“Hellbound” (지옥)

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
November 21, 2021

☆☆☆☆
Jeong Jin-Soo (played Yoo Ah-In)
Min Hye-Jin (played by Kim Hyun-Joo)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

“Hellbound” starts off with an act of God. Supposedly. As a man trembles in fear, three giant monsters that look like they were conceived by the Hulk and a gorilla emerge to take him to hell. Why? Because he’s a sinner. How do we know he’s a sinner? Because prior to his death, a huge, giant floaty head appeared to warn the man that he had X number of days left before he would be killed and dragged to hell.

Alrighty then. But that still doesn’t explain how only sinners are selected, right?

A religious cult comes up with a plausible explanation that frightened citizens latch onto: these are acts of God. Sinners are being killed for living immorally, though what they did to deserve a painfully drawn out death isn’t articulated. Did they steal a candy bar when they were 5? Or did they kill someone just to see what it felt like?

The answer is left for society to gossip about and judge.

Just as rabid spectators watched as Christians were thrown to the lions, the New Truth Society — led by charismatic leader Jeong Jin-Soo — orchestrates a demonstration, which is the cult’s own version of (sicko) performance art. A victim who has received their decree of death are sat at a chair, while a group of wealthy VIPs are seated nearby to get the best view of the carnage — essentially a real life snuff film. These masked men and women paid millions of dollars to watch a person die in front of their eyes. That a portion of the fee they paid for this privilege will go to the victim’s loved ones doesn’t make the concept any less obscene.

Jeong-Ja (played by Kim Shin-Rok) learns on her birthday when she will die. When members of Arrowhead — a violent subset of the New Truth Society — dox her, they learn that she is a single mother of two boys, who weren’t fathered by the same man. Netizens speculate that she must be a whore, because what decent woman would have sex outside of marriage with at least two different men? Amirite? 😑

Social media influencer Skullface is the crazed face of Arrowhead, who encourages his massive following to use violence to attack sinners. Many of his followers are teens, who know they will serve zero jail time. They beat, maim and murder people for fun, but don’t consider themselves to be bad. They are merely ridding the world of citizens they have been told are evil. Wrap that around your head.

I mentioned on Twitter that I was bothered by Skullface’s appearance.

#tw Halfway through #Hellbound & it’s good. But I’d like to know why the fuq they have a character dressed like a “witch doctor” in blackface, complete with exaggerated lined large lips. It is completely unnecessary & such a disappointment. It’s almost 2022.

— Jae-Ha Kim 김재하 (@GoAwayWithJae) November 20, 2021

However, several readers pointed out that it was a combination of fluorescent makeup and lighting that made his face appear black on his streams. Though it may not have been intended as blackface, that’s still how it comes across to me in his streams. I’m not African American and will always defer to Black viewers’ opinions when it comes to this sensitive matter. So please leave a comment if you have an opinion about this.

Save for the ridiculous CGI monsters, this series is compelling, if a bit uneven in how it handles its six episodes. The cast and storyline for the first half of this production comes to an abrupt end after episode three, followed by a timeline separation of five years and a different cast to focus on. In true Netflix manner, the ending isn’t a series ending, but rather a setup for a second season next year (which will be released first as a webtoon).

Director Yeon Sang-Ha (“Train to Busan“), who adapted this series from his own webtoon of the same name, makes it clear that cults are the true sinners that manipulate people’s lives with fear. And that hell isn’t necessarily a place foreign to us, because it’s where we may already be living.

Airdates: Six episodes (about 45- to 60-minutes each) were released on Netflix on November 19, 2021. “Hellbound” currently is the most-watched Netflix series, having jumped into the top slot within 24 hours of its premiere date. Previously, “Squid Game” held that record.

Spoiler Alert: Though no one knows why certain people are being selected to go to hell, the New Truth Society latched onto people’s fears by stating that it’s because they are sinners. When a newborn baby gets her death sentence, the New Truth Society freaks out, because they will lose their followers (and the money generated by their flock) if word gets out that an infant is destined for hell. Watching the leaders of the congregation come up with ideas to explain away this phenomenon is truly nauseating.

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