Summary
There’s no sign that this series is going to slow down as the quality of production and writing maintains — Episode 4 manages to flesh the story out more, opening up this malleable, conspiracy-filled world.
This recap of Netflix K-Drama series Sisyphus: The Myth episode 4 contains significant spoilers.
This series continues to flesh out the story in parts rather than muddle the viewers with nonsense; it’s a sign of a well-written series. There’s no suggestion so far that this will disappoint. Our lead characters bump into Mr Park in episode 3 and spurs on a different phase in the story.
Episode 4 begins in the future; Gang Seo-hae is mesmerized by a movie poster. She listens to music and walks around a town that’s run down and empty. This is a future where civilisation appears to be ruined. Chapter 4 gives the audience a snippet into the future, where money seems meaningless, and the past brings a sense of wonder and nostalgia. After wandering around, a man radios in and tells her to meet him at exit 2, but she quickly has to hide from troops who park up in a military vehicle.
Escaping again
There’s a lot of escaping in this chapter, but we are not complaining — it’s one of those series where the action sets are great to watch and adds to the story rather than done with no meaning.
Episode 4 moves to the present day, with Gang Seo-hae and Tae-sul with Mr Park — Mr Park talks about how people try and come to the “other side and the Control Bureau try and catch them before integrating themselves into society. Mr Park says Tae-san did the same thing, but something went wrong in the download. Tae-sul checks out the man who has travelled to their time and asks one of Mr Park’s men questions. Suddenly, Tae-sul attacks one of Mr Park’s men and uses his device to give away his location.
Gang Seo-hae is captured
Gang Seo-hae gets in on the action, but then the Control Bureau turn up. The man who has time travelled tells Tae-sul he knows where his brother is and asks for help to get out of the warehouse. The Control Bureau soon corners them, but once again, Gang Seo-hae arrives, applying her mixed martial arts while Tae-sul tries to reconfigure a car so they can get away. As Tae-sul gets the car going, Gang Seo-hae is captured. Tae-sul refuses to let Gang Seo-hae go, and he crashes his car into the vehicle to help her escape.
Episode 4 sees how these two characters are inseparable already. One has physical attributes, while the other has mental skills.
A police officer is attacked in an alleyway
Sisyphus: The Myth episode 4 then introduces us to a new character that will be important to the story.
A police officer named Hyeong-gi is struggling with his mother. He’s frustrated that he cannot communicate with her. While on duty, he and his colleague are alerted to a robbery. They are told by a group of people that a man appeared only in his underwear. Hyeong-gi finds a naked man with no arm in an alleyway. He’s desperate for water. Hyeong-gi arrests him, but then he’s attacked. The Control Bureau turn up and seize the man and take Hyeong-gi in for investigation.
Tae-sul understands the technology in the downloader
In the car, the time traveller (Hyeong-gi) demands that they go to a specific address. Tae-sul is frustrated as he wants to see his brother, but he agrees anyway. He uses the journey as an excuse to ask questions from Gang Seo-hae and learns that the downloader is a quantum teleporter. He wonders how they manage to deal with that much information, plus the radiation. Tae-sul then mentions the wedding photo with her in the future and tells her she isn’t his type.
It’s plainly obvious already that Tae-sul is behind this technology.
Relive the moment Gang Seo-hae makes a grand escape on the roof:
Making up for a past regret
Hyeong-gi visits an address and shouts for his mother. When she comes outside, she’s evidently partially blind. He apologises for being late. He heads inside with the other two and cooks for her. As she enjoys the noodles, Hyeong-gi gets emotional as he watches her eat. Gang Seo-hae talks to Tae-sul about regret and how some people want to go back to the moment of regret and change things. Hyeong-gi apologises to his mother for being so harsh to her as she lays on her bed. She dies as he grabs her hand, and he sobs.
Considering we’ve only just been introduced to this character, this was an emotional moment.
Tae-sul invented the uploader
Gang Seo-hae tells Tae-sul that they will keep tracking him down to kill him and mentions “Sigma”. She believes it’s because he invented the uploader and that she is here to protect him and stop him from inventing it.
Hyeong-gi gives Tae-sul an address and warns him not to go to the second floor. He also warns Gang Seo-hae not to stand outside the building as there will be a sniper ready to kill her — he states the sniper will be him as he used to work for the Control Bureau — his first mission was to kill her, and he apologises what he did to her. The series is entering a paradoxical stage.
Using butane gas
Suddenly, the house is breached, but they’ve already escaped the living room. A smoke grenade fills the room, and the Control Bureau fire blindly. Gang Seo-hae slyly walks between them, attacking them one by one. Tae-sul creates his own weapon by storing butane gas in coke bottles and aims them at the remaining attackers. The time traveller, however, is dead. Gang Seo-hae and Tae-sul manage to drive away.
A drone manages to find their car as the Control Bureau refuse to give up. A drone-car chase follows. Eventually, the drone shoots at them, but Tae-sul manages to swerve his car, so two of the drones crash. Eventually, Tae-sul parks up and the remaining drone faces him. Gang Seo-hae shoots it with a pistol. But it isn’t over yet, Hwang Hyun-seung has blocked their escape route with the police.
The ending
Sisyphus: The Myth episode 4 ends the chapter with plenty more action to stimulate the audience. Tae-sul and Gang Seo-hae continue to be chased with plenty of cars behind them. They notice a roadblock on the bridge, and they have no choice but to brake. Tae-sul and Gang Seo-hae are surrounded and situate themselves behind the car. Tae-sul wants to jump into the water, but Gang Seo-hae is anxious about it. She grabs his hand, and they jump off together. While in mid-air, Gang Seo-hae is shot in the shoulder and let’s go of Tae-sul’s hand.
She floats to the bottom, her diary opens — the writing is wishing Tae-sul a “happy birthday” and by the time he reads this, she’ll be dead. She asks the reader to send the uploader into the past and save Han Tae-sul — “If he lives, the war can be stopped”. Gang Seo-hae then opens her eyes and sees Tae-sul swimming towards her.
There’s no sign that this series is going to slow down as the quality of production and writing maintains — Sisyphus: The Myth episode 4 manages to flesh the story out more, opening up this malleable, conspiracy-filled world.
Additional points
- Hwang Hyun-seung interviews Edward Kim and asks about the text he received from Tae-sul. However, when he checks, all his messages are gone.
