Sisyphus: The Myth (2021)

Time To Defend The ⏰ Or Regret Tomorrow °8.5° °Outstanding°

[Any spoliers are are the very end and clearly marked]

Sisyphus is the show that escorted me through the looking glass into the wonderland of Korean programming, and Asian dramas, in general. It explores the claim: "Just because you could do something doesn't mean you should." It's got action, fantastic romance, time travel, & a brainiac that can Macgyver anything. Though not issue free, Sisyphus is an insightful commentary on humanity: We make the wrong choices & then we live with regret the rest of our lives once we are finally honest with ourselves.

Themes explored are selfishness (if we only care about ourselves & what we want, it's radiation poisoning that will destroy society). Also featured are corruption, hate, revenge, & pride - forms of selfishness, all. Messianic imagery is a major player, as are regrets - they follow selfishness. Kindness to those less fortunate is critical, or we will create the monsters that rip into us. Hatred against immigrants & xenophobia is depicted. Sisyphus also examines the False Dilemma argument: Just because someone (especially a bad guy) says you have two choices, doesn't mean it's true.

The title is based on the Greek God Sisyphus. Per Wiki: he "was punished for cheating death twice by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity. Through the classical influence on modern culture, tasks that are both laborious and futile are therefore described as Sisyphean."

The question of whether the future is static is very much alive in the show, Asia Mart's Mr. Park says: "Do you believe you can change things?" He laughs. "You know you can't change anything, right? You can try all you want, but nothing will change." At the same time, Sigma & his minions make references to alternate timelines, hinting at the many times the end-of-the-world drama has played out.

The main protags are the time machine inventing genius, Han Tae-sul (HTsul), & Gang Seo-hae (SHae), who travels back in time to save HTsul & thus, the world. The world needs saving because the time machine will usher in nuclear destruction of the Korean Peninsula.

By the time SHae travels back to present day Korea, the country has been taken over by thieves from the future. They were in prison when war broke out, which served as a bomb shelter and ensured their survival. Volunteering as the 1st test-group that travels to the past, they accumulate massive wealth due to their prescience of lottery, sports & stock outcomes. Soon, they take over all the power positions in the country & set up the Control Bureau, an immigration enforcement agency that prevents others in the future from gaining the advantages they themselves enjoy. CB officers have very few restrictions & are allowed to kill on sight. All of this was crafted by the mysterious Sigma, traveler & villain #1, who is rumored to be the person that starts the war. Everyone in Sigma's circle is controlled by a desire to protect loved ones, or a desire for power and selfish gain.

Don't give up! S takes off to a confusing start. Ep1 is a tough one to get through, but watching HTsul save a plane that's going down is the biggest reward for watching it. Kdramas often begin by methodically setting the dials & levers that will operate the rest of the show. I first saw Sisyphus before I was doing reviews, so I decided to watch it again before writing about it. The beginning is entirely different in the 2nd go-round.

Both leads are on the Crazy Train, but they each have their talents. When we meet SHae & follow her trail, we see that she's a cool customer. From age 7 she rode out the apocalypse with her policeman father. He trained her in all kinds of combat as hunting for scarce food & water is very dangerous in the anarchy of the future. When we meet HTsul we see that he's pretty cool, too. Pretty bada$$ cool. HTsul does something amazingly clever in most eps. HTsul is also a pathetic pill-popper, ridden with guilt over the way he treated his brother, HTsan, the last time they met, just prior to HTsan's passing. HTsul's ex is his psychiatrist. She dumped him, but only after he cheated on her. What could go wrong here?

Trains & train stations are featured frequently, & appear to represent fate. Right from jump when SHae arrives in the past she sees a bright light & hears a bell. There's a train coming down the tracks right at her: Foreshadowing. Later, HTsul & SHae see each other at the train station while a fast train screeches between them. It's a metaphor for the onslaught of events headed their way that could separate them. HTsul hears the train on the way to the Control Bureau, which helps him locate it later. A train station is where the seat of power is in the future. There's also constant foreshadowing broadcasting HTsul's end of show options, like a train coming at the audience. They are always brought to the forefront.

Almost everybody we meet in Sisyphus is selfish, even SHae's father. Exceptions are SHae & HTsan. They will bring about change to those around them. Early on SHae tells HTsul: "You're really selfish. You'll do what you want & not care how many people died because of it. You selfish jerk." HTsan said it first to SHae: "You just care about saving the world, not my brother. I'm just the opposite."

Initially, HTsul displays corrupted values, thinking he can solve any conflict by throwing money at it. He founded his company, Quantum & Time with grad-school friend, Eddy Kim. Eddy does all the work. HTsul does whatever he feels like, and completely takes his friend for granted. Throughout the course of the show, jealousy & resentment, cause conflict in Eddy, due to HTsul's neglect.

