Rating: 3/5
Hellbound is one of those cool, mysterious Korean dramas that refuses to express its true meaning in the conventional sense, which has previously given us some creepy brain teasers. Now the release of its second season is equally opaque and mysterious. . This drama about a devil coming down to earth and dragging people to hell is more shocking and satirical than you might imagine. It’s dark, so dark that it leaves a series of puzzling parts, each twist leaving the audience wondering how to put them together.
This is a show with a great narrative style, bouncing around a variety of themes, moods, and ideas, allowing viewers to relate to the concept more than the characters. Hellbound centers on a graphic, violent demon who hunts down “sinners” who are told the date and time of their death by a heavenly being. A huge, terrifying creature incinerates its victims, prompting an outbreak of national hysteria and religious fervor. But there’s more than meets the eye.
In the debut season, Jeon Jin-soo (Kim Sung-cheol, previously played by Yoo Ah-in) hatched an elaborate plan to make everyone believe that only sinners are sent to hell. In reality, he knew that his victims had been chosen at random, including himself, who had been sentenced to death 20 years before his death.
Until his final days, Jeon Jin-soo terrorized people with fear of sin and eternal damnation. However, his twisted quest to save humanity removed humanity’s free will and created a world of madness, thereby laying the proper foundation for season two.
New Truth, a staunch follower of Jeon Jin-soo, has been accused of exploiting God’s divine intervention for their own benefit after an innocent newborn was sentenced to hell. I noticed. This led to the rise of the infamous group “Arrowhead,” who professed to be God’s only apostles and roamed the streets rioting and wearing clown make-up.
Meanwhile, the government is dedicating all its resources, human and financial, to manipulating the two groups as opposing forces in order to regain authority. Sadly, no one is interested in finding out the truth. They all believe that a “complete lie” is the only necessary basis for a stable world, and that everything that is perceived as normal here is evil.
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Meanwhile, the only person who protects justice is Sodo lawyer Min Hye-jin (Kim Hyun-joo). She’s a strong female character that looks like something you’d see in a long-awaited Korean drama, and she specializes in action scenes and high-speed car chases. , and in hand-to-hand combat they are superior to men in the true sense of the word.
What will make the already crazy world even more crazy is the resurrection of Jeon Jin-soo and Park Jeong-ja (Kim Shin-rok), two criminals who went through different purgatory in hell. Jonja describes her experience as “an endless despair that lasts forever.” However, for Jin-soo, even after his resurrection, he continues to live in hell, and at the climax, he has a mind-boggling ending.
Hellbound plays with its characters and our perception of reality, unleashing entertaining tricks that escalate into mind-twisting reveals. From the score to the direction, the casting, and the overall atmosphere, it’s a carefully crafted dark thriller that makes you wonder what’s morally right and what’s wrong. This is an intentionally dense but ultimately hopeful examination of the concept of hell and its perception by the human intellect.
Korean dramas challenge us with their intricacies and intricacies about God, social institutions, humanity, and hell. All work together to create a monster of injustice. Hellbound is a show whose meaning is generally not easy to grasp, with a recurring motif of reenacting the same events from different perspectives. In another type of K-drama, this might give you a smooth, satisfying narrative click as the developments fall into place, but here it’s a way of raising more questions than answers. there is.
Final thoughts:
Hellbound is not what it first appears to be. The story strips away distracting misconceptions until we get to the emotional core of the truth, and the show offers us both hope and despair. Violence is a recurring thought here, and no one is spared, be it a newborn child, a teenager, or an adult.
It seeks to cater to our shared desire for a glimpse of real hell in a great movie, rather than whatever washed-out content Netflix dumps on our smartphones. It makes everyone appreciate the artistry of this story, its conviction, and its brilliance.
Hellbound is a challenge. It’s complex and demanding. This is not streaming TV type content for casual consumption. Some people may find it rewarding, while others may not. But as an event or a thought starter, its creepy brain-teaser ideas are welcome and delivered as a mind-boggling tale of suffering.
Produced with great moral intelligence and humanity, the second season retains all the power to disrupt, but also encourages viewers to stop creating hell for themselves and rather live and do what they want. I encourage you to discover the world while you still can.
Also read | ‘Hellbound’ star Yoo Ah In sentenced to 1 year in prison for habitual drug abuse
