Hellbound: How Park Jungja's Fate Could Drive Season 2

This Hellbound article contains MAJOR spoilers for both the Netflix serial and Railroad train to Busan .

While the tradition K-drama model is a one-and-done format, with one full story spanning an entire season and coming to a definitive conclusion, Hellbound feels different. The Netflix series ends on a massive cliffhanger that puts all of the supernaturally driven deaths that took place over the form of the first season in a new light. I'm referring, of course, to the apparent rebirth of Park Jungja. In the showtime season's final moments, the woman and mother who died at the hands of the terrifying monsters apparently sent past God is brought back to life in the identify that she died. Allow'southward talk over the possibility of a second flavor, and how Park Jungja's story must be at its heart…

The Likelihood of Hellbound Flavour ii

While in that location has nonetheless to be an official announcement from Netflix regarding Season 2, it is very telling that Hellbound 'due south offset flavor ends on a cliffhanger, creating more than questions to exist answered. The structure suggests that creator Yeon Sang-ho went in with the intention of continuing the story in a 2d season, with Episode 6 of Hellbound very much feeling similar a flavour finale rather than a series finale.

Of course, regardless of intention and story structure, additional seasons of a Netflix serial tend to become greenlit based on the success or not of a show. For a recent example, Squid Game was meant to be a 1-season story, simply its phenomenal success led Netflix to greenlight a 2nd season with creator Hwang Donghyuk returning to continue Gihun'south story. In other words, if Hellbound flopped with audiences, and so it almost certainly would non get a 2d flavour, regardless of whether or not the story itself necessitates it.

But Hellbound has decidedly non flopped with audiences. As of the time of this writing, less than a calendar week following the Korean drama'due south release on Netflix, Hellbound is #5 on Netflix'southward U.S. Elevation Ten chart and, co-ordinate to FlixPatrol analytics, it is Netflix's #1 prove globally. In its get-go 24 hours, the evidence was the world'south most watched Netflix Tv set series, according to FlixPatrol, topping the streaming ratings in more than 80 countries. Given these numbers and the first season's structure, Hellbound will almost certainly go a 2d season.

Park Junga'due south Return

But what will that second season look like? Presumably, it volition be driven past the mystery surrounding the return of Park Jungja, which prompts so many follow-up questions: Will the other victims return too, or is Park Jungja special? How are Jungja's children doing? Does Junga have memories of what happened to her between decease and rebirth? Did she play a manus in her own resurrection? Is the miracle continued to Toughie's survival?

That last question is peradventure the most interesting one to me, and the 1 that could drive Season 2's story. Toughie is the first decreed to survive a supernatural annunciation of oncoming death. Her survival is a miracle, however y'all define that give-and-take. Did this miracle beget another phenomenon? While in that location's no reason to assume that Jungja'south resurrection came correct later on Toughie's survival (after all, this show is canonically cool with fourth dimension jumps), the sequence of events implies a connection between the two events.

Often, in stories like this i, the universe demands residue; in other words, if someone survives who isn't "meant to," then someone else must die in their place. In Toughie'due south instance, both of her parents died in order to keep her alive. Thematically, there is a connection betwixt Park Jungja and Sohyun/Youngjae. They are all parents, and good ones at that. All 3 of them are shown to be devoted to their children's survival and well beingness above all else. Jungja agrees to have her brutal death televised live by the New Truth in order to ensure that her children will accept the economical resource to carry on after her death. Heartbreakingly (and disturbingly), she calls her expiry judgement the best thing that has ever happened to her, as it will requite the single mom the opportunity to financially provide for her children in a way she has never been able to earlier.

Parental Honey as Cardinal Theme in Hellbound

If Park Jungja and Sohyun/Youngjae are at 1 end of the adept-to-bad parents spectrum in Hellbound , then Jeong Jinsu's parents are at the other. We know from early on in Hellbound 'south narrative that Jinsu grew up at a Catholic orphanage. In Episode 3, we get a bit more than of his backstory: as a small child, he was left by his female parent at a carnival, leading to his placement in the orphanage. Prior to getting a prescript from an "affections," he says he lived his life past the rules, believing that if he was good, then his female parent would render for him. He is understandably angry and dislocated when not only does this not happen, just he is sentenced to hell in spite of his rule-abiding life—he is left to process that fear lonely, seemingly without any kind of emotional support arrangement. While Jinsu's villainous actions are his own, his story is also, in part, a cautionary tale about what happens when parents neglect their children, and kids grow upwards without beloved and support. Parental dear is as well the weapon Jinsu uses against Detective Jin to ensure that the earth continue on with the New Truth in ability following his decease.

It'due south not a stretch to assume a Hellbound Flavour 2 would continue to lean into the theme of parental dear equally a powerful forcefulness for both good and bad. Not simply is it a major part of Flavor 1, but information technology is also a major theme in Yeon'southward live-action feature debut, Railroad train to Busan . The 2016 picture show follows emotionally neglectful dad Seo Seokwoo as he tries to save himself and his daughter, Suan, in the aftermath of a fast-moving, mortiferous zombie outbreak in Korea. Ultimately, Seokwoo non only makes the ultimate sacrifice for his daughter, suffering a zombie bite in the process of ensuring his daughter's survival, but is besides able to fight off the effects of the virus long enough to throw himself off of the train that will bring Suan to relative safety. Given Yeon'southward involvement in the theme, it's likely that, should Hellbound Flavor 2 happen, an exploration of parental beloved would go on as one of the series' central themes.

Now all we need is a Hellbound Season 2 greenlight…

Do you desire a second season for Hellbound? What do you think it would be almost? Let us know in the comments below…