#also people saying stolitz came out of nowhere

[the-rat-eatery]

I’ve seen some outrageous takes in fandom but some helluva boss fans truly have a way of shocking me

[akirathedramaqueen]

A little bit of mumbling about the Full Moon episode and Stolitz drama

ALERT: multiple Helluva Boss spoilers, so, please, be advised

Yea, it's another episode of "I can't get over relationship issues of a red lizard and a tall owl", so buckle up, and let me give my share of thoughts about how important was what we have seen in the "Full Moon" episode.

I appeciate if you read it, because it's quite big and I realise, that not much people like longreads, but I desperately wanted it out, and I wanted to try to engage with HB community, as I saw so many wonderful points, analysis, and observations out here.

So... let's go, I guess!

The Growth Concept

Once, my therapist told me, that sometimes, the only way to grow and do better is to face a challenge you cannot avoid anymore, albeit desperately would want to. We do not grow, when everything is convenient and stable, no matter whether "stable" means stability or stalling. We grow, when life pushes us to do so, when we have nowhere to run anymore. When there is... when there is just no other way.

The Full Moon meeting, albeit infinitely sad and hurting, was the challenge for them to become the better versions of themselves. Stolas caused the rumbling, something you cannot take back anymore, something which couldn't be returned to status quo. It was very brave of him to do so, to give the chance to be open and vulnerable for a change.

"It's... we're not... it's not a... It's a transactional fucking, you see" - S1EP5. As you may witness here, in S2EP8, exhibit A is clearly not happy with the transactional deal ending in his favor

But could it be better than that?

Even before the episode came out, I don't think anyone had expectations for the meeting to not turn out ugly. Trailer already hinted at that, and, besides, their earlier interactions gave nothing of "let's communicate" vibe.

Stolas was not clear about wanting to talk their issues out, the viewer was the only one who knew he longs for that. Yes, you may say that Stolas *suggested* to discuss what happened at Ozzie's, as we have seen at the end of the "Western Energy" episode, but immediately retreated after, I am sorry, a simple question "why?". It does not mean "no", yet, Stolas instantly gave up and fell into one-side poor explanation of what he thinks happened, not giving Blitzø space to engage.

People also like to mention Blitzø's one-liners of an answer, implying him not wanting to do anything with Stolas, but I want to point out how Stolas himself bolted out of every opportunity to meet. Blitzø never said "no" clearly, and still Stolas cut every opportunity out.

Notice also how Stolas's messages are much more complicated and over-explaining, while Blitzø's are extra short and on point. I think it also shows in how different environments they were raised in, with Stolas knowing royal etiquitte, where everything is a sub-text, intrigue, rules, and no one is quite clear on intentions, and Blitzø not giving second thought about what leaves his mouth, or, in the case of messages, textbox. It's not only in their ability to simply write grammatically accurate, it's in their style of communication, culture even, where the problems of Stolas is to play the politics, and Blitzø's problem is to simply stay on float for another day.

And Blitzø? Hell, my poor man is deaf, blind, mute, and emotionally illiterate. It took Fizz 40 seconds to crack the case open in the "Oops" episode, and Blitzø didn't even pick up on it, despite being said twice he is wrong about Stolas. He would never come to *that* conclusion himself, even if the whole show cast will scream "STOLAS LOVES YOU" in his face. How can you expect him to even try to comprehend hints in behaviour and messages? And don't be fooled by his "it's only transactional, you see" moments - when he never says he is into Stolas, the show gave us plenty material to doubt that statement. He averts his gaze, saying "it's only a deal", hence he lies. He blushes when seeing Stolas's human form, hence he likes him. He is offended and hurt by Ozzie's accident, hence he cares. He crawls himself on knees and is not bothered by chains, hence he wants to belong to Stolas. He doesn't voice his desires once, but you know they are there.

So, no, before that night, they had no chance of getting better, because they were too deep in their own trauma and world view. I want to make that clear, just in case if someone still wishes it went better.

And that leads us to the Full Moon, where all cards were out

There is plenty of analysis already all over the Internet on every frame of the show, how beautifully it's written, and how masterfully it was performed, when you can see so much in each tail flinch, each face expression, each movement, and each word. I won't go into that, I think I would be rather repeating things said so many times by so many observant fans.

What I want to add, though, is... The fail was unavoidable, but necessary. It was not preventable because of many things, also explained many times... But, shortly, just to carry on the point, you cannot undo years of trauma, self-hatred, and abandoment issues in one night. You cannot revert all of the mess they already created with the whole deal thing.

But you can face the issue. You can stand up to it. You can break the wrong and to try to rebuild to do it right.

And that's what Stolas did. He stood up not only to his fears, but also to Blitzø's, and his desperate attempts to retain status quo.

Stolas challenged both of them.

And a small note: another thing which went wrong is how much of a shock it came out to Blitzø. Stolas was ready to face the challenge, because he couldn't take it anymore, he planned that night for weeks. Blitzø was not ready for that at all, but Stolas pushed him to the point of no return, and Blitzø was forced to adapt to the new reality in seconds.

Their reactions make so much sense. While Stolas was ready, there is a difference between being ready to face it, and being capable of facing it gracefully, and Blitzø... well, he didn't even have a minute to internalize all what's going on, and Stolas being for once extremely clear in intentions didn't help, because trigger already kicked in.

But is it that bad, really?

No, I don't think so. In fact, that fight they had was even good for them.

As tragic as it was, they got something out of it. Now there is no space for doubts about them having feelings for each other. Sure, they might be adamant about other wrong assumptions, that their partner now hates them and they are trash of a hellbeing, or whatever else they heard instead of what's actually been said, but, again, there is no doubt it's fucking serious. They cannot pretend or hide anymore that this is "just a deal".

