Hellbound 2: Episodes 1-2 (First Impressions)

0 October 26, 2024October 26, 2024

Hellbound 2: Episodes 1-2 (First Impressions)

by lovepark

Three years since the release of the first season, director Yeon Sang-ho returns with a new installment of Hellbound. After monsters appear on earth and burn the chosen to hell, society has fallen and been overrun with mass hysteria and uncontrollable riots. As people try to make sense of this new reality, opposing ideologies clash, and those in charge attempt to shape the future for their own gain.

Editor’s note: This is an opening review only. For a place to chat about the entire drama, visit the Drama Hangout.

EPISODES 1-2

Welcome back to the world of Hellbound, a dystopian bedlam ruled by fanatic theocracy. Eight years ago, a demonstration was broadcast revealing three monsters condemning a person to hell. Fear gripped the nation as a result, and standing on top to lead the narrative was religious leader JUNG JIN-SOO (Kim Sung-chul). While a growing majority hailed him as a holy figure, detective JIN KYUNG-HOON (Yang Ik-joon) believed otherwise and chased down Jin-soo to an abandoned orphanage.

This is where the second season of Hellbound picks up as the audience acclimates to a new face yet familiar name. As Jin-soo spouts an emboldened message that unravels into a manic plea, he presents Kyung-hoon with a choice: reveal his lie or keep the peace. The detective makes his decision, turning his back on the world to protect his daughter, and the monsters come for Jin-soo after the promised twenty years.

As Jin-soo falls into the depths of hell, he wakes up next to an unfamiliar woman. She promises that all will be all right soon, and when Jin-soo opens his eyes again, he is transported to the amusement park where his mother abandoned him. Realizing the truth, he confronts her, but then his gaze falls on a mirror reflecting a different man’s face. Before he can comprehend the situation, the monsters attack, and Jin-soo cowers in a dingy apartment as his mother stares down at him with contempt. Enraged, he fights back, but as he catches a glimpse of himself, he sees another face. Snapping him out of his stupor is the voice of his younger self calling him dad, and Jin-soo stands shocked, unable to make sense of all this chaos.

The monsters come for Jin-soo a third time, and as they tear him apart, he wakes up in a new body: the man he burned alive alongside the detective’s daughter JIN HEE-JUNG (Lee Re). Consumed by a fiery monster, Jin-soo screams in pain, but then, back in the real world, his ashen remains contort and reform into his flesh and blood. Jin-soo staggers outside, unaware of his surroundings or his identity, until a man stumbles across him. He instantly recognizes Jin-soo and falls to his knees in reverence.

Eight years have passed since Jin-soo’s disappearance, and during that time, the power dynamics have shifted. When the parents sacrificed themselves and saved their baby from her hellbound in Season 1, the radical group Arrowhead twisted the events to fit their agenda and have grown into an uncontrollable force of mayhem. Now led by PINWHEEL (Jo Dong-in) who follows in the footsteps of his predecessor in terms of delusion and grandeur, Arrowhead cultists believe forgiveness can be achieved by joining demonstrations and recreating the miracle of that day.

Of the Arrowhead leadership, TEACHER SUNSHINE (Moon Geun-young) takes charge of the public demonstrations, and the scene is a stark contrast to the broadcasted displays once held by the former religious powerhouse New Truth. Unlike the controlled and bureaucratic versions of hellbound they enforced, Arrowhead ties their victims and drag them away from the monsters until the three minutes are up. Then, like moths to a flame, the members pile on top of the victim and burn away with them. While Teacher Sunshine survived a previous demonstration at the cost of an arm, this time, she isn’t so lucky.

The violence of Arrowhead extends beyond these morbid occasions, however, as the group launches an attack on the current leader of New Truth, KIM JUNG-CHIL (Lee Dong-hee). After Jin-soo left, Jung-chil’s doctrines have fallen flat with the masses over the years, but for some, the lies espoused by New Truth is more appealing than the anarchy of Arrowhead. Enter senior secretary to the president LEE SU-KYUNG (Moon Sori).

Three factions exist in this hellscape, and the government plans to reign over it by siding with New Truth. They know about the resurrection of PARK JUNG-JA (Kim Shin-rok), arguably the catalyst of this new age, and Su-kyung hopes to introduce her to the public as their new figurehead — a controlled and orderly ideology under the government’s thumb. The only problem is the possible return of Jin-soo, which leads the story back to Kyung-hoon.

After stepping away from the limelight in Season 1, the show returns to the detective as if demonstrating the impossibility of fully removing oneself from the past. Despite hiding his identity, the government discovers his location and attempts to kidnap him and his sick daughter. Though he fights back, New Truth captures him, but right then, the show’s third group appears: underground resistance Sodo led by MIN HYE-JIN (Kim Hyun-joo).

For the last four years, Sodo has fought against the religious fanatics in order to bring their world back to its original state, and the key to their operation is the miracle baby that survived. The show reveals, however, that even these supposed resistance fighters are the same as the other organizations deep down — they simply placed their faith in something else. The baby is now a young child without any discernible qualities from others her age, but Sodo continues monitoring her like a lab rat, desperate for any sign.

After interacting with Kyung-hoon who asks if the baby knows how much her parents loved her, Hye-jin questions the environment in which they cage the poor child. Another Sodo leader, KIM SUNG-JIB (Hong Eui-joon), reminds her that they must pursue the truth until the end, but she wonders if there even is a truth to find. Sung-jib counters that it does not matter because that child is Sodo’s ideological weapon, and too many lives have been sacrificed for them to falter now.

With the detective’s help, Sodo learns of Jin-soo’s resting place and sets up cameras to catch him if he ever resurrects. In order to avoid detection, they assign a single guard to watch over the area: CHEON SE-HYUNG (Im Sung-jae). It’s the same individual from the beginning of the show who first found Jin-soo wandering the mountainside, and we learn that their encounter was neither a coincidence nor a reunion with a devotee. Se-hyung has ties to Teacher Sunshine, and from the look on his face, he seems to hold no love for ex-chairman of New Truth.

Three years since the first season and a couple of casting woes aside, the first two episodes of Hellbound do a good job reintroducing the audience to its world and the dogmas that dominate the collective consciousness. It’s a story about what happens after a disaster turns society on its head and the desperate scramble of people to find meaning in the inexplicable. The focus isn’t on why these demonstrations started nor even what these demonstrations are about because, as the conversation between Hye-jin and Sung-jib highlighted, is there even a truth to pursue anymore.

While I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of director Yeon Sang-ho, I definitely see his charm as a storyteller and do enjoy his take on different genres. He focuses on social commentary using fantastical backdrops from zombies to rock monsters, and dives into the intricacies of the human psyche and the follies we make as a society. I’m curious to see what else he has to say for this hellbound world and where the characters will take the story. Will they find redemption at the end of this bloodstained road or will they all march towards hell hand in hand?