I’m quoting nrllee’s Riveting Recap (RR) out here. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I did. Thanks, nrllee!
I’ve added comments and pictures here. This is a looong read.
Ep6
Night. A Field. Lights from a distant house/shed. Ominous background music…crop circle…I kid…19 years ago. 6Aug 2001. Camera moves inside the shed…papers…tools…flashing gizmo with wires…usual (gross generalization) mess from male habitation…sleeping figure on the couch…buzzing from phone…TSul stirs. He picks up. It’s TSan (at a train station doing maintenance?). It’s nearly 10pm. TSul berates TSan for not waking him earlier. He had to prepare notes for investors tomorrow. TSan says he will be back by midnight. TSul heads to the computer and taps away. He wants his experiment to work. Taps a button and causes a citywide blackout from his failed experiment. The lights go out at the train station too (I guess they don’t have back up generators). A man is discovered on the train tracks at the station (first person from the future?). TSan heads down to the tracks with his flashlight to check on him. The man is holding a photo…it’s of him and TSul standing outside the shed. 😮. Scribbled on the back are dates/entries of the times TSul was attacked (need a screenshot of this for future reference. I wish the person had better handwriting. The numbers are hard to make out. And Netflix only subbed 2 of them 🙄)
15June 2020 Plane crash (eh??)
15Aug 2020 Conference shooting
19Aug 2020
27Aug 2020
15Sep 2020
30Sep 2020
4Oct 2020(?) or is it 2021?
2020 year.
🙂 Nrllee, you’d need more than a magnifying glass to read that indecipherable chicken scratch.
@royangi searched around for the translation.
July 15th Plane accident
August 15th Conference sniper
August 19th World Cup Bridge chase
August 27th Banquet hall at Kim Hanyong’s residence
September 15th Sniper at Tool Shopping Center (Hannam-dong, ending episode 6)
September 30th Amusement Park (Seohae’s birthday)
October 4 Ja-ae Hospital
Hope Nursery School in 2020
This gives us a preview of things to come.
According to Seohae’s diary however, she’ll be dead on her birthday. BTW, her birthday is the passcode of her suitcase, 120930. Good job, miracle23!!
“Dear Seo Hae, Happy Birthday.
By the time you read this, I’ll be dead. Don’t be surprised. What you’re looking at is from yourself.
Listen carefully. There is something we must do. Take the uploader and go to the past. Save Han Tae Sul. If he lives, the war can be stopped. Only you can do this.”
My guess is this new diary will be handed over to young SeoHae either at the Amusement Park or at the “Hope Nursery School” whenever that day is.
The man wakes up suddenly. TSan falls backwards in shock. There’s a glitch and the man is suddenly walking away with his suitcase further down the tracks. He yells to the man, “who are you?”. And is about to chase him down but sees the headlights of an oncoming train and decides against it.
Back at TSul’s apartment. For some reason the CB men guarding the property leave? 🤔. TSul and SH leave the apartment donning requisite caps to hide their identity. Someone is watching them.
Scene change. Park at his HQ. He looks wistful and deep in thought. Heaves a sigh and then heads to a bank to transfer 3million won to “Kim Jin Hui”, rather reluctantly(?). He sifts through multiple ID cards (of himself) and decides to use “Park JaeUk”. He starts as ditzy girl (from AsiaMart who manned the controls to find downloaders from the future) surprises him. She tells him it’s payday. She tries to find out why and who he’s been regularly sending 3million won to and whines that they only get 1.8million each. He tells her to get lost and focus on finding TSul.
You’re right, @nrllee. These are all his Resident ID cards. The pics were altered to show him in different ages. I rotated the screenshot.
He mustn’t be all that evil if his female employee can treat him with impertinence, without decorum. We have to make a note of this “Kim Jin Hui.” He/She’s a person of interest since Mr. Park sends money to him/her monthly without fail. Is this Mr. Park’s “regret”?
