History Series / Hellbound2021

* SequelHook: At the end of episode 6, [[spoiler: Park Jeong-ja is somehow brought back to life at the place of her execution (that had been turned into a museum by the [[{{Cult}} New Truth]]) for an unknown reason]], setting up a possible second season.

''Hellbound'' (지옥 Revised Romanization: ''Jiok'') is a 2021 South Korean dark fantasy/drama thriller series directed by Yeon Sang-ho, based on his webtoon of the same name. Consisting of six episodes in one season, it was first made available for streaming on Creator/{{Netflix}} worldwide on November 19, 2021.

* ImNotAfraidOfYou: By the end of the first season, [[spoiler:people finally begin to openly defy the New Truth after witnessing Young-jae and So-hyun's sacrifice and the miraculous survival of their baby, which exposes the New Truth's doctrine as a lie and proves that damnation can be avoided. When a priest beats up an old man who called him a liar and a hypocrite, he is arrested for assault by the police, showing that the rule of law has been restored to some extent]].

* TheDeterminator: It doesn't matter how far a person will run or where they are; the three demons will find their target and make sure they get a brutal beating before being sent to hell. [[spoiler: Not even ''suicide'' will spare you from their wrath, as they are shown kicking the shit out of the soul of a businessman that ended his life early to escape his judgment. The only person to ever defy the decree is a baby who's parents sacrificed themselves]].

* NowWhat: Yeon doesn't have a Season 2 planned (most South Korean shows are only a single season). Yes the New Truth and Arrowhead's populist power is greatly weakened but they're not yet finished and what steps will be taken to deal with the "angel" and the demons. Yeon doesn't rule out doing a Season 2 once more of the webcomic comes out.

Taking place in an alternative Earth, the show depicts a world in which supernatural beings can appear to individual humans, declaring them to be "[[TitleDrop bound for hell]]" and decreeing the time in which they are fated to die. When the person's time has elapsed, brutish demons appear from thin air to bestow a terrible punishment and then send their victim's soul to hell.

It doesn't take long for these terrifying events to allow for the rise of a new, extremist religious movement, The New Truth, which claims that the supernatural creatures were sent by God to punish "sinners", and that the only way to avoid being sent to hell is to follow their interpretation of God's will.

* BackFromTheDead:[[spoiler: It's unknown how or why but Park Jeong-Ja has been returned to Earth from Hell in a BodyHorror scene of regenerating from her charred remains]].
* BittersweetEnding: Season one ends with the [[spoiler: fact that a literal baby can be targeted, and that it is also possible to avoid getting dragged to hell being revealed to the public. The streamer who helped found Arrowhead is then dragged to hell. The crowd who witnessed and filmed the whole scene refuse to let the New Truth officials who arrive get to Min Hyejin, and the police even arrest a deacon who assaults a man who calls them out on being liars. A random taxi driver even helps Min Hyejin escape. The implication is that society at large is going to become more willing to stand up to the New Truth]]. While the framing and music makes it hard to tell if this is a good or bad thing, but we also see [[spoiler: Park Jeong-Ja coming back to life, meaning that it's possible for the fully condemned to escape hell]].

* TogetherInDeath:[[spoiler: Both Young-jae and So-hyun died protecting their newborn child from three demons by shielding him/her as their charred bodies in hugging positions while still holding their child]].

* YourDaysAreNumbered: The condemned are told by the angel of death how much time they have left until they will be taken to hell, adding psychological torment to the physical pain of their inevitable death. The time span between the announcement and the eventual execution seems completely arbitrary, ranging from decades to mere days or, in one notable case, ''30 seconds''.

* NewMediaAreEvil: The New Truth makes extensive use of social media to spread its influence, and one of the Arrowhead's leading members is a streamer who incites his followers to commit acts of brutal violence against alleged sinners.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Skull Face, the leader of Arrowhead, was never too sane. But he really goes nuts when he finds out that he's been senteced by the "angel" to death and damnation in 4 years time.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: The three demons sent to collect the souls of the condemned will brutalize their targets before sending them to hell.

* WouldHurtAChild: The "angel" and the three demons have no problem with [[spoiler:sentencing a newborn child to hell]].

* CosmicHorror: An irrestible supernatural force randomly appears to condemn a person for unknown reasons and then a trio of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] come to beat the victim to death and take them to Hell. Despite what the New Truth and Arrowhead say, there's no rhyme or reason for why this happens - making the forces at play increasingly unknowable and so far there's no stopping these beings. In a Bustle interview, Yeon himself says the series is CosmicHorror.

