Hellbound

Presentation

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Analysis

Synopsis

Jung Jin Soo is the charismatic head of a new religion called The New Truth. He talks about angels of death coming from Hell to take people with them, once they receive a degree. Bae Young Jae is a PD for a broadcasting station, who investigates The New Truth, while lawyer Min Hye Jin stands firmly against the new religion’s principles.

My Opinion (No Spoiler)

Hellbound is a good drama. The plot is original, the cast is awesome and there are some unexpected twists that are really worth watching. However, its slow pace in the first episodes, along with the split into two sub-stories created a bit of confusion for me. I had so many unanswered questions that it made me feel as if the drama were unfinished, or should I say unpolished.

I really hope a Season 2 will clear up all the mysteries.

Analysis (Spoiler Alert)

The terrifying and intriguing opening: Hellbound‘s first scene is surely impactful. It sets the tone for the rest of the drama, as viewers clearly understand that this story is going to be like none other.

On a sunny day, a nervous man enters a coffee shop. He is anxiously glancing at his phone. As minutes pass by, his desperation seems to increase. When the clock strikes the deadly hour for this stranger, three creatures come out of nowhere. A chase then starts in the streets of Seoul. The monsters destroying everything on their path, as they hunt down our runaway. In less than five minutes, the poor man is caught by these dark nightmarish figures and violently beaten up. On his last few breaths, he is burnt to death and apparently sent to Hell. This is one of the first manifestions of these creatures seen on camera. At that time in the drama, nobody knows what they are, why they are here nor fully comprehend what has happened just before their eyes.

This brutal encounter, followed by an opening that sends shivers down your spine, are enough to catch viewers’ attention and make them curious right away. Several questions already popped up in my mind at that precise moment. Along with the blood-curdling opening, Hellbound delivers its intriguing and terrifying atmosphere.

2 birds, one stone: The screenwriter made quite a bold choice with that drama. One that is as interesting as confusing, when you watch this Netflix show. Hellbound is split into 2 co-dependent stories that are linked with several red threads.

We can explain the narrative structure as follows:
Part 1: The story starts with three main characters. One is a police officer called Jin Kyung Hun (Yang Ik June), who has an adolescent daughter named Jin Hee Jung (Lee Re). As we later found on, Kyung Hun lost his wife in a brutal way. She was savagely assassinated. Yet, the murderer got a light sentence and was rapidly released. This led to the Jin’s family anger and resentment towards the judicial system. A trigger that will prove useful afterwards.

The second lead is Jung Jin Soo (Yoo Ah In). He is rather mysterious at first. Apparently, he has received what he calls a decree 20 years ago, condemning him to Hell. Since then, he has spend the rest of his life trying to warn people about these decrees and the terrifying creatures that come with them. He created a new religion called The New Truth that tackles these weird phenomena that are arising. Gradually, Jung Jin Soo turns into a figure of authority, a charismatic leader and a powerful guru. He is paving the way for his religion and his popularity and fame are growing by the day. However, no one knows that Jung Jin Soo has actually been sentenced to Hell. In order to make his new religion acceptable and give a purpose to his doomed life, he concealed his eternal damnation.

The last main character is lawyer Min Hye Jin (Kim Hyun Joo). Due to her profession, Hye Jin believes in laws. To be more precise, she trusts the laws and the system established by men. She is skeptical towards this new religion and refuses to blindly follow its principles and rules. Right from the beginning, Min Hye Jin is unbending. She stands up against the craze surrounding Jung Jin Soo, and stubbornly confronts him. She embodies The New Truth’s archenemy throughout the entire drama. Even years later, and after a failed murder attempt, she fights – either in the open or in the shadows – to protect the victims of this religion.

In the first part (roughly the first 3 episodes), there is not a lot that actually occurs. The drama focuses on explaining the framework of the story, as well as forecasting the future societal changes. That’s why the drama can appear slow-paced.

Nevertheless, these 3 episodes are the pillars of the rest of the story (and seasons if there are to be). They enable to compare society as it is and society as it becomes after the 4-year time jump.
By the end of this first part, Jung Jin Soo dies taken away by the evil creatures. His death is witnessed by none other than detective Jin Kyung Hun. Although he is the only person who knows the truth about the cult leader, he can’t say anything out of fear that his daughter’s crime, committed with and witnessed by Jung Jin Soo, would be revealed. Indeed, she burnt to death (literally) the murderer of her mother. Jin Soo had also prepared his departure by enthroning Kim Jeong Chil (Lee Dong Hee) as the next leader of The New Truth. As for Min Hye Jin, she is caught by followers of the cult. They leave her for dead in a ravine, after she has discovered the whole truth about Jung Jin Soo’s death. Fortunately, she survives and lives in hiding afterwards.

