When an imp tries to start up an assassination business in Hell, things sure do happen.

Tired of being seen as nothing more than one of Hell's lowly servants, crass imp Blitzo (the 'o' is silent) starts an assassination business called Immediate Murder Professionals (I.M.P. for short) with two fellow imps, specifically the married couple Millie and Moxxie, with the goal of taking out humans on Earth ordered by vengeful Sinner clients.

As the three propose several ways to carry out their first human hit, Millie questions how they'll get to Earth in the first place, to which Blitzo reveals he seduced a member of demonic royalty (namely, Prince Stolas of the Ars Goetia) in order to steal his most prized possession - a mystical grimoire containing a spell that allows access to Earth. Loona, the company's receptionist and Blitzo's adopted hellhound daughter, informs her father that Stolas is on the phone. Stolas, under the mistaken belief that Blitzo stole the grimoire as an excuse to see him again, attempts to get Blitzo to come over to his palace for more sex. When Blitzo uses being at work as an excuse not to show up, Stolas simply appears in his office instead, and Blitzo eventually relents. Afterwards, Stolas tries to take his book back, but not before Blitzo requests to be allowed to keep the book a little longer. Following this, the gang finally go out on the hit, eventually following Loona's advice to "just wing it".

The episode acts as a canonical remake of the non-canon original pilot that's more in line with the main series, compared to the original pilot's Early-Installment Weirdness.

Tropes for this episode include:

• Adaptational Context Change:
  • Blitzo's narration at the beginning explains the role imps are expected to play in Hell's Fantastic Caste System - lowly laborers who work for the higher-ranking demons above them in minimum wage-jobs like "baristas and boring shit". Blitzo states that his assassination firm exists to flip that status quo for low-class demons like imps and hellhounds, which he discusses in "Ghostf**kers" and "Mastermind". In the pilot, he originally started the business to show up his father who he claimed was crushing whatever dream he originally had.
  • Loona is explicitly stated to be 22 here, five years after Blitzo adopted her. Loona stated in "Spring Broken" that Blitzo adopted her when she was almost 18, and "Seeing Stars" revealed she was one month from aging out of the orphanage she grew up in.
  • The time gap between Stolas and Blitzo's one night stand before he took the grimoire in "The Circus" and one of I.M.P's first assignments is seemingly much shorter. In this episode, Stolas calls Blitzo about his missing book before coming to the office in-person for another quickie. Blitzo insisting on holding onto it until he learns the portal spell leads to them starting their 'Transactional Relationship' in "Murder Family". The pilot, meanwhile, had Stolas call Blitzo about a personal assignment involving killing a human who is promoting global warming awareness.
  • Blitzo quietly singing to himself about stealing the Grimiore is done much more jovially and comedically in the original pilot, whereas here he seems to do it as a way to cope with his guilt over his actions of theft and sleeping with Stolas, and he sounds much less enthusiastic to actually be stooping to such lows.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Unlike the original pilot, Stolas doesn't request I.M.P to assassinate a climate activist. It's also revealed that he (at least initially) wasn't aware of what I.M.P. was using his grimoire for, although he seems to have figured out by the time of "Murder Family".
  • Moxxie is portrayed as having reservations about killing innocents, something that becomes important in "Murder Family" but wasn't a major element of the original pilot, in which Moxxie was only concerned that the person they kill is the target regardless if the person is innocent of any wrongdoing or felt guilt over what they did to the client. Moxxie is also pretty hesitant about the idea of killing children while Millie and Blitzo are open to it, whereas in the original pilot he was more than open to join with the rest of I.M.P. in murdering Eddie when they find out that he was indeed the target.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Zig-Zagged but ultimately justified in regards to Stolas. Unlike Stolas in the original pilot, who was very much a Depraved Homosexual who dangled his sexual fantasies over Blitzo like a threat if he didn't complete the hits he wanted, this Stolas is made to be consistent with his series depiction in the first season in that he's genuinely oblivious to the transactional nature of his and Blitzo's arrangement and is under the delusion that Blitzo's theft of his grimoire was just an excuse to see him again for more passionate love-making. On the other hand, he also barges into Blitzo's office badgering him to sleep with him again - ignoring Blitzo saying no multiple times and his much less than enthusiastic attitude when he finally agrees to giving Stolas what he wants - while not caring how uncomfortable he is or his co-workers and daughter is in the other room, while the Stolas in the pilot was content to just talk about his filthy fantasies over the phone. Whereas the original pilot didn't establish how long after Blitzo first slept with Stolas it took place though, here it's established to only be a couple days after that night, with "The Circus" establishing that Stolas was very sexually repressed and mistakenly believed Blitzo had tried breaking into his room just to see him and engage in rough sex, retroactively making Stolas here stuck on a euphoric high from no longer being pent up and thinking that this is the kind of foreplay Blitzo would like, contrasted with the original pilot where he was initially pure business until his Censored for Comedy Cluster *Bleep*-Bomb.