%%* HeroicSacrifice: The season one finale [[spoiler: establishes this as the only way to avoid being dragged to hell. If you can avoid the beatdown for long enough the demons will skip to the burning your body and stealing your soul part. Then if enough people form a human shield around you, they will be burnt to death and you won't be sent to hell]]. {{Zero Context Example. Please explain what character you referring to and not write it in second person.}}

* HeroicSacrifice: The season one finale [[spoiler: establishes this as the only way to avoid being dragged to hell. If you can avoid the beatdown for long enough the demons will skip to the burning your body and stealing your soul part. Then if enough people form a human shield around you, they will be burnt to death and you won't be sent to hell]].

** It's hard not to view [[spoiler: the chairman's death and being sent to hell]] as deserved given the fact that [[spoiler: he didn't just lie about the demons to trick everyone into being better people, but also left his religious organization in the hands of a murderous, egotistical lunatic and did absolutely nothing to stop Arrowhead's formation and eventual unification with the New Truth]].
** [[spoiler: The streamer who helped found arrowhead is the last person we see killed by the demons in season one]].

* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: Young-jae and So-hyun sacrifice themselves to ensure their baby isn't killed and sent to hell. It's unclear if they were only burnt alive or were sent to hell instead, as their bodies were burnt to a crisp but mostly left in tact. Previous victims have only had their ribcages and a few bones that connect those to their skulls remain. When staging the deaths of their enemies, the New Truth went out of their way to make sure the remains looked like that too.]]
* BackFromTheDead:[[spoiler: It's unknown how or why but Park Jeong-Ja has been returned to Earth from Hell in a BodyHorror scene of regenerating from her charred remains.]]
* BittersweetEnding: Season one ends with the [[spoiler: fact that a literal baby can be targeted, and that it is also possible to avoid getting dragged to hell being revealed to the public. The streamer who helped found Arrowhead is then dragged to hell. The crowd who witnessed and filmed the whole scene refuse to let the New Truth officials who arrive get to Min Hyejin, and the police even arrest a deacon who assaults a man who calls them out on being liars. A random taxi driver even helps Min Hyejin escape. The implication is that society at large is going to become more willing to stand up to the New Truth.]] While the framing and music makes it hard to tell if this is a good or bad thing, but we also see [[spoiler: Park Jeong-Ja coming back to life, meaning that it's possible for the fully condemned to escape hell.]]

* {{Cult}}: The New Truth and its more extremist spin-off Arrowhead are "End Times" Christian-based new religions that pronounce that what's happening is because God is angry at sinners, [[spoiler: but they're wrong and the leadership knows it.]]
* TheDeterminator: It doesn't matter how far a person will run or where they are; the three demons will find their target and make sure they get a brutal beating before being sent to hell. [[spoiler: Not even ''suicide'' will spare you from their wrath as they kicked the shit out of a '''businessman's soul''' that ended his life early. The only person to ever defy the decree was a baby who's parents sacrificed themselves]].

* HeroicSacrifice: The season one finale [[spoiler: establishes this as the only way to avoid being dragged to hell. If you can avoid the beatdown for long enough the demons will skip to the burning your body and stealing your soul part. Then if enough people form a human shield around you, they will be burnt to death and you won't be sent to hell.]]

** The murderer who killed Jin Kyeong-hoon's wife and got off with a light sentence[[spoiler: is murdered by the detective's daughter and the chairman by being burnt alive and having his murder staged to look like he was dragged to hell.]]

** It's hard not to view [[spoiler: the chairman's death and being sent to hell]] as deserved given the fact that [[spoiler: he didn't just lie about the demons to trick everyone into being better people, but also left his religious organization in the hands of a murderous, egotistical lunatic and did absolutely nothing to stop Arrowhead's formation and eventual unification with the New Truth.]]
** [[spoiler: The streamer who helped found arrowhead is the last person we see killed by the demons in season one.]]

* NakedOnRevival: In the SeasonFinale, [[spoiler: Jeong-ja was mysteriously resurrected on the same spot where she was killed by the three demons and returns nude]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since [[spoiler: when people are burned to death by the three demons, their clothes burn with them ]].

** The Chairman founded the New Truth in order to [[spoiler: trick people into being less sinful and prevent the civil unrest that would come with people knowing it's totally random and can happen to anyone.]]
** The New Truth initially try to conceal [[spoiler:the condemnation of a baby]] -- not because of any ethical concerns, but because it damages their narrative that [[spoiler:only sinners are sent to hell.]]
* SequelHook: At the end of episode 6, [[spoiler: Park Jeong-ja was somehow brought back to life on the abode (that had been turned into a museum by the [[{{Cult}} New Truth]]) for an unknown reason]]. Which set up for a possible second season.

* WouldHurtAChild: The “angel” and the three demons have no problem with [[spoiler:sentencing a newborn child to hell.]]