The whole argument about whether or not Alastor is actually Creole is so dumb to me because 1) it literally doesn't matter, and 2) there's been hints that he was all the way back in the pilot what with him mentioning his mother's jambalaya and shit.
With other media, I'd probably agree. In a lot of shows, we don't need like, a family tree or an exhaustive look at a character's backstory if it isn't relevant to whatever the main story is. And the Creole part specifically is arguably not the most important part of Alastor's potential backstory, but I do think who he used to be as a mortal is pretty relevant. Not just him specifically, but any character who was previously mortal. If the premise is supposed to be about whether they can be redeemed for their sins, we need to know what those sins were in the first place to determine if they actually deserved to go to hell in a first place/if they've learned and expressed remorse.
The Creole part might not specifically matter in that regard, but the fact that so little thought was apparently put into his backstory is an issue. When you have a show that also has such an expansive timeline, I think it makes backgrounds more important because a character's behavior can really vary based on where/when they were alive. It's usually one of the more interesting aspects of shows with that sort of cast because you can get a bunch of unique interactions that other settings can't provide.
It's why the setting of heaven/hell are so disappointing, there's a lot you can do with them, but for the most part, they just feel like edgier versions of Earth. It'd be like if they announced a Star Wars sitcom in the vein of Friends, but it's set on a planet where the technology is identical to ours, they never reference space travel, and everyone on the planet is human. It's just a waste of the setting.
Now, to be fair I think some of those elements are fine to explore as a show goes on, but the problem is a lot of it has been answered via word of god instead of saying something like "don't worry, those questions will be answered in the next season." And that's just with the characters specifically, at this point, I don't know if there's a good way to make the heaven/hell setting more interesting. I guess we could see different parts of hell that are more, well, hellish, but it feels like so much has already been established that it'd be hard to do without having to retcon something.
There's no denying Alastor is a popular character, and part of that is him being vague and mysterious. Which is fine, I mean, it's a pretty common trope. But the thing is, with characters like that, you have to be careful you don't drag out the mystery elements too long because the longer it goes, the more the hype is built up, which makes it harder to deliver something satisfying when it comes time to make the reveal.