Part 2: The second part of the story takes place 4 years later. The New Truth has now become stronger and more influent and powerful than the government. They organize live executions in order to keep their grip on the population. Many people are forced to admit they have received a decree and suffer the consequences. The “chosen one” turns into a sinner. His entire family becomes outcasts of society. They are marked as such, humiliated and despised by others. In that context, we are presented with Bae Young Jae (Park Jung Min). He is a journalist, not exactly a believer or follower of The New Truth. He is married to Song So Hyun (Won Jin Ah) and together they have just welcomed their first child.

Their baby is unfortunately doomed to Hell. In three days, he will die. In the face of that news, So Hyun and Young Jae try to understand why their baby has been doomed and find ways to prevent it.

In that part, there is no mention of detective Jin Kyung Hun and his daughter. The story has somehow been reset and focuses on other characters. However, there are still some red threads that connect the two timelines. First, Min Hye Jin is still fighting The New Truth; second the new religion itself works as a link between both stories.

This split is rather risky, I would say, as it creates confusion for viewers. Yet, it is essential to understand the transformation of society and the impact a new religion can have on it.

The power of a cult: Speaking about this new religion, that I personally associate with a cult, I think Hellbound did an excellent job at depicting the various mechanisms on which this type of institutions play in order to rise. It starts with a simple set of rules and principles. One of the most important ones for The New Truth is the fact that you are not born a sinner (like for Christianity for instance). Instead, it is your actions and behaviors in your daily lives that make you into one. Therefore, if you wish to avoid God’s wrath and punishment, you should comply with The New Truth’s commandments. Only then can you be redeemed. Manipulating people’s faith and beliefs, changing their perspectives on the world and forcing them to play an active role in your religion are actually common resorts used by cults.

Another important element is the leader. In that case, Jung Jin Soo followed by Kim Jeong Chil, are excellent gurus. They are the figure heads of the organizations. Like a dictatorial regime, they make most decisions, are the public faces and drive with an iron hand their “business”. The hierarchical structure is also pyramidal. At the top you have the supreme leader, then the deacons, then other ranks until you reach the ordinary believers. But even if they are at the lowest level in the hierarchy, believers hold a crucial place in the institution. They are some kind of spies, infiltrated at every level of society (press, politics…).

The obvious resemblance with a dictatorship lies for me in the portrait of Jung Jin Soo almost similar to that of Staline “The Father of All People” in the Communist regime. Moreover, the use of violence in both systems needs to be mentioned. In the drama, The New Truth secretly works hand in hand with Arrowhead, a group of brutal, cruel, reckless and fearless people. They don’t care about the rules, the laws and only believe in destruction. Hopefully for them, they are most of the time protected by The New Truth, that utilizes them to control the population. They induce fear among the citizens, who have no other choice than to abide by The New Truth’s rules. It’s either that or death.

Finally, the last pillar of The New Truth, which is also the most fragile one, is that is essentially relies on the Justice delivered by the Heaven. Until now, they have never encountered a case where they could not turn the receiver of the decree into a sinner. However, tables turn when a baby is damned.

What makes you a sinner? It makes no doubt, that for everyone a baby can’t be a sinner. Especially, when you consider that sins are acquired through time and not originating from birth. The only fact that this kind of decree was given to such an innocent and pure creature is enough to shake the religion to its core. Indeed, if you can’t rationalize the decrees or justify somehow that they have a reason to be, then the entire system explodes. No more reason to follow The New Truth’s principles, to abide by their rules, since anyone can fall victim to God’s punishment.

The last episode of the drama is actually interesting and clever in that matter. The New Truth’s committee members feel that the end is near. Their religion is about to lose its followers so they have to find a reason to explain this baby’s decree. Together, they brainstorm to justify this act of God, tackling in the mean time of crucial question: What makes you a sinner? Why would a baby be seen as one? Yet, the debate is in vain. There is no answer to that question, for the one and only reason that the question itself makes no sense. The idea of sin was first incorporated to the religious principles to give a meaning to the punishment. But these decrees can’t be explained, or at least there are not enough clues that would explain why they exist, who gives them, why to certain people only. As The New Truth is funded on a lie, it is only normal that it crumbles at some point.

