All the characters in Sisyphus The Myth have ulterior motives. Slowly but surely their intentions are revealing to have an irreversible impact to each other.
Braving the odds to save Seo-hae, the hero of Sisyphus The Myth traveled to the past. He also realized his connection to the antihero haunting him.
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 & 04 | 05 & 06 | Mid-Series | 09 & 10 | 11 & 12 | 13 & 14 | Finale Week + Review
abbyinhallyuland watches Sisyphus: The Myth on Netflix
Sisyphus The Myth Episodes 11 & 12 Key Moments
“We both did some bad stuff. It’s not like you can undo it by praying.”
Unexpected meetings happened among Tae-sul, Sigma, Agnes Kim and Mr. Park. They have some scores to settle with each other. Denying Mr. Park’s claim of not bringing his family, he replies it was his family who refused to go back.
Deducing his intention to meet Agnes, Sigma faces Tae-sul and proposes to help cure Seo-hae only if he finished coding the “uploader”. Refusing the proposal right away, Tae-sul explains he does not want to bring the world to chaos. Obviously not on the same wavelength of a normal person, Sigma argues how a lot of people would say yes when they are asked to press the button to end the world.
“You made a choice that will end the world just because of a girl.”
Sigma taunts him to shoot him with a gun to kill him, but Tae-sul refuses to pull the trigger. Citing he’s not that evil as he appears to be, Tae-sul questions him of his involvement with his loyal right hand and Tae-san. The villain clarifies that Tae-san is under Agnes Kim and Mr. Park’s authority and does not have anything to do with him.
He also explains betrayal happened so he had to put Kim Dong-hyeon back to his place. As if a pile of revelation is not enough, Sigma also unveiled how his achievement would have not progressed if not for his financial support.
Playing like a god, he agrees to give the cure to Tae-sul because he is fond of him. He also hints about their connection which Tae-sul is truly oblivious.
“I don’t want to lose her.”
Briefing Tae-sul of the danger ahead administering the cure to Seo-hae’s high-tech poison, Agnes set expectations with Tae-sul trying to talk him out of it. But he is resigned not to lose Seo-hae. With two vials of cure in his hand, Tae-sul needs to administer the medicine to the present time as much as he can to be successful.
Agnes reiterates losing the meds or making a mistake might not make him return. Her pep talk did not sway Tae-sul’s decision either and sets forth to save Seo-hae.
“Even if you do this, the future won’t change. It’s not about saving that girl. For you it’s the future. But for me, it’s the past. No matter how hard we try we can’t change our past. We can’t undo our mistakes or the things we regret. The future won’t change either. Because your future is a mirror image of your past.”
“I don’t want to see it anymore. Do you know what we’ll see when we walk through that door? My brother’s funeral. And me turning into a rich bastard who hurts everyone around him. I’ve never been happy in my life. Not even a single day. You can go alone.”
After finding Seo-hae, they end up moving at the timelines when the Han brothers lost their parents. Tae-sul sees the past hardships they had to go through together. He is also reminded of how his brother back then was forced to man up and be responsible for him.
Keeping his sanity to the emotional trip, Seo-hae tells him to summon all his courage as their goal is not easy. True enough, in the next moment they entered Tae-sul sees his pompous self demeaning his own brother. Overwhelmed by his own hubris that he confronts painfully, Seo-hae is having a hard time to keep his focus going.
Ranting about her life growing up, Seo-hae forces him to get up and cross the door. She narrates how visiting abandoned classroom with her dad pretending she’s on school, bringing back a big BTS poster from their last concert venue and watching a rare meteor shower are happy memories she had in a desolate future she had to live through. SHe urges him to tap on his own trivial but happy memories so they can go on with their goal to return to the present.
“How can you have not happy memories? I lived on rotten canned goods in a bunker after the war, but I have happy memories. We all have trivial but happy memories. That’s what keeps us going.”
“They need you more than me to save the world.”
Finally reaching the present timeline, Tae-sul boasts about doing another thing for Seo-hae and tells her that she will see her father when she wakes up. However, when he opens the antidote case, one vial was broken. Realizing Tae-sul’s sacrifice, Seo-hae listened to his million instructions all boiling down to catching Sigma.
They kiss as Seo-hae goes back to the present time. She tells Agnes of what happened. Seo-hae cries as she pleads Tae-sul to get up. Thankfully, the combined power of pure love from her and his brother Tae-san pushed a miracle sending him back to the present.
Meeting his brother again to a memory they both shared which no one won’t be able to find, Tae-sul finally gets the chance to apologize for everything. Tae-san, who brought with him a vial of the cure, injects it right away to his brother and tells him that he does not belong there. Promising him that he is always by his side, he assures him not to feel alone in the future.
Tae-sul wakes up with a faint smile hearing Seo-hae said she misses him and they go for a warm embrace. Meeting her father at the present time, Seo-hae catches up with him as Dong-gi tries to process the bewildering information that came suddenly to his normal life.
