The doomed futility of Sisyphus; Sisyphus The Myth Kdrama Analysis
Before we start this analysis, I did have a lot of help getting to understand what’s happening in this show especially the logical rules of time travelling, due to this website bitchesoverdrama, we have a great community over there we talk about shows and comment our thoughts and the way packmule sees things in shows is so inspiring. So even though this is my theory it is based of her own theories and opinions on what’s going on in the show.
Let’s talk about Sisyphus. The Korean drama that everyone seems to have something to say, mostly negative because they don’t understand where the storyline is going, and because of that frustration of lack of understanding, they go to insults, and annoyance, and lack of patience to wait it out, they call the show ridiculous with it’s terrible directing and also outlandish action scenes and unreasonable logic. The first mistake these people made is going into this show, thinking it was a logical sci-fi. There is another show where people have mistaken a mystery fantasy plot (as the writers announced it was, in an interview) for sci-fi because it includes scientific rules sometimes and discusses time travel. Do you the know the show? It’s The king’s Eternal Monarch. So because logical people have it out for writers using specific sci-fi plotlines to write a romantic mystery show; that doesn’t actually base its self on the realism or logic of the science they expected, people call these stories dumb; they say it’s ridiculous and should not have been done. And it’s hard for people like me who completely gets bored at the idea of a sci-fi show, I’m not logical. Let’s first get that out of the way; I won’t be calculating mass, and time, and velocity and use maths and science as a base for my analysis. In fact, I usually run away from anything to do with sci-fi. But there’s something funny about this, that with TKEM and now Sisyphus, mystery fantasies that do incorporate a piece of the sci-fi genre, actually make me enjoy them.
Perhaps it could be argued that it’s because I’m not smart and I like ridiculous things, I only want romance with shitty writing, and maybe that’s it. However, I disagree, what I see in these stories are a different sort of basis; instead of relying on scientific logic rules, or whatever is seen as appropriate in a sci-fi plotline, they use meta; they use other things to make their world mean something. For TKEM, it was literature and fairytales, and stories, and for Sisyphus actually named after the Greek myth, it’s the same. In order to understand where a show is going when it uses a literature base, you have to first understand the source. What is the source saying? Why have they chosen this source to tell this story? But people clock out and don’t want to wait, aren’t connected to the characters enough to care, or just plain detest anything that doesn’t follow a specific set of logical rules, and that’s fine; you’re allowed to like or want whatever you want to see on TV, it’s your experience, but for the others who do want a show that is maybe deeper, interesting, laced with a good plot and love story that is sad, futile and also romantic, then I would suggest Sisyphus being for you. This isn’t going to have a lot of support, and I already know this. Still, I do want to write about this show and explain why I’m into it because it has everything I like, a mysterious plot, fantasy/sci-fi elements, and a romance that is very angsty but also very deep. The show’s director maybe not be as great as the others before him, but I think he’s doing an okay job showcasing what he wants from the story. So yes, Sisyphus has so many scientific questions to ponder about, but I want to get rid of all that and focus on the bare bones of the story. How does this myth connect to this story, and why does it foreshadow how good this plot could be? This doesn’t mean, this plot will be great because it all depends on the directing and writing skills, I’m not familiar with their work and with the director. I don’t particularly care a lot about what he offers. But I know how he makes shows, I know the themes he’s into and from this myth analysis, this show is definitely up his alley. So for now, I’ll keep enjoying it and analysing, but it doesn’t mean I think it’s the best thing ever to exist in this genre. Okay, now we have that out of the way; let’s learn about Greek Mythology, shall we?
An Introduction to a Genius
So who or what is Sisyphus? When I hear about Sisyphus, I think about the guy who tried to run away from d*ath but ended up being captured by Zeus for even trying to think he could do that. He ends up basically with this painful task of constantly rolling a boulder uphill. In a way, it’s depressing AF, and it really holds this theme of futility and punishment. So it’s interesting to see we have a character who is being punished for his brains and his cunningness to evade situations and save people, and it seems unfair that he gets this ending. It also makes me worry about Tae Sul, our main character in Sisyphus the myth, who begins the first episode evading d*ath by saving tons of people on a plane and then also wanting to revert a specific family member’s demise that he feels guilty about. Taesul is just as smart and cunning as Sisyphus; he uses his skills, his brain and his talent to help people. So it’s a bit disturbing because already from looking at him, it’s unfortunate he’s destined for a futile, sad ending; he’s destined to be punished by powers be, for being an obstacle. And will you have it, the whole plot revolves around him being chased by people who want to get rid of him because it seems he’s found a way to prevent d*ath and prolong the lifespan of the people he loves. What a surprise. Honestly, it’s that simple; the boulder represents him having to take on weight constantly because of his actions and live with that repeatedly being chased by the thing he tried to avoid. The episodes scream that it’s because he tried to bring back his brother from the past, but the thing is, there’s more to the myth of Sisyphus than just this outline. So before we can truly understand the big picture and where this plot is, we need to truly go back and understand the real story of Sisyphus, the myth.