  • Also zig-zagged and justified with Blitzo. In the original pilot, it was heavily implied that he and Stolas had a very explicit Sex for Services arrangement, with him having initially slept with Stolas in exchange for the grimoire and more or less being forced into sexual servitude to keep his business afloat. In this canonical retelling of the events, following the events presented in "The Circus", Blitzo stole the grimoire from Stolas and only had sex with him out of pity over the lack of love Stolas had in his life. When Stolas calls him about the stolen grimoire under the delusion of it being a complicated form of foreplay for another love-making session, Blitzo goes with the lie to get out of trouble, meaning that their arrangement is much less a clear-cut example of Sex for Services and more Blitzo continuing to lead Stolas on, while Stolas is fully convinced that they're in love. However, Blitzo only does so because he's well aware of the consequences of stealing from demon royalty, while Stolas at this point is completely oblivious to just how unequal his power dynamic with Blitzo is.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the original pilot, Loona was a literal baby-kicking Jerkass with the barest hint of depth (sometimes cracking a smile when Blitzo showed her affection). This version of the pilot better establishes her role as a Sour Supporter with a Hidden Heart of Gold, with the worst she does being an apathetic Lame Comeback when Moxxie asks why she isn't manning the phone. The original pilot also showed she was a raging alcoholic and implied she had syphilis which in turn implied she was sexually promiscuous, this characterization never made it into the show and was completely removed from the revamped pilot.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the original pilot, Stolas seemed more like an evil patron demanding top priority hits from Blitzo who was also lusting after him, which ended up not matching up at all with the rest of the series. This version of the pilot incorporates and better establishes the two's (one-sided) Childhood Friend Romance, as well as the way that their second meeting played out in "The Circus" where Stolas believes that Blitzo tried to invade his palace in order to see him again and have sex with him, which Blitzo then took advantage of in order to steal his Grimoire. It also takes greater steps to make it clear that Blitzo is appeasing Stolas for the sake of his business from the start, which becomes very important later.
  Stolas: You took my grimoire so you'd have an excuse... to come see me again and rrrrrravish me like you did the other night!
• And Show It to You: In Millie's fantasy sequence, she rips out the heart of one of the targets.
• Autobots, Rock Out!: The episode concludes with a hardcore punkrock rendition of the "I.M.P jingle" from the original Pilot episode, repurposed from being an in-universe commercial to being part of the soundtrack.
• Atop a Mountain of Corpses: Millie's fantasy sequence ends with her and the others standing over everyone they've just killed, just before kissing on Moxxie.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Stolas calls Blitzo over him stealing his Grimoire, at first it appears that Stolas is not pleased at all about it, with Blitzo even expecting to face the Goetic prince's wrath, only for it to be revealed that Stolas thinks this whole thing is another romantic excuse so he and Blitzo can see each other again.
• Bit-Part Bad Guys: The episode opens with a bunch of thugs committing petty crimes and bragging about them that I.M.P. promptly appears to assassinate. Subverted once it’s revealed that this was all just a hypothetical scenario concocted by Blitzø to teach the others what to do once they receive their actual first mission.
• Blatant Lies: When Loona tells Blitz that Stolas calls, Blitz furiously denies knowing the owl demon.
