Sigma
Episode 7 of Sisyphus: The Myth begins with Seo-Hae awakening and finding herself in a bright dress. Her wound is healed up and she’s at Sun’s place. It turns out Tae-Sul is all over the news too, although he’s hooded and hiding his face. When Seo-Hae heads out into the living room, she notices a whole family set-up and it reminds her of the past. She’s haunted by the memories, especially given her Mother seems to have sacrificed herself to keep her and her Father alive. As she sits outside after and contemplates what to do, Sun sits with her and fills us in on what he’s been up to. He won the lottery with the numbers she gave, getting to the machine just in time before the numbers were called. Despite winning, it didn’t quite feel right to leave things unresolved so he camped out at Tae-Sul’s house. This fills us in on the events that evening, as Sun ended up getting involved when he sensed something was up. This cuts us back to the here and now, as Sun and Seo-Hae discuss what to do next. Seo-Hae wants to go it alone but Sun refuses to listen, deciding he’s going to help her no matter what she says. Well, when Sun leaves, Seo-Hae rings her Mother, remembering her phone number from the past. She decides against saying anything though; if she did that would be a paradox, especially if it changes anything. Speaking of which, Seo-Hae immediately warns Sun, telling him to flee the country given war is going to break out on October 31st. Seo-Hae eventually shows up at Park’s office, holding Bingbing hostage while demanding answers from CEO Park. She drops the key on the table, asking for his help in exchange for taking the key for himself. Specifically, she wants three people able to leave the country safely – Sun and his family. Second, she wants his help in saving Tae-Sul, given the man with a hooded jacket is very clearly not Tae-Sul. Well, in order to do that Park claims that they can send anything from the future back to the present. This includes an EMP – which Seo-Hae joins with a photo of the pair together. This explains why these were in Tae-Sul’s office last episode. Park also explains that no matter what he does, there’s no way she’ll be able to change the past no matter how hard she tries. With word out that Tae-Sul ha escaped, Seo-Hae is driven up to see him by Sun. Sun tries to convince her to join him and flee the country but she refuses. Instead, with sniper rifle in hand, she heads off to the alleyway where she helps out Tae-Sul. This, of course, explains the moments leading up to last week’s stand-off but from Seo-Hae’s perspective. She promises to be there for him and holds his hand, leading Tae-Sul down to Sun’s car. Together, they drive off to Asia Mart where Seo-Hae says her goodbyes to Sun for the last time. She casts a lingering glance at her before eventually letting him leave. Tae-Sul hands over the key as they find out the safe Park has actually holds the Uploader inside. Only, that’s what he’s been led to believe. In actual fact, the safe is completely empty and the only thing there is a letter addressed to Tae-Sul. Park allows him to read it, as it turns out to be a note from Tae-San, promising that the blueprints are with him. He asks his brother not to worry as he’s going to do his best to try and save Tae-Sul. At the end of the letter, he claims to know who Sigma is as well. Only, they’re interrupted by the Control Bureau showing up outside. It turns out Seo-Hae phoned them and gave away their location. After giving them a route out, Park decides to sacrifice himself and tells BingBing not to turn off the downloader under any circumstances. He immediately heads outside and distracts them all, deciding to sacrifice himself. At the airport, Sun changes his mind and decides against leaving the country. Has he just signed his own death warrant by doing this? I’m sure we’ll find out soon! Anyway, Tae-Sul and Seo-Hae eventually show up at Chairman Kim Han-Yong’s estate. Tae-Sul is just casually waiting in his office while Seo-hae happens to be outside with a sniper on him. Quite how though remains to be seen. Just to quickly interject, the laser pointer faces Han-Yong’s chest…which faces away from the window and toward the brick wall with a large chest of drawers. Logically, this could not happen unless a mirror is reflecting the laser dot just right. Anyway, I digress: It turns out Sigma has arrived and spoke to Han-Yong a month before he and Tae-Sul’s first meeting. He claimed to hold medicine that could heal his wife. He told Kim to invest in the company and encouraged Kim to put Tae-San in a mental ward. Tae-Sul is disgusted and eventually leaves, as the laser sight disappears. Meanwhile, Eddie Kim leads the conference for Quantum & Time. They’ve decided on a new leader but just before announcing who, Tae-Sul waltzes in and thanks Eddie, taking the podium for himself. He tells Tae-San that he misses him and also calls out Sigma, telling him not to hide. He promises to find him no mater what. And just like that, we cut to the architect from The Matrix. Wait, no it’s not! It’s actually one of my absolute favourite K-drama actors – Kim Byung-Chul! He’s surrounded by monitors and seems to be the face of Sigma. Anyway, Chairman Han eventually makes a big decision and decides to commit suicide. We then skip forward to his funeral where Sigma happens to be in attendance.
The Episode Review
Sisyphus: The Myth is certainly an enjoyable show and has really turned into a who’s who of famous Korean actors. The latest to join the ensemble is Byung-Chul who was easily one of the stand-out antagonists in both Sky Castle and Goblin. He has a really chilling aura about him and he presents that perfectly here too. The plot here definitely takes some liberties with the timeline and it does so at the expense of illogical twists. Some of the ideas are quite good – like items being send back in time from the present – but also come with a wealth of problems too when you think about it too much. If the Control Bureau can track everything and everyone, wouldn’t they notice irregularities with items being sent back through time? Wouldn’t they give off certain signatures to track down their origins? And if items can be sent back and people are after Tae-Sul, why has no one sent back a ticking bomb to his apartment? Surely this would just solve everyone’s problems if Tae-Sul needs to be killed. Despite that though, the show continues to deliver some nice little twists and there’s some great actors involved with this one too. Whether the knot will untangle and reveal a profound, gamechanger remains to be seen. Overall though, Sisyphus is an enjoyable slice of sci-fi but only if you can in without applying too much logic to what’s going on. Still, the shocking ending is definitely enough to keep things intriguing for tomorrow’s follow-up.
