Ok so Hellbound is a fascinating short series that is laced with social commentary on cults,
religious orders and big monsters.
Grrr.
Based on the webtoon of the same name the first season has just released on Netflix
and throughout this video we're gonna be breaking down the story, twists and it's ending.
Person watching this, you are bound to be spoiled in the next 15 seconds so if you haven't
had a chance to check it out then I highly recommend that you check out now. If you enjoy
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With that out the way thanks for clicking this, now let's get into Hellbound.
Ok so Hellbound is split up into two parts. It's very much a sort of Before Christ and
After Death situation in which the former section deals with the creation of a new religion
and it's leader spreading the message before dying at the end. The latter deals with the
religions powers, how it's integrated into every facet of society and also the corruption
within it.
At it's core though Hellbound's concept is pretty simple.
One day people witness a quote unquote angel that appears before them, states they are
bound for hell and then says the exact time that they will die. Upon reaching this time,
giant hulking black monsters will appear and brutally rip the person apart before burning
them in a blinding glow.
No one really knows what they are and outside of them being completely unstoppable we learn
very little about them. I've seen lots of theories on the monsters ranging from them
being demons instructed by the devil to aliens to even being a curse, controlled by someone
we're yet to encounter.
There's absolutely no escape and even people who end their own lives find their spirits
pulled to hell the as was decreed.
The point of the show though is that we are very much like the characters in that we have
absolutely no idea what's going on and it's all open to interpretation. To me this is
very much a comment on religion as a whole and the world is full of people that take
religious texts, interpret them their own way and say that these are the rules that
must be followed.
Being raised a Christian I've watched how the religion has changed over the last 30
years when it comes to things like sexuality and even the pope within the last decade has
come out and said that animals go to heaven even though there was a long period when they
didn't.
So things in religious are very nuanced and even though there's lots of different ways
to take certain messages we still have people that are sure what they're doing is right
even though there's a million other opinions on it.
Hell, I'm sure there are even people out there watching this video now thinking 'yeah this
guy has got a point' whereas other people will think 'hes completely wrong, this is
what the show is about.' It's genius when you think about it and though I'm kinda getting
off track the thing I'm trying to hammer home is that a lot of religions are often
changed to fit different interpretations which I think is very much laced throughout the
show.
Religion was very much started up by ancient civilisations because they didn't have the
scientific tools to explain things like what created the solar system, life and the planet
and it's very much used here because no one knows how to explain the monsters.
Everyone will pull their own quote unquote religion from it and even the one we witness
is broken up into several sects including it's more popular version The New Truth and
it's far more controversial one The Arrowhead. It's very fourth wall breaking and it's one
of the major reasons why I love the series because in not knowing whats going on we can
see how the characters in it end up taking things in their own directions.
But where does it all begin?
Well in 2022 we see as a man is killed in the street by giant black abominations and
in the wake of this a police investigation springs up.
This draws attention to a man name Jung Jinsu, founder of the New Truth. Jung Jinsu has been
stating for years that these events are happening all over the world and we discover that he
knew of these things because he was given a decree of 20 years by the angel when he
was much younger.
Jinsu travelled into the wilderness to end his own life and he witnessed the demons carrying
out a killing which then spurred him on to educate the world about them.
The demonstrations end up becoming more and more prevalent and slowly the New Truth becomes
accepted as the true religion.
Now the conscience of the public is eased because we're told that only people who commit
sins are sentenced to burn in hell. This allows those who are decreed to be treated like second
class citizens but we learn that the sin excuse is very much a lie and that people are just
seemingly chosen at random.
As we discover, Jinsu didn't ever sin and he's been given a 20 year time limit to try
an unearth why he and others have been bound for hell even though they're completely innocent.
His search doesn't bring up many answer and early on we meet a woman called Park Jungja
who is decreed to die. We watch as her children are hunted, how she deals with knowing when
her death will be and also how she's used very much as a demonstration to warn people
what could happen to them if they're naughty instead of nice.
Yes this is extreme Santa.
A crowd gather around Park Jungja house and tv stations film the prophecy playing out,
cementing that this is the way the world is now. It's absolutely horrifying and it was
so tense watching the build up to it. They even did a cheeky thing where they replayed
most of the ending of episode 2 at the start of episode 3 and it just ended up making it
such a nailbiting moment.
Now we see this first part of the season through the eyes of Kyunghun which I've probably mispronounced
so I wanna apologise for that.
His wife was murdered which he and his daughter very much blame themselves for. She ended
up becoming a follower of the new truth and she ends up enacting revenge on the killer
of her mother, even burning him alive in a furnace, similar to the fire that the demons
bestow on their victims.
She's very much swept up in the charming allure of the cult leader Jinsu and after the demonstration
he gains a big following. Kyunghun is almost beaten in the street by his followers but
hes summoned to go to an abandoned location which is where Jinsu reveals the truth about
his own decree.
Jinsu is killed and Kyunghun returns to his daughter which ends the first chapter.
From here we get a major time jump to 2027 and see that Pastor Kim has taken over The
New Truth. He regularly conducts religious sermons where he berates those decreed and
we watch as their horrific death plays out.
On the opposite side of this is Min Hyegin, leader of the Sodo law firm which has been
trying to bring some dignity to those decreed so that their families don't face persecution.
Min Hyejin was presumed dead after the New Truth attacked her but she's remained in the
shadows, providing refuge to those in need.