That exchange opened the space for them to grow. Despite me feeling like I was stabbed after watching the episode, I am... even glad it turned out this way, because now, when all the words are said, all crutches broken, old wounds are opened and actively bleeding, there is a chance for them to heal, and to learn how to walk, not allowing their trauma to shape who they seem to be and inhibit their real selves.

There is now hope for them. You can clearly see them being vulnerable in the last trailer, and being together, on one couch, at least... one can only hope that they will have the capacity of having just one more proper talk.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk, I know I speak too much, and no, I am not okay, but I hope it was at least a bit entertaining for you :d Also, English is not my first language, soooo... cut me some slack with grammar and consistency, please, haha

Happy to carry on the great mission of overanalyzing every bit of information we have about them XD

[eradicatetehnormal]

Late to the Party

But I enjoyed the new Helluva Boss episode. I'll always enjoy seeing more Striker as he's my favorite villain so far. I also liked dong statue he had of himself. The humor was top-notch as always, though I am very immature and have a juvenile sense of humor. The music number was fun.

I will say that I'm actually shocked that Stella didn't opt for killing her daughter so that the money would go to her. I might be wrong on that though. Perhaps it'd just go to whoever's next in line.

Always happy to see more Stolitz, even if it's brief and very bittersweet. Blitzo realizing that Stolas isn't untouchably felt impactful to me. He finally sees that he's not going to be there. That he's not fine, physically, without him. Now for him to realize that emotionally, they both need each other.

I will say though, Moxxie's sudden ability to throw hands came out of nowhere to me. We are shown multiple times that Moxxie is a weapons guy. Specifically, a gunman. He's not much of a fighter without them, so it was odd to see him take out that group of cowboys with his bare hands.

A lot of people have been saying that the show has bad writing, but honestly, aside from the little screen time they've given to Millie and...Wolf girl, I don't have any major issues with how the writing is being handled.

[vizowrites]

Hi Vizo, I have read some of your content and sorry if the question sounds a bit strange, but why so much dislike for stolas and stolitz?

Hi there!! It's not a strange question at all, and if you want the [way too] long answer to why Stolitz just doesn't work for me, you can check out this post here where I talk about it in detail [comparing it to the BlitzStrike ship and why it was way easier for me to get on board with that ship than Stolitz]. :)

For a shorter[-ish] answer, let me clarify something very important: I don't dislike the concept of Stolas as a character. In fact, when I first got into Helluva Boss, I really liked him as a character. I followed the Instagram accounts, I read all the extra content, and I was completely HOOKED on the Stolitz ship. However, what happened around the time that season 5 came out is that I started to really think about things from a full story perspective, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had some maaaaaajor problems with Stolas's character as he was being presented in the show, as well as how the relationship with Blitz was being interpreted and presented and supported by fans and the show's creators themselves. I had gone into the Stolitz ship thinking that it was going to be the classic "here are two people who are in a fake relationship that isn't actually a healthy loving relationship at the start, but as things go on they're both going to realize that they were assholes and things are going to progress into something healthier". What I started to realize was actually happening however is that the relationship wasn't actually showing any kind of progression at all, but it was being treated as though it had even though nothing had changed between them in the show. Not only that, but the show suddenly seemed like it was trying really hard to set the foundations for pushing towards a healtier relationship kind of out of nowhere, and it did so at the expense of setting aside the very interesting plot points that had been building up throughout the season [i.e. Stella as a villain, Stolas's marriage and Octavia, the latest plot thread with D.H.O.R.K.S, etc] in favor of just putting the full attention on trying to make Blitz and Stolas work through their relationship right there at the finale. I had thought that the Stolitz relationship was something that was going to be MULTIPLE seasons worth of sorting out and exploring, seeing the two characters grow and change as they grow closer together. Honestly I would be so, so, so much more open to the idea of their relationship if the showrunners had just taken their time to really let their relationship develop slowly over time--properly balancing out the complexities of their relationship with the really creative and suspenseful story/plot points that they've made. Instead....it feels like they're just trying to squish all of that development into the last two episodes of season one. I'm not sure why, but it feels very unbalanced and really kind of awkward.

Also, and I apologize if this offends anyone--that's absolutely not my intention here at all--but I'm going to be honest and say that the other big thing that's kind of turned me off from Stolitz and Stolas as a character.....is the fandom. I know there are so many lovely people out there who ship Stolitz, and I'm sure there are even some lovely fans of Stolas who also are willing to acknowledge his flaws and don't excuse his shitty behavior as being shitty behavior, but I can also honestly say I haven't come across many of them. Most of the people I've seen in the Stolitz ship are strangely aggressive towards people who aren't on board with it and openly hostile if you say any kind of criticism against Stolas's character in general. I don't really get why he's treated like this perfect being who can do no wrong when I really do think that his flaws are what make him an interesting and relatable character, but who knows? I honestly don't understand it and actively try not to be a part of it. To clarify again just in case someone missed it before though: I'm not saying that everyone who ships Stolitz is that way, or everyone who is a fan of Stolas is like way. I'm fully on board that you're free to ship whoever you want to ship if it's making you happy and isn't hurting anyone else. All I'm saying is that there are people out there who are far more hostile and unforgiving than I'm comfortable interacting with, and there's enough of them to make it extra hard to get behind Stolitz and Stolas in any kind of positive way.

Thank you so so much for asking this, and I hope I was able to answer it properly!! I'm very sorry that this is so long--I tend to write way too much. :)