Netflix’s newest South Korean hit series Hellbound walks the narrow, winding path that separates horror, action, and drama to discuss themes such as religion, free will, justice, and the rise of extremism. Throughout the course of six episodes, showrunner Yeon Sang-ho (who also penned the eponymous webtoon on which the series is based) tells the story of a country changed by a series of supernatural events, and by the rise of a religious organization that manages to offer the public a good enough explanation for what's going on. In the world of Hellbound, smoky spirits identified as angels appear to various people, informing them of when they will die and subsequently be condemned to hell. The “sinners”, as those who receive the prophecy come to be known, are killed not by a heart attack or an accident, à la Death Note or Final Destination, but by three gorilla-like creatures that show up out of the blue to beat their victims senseless and burn their bodies down. Then, just as mysteriously as they came, the monsters disappear. An explanation to these horrors is offered by the New Truth Society, a religious organization that claims God is punishing humanity for not following the path of righteousness. As the supernatural executions become more and more common, the New Truth solidifies its control over the society.
It’s a premise just as simple as it is complicated, and, by the end of the final episode, audiences are left with an equal number of answers and questions that will hopefully be addressed in a second season. But what exactly happens at the end of Hellbound? And what exactly does it mean?
Are the hellbound really sinners?
Hellbound’s story is divided into two acts, almost like two mini-seasons inside a larger one. In the first act, we see the New Truth and its leader, Jung Jin-su (Yoo Ah-in), gain power and control as the alleged Godsent death toll rises. Meanwhile, public opinion is split over the crimes committed by the New Truth’s unofficial paramilitary branch, Arrowhead. In the second act, we are presented with a world transformed by the televised “punishment” of Park Jung-ja (Kim Shin-rok): the New Truth has become a major religion, exerting control over the population and the police alike, and Arrowhead members roam freely around Seoul. Though dissidents do exist, people seem to have accepted that the hellbound are, indeed, sinners in need of divine punishment.
However, an unexpected death sentence brings this version of facts into question: while in the neonatal ICU, Song So-hyun’s (Won Jin-ah) and Bae Young-jae’s (Park Jung-min) newborn baby, Toughie, receives a visit from the angel. So-hyun captures her son’s sentencing on video and immediately wonders how her baby can be a sinner if he’s just been born.
As Professor Gong (Im Hyeong-guk) explains to Young-jae, the New Truth doesn’t believe in original sin. According to their doctrine, people are only sinners when they do something that they could have avoided. When asked if the organization couldn’t change the rules in the event of Toughie’s death, Professor Gong states that doing so would be too confusing for their followers, which is corroborated by one of New Truth’s deacons who says adding the concept of original sin to the doctrine would make their new religion indistinguishable from Christianity.
Toughie’s fate gives more credence to a theory that had already bloomed when Jin-su receives his punishment in Episode 3: perhaps the executions have nothing to do with the sins the hellbound may have committed. While Jin-su was a grown man that, despite being the New Truth’s founder and leader, might’ve done things that contradicted his faith earlier in life, Toughie hasn’t done anything besides leaving his mother’s womb. It is, of course, possible that the baby’s death was part of a larger plan by God, or even that the death of his parents protecting him from the hellish creatures has a divine meaning, but, so far, it seems that the New Truth has no idea what they are talking about.
What are those creatures?
We still don’t know. That’s a question Yeon Sang-ho will have to answer in a second season. The possibility that they were sent by God is still there. The taxi driver (Do Young-goo) that picks up Min Hye-jin (Kim Hyun-joo) and Toughie at the end of the season finale seems to think that the creatures might actually be angels and demons, even if he believes God should stay out of humanity’s business.
Min Hye-jin’s plan
Former lawyer Min Hye-jin used to work representing victims of the New Truth Society. She was the one that helped Park Jung-ja get her two children out of the country before her execution, alongside detective Jin Kyung-hoon (Yang Ik-joon). After Jung-ja’s death, she became public enemy number one and was nearly killed by Arrowhead. In the New Truth-controlled world, Hye-jin is one of the leaders of Sodo, a secret organization that offers those that have received the prophecy a quiet, private death, far from the humiliating rituals imposed by Chairman Jeong-chil (Lee Dong-hee) and his deacons.
After learning of his son’s death sentence, TV producer Bae Young-jae goes looking for Professor Gong, whom he saw questioning the New Truth’s doctrine on TV and, later, at the death site of one of his former colleagues. Gong takes him to Hye-jin, who proposes that he and his wife allow Sodo to transmit Toughie’s death online. Her plan is to make others realise that sinning has nothing to do with receiving a death sentence, finally turning the people against the New Truth. Initially, neither Young-jae nor his wife are receptive to the idea, and Hye-jin promises that she will help Toughie have a private death just like she would any other hellbound.