Caught in the middle is Bae Youngjae a video producer who was tasked with creating a propaganda
piece for the New Truth. After witnessing his friend receiving his decree he discovers
that his newborn child has been given one too. This completely contradicts the teachings
of the new truth who state that there's no original sin and that all people who are hellbound
are sentenced because of their actions in this life.
The baby's fate being brought into the public would completely dismantle the New Truth's
following as it would show they don't really know what they're talking about and shouldn't
be listened to.
His wife ends up going to the New Truth for help but they want to cover up the decree.
On the opposite side of this Sodo wish to broadcast it to the world and it's clear that
the death of the baby will very much be used for political gain.
The show operates in shades of grey but after realising how corrupt the New Truth is the
family go with Sodo. The Sodo members all know someone who has been decreed themselves
and they're well aware that is has nothing to do with sin.
Thus they turn to a man who was a prominent figure within the Arrowhead name Lee Dongwook
who used to live stream his own doctrine. However he turned his back on the church after
receiving his own decree in which he's due to die 5 minutes after the baby is taken.
Not only was he by far the most annoying part of the show but he also ends up contacting
the New Truth who convince him that he's actually been chosen by God to cover up his mistake
in sentencing a baby to die.
Dongwook ends up going wild and attempting to kill those that protect the baby but he's
defeated by Min Hyejin.
The decree of the baby plays out in a public area but the parents tie themselves tightly
together in order to protect their child as the demons burn them to death.
Dongwook is killed shortly after but a big twist comes when we hear the cries of the
child and learn that it's survived the encounter because of it's parents sacrifice.
Though we don't know why it survived, I personally believe that the love of the parents and their
willingness to give up their own lives was deemed as something that protected the child
and meant that they were taken to hell instead. It does show that the three monsters can be
defeated but in order to do this you have to offer up an exchange.
Min Hyegin ends up taking the child away with her and we also see how the population and
police have turned on the church, signifying that they have now diminished. It seems like
life can turn back to somewhat normality and though we still have no idea what's going
on with the decrees, the population are no longer bound by the laws of the church.
It's a very freeing moment and no longer will those who are decreed be persecuted by those
who deem themselves as righteous.
However a big twist comes when we return to the site of Park Jungas death and we see that
she's resurrected.
It's a completely outstanding effect as we watch the dust of her cremation go back into
the husk which reforms and then shatters it's casing showing that the entire idea of the
show has been cracked wide open.
So what exactly is going on, well as we've been saying this whole video, everything is
open to interpretation and no matter what anyone says there's no definitive answer to
this. All that we can do is offer up theories on what's happening and the first thing I
think is that the journey to hell is very much a judgement rather than a sentence.
Perhaps those who are hellbound end up being murdered because they have to die in order
to travel there and in this location they're judged by the devil who decides if they've
lived a good life or not. It would be very traumatic for the person but it would also
mean that should they have been good in their life that they can return to earth and further
pass on the message about what happens when one is bound for hell.
Park Jungja will very much clear up all the confusion that people have over the decrees
as she's the first person that we know about who has come back.
We don't know how time works in hell and as she doesn't really seem to have aged five
years could be five minutes down there. However yeah, before you start typing, I am aware
that someone might just return at the same age as they were when they died so maybe there's
that too.
Now her resurrection could also be tied in with the destruction of the church. It's strange
how the moment that the New Truth is dismantled is also the moment that she comes back so
potentially it's fate is tied in with those returning.
Resurrection is also a facet that is laced throughout religion and I do believe that
most of those that have died will return including the new truth leader.
Potentially they all returned at the same time and all we are seeing is Park Jungja
but this phenomenon could be happening all over the world. Now diving into the other
theories on the monsters, if it's aliens then this could be to cover up some kind of weird
human experimentation that we're then returned from. If it's a curse however then perhaps
the curse wore off with the fall of the church and this then allowed those who had been sentenced
to return.
If I had to place a bet on anything I think that what we see is very much what happens
in that humans are sentenced to hell and perhaps due to their actions in life or in the realm
that they're allowed to return.
Hell it may even go beyond that and due to two lives being sacrificed in order to spare
the baby this could mean that the books in hell are out of balance and that a person
must be returned in order to keep things as how they should be.
Two dying for the baby might equal one soul needing to be returned and thus humanity in
many ways could end up engineering a formula to get people back by sacrificing two during
one decree.
There's lots of things to think about and I haven't seen anyone come up with a concrete
answer yet which shows just how thought provoking the series is.
I absolutely loved it and though I could've done without the constant annoying live stream
bits I think that it worked really well in taking a concept and exploring different avenues
through it.
Hellbound definitely needs a second season to clear up all the questions we have and
though I'm worried whether the answer will be satisfying or not, I can't wait to find
out what it is.
I love the whole twist with the time jump and there were several really brutal moments
that were balanced with more grounded and human ones.
It was a really well made show and though not perfect, I still really enjoyed it.
Hellbound is something you should definitely watch if you haven't and it gets an...
8.5/10
Now obviously I'd love to hear your thoughts so make sure you comment below and let me
know.
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If you want something else to watch then make sure you check out our breakdown of perfect
scene in Spider-Man Homecoming. We break down the entire thing so it's definitely worth
checking out if you wanna know more.
With that out the way thank you for sitting through the video, I’ve been Paul and I’ll
see you next time. Take care, Peace