Strong performances elevate K-drama's creepy dystopia

In its first season in 2021, Netflix K-drama Hellbound – set in a world thrown into chaos when monstrous beings appear to drag people to hell via brutal beatings and burnings known as "demonstrations" – was less concerned with unpacking why such a phenomenon was happening than with examining the human response to it.

- Jan Lee

Three years on, the supernatural fantasy series' sophomore season is finally here. It picks up about four years after the end of the first season, which teased the resurrection of ordinary mother-of-two Park Jung-ja (Kim Shin-rok), who was publicly dragged to hell, sending the nation into disarray and religious fanaticism.

Hellbound is still largely unconcerned with answering questions about its premise and chooses instead to focus on how Jung-ja is pulled in different directions, as various factions attempt to use her to shape propaganda in their favor.

Here are three reasons to tune in.

1 Unsettling dystopia In Season 1, the show was still set in a largely functional and ordinary society. The phenomenon of "demonstrations" was still new, and not believed by everyone. But the second season presents a full-fledged dystopia.

The New Truth, originally a niche cult which gains followers by preaching that only sinners get sentenced to hell, is a mainstream religion with money and power.