Not everything has a meaning: In fact, there is a veil of mystery surrounding the decrees. Of course they exist, but the circumstances around their appearance are meaningless. What Hellbound manages to address with subtlety through its story is one fundamental problem of human nature: We search for a meaning in everything that happens. As we are rational beings, we think that every single event can be explained and has a reason to be. We desperately hold on to the idea that our lives have a purpose, even a mystical one. Otherwise, we feel empty and lost. That’s exactly the case with the Arrowhead wearing the goat mask. As a true believer of The New Truth, he is convinced that everything that happens to him (his decree, the baby’s decree, the baby hiding into his house) is a sign, a message from God. This way of thinking actually entraps people and forces them to adopt The New Truth’s principles. The religion provides them with this so much needed meaning/purpose, which reassures the population. What happens in reality is that people give this religion the power to manipulate their spirits and take control over their lives.

Reflection on society and human nature: Watching the last episode of the drama, I wondered a lot about some events and what they could eventually mean (remember, we always want to find an explanation for everything!).

At the end, the creatures from Hell pop out on judgement day. But neither Young Bae nor So Hyun is willing to let his/her baby die. They fight, alongside Min Hye Jin, the hellish monsters. In a last act of love, both parents decide to protect their baby with their body from a scorching fire. They burn, but the baby survives and rises from the ashes. In a way, I believe that what saved the baby from its judgement is his parents’ love and sacrifice. They would rather die than lose their child. Now some questions remain unanswered and open to interpretation: Is it an indirect way to criticize our self and individualistic societies? We now tend to think about ourselves and not pay attention to other people’s suffering and misery. Maybe this public sacrifice is a way to introduce again certain values like love, devotion, kindness (Min Hye Jin rescues the baby, even if technically it is that of strangers). Could it also be a way to show that love overcomes everything, even the wrath of God? Is it a way to emulate solidarity (remember at th end, the witnesses of the event help Min Hye Jin and the baby escape from The New Truth), cohesion among people, or make them reflect on their own actions and their behaviors (if you have received a decree, maybe you did something wrong and should at least be at peace with it before you are taken to Hell)?

I really had the impression that the drama was aiming at something greater than just the rise of a new religion. It is stimulating deep down our desire to withstand adversity, to fight back – as an individual, but also as a people – values we reject and don’t believe in. It pushes us to contemplate our current freedom and to watch out for anything that is trying to take it away.

Ending: I have to say that the ending of Hellbound raises even more questions than I already had after the first episodes. The cliffhanger is as impactful as the opening. Indeed, we see the victim of the first public trial held by The New Truth coming back from Hell. The taste is of course bittersweet. It seems unfinished, but certainly makes us even more curious about what’s coming next. The question that is on everyone’s lips: What does the woman has to tell us about her “trip to and from Hell”?

Unsolved questions: Hoping there will be a second season, here are some questions that need to be answered:
– What happened to the cop Jin Kyung Hun and his daughter? And will they eventually cross paths with Min Hye Jin and the baby?
– Why do certain people receive a decree and others don’t? Why do the dates and hours vary?
– Do these people really go to Hell?
– Is it really God that is responsible for the decrees (or the Devil)? Are these creatures even from Hell?
– For what reason(s) would such creatures take people away?
– What will happen to Min Hye Jin and the baby? Will the baby become a real Messiah? Will his parents come back from Hell? Also, why was he not taken to Hell the second time creatures came?
– What is the first public victim of the decree going to tell? Did she really go to Hell? Why is she coming back? How are people going to react to that news? Is it going to turn the tide around, meaning that the people coming back are becoming less of a sinner than those who haven’t received a decree?
– How will The New Truth adapt to these changes? Will it precipitate its fall or make it grow stronger somehow?
– Is the population going to stand up against The New Truth together?
– Will the truth about Jung Jin Soo’s death be revealed? Will he also come back from Hell and shake the entire world again?

Korean title and its interpretations: In Korean, the title is simply “Hell” which opens a broader road for interpretation than the English translation. Through this open title “Hell”, we can really wonder what the word actually refers to and how it could be define. Maybe Jean-Paul Sartre’s famous sentence: “Hell is other people” is to be taken here in its literal sense. The decrees have forced men to turn against one another, to denounce, hate, stomp on others. It has created Hell on Earth.
Also, Hell can be understood at three different levels: individually, you are metaphorically going through Hell when you feel tormented or guilty about something. In that case, the decree forces you to think about what you did wrong and to make you feel guilty for the pain and suffering you inflict to your family. On a societal level, Hell is related the behaviors of others. The negative feelings and attitudes people have against one another. Finally, on a religious level, Hell is considered to be the place you go if you have sinned (as opposed to Paradise), hence the so-called decrees of the deity. These various meanings are not contained in the English title “Hellbound” that only refers to the process of going to Hell.

P.S.: I really hope there is going to be a Season 2 to answer all of these questions and lift the veil of mystery once and for all!