K-drama midseason recap – Netflix’s Sisyphus: The Myth comes back down to earth
- After strong opening episodes, the series seems to have lost the element of surprise
- The gaps in logic in the plot are balanced by the superb action set pieces, and these are enough reason to keep watching
This article contains spoilers.
Sisyphus: The Myth came out of the gate strong, introducing us to two timelines and the outrageous time travel gimmick that connected them, and delighting us with some of the most bold and ridiculous action set pieces ever seen on Korean TV. But these explosive opening few episodes were always going to be a hard act to follow.
Having perhaps given too much away in its blitzkrieg opening, the show has lost its element of surprise. The plot continues to add new details, but these now feel like filler in a framework that we were mostly clued in on at the outset, and it hasn’t taken too much guesswork to fill in the gaps ourselves. With the stakes already so high, the series needs badly to produce its trump card.
Episode five begins with Seo-hae (Park Shin-hye) and Tae-sool (Cho Seung-woo) after their narrow escape off the bridge. They retreat to the office of Tae-sool’s old flame Seo-jin (Jung Hye-in) and then to Tae-sool’s house to recuperate. The pair get to know each other a little better in this downtime, and Seo-hae fills Tae-sool in a bit more on what is going to happen in the future.
A lengthy flash-forward shows Seo-hae foraging in post-apocalyptic Seoul and getting caught in a firefight with her father as they are pinned down in a supermarket by a group of mercenaries. There’s a certain charm to these future scenes, as Seo-hae is a tough survivor but also a girl at heart who decks out her weapons in pink and adorns her gear with cute toy key chains.