they have screenshots.#the only reason I’m complaining is cause I went in to look at meta and fanart and I find that shit#Also anti Stolitz people?? like y’all it’s canon what??
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Chai do you think any of the spindlehorse employees find it weird that their boss doesn’t seem to comprehend what Quid Pro Quo even is? Maybe some have expressed it to you, who knows. And needs it explained to her that sexual misconduct in the workplace is bad, not funny, it’s not tragic just for the abuser cause he’s lonely, and isn’t a good basis for a “soulmates” relationship? Did anybody animating Look My Way not have a moment of clarity ‘hey this plot is a little disgusting actually’ ?
Also. Wow. Helluva boss’ “romance” story is actually so toxic that it’s the reason I learned the term for this type of sexual abuse and how to recognise it in the workplace. It’s (unintentionally) told with the type of subtlety Valentino and Angel Dusts story needed. Moments of kindness but also immediate backhanded remarks, power plays, grand romantic gestures mixed with scathing ones and physical boundaries pushed, and just overall confusing behaviour. Like the constant whiplash when stolas appeared in truth seekers. The victim doubting their own memory and his friends saying it’s all in his head.
For others though, younger audiences who love gay ships in any media just for the sake of it being gay, it’s just conditioning them to see it as quirky or the responsibility of the victim to “set the record straight” and negotiate out of sex.
People are actually using it as an example of what coercion is when asked what it is, and many people say it’s taught them how to recognise abuse in their relationship. This is what “stolitz” could have been. A cautionary tale. Stolas and Valentino guilt tripping their employees using various tactics is also educational. Funny enough, if this show gave a damn about its audience that would’ve been a scene in the show, Blitzø convinces himself he’s just in “love” and even with even Millie backing this up, naively finding it cute (being a meta stand in for shippers who don’t really pay attention) Moxxie in discomfort smiles a and says nothing out of fear, and then Loona shows him a info website that even has the term “quid pro quo” in writing for the audience to see and sits down to explain to him he is very much experiencing Stockholm syndrome and abuse. Hell, this crystal thing is just the ‘flowers and chocolates’ part of the abuse cycle.
And I don’t want to go there again but the fact Viv projects onto stolas and Brandon relates to Blitzø a lot when writing him, and the fact Viv shoe horned in that romance in a way he wasn’t in a position to object to since she’s the showrunner? Eerily similar to the characters in universe power dynamic? Yeah that’s a little nightmarish.
Oh lord, remember those days when we all thought that that's exactly where all of this was leading...Blitz being hit with the realization that he is to his employees what Stolas is to him?
Seems like a lifetime ago now.
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stolitz shippers must be watching different show because how the HELL do these people literally see stolas treating blitzo like a sex object and go “omg he wants him so bad😍” LIKE HELLO ARE WE WATCHING THE SAME SHOW!?
Real. “Just a comfortable lie” is factual in a meta way. Then they claim we have no media literacy for not seeing love…which just isn’t really there.
Look at these faces of absolute misery:
Especially that last one…I think that one is the worst. That’s his honest expression. If you told anybody this was the owl character leading the imp character to his room for sex, and they saw his expression here? What conclusion would they come to.
Like, it’s…strange…why couldn’t Viv have just drawn Blitz smiling at him back then, or something, or a blush? But in all the episodes he’s not into it at all. For more than one frame at least. That uwu face in Seeing Stars makes me sick though maybe don’t do that…it’s just too late now to turn it around.
If this is what I’m supposed to read it as. Why, why do we have to see his clear communication of non consent, visceral disgust all over his face ? Especially in The Circus where Blitz says “Ew”? That’s supposed to be the pro stolitz ep but the entire message of the episode is that it’s based on a lie and it’s over.
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I still feel really bad for Stolas at Ozzie's. I feel like he was sort of facing an impossible choice there? I think he absolutely could and should have stood up for Blitz more; even if he couldn’t shield him from Ozzie, the knowledge that Blitz was under some sort of protection or banner of courtesy from a demon prince might have made at least Verosika back down. He could at least have defended him.
At the same time, Stolas’s whole strategy for surviving life seems to have been deferring to the status quo or "what should be." His father told him to marry Stella, so he did. As a demon prince he was supposed to stay in his marriage, so he quietly accepted Stella's mistreatment of him to maintain that status quo. And when a Sin himself called out Blitz, well, Stolas went back to his strategy of keeping his head down.
We know that Blitz’s first instinct is to protect his friends, even if it puts him in the line of fire. But well, Stolas doesn't really seem to HAVE friends. He didn't have to put himself in the line of fire because he was always there to begin with. He was always the target. The one person in his life he might have had to protect was Via, who seems to have at least an OK relationship with her mother judging by her reaction to Stolas yelling at her. So either Via was never a target of her mother's vitriol, or Stolas was able to insulate her from it by absorbing it himself. Maybe a bit of both. Either way, he was her primary victim from the start. So his instinct at Ozzie's was to quietly accept his jokes, except that now someone else was also a target.
I've seen the scene at Ozzie's compared to the way Ozzie stood up for Fizz at the end of s2e7, and I think they are definitely important parallels. However, there's one pretty glaring difference: Fizz and Ozzie are already in a loving, committed relationship. When Ozzie yells that he loves Fizz, it may be news (to some degree) to the rest of Hell, but it certainly isn't news to Fizz. The same can't be said of Stolas and Blitz. When Ozzie asks if he gave up his perfect family just to fuck Blitz, Stolas COULDN'T deny it, because that would mean telling all of Hell- INCLUDING BLITZ- that he was in love with him. And at that point in the evening, after he'd been anxiously trying to get Blitz to engage with him at all throughout their supposed date, he had every reason to believe those feelings weren't returned. And what other reason could he give?
He missed his opportunity to stand up for Blitz, but when Ozzie turned his sights on him, Stolas had no choice but to tacitly confirm Ozzie's assumptions. And honestly, I don't even think Ozzie was trying to be cruel, at least not to Stolas. Blitz was a target because of his past with Fizz, but Ozzie could have just as easily been sort of impressed with Stolas, especially given his apparent reputation as a stuck-up bore. I mean, Ozzie literally holds Stolas up as embodying the meaning of lust, right after tearing down Moxxie for not being lustful enough. Ozzie had no way of knowing about the fragile, tender thing that Stolas and Blitz were just beginning to create.
Unlike Blitz, Stolas isn't someone who usually jumps into action. He wasn't prepared to leap to Blitz’s defense because he wasn't used to having anyone to defend. And by the time he was in familiar territory- becoming a victim himself- he had no way to defend him without offering up his heart on a platter for Blitz to reject and the rest of Hell to ridicule. So he stayed quiet, and it all came crashing down anyway.
#blitzø#stolitz#stolas goetia#helluva boss spoilers#helluva boss meta#fizzarolli#helluva boss asmodeus
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