Let’s go back. So yes, Sisyphus is cunning, smart, witty, he has many moments since he’s apparently a king, royal full of influence and power. He really cares about protecting people, including himself, yet the way people see him is actually harmful. They see him as childish, sneaky, heartless and a player. Surprise. The thing is, this is precisely how we are introduced to Taesul. He’s a big flirt, a big child who complains and acts immaturely with his company. He’s someone of influence, in fact, significant impact; so much money and prominence, and yet he doesn’t seem like he cares about anything. So yes, you can understand why people have a wrong perspective of our Sisyphus. However, he doesn’t want to care about anything because he’s self-destructive, broken by the guilt of letting pride, money and greed stop him from preventing his brother from being eliminated.
And it’s something that lives with him every day; in fact, he’s dependent on self-medication to get rid of the haunting figment of his brother. Now he says he doesn’t care about people and others, but we know he’s lying; he’s clearly someone who’s destined to protect, he does care even when he acts nonchalant, for example, saving a whole plane from crashing and hurting people, especially when he has said he is waiting and has been excited to leave the world, if he were selfish he would have let the plane crash, he didn’t care as he said, but something in him still went back and provided the solution to help.
So this is really vital, this idea of Sisyphus being misunderstood by people in a way he’s actually with a saviour complex, he protects, and he saves people with what he has yet even his actions are deemed evil or selfish or a natural disaster for them. So again, it’s obvious the plot is based on whatever he has done to create this apocalyptic future we see in the show that is being misunderstood. The people who are out to get him are seeing him and hating him when in reality, it’s obvious this was meant to better the world/ also himself because as much as Sisyphus has a saviour complex, it doesn’t mean he’s selfless; in fact, he’s a very selfish character, he’ll put his own needs above the world at times. This is where Taesul will make a mistake. Because for him, his only goal is to bring back his brother, even when warned he shouldn’t, even when there are hints that him unveiling the truth will lead to suffering and the end of the world as we know it, it’s still all he wants to do. Is it just that though? I’m getting ahead of my self I still need to break down this myth.
The Problem with Cunningness
So Sisyphus is someone with cunningness, knowledgeable and powerful, so when the first time he sees an opportunity to get rid of this thing we call mortality for people (not just him), he’s punished when the gods aren’t happy. Especially the god of war himself, Ares, who is frustrated at Sisyphus for chaining de*ath, Ares is upset; he is annoyed that Sisyphus is getting in his way, making people lose the meaning of war, what’s the fun of war if no one is being removed? Which is interesting because we also find out in Sisyphus that Taesul’s actions and mistakes and his own demise will lead to a war that will end everything and some organisation isn’t happy they were at the losing end of that war. They hated the result of Taesul being alive to either cause or prevent that war. So they’re sending people from the future who look creepy as hell and also like don’t have limbs because they’re rushing the process of uploading or just using a fake uploader with more errors (not yet sure which), but they are here with one goal; to get rid of Taesul, like Ares. Wow.
