About 30% of the population of Korea identifies as Christian. There are many distinctly Korean sects, such as the Victory Altar and the Unification Church, which combine Christianity with shamanic practices. So I was interested in Hellbound, the new science fiction drama on Netflix in which God sends monstrous demons to drag you to Hell (jiok). Was that a Christian, Buddhist, or Shamanic hell? And more importantly, were there any gay characters?
The cast list on IMDB does not match the characters, so I'm guessing or just giving pictures of random Korean hunks.
Scene 1: An ordinary day in Korea, November 10, 2022. In a coffee shop, some teens are watching a video from the New Truth, a weird religious cult that explains the process: "First the angel announces the exact moment of your death. At that moment, monsters appear to kill you and drag your soul to Hell."
The teens think that the video is crap. Then a pockmarked man at another table gets the message on his phone! A moment later, three gigantic ape-Sasquatches break through the coffee shop window and attack him. He runs, and the monsters follow, crashing into pedestrians, smashing cars. Finally they catch him, throw him around, punch him, and burn him into ash, in front of dozens of startled onlookers. If everyone who goes to Hell gets this kind of sendoff, the whole city will be destroyed.
Scene 2: The teens were apparently irrelevant. Now we focus on a frazzled-looking middle-aged cop, who goes into the briefing late (probably mourning a dead wife). The commander is treating the case as an ordinary murder, in spite of the monsters that hundreds of witnesses photographed on their phones. He assigns Frazzled Cop and his young, driven Partner to the case.
Scene 3: In the car, Driven Partner (left, maybe) complains that they keep catching bad guys, only to have the courts release them on technicalities. It would be nice if God would just send some monsters to take them out. (Wrong: In the U.S., you don't release people on technicalities. Errors in procedure will result in some evidence being inadmissible, or at most an appeal.)
Scene 4: The New Truth is holding a rally at the crime scene. Cute Androgynous Leader is showing videos of other monsters killing sinners (very bad sinners, guilty of multiple murders, drug trafficking, and child exploitation). He explains that nothing pushes us toward crime; we simply choose to follow the Devil, so we deserve Hell (wrong: rational choice theory, stating that the criminal is "just bad," has been debunked. Many background factors push you toward crime, such as dysfunctional family, deviant peers, and lack of economic potential).
Suddenly Frazzled Cop sees his daughter, Hee-Jung, in the crowd. Why isn't she at the academy, being a good girl? And she knows Cute Leader! Could she be a member of New Truth?
Scene 5: The cops interview Cute Leader (Jeong Jin- Soon, left) on the way to his next interview (his cult is extremely popular). Driven Partner is surprised that a cult leader rides the subway instead of driving a fancy car. Cute Leader smiles and flirts with him. "Would you like to know how I discovered the truth?"
Flashback to Cute Leader at age 20, hiking through Tibet, when he stumbles upon the demon-monsters executing a sinner. That experience began a ten-year long search for God, whereupon he became His new prophet.
Scene 6: Frazzled Cop points out that if you're good because you fear punishment, you're not really being good at all (deterrence theory, making the punishment harsh so people will fear committing the crime, doesn't work at all). How about being good because you don't want to harm others?
I was right -- Frazzled Detective has a dead wife. And her murderer served his sentence and is out. How long ago did this happen? In the U.S. he'd get life in prison if he was white, or the electric chair if he was black.
Scene 7: Frazzled Detective (not listed in the cast list) goes home to deprogram Daughter, who claims that she just went to a few lectures and read some of the literature; she's not really a member yet. He researches New Truth. Uh-oh, ex-members claiming abuse have founded a support group.
Flashback to the dead wife crime scene, with forensics taking photos of the bloody bags with happy faces on them, and Frazzled Cop collapsing in agony. Then collapsing in agonyat the trial again when the murderer gets only 10 years (6 with good behavior). I've seen a lot of trials, and this is not the way victims' families behave. If it's supposed to make Frazzled Cop sympathetic, it isn't working.
Scene 8: A woman we haven't seen before packs up her store and walks through the dark streets toward home. One expects her to get murdered, but instead, her preteen kids have prepared a birthday cake. Uh-oh, a smoke monster appears and tells her that she will die in five days at 3:00 pm and...go to Hell. Couldn't she just repent of her sins, get saved, and go to Heaven?
Scene 9: A TikTok video: a person (Harrison Yu) with war-paint, an animal skull on his head, and long pink hair tells us that God is revealing His will right here in Korea. Instead of investigating the murder, the police should be trying to find out what he did to warrant God's wrath. He's particularly angry at a professor of something or other, who has an opinion. "What gives you the right to have an opinion? God has told us His will! If you ignore it, you go to Hell!"
He shows a video of the gang beating up the professor and forcing him to repent.
Scene 10: Frazzled Detective goes to work, where everyone is answering calls about what crimes the dead guy committed. He interviews the beat-up professor and his lawyer. Meanwhile, some of the perps, all teenagers, have been arrested. They boast and make fun of Driven Partner.
Scene 11: Professor's Lawyer goes back to the law firm and meets the Doomed Mom from Scene 8, who tells her about the angel-monster's message. Cute Leader is there, too: he offers to pay her heirs if she allows them to broadcast the monster-execution. He smiles evilly.
Beefcake: Some cute guys. We see the Professor in his underwear, but he's being beaten to a pulp at the time.
Gay Characters: Driven Partner has a moment with Cute Leader, but I think he'll become a member of the cult and start dating Frazzled Cop's daughter.
Bad Criminology: Lots.
Dead Wife: There's always a dead wife, but this one is particularly egregious, requiring Frazzled Cop to collapse in agony, screaming, multiple times.
My Grade: F
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