Hellbound is the latest international Netflix series to leap into the ranks of the platform’s most-watched. In it, a strange fate is befalling random people in the Seoul of the not-too-distant future. Visited by the same wispy, shadowy prophet of doom, they’re informed that they’re destined for Hell and that their day of judgment is imminent. Given the exact date and time of their demise, they’re left to wait for the inevitable. When that timer goes off, the person in question is visited by a trio of lumbering gray demons – they look a little like super-ripped men, ashy and smoldering after being left in the oven too long – who proceed to pummel them into the afterlife. An auspicious premise for a show but Hellbound is primarily concerned with what this new horrific fact of life does to the society left in its wake. Presented with ostensible proof of a vindictive higher power, there are forces that go about using this info for their own ends. Law enforcement agencies powerless to stop these attacks find themselves vulnerable. Hellbound is bleak in the way that it shows these violent deaths. It triples down on that sense of despair by painting a world where the moral implications of these random occurrences gain widespread acceptance and endorsement. Visitations announcing a person’s doomed date and time are considered “decrees.” Each new burnt torso prompts a series of public accusations and speculation about what this person might have done to deserve it. In six episodes, it’s hard to capture the full scope of how these demonstrations alter the societal fabric.

– Compilation