‘SISYPHUS: THE MYTH’ MEETS ITS EXCITING END
Park Shin-hye looks back at Kim Jong-tae. She tells him that she’ll “meet Han Tae-sul and stop the war” before walking into the uploader—that’s a time machine for you and me.
Episode 14 of “Sisyphus: The Myth” finally allows us to see moments before Seo-hae goes back to the past. Ironically, it’s not being shown to answer the question of how she traveled back. We already know how. It’s being told to support Sigma’s (Kim Byungchul) claim that he planned everything. That’s what makes the moment chilling.
There’s a feeling of helplessness upon learning that he played god even in sending Seo-hae to the past. It’s nothing more than an effort to push his past self over the edge to set everything in motion. Sigma is always one step ahead of Tae-sul, played by Cho Seungwoo. He is the one most aware of the future.
Things have never been bleaker for Seo-hae and Taesul. After all, the series is titled after a man who tried to cheat death but ended up being punished for it. Sisyphus has to push a boulder up the hill, only for it to roll down. His punishment entails that he push that same boulder up again knowing that the outcome will be the same.
This is what predestination paradox is in time travel theory. Seo-hae travels back to change the past only to become the instrument of the war she desperately wants to stop. She can change little details about the past but the future remains the same.
Sigma describes it like a dog chasing after his own tail and it excited him.
“I wonder how I will beat you this time?” he asks Taesul. We don’t know how many cycles Sigma has been in. The number is muddled, and honestly, unimportant. But we are meeting Tae-sul and Seo-hae for the first time. Every episode, the hope that this is the cycle they can finally breakthrough is kept dangled before us. .
The events can be overwhelming. Questions about them are stacked up and answers are given two or three episodes later, sometimes even longer. It is hard to keep up with all the information it bombards you with. That information is not limited to the theory of time traveling. But a light bulb always goes on whenever you connect the dots.
The relationship of the characters and how they affect each other can be mind-blowing, too.
You also realize, as the series ends, that the creators have been pretty straightforward about the characters. It has been said from the beginning that those who travel to the past have something they regret about.
How that trip affects other travelers is revealed as the story progressed. For example, one character mentors another to become an efficient killer knowing full well that his trainee will be the one to end his life in the future. But what happens if that trainee breaks from his manipulations and opposes the predetermined future?
Can those little rebellions shift things in their favor? Can the past be changed through the tiny changes?
It will not be a mistake to say that everything happened because of Tae-sul. Seo-hae made a trip believing that Taesul is the key to saving the world, or at least, her mom. Eddie Kim’s jealousy prompts him to build a bigger uploader. Sigma is driven to beat different iterations of him in different cycles.
Tae-sul’s build-up in the story as an unparalleled genius began when he prevented a plane crash with just a packing tape. We’ve seen how he is
in action. He can’t shoot a gun but he can hack into any system with his phone.
Tae-sul’s weaknesses are his guilt and love. It’s what makes him human. That’s what you can appreciate about him. He has always been sure and cocky about his plans unless it involves someone he loves.
The mysterious Sigma is Tae-sul’s perverted equal. He is not a science genius, but the way he manipulates and controls people makes him a terrifying opponent. Sigma pollutes Tae-sul’s ideas and inventions to serve his goal.
A megalomaniac psychopath is hard to like even with his pitiful childhood. But Sigma’s single-mindedness should be credited. The guy brings canned food to fine dining restaurants so that he won’t get used to luxury. He hid in plain sight, in places he was least expected because being famous preapocalypse was never his goal. He mastered time because he didn’t care for anyone.
“Sisyphus: the Myth’’ sustains audience anticipation from beginning to end. The genre will appeal to Jules Verne fans and those who wants to take a break from romance.