Scene change. SH is decked out in a classy maroon number with sparkly heels. They arrive at the venue in a taxi. SH tells TSul to stop staring at her. 😂🥰. He assures her she looks fine…no…better than fine…pretty. Smooth. She pulls out her gun and asks where she should hide it. TSul rolls his eyes. Yeah I agree, it’s not a matching accessory. The pink isn’t quite bling enough. But she stashes it into her handbag anyway. He tells her he can’t waltz into the party because everyone would recognize him. He hands her the invitation. She’s Sarah Connor. No wait. Wrong movie. Grace Park. He emphasises how she needs to pronounce it properly…not PaHHk…PaRRk…she’s a foreign investment firm employee. She needs to pretend she can’t speak Korean. SH points out she can’t speak English either. TSul tells her not to worry, the way she’s dressed would be enough to convince them otherwise. He spells out the plan again. He will sneak in the back and check out the back and second floor and she’s to check out the first floor, hall and entrance (what?? Did he already forget what Future Jung told them?) 🙄. He tells her again that this is just a surveillance mission (to find TSan), so do nothing that would draw attention…no violent altercations…she’s not dressed for it. 😂. Famous last words. He takes something out of a box, moves closer to her…the sexual tension is building… and we get…
KDrama Trope
Sweeping the hair to the side of the face around the ear (tick)… and he attaches an earpiece for communication to her ear. 😂. Their eyes meet and they share a moment. ❤️
She must have been holding her breath while he tucked her hair behind her ear because she exhaled when he moved away. Nice.
The only problem is they’ve already done this before. They’re merely reliving the past, just like Sisyphus pushes his boulder up the hill in a never-ending loop. That’s why Taesul found a picture of them in the library, right?
He hands her an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) device. Press the red button and it will black out the whole building which also means it will halt comms between them. One final fist bump and they part.
Here’s the handy-dandy EMP. I like that he came prepared. But I didn’t like him laying down the rules for her, “No hitting people, twisting their joints, or knocking them out.” He made her sound like a thug, and a lean, mean killing machine. That’s why she only used a dinner fork with them.
CB arrive at the party. CB Chief gives them the shoot to kill (the woman) order and to take their various positions.
Jazz music at the party. Grace Park arrives and she tells TSul everyone is staring at her. He berates her and says she’s supposed to blend in, not call attention to herself. But TSul, if you wanted her to blend in, you shouldn’t have dressed her up in that slinky number which would attract the eye of every hot blooded male and jealous female in the room? 🙄 Next time, bland no nonsense business black and whites? But whatever. As they converse we find out that TSul owns 5% of the company shares. The rest of the 95% are there celebrating his demise.
Uh oh. He only owns 5%? What about the patents?
The old man (Chairman of the Board?) makes the announcement that Eddy Kim is the new CEO of QnT. Eddy makes his first speech at the podium (with Chairman and SJ by his side) while TSul watches from the second storey window…how Eddy doesn’t spot him is beyond me (the lights are on in the second storey and TSul is clearly visible but whatever). TSul spots SH and promises to take her to the amusement park after this was all over. He says he would wait in line with her…so she needs to be careful (code for NOT die). She tells him to be careful too.
I know, right? There he is, watching Eddie from the window. What was the Control Bureau waiting for?
My problem with kdrama is not so much with the writer but with the director. His execution is sloppy considering that
a) this isn’t his first time directing. I think I mentioned elsewhere that he did “City Hunter” with Lee Minho, “Legend of the Blue Sea,” “Master’s Sun,” and “Doctor Stranger.”
b) he had all the time in the world to review, edit, and polish this. Ugh.
BTW, if you’re wondering where you’ve seen this building before, this location was used in “Extraordinary You” Baek Kyung announced his engagement to Eun Danoh here.
CB team jams comms. Eddy Kim makes his way to SH…with classic come on line, “you look familiar? Have we met before?” 🤮 Hands her a glass of champagne. Sleaze overload. “Did we meet at a conference? Atlanta? Sydney? There’s no way I can forget a beautiful woman like you.” 🙄. Punch him SH…he’ll definitely remember then. She replies no they’ve never met. Then he plays the pity card. “Everyone here has congratulated me but I don’t trust any of them, they’ll just discard me after they use me, just like my good friend HTSul. 🙄. You know him right?” Yeah, definitely just punch him SH. He raises his glass to clink with hers. A toast to TSul, the jerk. She tries to ward off his advances and tells him she’s here with a friend. (Take a walk Eddie, the girl ain’t interested). And just as he asks her who, she spies TSan walking past, excuses herself and tries to tell TSul that she’s just spotted TSan. He can’t hear her amid the static (from comms jam by CB). He hides in the study (🙄) as CB man scouts the second storey. On the study table he finds a photo of him and SH taken outside the venue (only moments ago). And he finds a signed document about technology transfer of Quantum teleportation (sharing it with Sigma). Old man walks in and TSul confronts him.
Downstairs, SH is chasing down TSan with Eddy the Sleaze in pursuit. TSan pulls her away into a dark corridor. Eddy loses sight of her and demands that she be found. Nobody seems to pay him any attention? TSan whispers to SH, “I know who you are. Stay away from TSul.”
