Miniseries

시지프스: The Myth

Sisyphus: The Myth Literal: Sisyphus: The myth English release: Sisyphus: The Myth

by 전찬호 and 이제인, directed by 진혁

• Release: 17 February
• Format: TV Episode
• Genre: Science Fiction
• Audience: Adults
• Content: Definite Time Travel
• Original Language: Korean

The Downloader is a real piece of work. There’s only a ten percent chance of success, eh? And even if they make it, half of them get caught by the Control Bureau.

VARIANTS

1 Korean variant

TRANSLATIONS

5 translations, including English

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

• Circa AD 2000 to 2099: Almost all the travel is in the 21st century, although some of Han Tae-sul’s experience of his past life must be in the late 20th.

Timeline Models

• Timeline Needs Immediate Attention!: At one point in Episode 16, the main characters start to flicker away, causing an urgency to deal with things before they disappear entirely.

Time Travel Methods

• Time Catapults: The machine seems to catapult people into the past with no return mechanism.
• Time Platform: The travelers stand on a platform that decomposes them before firing them into the past.

Themes

• Causal Loops: There may be several causal loops, but the one I have in mind is that Han Tae-sul bought that particular diary because it’s the one that he already saw.
• Escape through Time: Many of the travelers hope for nothing more than escaping the future war.
• Fix History!: Han Tae-sul and Gang Seo-hae want to stop the war.
• Fix Your Own Past!: Many of the travelers want to fix their own regrets.
• Get Rich Quick through Time Travel: lottery numbers and Sigma taking advantage of his knowledge of stock market movements
• Incorporeal Traveler: When Gang Seo-hae and others revisit their past lives.
• Messing with Someone’s Younger Self: Both Han Tae-sul and Gang Seo-hae try messing with young Sigma.
• Object Meets Self with Bizaare Consequences
• Public Notice from a Time Traveler in the Past: When Han Tae-sul and Gang Seo-hae are trapped in the school, they leave a message for Yeo Bong-sun.
• Rescue after the Fact: In the church, Han Tae-sul seems to know that future Gang Seo-hul and himself are going to come to save their present selves.
• Retrocide: Park considers killing his younger self.
• Save the Bigwig (excluding JFK and Lincoln)!: Gang Seo-hae wants more than anything to save Han Tae-sul.
• Self-Visitation: Gang Seo-hae and others meet or see their younger selves, though doing so can cause one of the selves to become unstuck in time.
• Time Cops: the Control Bureau
• Time Invaders: Sigma is certainly an invader, but also the Control Bureau considers all of the travelers to be illegal immigrants.
• Time Travel Sickness, Injuries, and Mixed-Up Body Parts: nausea
• Unstuck in Time: Some people become unstuck in time, skipping through their past lives, mostly as observers.

Real-World Tags

• 9/11: 9/11 plays a minor role in Sigma’s get rich quick scheme.

Fictional Tags

• Future Wars: The future war seems to be caused by Sigma sending missles back through time to 2020.

Groupings

• Sisyphus: The Myth (TV series): 16-episode series, 17 February to 8 April 2021

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

1. From Achasan, just east of Seoul, circa 2035, or possibly as early as the 2020’s ⋙ to various places near Seoul, from 2001 to 2020. Multiple trips. Note: Gang Seo-hae does not arrive until 2020, but the earliest travelers arrived in 2001.
2. From various places near Seoul, 2020 and probably earier ⋙ to various earlier times in their own lives at an unknown time. Multiple trips. Note: Gang Seo-hae, Han Tae-sul, and Han Tae-san all experience being unstuck in time, mostly as observers of their past lives.
3. From 31 October 2020 ⋙ to 30 October 2020. Multiple trips. Note: Toward the end of the series, Gang Seo-hae and Han Tae-san travel back one day.

INDEXER NOTES (SPOILERS!)

• Title–The title, 시지프스, is a phonetic transcription of the Greek mythological king Σίσυφος [Sisyphus].