Summary: Han Tae Sul is a rich, genius engineer who owns Quantum and Time, a successful company in Korea. After a plane accident, he discovers traces that leads to his brother’s death. While investigating, he meets Kang Seo Hae, an elite soldier from the future who travels back in time to help him.
Genre: Science Fiction, Time-Travel, Fantasy, Mystery, Chaebol
Episodes: 16
Stars: Cho Seung Woo as Han Tae Sul
Park Shin Hye as Kang Seo Hae
Likes: It’s a time-travel drama, of course I would like it, no matter how confusing the story develops. Time-travel intrigues me, how people could possibly travel in time, how they could change the past (or could they actually really change the past?). In Sisyphus, there was only traveling back in time. This is where our young Seo Hae from the future travels back to save a genius engineer named Han Tae Sul.
Complex storytelling. Well, if I had to tell the story my way, all of the concealed mysteries would be revealed untimely. I kind of like how they did it here. We started with a girl from the future traveling to the past to meet a guy she would have to save. While the story goes on in the past, there would flashbacks of the events that happened so far to the girl in the future. At the same time, the guy would also have flashbacks of his life in the past, revealing gradually the mysteries, giving answers to our whys. Honestly, it was hard to follow but glad I was able to keep up with it.
Post-apocalyptic future. This kind of scenes in movies usually puts me in a sullen mood. Surprisingly, this one didn’t. The post-apocalyptic Seoul mostly covered in overgrowth only shows how people in the past were serious about beauty and pop culture. Wasn’t that obvious with the ruins of an Innisfree (South Korean cosmetic) shop and an old BTS poster. In addition to that, the craze on theme parks! It reminds us people that life now is awesome!
So many plot twists. I was like, “Ah that’s why”, all the time! Like I first started asking, why the mum wasn’t with them in the future? How did Seo Hae get hold of that diary? Why’s the broker stuck with working with the downloader? Why’s the chairman helping Sigma? Who is Sigma anyway?
That intro sound. I really like that scratchy radio signal sound at the beginning of every episode. It creates that eerie, alien-like atmosphere.
Favourite quote: “It’s not important where they come from, it’s when they come from”.
The cast. So many talented actors in this show. Of course you need them for challenging characters like Sigma, the chairman, Seo Hae’s dad, the broker and more. But the top leads really made me watch this…
Park Shin Hye as Kang Seo Hae – I don’t miss any Park Shin Hye’s drama. She’s a good actress and she chooses her drama well – always worth-watching. As Kang Seo Hae, she did a lot of action, which is refreshing to see. I love all those running on the roofs, jumping from the bridge, hanging through a rope, punching, kicking and shooting with her cute, pink gun.
Cho Seung Woo as Han Tae Sul – There was an old drama that I watched where Cho Seung Woo was in, and I instantly liked him there, so I got excited to see him in Sisyphus paired with no other than Park Shin Hye. I like him as Han Tae Sul, he’s cute with his humour and sarcasm. And I think he really looked good on that magazine cover.
The moral. Whatever you do, you can’t change anything. I should have known early on from the title 🙂
Dislikes: Really? Sigma survived the nuclear explosion because he sealed his windows with a masking tape? Really?
Sun, the friend of Seo Hae who keeps helping her, didn’t really have any other use aside from that. He had this striking presence (maybe because he looks like Lee Sang Yoon), so I was kind of expecting something surprising from his role, but nothing really.
Of all the plot holes, I most question the banana. Why Seo Hae did not know how to peel a banana?! She ate it with skin! As if she hadn’t seen a banana before! She was already 9 when the war broke. She could already even ride a bike! But still doesn’t know what a banana is 🤔?