Chairman informs TSul that Sigma is one of their investors and that he told TSul. Chairman receives a text from CB that operations will begin in a minute. Chairman seems to imply that Sigma is a man. So not a corporation? Chairman knows about the time machine and people from the future. Someone injects a sedative into TSul’s neck…and it’s his ex! 😮.
Here’s the conversation:
Taesul: Mr. Kim. What the hell is this? Who the hell is Sigma?
Chairman: Our investor?
Taesul: Since when? What do you mean?
Chairman: Since the beginning. I reported it to you.
I’m not sure if the Chairman is deceiving him or Taesul was really that oblivious because he was only focused on the tech aspect of the company. But it would make sense that “Sigma” bought stocks very early on since “Sigma” had a foreknowledge of how this corporate move would give him an advantage in the future.
Chairman: (receives text that the Control Bureau’s operation was about to start in a minute) You should’ve attended our meetings. I told you so many times to pay attention.
Taesul: I’m going to tell everyone.
Chairman: Tell them what? That a crazy guy named Sigma is trying to kill you and take over the company? Or that there’s a time machine, and people are coming from the future? What? Did you think you were the only one who knew?
Soooo… he was in fact cooperating with the Control Bureau Chief paid Eddie Kim a visit after Eddie Kim received a phone text from Taesul. This meant that he knew that illegal time travelers were benefiting from Taesul’s invention.
Taesul: What? You were all in it together?
Chairman: Who would believe you now? I’m sorry, but please stay quiet. Or you’ll end up like your brother —
Taesul: What? (grabs the chairman by the shoulders)
Chairman: He can easily send people to the mental ward. Don’t bother trying.
Wait. Doesn’t his daughter also easily commit people to the mental institutions?
Note: in the previous episode, the daughter finally understood what the Hyung was talking about.”
A decade ago, she had asked who was trying to kill his brother Taesul. He answered Sigma.
She now looked through his Taesan’s case reports and realized that he’d been sketching sigmas but she didn’t understand till then.
She tilted the paper and saw the sigma character.
She looked pensive. I think she was assessing her options and leveraging both her connections with Taesul and the Control Bureau.
Chairman: The Control Bureau has you surrounded. Everything’s over.
Taesul: I’ll kill you! I’m going to… (SeoJin sneaks a surprise attack and injects him with atropine.)
I guess that’s what you get for cleaning out her bank account and giving all that money to your new squeeze. SJ tells CB (over the phone), “I have HTSul. Start ops on the girl.” Ehh? Why didn’t she call CB when she discovered them in her office that night? She even tried to call to cops? Or is this the Future SJ? 🤔
My impression here is that she’s also running her own operations.
Let’s see now: who are the people after Taesul.
One, the Control Bureau. They have have the official mandate from the government to go after the illegal immigrants. The agents were looking for SeoHae who eluded them, and didn’t anticipate Han Taesul to be involved. Their latest recruit was the sniper Jung Hyunki.
Note: The Control Bureau don’t want Taesul killed, given his social clout. But they do want SeoHae dead because she’s an illegal traveler.
Two, there’s Sigma. According to Seohae, the Sigma is a collective, or a group of assassins from the future who’ll keep hunting him down. The shooting at Busan conference was their doing.
Taesul: Sigma?
Seohae: Busan was only the beginning. They’ll keep chasing after you.
Taesul: Why are they trying to kill me, though?
Seohae: I’m not sure, but it’s probably because you invented the damned uploader.
Seohae had a twofold mission: protect him, prevent him from inventing the uploader.
Note: The Sigma assassins’ job is to kill Taesul. Killing Seohae is only necessary if she gets in the way of their job.
Three, there’s the broker or businessman Mr Park, who wanted the key to the suitcase of Taesan. He introduced himself as the “owner of the Asia Mart. But this is only a small part of my business. Our main focus is…we’re like the unofficial embassy. We look after people who came here from the other side.”
His main interest is the key which was his payment for arranging Taesan’s passage to 2020. However, Taesan bailed out on him.
Note: He has no interest in killing either Seohae or Taesul as long as he gets the key.
Four, then this mysterious train guy/cat guy. By virtue of his being the first time traveler spotted, I think he should be called “Alpha” not Sigma. lol.
He arrived on August 6, 2001.
More about him here. Sisyphus: Ep 6 The Man on the Tracks
Five, SeoJin’s group. Right now, I don’t know what SeoJin’s real motive is.
On the surface, she seems to be in this for her mother’s sake. Her father ordered her to get the key from Taesul because her mother wouldn’t survive without the medicine they give them.