So Sisyphus punishment is actually that he is eliminated and sent to the underworld. Wait, so it wasn’t the boulder that was his first punishment; his first punishment was to be chased by De*ath (I’m going to find another name for this we’re gonna say D because of this stupid flagging system in Tumblr) just like Taesul is suffering in the present time in our show. Oh, okay, so where do we get the other punishment, the one Sisyphus is really known for. This is where the plot of this show unfolds, surprisingly. Because there’s another character connected in this Sisyphean myth, Seohae, meaning Sisyphus had a wife. So when Sisyphus ends up, you know, getting axed, he still has a few tricks up his sleeves; he asks his wife to do something for him, not to bury him or respect his body wishes appropriately, in fact, to drop him naked in the middle of the city (that’s obviously a parallel to how people are being downloaded into the past in the show visually). So because he did this, he’s able to trick Hades and Persephone into letting them allow him to run back to the past to his wife to have a go at her, to tell her she didn’t respect his wishes. And oh boy, oh boy, does he end up again evading D. Genius, in fact, he ends up going back to his wife and staying a very long time because it was his plan all along; he wasn’t back to the underworld; they were all chumps who allowed his escape. So Sisyphus is a funny character, he chooses to go back, and he again avoids D; however, when he finally reaches his old age, he has to face everyone, including the gods; Zeus isn’t happy with Sis; he says it’s a bit of an insult really for what he has done, so Zeus basically punishes him with that godforsaken boulder.
Okay, hold, that’s a lot to unpack. So what happened here is we’re still seeing Taesul as Sisyphus in this second part of the myth, right? So he’s going to find a way to avoid Sigma always and survive, but we know he doesn’t. His story ends truly when his demise leads to the war if we’re following a timeline mentioned by Seohae. So what is this second punishment about a boulder? Because this is the most crucial plot for every Sisyphus myth.
Well, look at it carefully;
it has themes of running back to the past to criticise a lover,
it has themes of trying to prevent a lovers demise,
it has themes of futility and repetitive actions, it has themes of being punished by a powerful source,
it also has themes of someone who is rebellious and doesn’t want to let D win.
It’s Seohae. And that blew my mind. We don’t have one Sisyphus in the storyline; we have two. The show’s title is Sisyphus the myth because the love of these two is actually the role of Sisyphus; let me explain.
The first acquaintance with D is Taesul’s story he’s the one who invents a way to chain D and then is punished by being taken by D. The person who ends up wanting him to save himself is not himself in this show; it’s Seohae her whole goal, her whole reason to want to go back is also to evade D for her mother (she mentions this in episode 1 to her father) but also to stop Taesul from being eliminated, to stop the war but more of all because she loves him, she’s married to him, they’re meant to be lovers. However, she doesn’t have all her memories of everything. All she knows is that another version of her self has told her she needs to go back in time to warn Taesul, so he doesn’t make this mistake, so they live happily together after marriage, and the war doesn’t happen.
Ohhh, that’s what’s happening. So who’s Zeus, you ask? It’s the ICB, the Control Borough, that has to find balance and makes things right with all of the time travellers; they’re looking for Seohae because she’s illegal; she’s not meant to be doing what she is doing. Just like Zeus has to intervene to punish Sis. So alright, we’re getting there, we have Taesul, he’s going to do something to avoid D, but unfortunately, he is going to be found by D because someone does not want him to succeed. Okay, however, we have Seohae; she is in love with Taesul and is determined to keep him safe. Hence, she finds a way to go back and warn him to prevent D from finding him; she essentially tricks the system to find and save the world, but also selfishly to go live a happy life with the guy she loves. So what’s this about this boulder then?
The boulder; A heavy frustrating punishment
Well, unfortunately for our two characters, it’s pretty apparent Taesul always ends up being eliminated #, and it always leads to the war that destroyed earth. But also we know Seohae gets shot; during her wedding, she also is fated to suffer and be eliminated if she goes back to save Taesul. Her father warns her repeatedly about this. She doesn’t listen. The clue here is the boulder keeps on being pushed; Sisyphus is in a constant struggle of the futility of his punishment; he can’t escape; he is tied to this boulder to keep trying to push it to a destination, but all he does is repeatedly keep pushing the boulder infinitely.
Oh, wait, a show about time travel, a show about the futility of trying to change the past, a show where the future versions can go back with regret and meet their past versions which make the same mistakes over and over again, no matter how much Seohae tries to stop Taesul from opening the stupid suitcase that starts everything, he always opens it, it’s useless, they’re in a time loop. Each time he always creates the uploader, and each time the war happens, Seohae returns to stop him from being eliminated each time they always fail, and Seohae somehow leaves her diary telling her next self to do the same. It’s an eternal loop. She’s stuck being punished for carrying that weight, constantly relive that story over and over again, to try and save Taesul; her destination is always the start again. Like Sisyphus with the boulder.