• Boring, but Practical: Moxxie's suggestion for how to run the hit - just snipe the targets from a distance - is the fastest one and ensures an easy getaway, but mocked by Blitzo for being boring.
• Broad Strokes: The only things this episode has in common with the non-canon original pilot is that Blitzo slept with Stolas to retrieve the Grimoire and can only keep it so long as they meet up again, the prominence of scenes wherein the four argue on logistics of the business, and the commercial jingle. Even then, the actual manner in which these aspects play out greatly differ from the original. For starters, I.M.P aims to target three cartoonishly card-carrying thugs rather than a Bratty Half-Pint.
• But Not Too Bi: Parodied. Loona, herself being bisexual, derides Moxxie for his sensitive nature and calls him "gay" as an insult and that he should go back to being "not gay" and make out with his wife. Millie rebuts that given their immense love, that he is "not gay" enough for her. Moxxie, who's also bisexual like Loona, initially finds the remark sweet before being thrown into confusion.
• Call-Forward:
  • The "Sorry, I fucked your husband" flashback follows here with Blitzo and Stolas remembering how "extremely mad" Stella was when she discovered the affair^*With a "filthy imp", no less. Stolas will find out later just how far she's willing to go to make him pay for embarrassing her.
  • Millie and Moxxie are established as Insatiable Newlyweds, shown frequently making out, which serves as one to "Sinsmas", where Millie gets pregnant from Moxxie.
  • The I.M.P song montage shows plenty of the other characters and antagonists the main group will meet aside from Stolas, including: Stella, Verosika, the members of C.H.E.R.U.B, Striker, Wally, Agents One and Two of D.H.O.R.K.S, shadowed silhouettes of Asmodeus and Fizzarolli, Crimson, Andrealphus, and a silhouetted new character for Season 3.
  • When Blitzo is about to pleasure Stolas, he says "Poles out, holes out", part of Verosika's Vacay to Bonetown song.
• The Cameo: Eddie, the Bratty Half-Pint I.M.P was hired to kill in the original version of the pilot, appears as he gets torn in half by Millie as she imagines how the team would Leave No Witnesses on their missions.
• Card-Carrying Villain: The thugs in Blitzo's proposed plan are deliberately portrayed as cartoonish moustache twirlers who openly declare their petty crimes.
• Censored for Comedy: The episode keeps the original bleeped-out, extremely graphic and sexual rant Stolas goes on from the pilot about how much he wants Blitzo to ravage him, but makes it way clearer that he's an Aggressive Submissive who is delusionally smitten with Blitzo (at least at first) than it was originally.
  Stolas: Come to my palace right now, and claim me! Make my body yours! █████ my bird █████! Get inside me, go down █████! Find my █████! Then I want you to GNAW ON ME, TIE ME UP, █████ ME ROUND LIKE A LITTLE █████, SPIN ME LIKE DADDY'S LITTLE █████! THEN I WANT YOU TO █████ MY FOUNTAIN OF █████ AND DRINK IT LIKE A THIRSTY DOG!!!
• Comically Missing the Point: When Moxxie protests Millie's plan of killing all the witnesses, pointing out that there may be kids among them, Millie remarks that kids are the easiest ones to kill, completely missing his point about not wanting to kill kids.
  Moxxie: What about innocents? What about the kids?
  Millie: Oh, they're the easiest ones. You barely need any pressure for their necks to—
  Moxxie: Millie!
• Character Focus: While Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie have largely the same amount of prominence as in the original pilot, Stolas has a much more key role here establishing how and he Blitzo set up their arrangements. By contrast Loona's role is more minimal, largely checking in and out to notify Blitzo about Stolas, while a lot of the pilot's humour revolved around Loona's more belligerent characterization.
• Creator Cameo: Vivienne Medrano and Brandon Rogers appear as animated versions of themselves during the episode's final sequence, in which the former is accidentally run over by I.M.P, prompting the latter to chase them with a shotgun.
• Death by Cameo: As mentioned above, Vivienne Medrano gets run over by I.M.P.'s van near the end of the episode, leading to Brandon Rogers chasing them down.