Sigma & HTsul are contrasted. The series delves into the concept of families, struggles, abuse, & ostracism. HTsul lost his parents to an accident, but he had his brother, HTsan, to care & provide for him. Growing up, Sigma suffers severe abuse at home, underscoring that no parent is better than an abusive one. Sigma clearly isn't stupid, but almost nobody in the world is on HTsul's level: His perception that HTsul had it easy in life introduces jealousy.

Sigma's descent leads to madness. He falls in love with fire & death. He's smart, but a sociopath, arsonist, narcissist, & likely a fetal alcohol syndrome sufferer. Killing 50 million people with a nuclear bomb is just a game for him. He brags incessantly about what he truly cares about: Outsmarting HTsul. He loves to taunt him, beckoning: "C'mon out and play," to him.

The backdrop for all of this is the thrills, action, & the wonderful romance between SHae & HTsul. There's a GREAT scene showing how she looks out for him. He's desperately trying to call by rigging a trashpicked office phone into the phone lines. He's shocked when she says she's a little busy. She next yells: "Duck!" He does so quickly while she eliminates the threat right behind him. In shock, he steps away & sees more than 15 bodies on the ground between him & the overpass, where she's standing with her rifle. He hadn't noticed any of it, to the viewer's amusement.

"The girl or the world." He is constantly threatened that he'll have to choose the girl or the world. HTsul will figure out for himself what options he has. He knows he must outsmart Sigma or lose everything.

Some people don't have the capacity to enjoy fantasy. It can be too intellectual for some, or not logical or real enough for others. Sisyphus is fantasy based on an intelligent script, & it's directed smashingly well. The condescending "1" ratings have no basis whatsoever. If one hates some of the logical quagmires or the pacing, a rating of 5-7 is fair, but Sisyphus, in any timeline, doesn't deserve a rating under "5." So leave Sisyphus alone!

We get a clear sense that it's not over yet. Hopefully they won't take their ~time~ putting out season 2.

~Quote~

Gibson: The future is already here. It just hasn't been evenly distributed yet.

IMHO〰?

Directing 9
Acting 8
Romance 7
Flutters 6
Art 8
Sound & music 7
Action 8
Thought provocation 7
Ending 9
?9 ?8 ?9⚡8 ?8 ?7 ?8 ?7 ?9

Age 14+.

⛔️SPOILERS FOLLOW❗️

I prefer to not give away many spoilers, but some things are worthy of noting as follows:

Resentment festers in Eddy until all he can think about is destroying HTsul. Sigma, who went to grade school with HTsul, has a similar arc. They each have an obsessive hatred for him.

At the same time, HTsul has been in deep emotional pain over mistreating his brother, HTsan, who raised him after their parents died. Under SHae's influence, HTsul evolves into a better human. There's a Scrooge-like sequence where they look at themselves earlier in life. HTsul watches himself w/ commentary: "What a crazy Jerk. It's not Sigma's fault. This jerk caused the war," speaking of himself. He's growing. The thinking pattern that leads to his messianic sacrifice has sprouted. What's funny is how people will, w/o self-reflection, watch & think: Good for #him. I've learned the hard way that none of us can see our own stuff unless we have a major wake-up call.

HTsul had defended Sigma from bullies at school a couple times. As a result, Sigma is happier for a brief period. He claims that all the pictures he draws come true. (Hmmm...). He colored a picture of HTsul floating over the earth (is it HTsul or the world?). After HTsul rejects a friendship, Sigma hates him, like he hates everyone else - Perhaps more. HTsul's journey leads him in the opposite direction of Sigma. Insufferably arrogant HTsul is bolts loose at the show's start. Love for SHae makes him sane(ish) & enables him to make a selfless decision.

S's biggest flaw is a failure to sufficiently explain how saving HTSul will save the world. There's frequent foreshadowing of his final solution, like a train coming at the audience. Mr. Park asks SHae why she doesn't just kill HTsul? That would fix everything... "You're making it too difficult on yourself," he points out. Jae-sun, SHae's first present day contact, declares to Bing-bing that if HTSul doesn't exist, the war won't happen b/c the uploader hasn't been invented yet... They reference it over & over again. HTsul says: "I'm going to find Sigma. I don't care if I die.”

The Messiah, HTsul, cryptically asks SHae to come find him in the future, and then sacrifices his life to prevent the doom that's steaming towards them. This time, Sigma never saw what was rambling his way. Everyone from the future disappears, including SHae. Why is HTsul around at the end of the show? They had time-slipped, so right before the end, there were 2 of them. 1 HTsul dies, 1 survives; future SHae disappears, current day SHae lives. She's 7 yrs old.

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