The only thing is why does she not remember or why is she acting like she doesn’t remember, because it’s different versions of her, it’s a paradox, she always goes to find her next self, and she leaves that diary starting this all over again, her next self has now instructions always telling her to find Taesul, to save him and when she’s going to be eliminated. (her wedding probably). Each time she goes back to save Taesul, she falls in love with him, they get closer to the wedding, and she gets shot. For Taesul, we see that the wedding leads to him making an ultimate decision, remember Sisyphus evades D twice. Seohae does this all the time to escape D for her mum and Taesul.
Meanwhile, Taesul only does this to avoid it for Tae san, his brother. Who is the second person? It’s Seohae. They’re Sisyphus for each other, surprise, Seohae ends up becoming Sisyphus always to try to prevent Taesul’s demise and the war, but Taesul has a choice on the wedding day to choose either Seohae’s life, or the world, what do you think he chooses? That’s why I think he continually invents the uploader because of her, to save her, more than anything else. He always chooses futilely to save her above the results of the war. In doing so, he always ends up being the one who gets eliminated, but she always ends up determined to prevent that situation.
Her dad was indeed right; she shouldn’t meet with him; they both are in this repetitive loop, and the world is always a victim because of it. See how Sisyphus can try to be good and protective but still be seen as evil, a disaster, and a curse. So, in the end, both Seohae and Taesul are Sisyphus; both are punished every time. One by Taesul continually being caught and two by Seohae constantly losing her memories and forcing her self to repeat the journey again, to push that boulder over and over again. But with TKEM, we entered a timeline where change could happen after being stuck in an infinite loop forever, and that’s interesting. With this show with how many times it seems Seohae has always written more instructions each time she travels, could we be in the timeline where things may become different?
Sisyphus; A chance to change the past futilely
It seems like it more things are being revealed to them, that might be new information, Jung apologising and realising his mistake in probably being the one who takes Seohae’s life in the wedding because he thinks she’s evil (lied to by ICB) might be a new occurrence in this new timeline. There’s more information slowly being added each time we do this time loop; the question is, where are we now? As I said, I don’t know the science or calculations needed to understand the time travel aspect of the show, but that is important.
So we have a star crossed romance that is being torn between the claws of D, two people punished continuously for just wanting to be with each other and putting the world at risk. We’ve seen what the results of Taesul’s actions lead to; it leads to an apocalypse, a disaster and more; we’ve seen his stubbornness and determination not to let that stop him. All he wants is to evade D for his loved ones. But Seohae also becomes like that; she’s also stubborn, also determined just like him to protect her loved ones despite both being advised not to do anything more, not to shake fate, not to mess around with time and life. Still, they never listen; they’ve put themselves in a time loop where they’re being punished, and their punishment leads them again to do the same thing because of their desperate need to be together.
It’s heartbreaking; however, there’s a slight hope for a happy ending, one because this director does stories of couples torn apart by forces and things they can’t control (Master’s sun, Dr Strange etc…) being tied to each other’s downfall and growth, being pulled away no matter how desperate they want each other. Their need to be with each other puts others at harm, but he always ends it in a happy ending. Sisyphus actually gets his goal a bit, not how he wants it, but he gets to live a long life with the woman he loves. However, it’s after he lives that life; he goes back to being punished. So maybe this timeline Seohae may succeed and live the married life she wanted with Taesul (she does not know she loves him, she will fall for him repeatedly each time they do a loop, both of them always do); however, the sad truth is it was not her first version/authentic version that got to live that happy ever after, it might be this version though who knows? Either way, her original (her first-ever version, always suffered and had to be the one to push that eternal boulder with no end, she didn’t get to see her ending) but this one or another future version may do. Taesul also has a chance to have a happy ending because even though his story ends with the first part of Sisyphus, Sisyphus finds a way to get out of the underworld and go back to his wife, so again it’s like yeah, his first version did get punished, did get eliminated, failed, but this version or a future version may get a chance to spend that time with this Seohae.
Do you get me? It’s not their original versions that get the happy ending, but it’s still them that gets a chance to live old and have a happy life. So I’m hopeful, is what I’m trying to say. Thought that infinite loop of futility and failure to escape mistakes isn’t a great sign. Let me know what you think about Sisyphus so far. Are you like me? Are you intrigued by this love story, and what are your theories? Let me know.
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