The Assassin
Episode 3 of Sisyphus: The Myth begins with Seo-hae arriving in Busan. Specifically, she arrives at the Quantum & Time exhibit that’s upcoming. Only, things take a seriously peculiar turn when a strange man (if you can call him that!) materializes in random parts of the building. A poor security guard is blindsided by this featureless man, who takes their outfit and prepares to blend in with the others. Back upstairs, Eddie Kim and Seo-Jin prepare for the big speech. Tae-Sul is tellingly not there for this as a knock at the door announces they’re due to begin in three minutes. Unfortunately this rogue officer continues to do the rounds, knocking out many other security guards and locking the door behind him. With a sniper at the ready, he prepares to kill Eddie. Only, the picture he has doesn’t match and he hesitates. His real target is Tae-Sul. Speak of the devil, Tae-Sul himself shows up and takes the stage to rapturous applause. The sniper prepares to fire as Tae-Sul encourages Eddie to leave the stage and promises he’s not going to die today. Seo-Hae shows up and barges straight through security, not bothering to stop and racing for the main stage. As she does, Tae-Sul presents his sugar cube and claims that this is the future. Firing up his machine, he places the sugar cube inside. Cameras flash across the theatre in strobed anticipation as Tae-Sul holds out a cup and watches as this cube dematerializes… and appears above his cup of tea. With all of this filmed, the crowd are stunned by this experiment and applaud again. Tae-Sul looks up and notices a figure sitting in attendance that looks strangely like Tae-San. Tae-Sul smashes his cup on the floor and immediately scrambles to take his pills. As he does, he calls out for Tae-San and notices him turn around. Seo-Hae shows and immediately calls for Tae-Sul to get down as everything erupts into anarchy. A gunshot causes everyone to panic and charge outside as a second hits Bong-Seon, dropping the bodyguard to the floor. Numerous more shots ring out as Seo-Hae does her best to stave off the threat. Throwing a smoke grenade onto the stage, she buys some time as this assassin rushes onto stage himself. Police scramble to the scene as Seo-Hae takes Tae-Sul and they rush off together. The assassin follows the spatters of blood from Tae-Sul’s cut and catches up. He has a pretty bad shot to be honest, missing them both despite being on a straight piece of pathway. Anyway, Seo-Hae manages to knock out the assassin, as police rush to the scene. Seo-Hae tells them not to follow as they head up a darkened stair well and onto he roof. They slide all the way down onto a ledge, which somehow doesn’t break either of their backs, and continue on. Unfortunately the pair run out of rooftop and look stuck. That’s no problem for Seo-Hae though, who hurriedly launches a cable and rappels all the way down to the ground with Tae-Sul. The CEO falls on the way though and winds up knocked out. He’s still alive but despite bleeding, hurriedly asks Seo-Hae exactly who she is. Their conversation is rudely interrupted by Mr Park though, who shows up and encourages the pair to come and talk. Only, that talking includes getting knocked out and kidnapped. News of this gets across to Eddie Kim and the others who try to work out what to do next. No one seems to be mentioning the strange deformed security guard though but with the Control Bureau lurking about, we can forgive that for now. With the stock price falling, Kim Han-Yong meets with Eddie Kim privately and tells him they should vote Tae-Sul out and try to salvage the company for themselves. Meanwhile, The Crime Bureau arrive at the crime scene, led by Hwang Hyun-Seung. He tells his men to clean up the mess as he wonders quite how they could have missed a target like this. They decide to search the different motels for Tae-Sul but pause when Hyun-Seung finds something on the floor. He mentions ‘The Brokers’, as we cut back to CEO Park again. Tae-Sul and Seo-Hae awaken and are shown around by CEO Park. With guns to their back, they’re encouraged to head into his studio and eat. It’s been 72 hours since the Quantum and Time incident and Tae-Sul’s bodyguard is in a critical condition. After eating and catching up, CEO Park updates them on what he’s doing. It turns out he’s tasked with looking after people who jump over from the other side. The reason they’ve been brought in is not for killing – that’s something exclusively reserved for the Control Bureau. They’re actually there to help keep them safe. Tae-Sul eventually finds out what’s really going on. Seo-Hae interjects though and claims the future is a mirror of the present and can’t be changed. Park is impressed and asks again for the key, in exchange for telling them exactly what’s going on here. Tae-Sul agrees to the deal. Tae-Sul is eventually brought to another area where he’s given a vest to wear and some pills for motion sickness. They all ride off together where CEO Park starts looking through Seo-Hae’s things. She finds her gun and even starts reading her diary too. Seo-Hae is enraged and forces him to stop as everything ends with another stand-off. Tae-Sul transfers 150 million won for Seo-Hae’s diary and manages to quell the threat. The Control Bureau show up at a construction site ready to do an inspection. They chase after a man who seems to omit a strange reading, while Park watches with the others from afar in his car. He rings Bingbing back at Asiamart and is handed some new coordinates to follow. There, Seo-Hae and Tae-Sul stand (still at gunpoint) as Park asks about strange occurrences, including weird photos he doesn’t remember taking. Now he’s starting to understand, and just in time too as the scanners start going crazy. Right before their eyes, the ground shakes and shudders. A suitcase materializes into existence along with the glitching remains of a man who seems to be from the future. Tae-Sul can only watch in stunned silence.
The Episode Review
Sisyphus bows out this week with an adrenaline soaked episode full of tense segments and a really solid tone and pace. Unlike LU.C.A: The Beginning (a fellow action-packed K-drama over on tvN), Sisyphus has managed to maintain an air of mystery and kept up its fast-paced opener. At least so far anyway. This episode is essentially split in half, with the first focusing almost exclusively on Tae-Sul and the scramble to leave the arena while the second half works on fleshing out the characters and starting to deepen the different character ties. There’s a clear divide here between CEO Park and his rogue group of misfits compared to the Control Bureau who are quite reminiscent of ICE or another group intent on stopping immigration. The parallels are a really nice touch and it seems like we’re gearing up for some pretty dramatic moments to come in the future between these two sides. For now though, Sisyphus bows out with another strong dose of drama, leaving the door wide open for where this one may go next. One thing’s for sure, Sisyphus is shaping up to be one of the must-watch k-dramas of the year!