“My entire life flashed right before my eyes. I felt that I should live kindly.”
Tae-sul also chats with Mr. Park and gets to the bottom of the truth they concealed about his brother. It turns out that Mr. Park was holding Taesan in custody and lured him realizing he has the key he needed with the business deal he had with Sigma and Agnes.
Leery about getting the downloader system back up, Seo-hae gives the go-signal, and when Mr. Park tried to go back against his word. Seo-hae castigates him for taking out his frustration of failing to change the past. She confidently declares changes have already happened when Sun-jae took the bullet for her making him crippled and gives a bottle of medicine for him to use.
“You love pink, don’t you? We only have less than 72 hours before the war breaks out. But that’s all I know about you.”
Finding a clue to the painting left by Sigma’s deceased right hand man. Tae-sul and Seo-hae visits the former’s old primary school to solve the riddle about Sigma. In between their pressing problem, the two also adorably find time to flirt with each other.
Finding the information they need, Tae-sul finally remembers his connection with Sigma who turns out to be an old classmate of him when he was young. At the school where he first heard him declare his intentions to kill all the people, the two meet again as adults.
Sisyphus The Myth Episodes 11 & 12 Musing
It appears the advance party members have unfinished business to each other. Sigma did not fulfill the bargain with Mr. Park while Agnes Kim has also grudge on him. With Sigma blurting what Agnes Kim and Mr. Park did to his brother, it raises the “trust issue” meter higher among the characters. The broken conspiracy among the three is the key answer to that perplexing question of how Tae-san survived after being held hostage by Agnes and Mr. Park. Additionally, how he found a hideout through his shared memory with Tae-sul.
Keeping track of these characters’ thoughts is quite laborious especially since it is link to the story movement. Literally, our minds are in the process of downloading so much information we need to use in processing its labyrinthine plot. The time-traveling this week also broke my heart like how Tae-sul might have felt.
Notably, this week’s chapters provided a slew of memorable drama quotes, encouraging if I may say. We have been used to analyzing our main leads’ thought process, so it was really nice to delve on their emotions.
Honestly, Sigma’s eloquent talk on how he has given everyone a chance to save the world, but all failed to choose it, was quite a convincing pitch. His resolute character who consistently owns up to his wickedness keeps the thrill working in the series. A total contrast to Jung Hyun-gi, who I really hope get a bit more rational to be fitting to the relatively smart characters in the series. I am still hoping on a heroic moment that he will pull off down the stretch, whether it be his present or future self.
Han Tae-sul and the Uploader/Downloader
In a series where the plot and characters are all smart, Jae-sun is probably the character that expresses viewers’ thoughts. He has this simple way of analyzing the events based on what he has learned about the nuclear war induced by Sigma. His true and easy solution of getting rid of the inventor for the technology not to happen actually makes sense. That’s probably part of the reason why Dong-gi is against his daughter’s idea in saving Tae-sul. It really appears futile especially when the villains are invincible.
Seo-hae taking the hard route of protecting Tae-sul for him not to be put in a compromising situation of finishing the uploader is the climactic moment of this series. And it’s bound to happen soon. It also raises a baffling question on Sigma’s end-game.
We have to understand that Sisyphus utilizes time element of present and future where the latter is the main base point and not the other way around. Therefore, the established premise of the bleak future with Tae-sul failing to survive, but leaving his invention behind is something of paramount importance for Seo-hae to overcome.
Supporting this conjecture, a few important future entrants hold the key to how the changes in the present timeline will impact the future. It goes without saying that Tae-sul’s survival is the crucial event that would support Seo-hae’s mission.
Having a clearer knowledge of when Tae-sul and Sigma first built their connection certainly thickens the plot. Along with a few revelations, episodes 11 and 12 is one of the best weeks of the series.
What Answers I Need To Get In The Last 4 Episodes
Cho Seung Woo’s “reunion” moment with Tae-san adds another reason why I will be sad if they won’t get a bromantic happy ending. I won’t mind sending the lead pairing back to a sojourn again to rescue him. Or if there will be a surprise plot twist that would pay off all hyung‘s effort. Tae-san deserves it, really deserves it. Honestly, if the ambitious plot loses its steam, he can be used as a quick fix.
We also got a better understanding of why Dong-gi made his daughter promise not to find Tae-sul when we saw the events that led to them going to the capital for Seo-hae to go back to the past. By meeting his father at present time, will Seo-hae change their family’s fate?
In one of Seo-hae’s flashbacks, we saw her stumbling on her grave and with her old diary as well. I was hoping this week’s episode will link it to the story, but maybe it is being saved down the wire.
Also, I’m not investing so much of my emotion in the romantic line being drawn yet because I’m not sure how it will work out for Tae-sul and Seo-hae. Unless after defeating Sigma, Tae-sul will just decide to settle in the future.
Catch up on the latest episodes of Sisyphus The Myth on Netflix!
Photos: JTBC
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