• Didn't Think This Through: Blitzo's entire plan hinges on the use of the stolen grimoire. However, he apparently didn't consider the possibility that Stolas would eventually notice that the grimoire was gone or realize Blitzo was responsible for taking it (a night of passionate sex and leaving the next morning in front of his wife wasn't exactly subtle). Even after Blitzo is able to talk Stolas into letting him hold onto the grimoire, Blitzo realizes that it's basically a loan and he'll have to keep dealing with Stolas for the foreseeable future, as Stolas can't just let Blitzo have it forever.
• Episode Zero: The Beginning: As a remake of the Pilot that kicks off the plot and premise of the show, the special goes by the title "Mission: Zero", following the naming theme of the Helluva Shorts.
• Foreshadowing: Due to the new pilot being more in line with the rest of the series, some elements are used with foresight:
  • Blitzo's Imagine Spot about how the assassination should be done is very theatrical, and his office has a framed circus poster of his time at the circus, which is a major part of his backstory.
  • The relationship between Blitzo and Stolas is more clearly shown to be based on mutual misunderstanding and mutual exploitation, which gradually becomes the central plot of the series. Blitzo's "and never face any consequences for our actions" line is a very heavy Tempting Fate.
  • During the I.M.P song, the crew drives by Ozzie's where Asmodeus and Fizzarolli can be seen.
  • A shot in the I.M.P song that is also the poster showcases the Rogues Gallery, alongside a brand new character.
• The Grinch: One of the thugs demonstrates how evil he is by saying he hates Christmas.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: In Millie's fantasy one of the targets gets cut in half vertically, while another (the kid that the group killed in the original pilot) gets ripped in half.
• Helicopter Parents: Played for Laughs and serving as an Establishing Character Moment, Blitzo immediately goes ballistic when Loona might have so much as heard something sex-related, despite the fact that not only is Blitzo consistently the most vulgar member of I.M.P, it's quickly established that Loona is an adult woman and Blitzo babies her because of his unhealthy emotional dependencies that later episodes explore.
  Blitzo: [girl scream] NO NO WHOA WHOA WHA-WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT USING THAT KIND OF LANGUAGE AROUND LOONA!? SHE IS JUST A CHILD!
  Moxxie: She's 22!
  Blitzo: YEAH, WELL, SHE'S MY CHILD!
• Human Hammer-Throw: Happens in new I.M.P Jingles, when in one moment we can see Loona holding some random guy by ankle with her jaws and spinning him around before letting him go, throwing him into sky
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Blitzo tells off Moxxie and Millie for swearing around Loona. Moxxie points out that the F-word is basically half of Blitzo's vocabulary, and he instantly proves it.
  • When Moxxie and Millie start banging under the desk, Blitzo tells Loona to "avert her eyes" while simultaneously using his phone to film them.
• Imagine Spot: The episode revolves around Blitzo, Millie and Moxxie all pitching different ideas for how they should complete the hit, each being reflective of their skills and personalities.
• I Resemble That Remark!: Blitzo's response to being called on his hypocrisy about swearing by Moxxie is to yell "Oh, fuck you, you little virgin chode!"
• Insult Inaccuracy Rebuttal: Blitzø during an argument insults Moxxie by calling him "virgin chode." Mille, Moxxie's wife, points out that she knows for a fact that Moxxie isn't a virgin, for obvious reasons.
• Lame Comeback: While everyone else is awkwardly sitting in the conference room while Blitzo and Stolas get it on, Moxxie and Loona start trading barbs, although Loona's doesn't make any sense, especially in a Non-Heteronormative Society like Hell (with Loona herself being bisexual, no less).
  Moxxie: Aren't you supposed to be manning the phone...or something?
  Loona: [mockingly] Aren't you supposed to not be gay or something?^note Moxxie is bisexual
  Millie: Hey!...Don't listen to the Hellhound, hon. You're plenty not gay enough for me.
  Moxxie: Aww...thanks, honey...Wait, What? What does that even mean?
• Leave No Witnesses: How Millie proposes they conduct their hits. She then has an Imagine Spot where, after they complete their hit, Millie goes on to brutally massacre everyone in the immediate area, ending with them Atop a Mountain of Corpses. Blitzo is all for the idea, but Moxxie is understandably horrified at the thought of killing innocent bystanders and children.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places:
  • Moxxie and Millie get worked up and start having sex underneath the table. In the middle of a meeting.