Things nearly go awry, however, when So-hyun takes her baby to the New Truth’s headquarters in order to get answers from the deacons. The organization tries to separate mother and child, planning to hide Toughie’s death, but Hye-jin and Young-jae are able to save them and take them somewhere safe: the apartment of Lee Dong-wook (Kim Do-yoon), best known to viewers so far as the Arrowhead streamer with a skull mask and heavy fluorescent make-up from the first three episodes. After receiving a death sentence himself, Dong-wook switched sides, unable to understand what sin he was being punished for. He tells So-hyun his story, and she eventually accepts to let Sodo transmit Toughie’s execution on Dong-wook’s channel.
But, as his previous persona already indicated, Dong-wook has a few screws loose and should not be trusted. Upon finding out that his own death will take place only five minutes after Toughie’s, Dong-wook calls Chairman Jeong-chil, who is able to convince him that he is actually the messiah, chosen by God to rectify his mistake of having condemned an innocent baby to execution. This prompts him to take his old streaming outfit out of the closet and go around the block killing everyone in his path in order to stop Toughie’s death from going live.
Thankfully, So-hyun escapes the apartment and runs to the building’s courtyard with Toughie in her arms. As neighbors come out to watch the comotion, she announces that her son has been sentenced to execution, and that his time is almost up. When the monsters arrive to take the baby, numerous people are watching and filming with their phones. Unable to accept their son’s death, however, So-hyun and Young-jae protect him from the burning lights with their own bodies, dying in his place. The baby survives, and Dong-wook is killed soon after.
As the New Truth deacons arrive at the scene, the crowd gathers to watch Hye-jin leave with the baby. The deacons try to pass through, but no one makes way. Hye-jin pops into a cab with So-hyun’s baby and leaves to somewhere still unknown.
Hye-jin’s plan didn’t work as intended. Still, there were many witnesses to Toughie’s failed execution, both live and online. The problem is the fact that So-hyun and Young-jae died in their baby’s stead can be easily weaponized by the New Truth Society, that might claim God saw the error of his ways or that the sentence was never meant for Toughie in the first place.
Is the New Truth old news?
Toughie’s failed execution sure ignited a spark in people's hearts, as demonstrated by the old man who defied Deacon Yu-ji (Ryuk Kyug-soo) as Hye-jin escaped with the baby. The fact that Yu-ji was arrested for taking out his anger on the man also indicates that the organization is starting to lose power. And then there’s the taxi driver. Some fans are theorizing that he is actually detective Jin Kyung-hoon, but whether he’s an old ally or a new character entirely, it’s clear that Hye-jin and what remains of Sodo have many more people on their side than they initially believed
Furthermore, Hye-jin has another card up her sleeve: the death of Chairman Jing-su, whom New Truth deacons claim is travelling the world. Hye-jin knows this is not true, and so does Chairman Jeong-chil. Jing-su's execution was also witnessed by Kyung-hoon, and God knows what will happen if the policeman ever decides to spill his guts.
But none of this means the end of the New Truth Society. The executions weren’t the only factor behind the cult’s rise to power. After all, the so-called angels and demons never said anything about sinners being punished. There was also a willingness among the public to accept the New Truth’s version of events as reality. This willingness, according to the show, stems from a crisis of representation. In a world where people feel disenfranchised and no longer believe in the justice system, extremist, fundamentalist ideologies, like the ones touted by the New Truth Society and the Arrowhead, are quick to take root. Hellbound offers us a critique of the way in which extremist groups all over the world appeal to people’s faith and to a simplified sense of right and wrong to take control over various aspects of social life. The series states through characters like Professor Gong and the taxi driver that, if a God like the one worshipped by the New Truth exists, then it is our duty to deny him, and that the matters of humankind should be left to humans alone.
Unfortunately, it’s not only through ideology that groups like the New Truth manage to exert their power. These organizations are usually aided by official or unofficial armed factions that control the masses through sheer brute force. In the show, this role is filled by the Arrowhead, a group of fanatics that hunts down, tortures, and murders so-called sinners and New Truth enemies alike, as well as their families. Unfortunately to Chairman Jeong-chil, though, Dong-wook’s dissatisfaction with the deacons and with his lack of recognition by the Society indicates that some Arrowhead members wish to take political and ideological matters into their own hands. A possibility for a second season of Hellbound is a war between the New Truth Society, the Sodo, and the Arrowhead, and there’s no telling how that would end, especially considering...
The cliffhanger
Right before the end credits roll, we are taken to one of the New Truth Society’s sacred spaces: execution sites turned into tourist attractions. Encased in a glass box, the remains of Park Jung-ja begin to move. Eventually, the glass breaks, and the scorched bones morph into a fully-fledged Park Jung-ja, just as she was on the day of her execution. There’s no way of knowing what happened exactly, at least not yet. Maybe all humans killed by the prophecy were already bound to come back to life, maybe Toughie’s failed execution has a deeper meaning, or maybe there’s something special about Jung-ja. She might even be the real messiah! Whatever the answer is, the New Truth Society certainly didn’t see it coming, and nothing will be the same when the news of this sinner’s resurrection gets out.