  • Because Stolas ends up showing up to the I.M.P. offices, Blitzo ends up fucking him on his desk just to get rid of him. Blitzo objects at first because he just cleaned that desk, but also just wants to get it over with.
• Pass the Popcorn: During the final sequence, when the "we'll make it look like suicide" line of the jingle is playing, the members of I.M.P. are enjoying popcorn and drinks as they watch their target fall to his death.
• Prequel: Takes place before the first episode as it shows I.M.P planning their first hit.
• Professionals Do It on Desks: When Blitzo tells Stolas he's busy at work, Stolas assumes that it's an invitation for workplace sex and teleports over. He's very enthusiastic about banging on the desk, while Blitzo complains that he just cleaned it but goes along with it anyway.
• Ready for Lovemaking:
  • Parodied early on. When Stolas invites Blitzo over to have sex, Blitzo declines and it cuts back to Stolas reclining on a heart-shaped bed in a candlelit room with balloons in the background that say "FUCK ME BLITZY" as he says "Oh, shit."
  • Played straight when Stolas visits Blitzo's office, half-naked on Blitzo's desk and with a collar on, along with seeming to have used his demonic powers to dress the place up with roses and candles.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Stolas calls Blitzo, Blitzo assumes Stolas is furious about him stealing his grimoire and starts to pack things up in order to move away.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: Used twice:
  • Millie and Moxxie making out in I.M.P's headquarters is hidden under a table.
  • When Blitzo ends up having the make love to Stolas within the former's office, it's hidden offscreen once Blitzo spreads Stolas' legs apart.
• Shout-Out:
  • Moxxie's Imagine Spot regarding the group's hits sees them going the stealth route by donning night vision goggles and using silenced sniper rifles to shoot the lights and kill their targets.
  • The gang accidentally run over Vivienne Medrano, who's then shown lying in the memetic "Family Guy Death Pose".
  • Moxxie and Millie make out in the style of a certain memetic image of two figures making out.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Lampshaded by Blitzo about Moxxie and Millie, who are just as if not more Insatiable Newlyweds as they were in the original pilot and start making out with tongue at one point. Shortly before that, some flirting between Moxxie and Millie quickly devolves into them making love under the meeting room desk.
  Blitzo: Aw fuck, here we go again—Loona, sweetheart, I need you to avert your eyes [starts filming them on his phone], this is a horny married couple and you don't need to see this filth!
• Smoking Hot Sex: After their Speed Sex session, Blitzo and Stolas are briefly seen sharing a cigarette.
• Speed Sex: It's implied that Blitzo's impromptu lovemaking session with Stolas to get him out of his hair lasts only several minutes at most.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: Blitzo's reaction when Moxxie asks if a demon royal gave him the grimoire.
• Take a Third Option: Or in this case a "fourth". When the group has difficulty choosing between Millie's brutal melee, Moxxie's quick, long-range stealth, and Blitzo's combined approach, Loona tells them to simply improvise, or in her words "wing it".
• Tempting Fate: When Blitzo is selling his business plan to Moxxie and Millie, he explicitly states that they won't suffer any consequences for their actions. About that…
• Unusual Euphemism:
  • When Blitzo describes how he got the book from Stolas, he describes how it "involved a bunch of lube and a well-placed load of man chowder".
  • When Blitzo tells Stolas that he's sorry Stella is mad at him, Stolas asks him to "pump [him] full of sorry" in a very suggestive manner, which is a very strange way of propositioning him for sex.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Blitzo and Millie have no problems with killing kids, a sentiment that Moxxie doesn't share.
  • Played for laugh with one of the human thugs. First he appears with candies in his arms, gloating he stole it from a child. Then, he is seen exiting a flat by the window with a baby in his arms, gloating he stole a child. And last, in a Funny Background Event, he could be seen literally kicking out the baby off the screen.
• You Do NOT Want to Know: Loona shoves Blitzo off her because she doesn't know where his hands have been. Blitzo responds:
  And you don't want to, sweetheart.