I’m assuming that by “them,” he meant the Control Bureau because they were cooperating with the Control Bureau.
However, I think she has a deeper motive. When she was questioning Taesul, the impression I got was that she was a lady scorned.
SeoJin: Take this. It’ll help your headache.
Taesul: (he obeys her. Personally, I don’t get why he would comply and take the pills when he distrusted them. Didn’t he think that they were drugging him?)
SeoJin: (watches him pop the pill) Does your head hurt a lot? And your hallucinations?
Taesul: Which hallucinations? The ones I used to have, or the new ones?
SeoJin: I heard you told Eddie everything.
Taesul: It was real. (then changes mind) I don’t know. I don’t know if it was real or not. But that situation, those feelings, I remember everything. I mean it.
SeoJin: That’s what your senses are like. You said it’s a nuclear war, right? There have been reports in the last two months about talks with the US and nuclear missiles in North Korea. You must’ve made up stories in your head with things like that in your subconscious. A time machine? I guess you want to go back to the past. It’s a typical delusion.
Gaslighting. She knows that time machine works because a) the Control Bureau was formed, and b) she hired two aliens as staff. But she insists that he’s delusional.
Judging from their popped veins, these two medical aides are illegal time travelers.
SeoJin: (holding his hand) Let’s get you treated properly this time. If you don’t recover fully, you’ll have to get hospitalized. Then you know you’ll have to step down as CEO.
I don’t think she’s in it for the money since her father is the Chairman already. I suspect that she wants Eddy Kim to take away the company from Taesul as revenge. If she can’t have Taesul’s affection, then she’ll take his company away from him instead.
Taesul: (sighs)
SeoJin: Doctors aren’t supposed to go along with the patient’s delusions, but we can try this method if they don’t show any progress. Look at this. This is what you told Eddy. Maybe you should think about why you have such delusions and why you’ve been making up these stories in your mind.
This is how scary manipulative she is. In her soft-spoken voice, she presents herself as the rational and person in the room while she lies about Taesul’s sanity.
SeoJin: You’re smart. Is it guilt? Or is it anxiety about losing your company?
Taesul: Stop.
SeoJin: Or is it pressure about having to be better than others?
Taesul: (throws the clipboard) I told you to stop. (wincing in pain)
SeoJin: Or is it a kind of defense mechanism? Is it hard to build relationships? Is that why you treat others badly before you get hurt by anyone?
Here. I think she inadvertently revealed her true feelings here. She can’t get over that Taesul betrayed and broke up with her.
Taesul: Hey. What did you give me?
SeoJin: You. I read everything you said. But there’s one thing that doesn’t add up.
Taesul: What?
SeoJin: The key. Where’s the key?
Taesul: (spilling the medicine)
SeoJin: If what you said is true you had the key on you before the party at our house. But you don’t have it now. Did you hide it. Or does the woman named Seohae from your delusions have it?
She knows that Seohae isn’t a hallucination because Taesul made her attend to Seohae’s wound. She must have furious when Taesul fussed over Seohae. He kept asking her questions, like, “Is it serious?” “Is she badly hurt?” “Did water get in her lungs?” “What is it? Cardiac arrest?”
To me, she can’t forgive that Taesul chose another woman — a malnourished illegal time traveler — over her.
That’s why, at the night of the party, she gave the go signal for the Control Bureau to proceed once she got Taesul. She didn’t care what happened to Taesul’s “new girlfriend.” She was probably thinking, “Good riddance to her!”
The Control Bureau went after Seohae, but they left Taesul in her hands. She was in charge of getting the key from him.
So, right now, we have five groups of people after Taesul. Actually, SIX, if we want to count Seohae, too. 🤪
Back in the dim corridor. TSan issues a command, “Kang SeoHae, daughter of Lieutenant Kang DongGi. You’re putting HTSul in danger. This is my last warning. If I see you with TSul again. I will kill you.” 😮. He walks back out to the main party room and disappears. SH is stopped by MIB as she tries to chase TSan. Picks up a fork and takes out CB waiters in her heels and formal attire. That slit in the dress came in handy. She runs outside. In her heels… floodlights. What did Jung say about going outside? 🙄. She stands rooted…why? Just keep running? It’s harder to shoot a moving target? See TSul I told you, you should’ve dressed her in black, no skin reveal. O wait. Maybe TSul thought a sniper would mistake that flash of skin for her head? Good thinking because it worked. She gets shot on the leg. Agent Jung lines up for a second shot as SH yells at TSul, “where are you, idiot?!!” SH recalls the EMP device, pulls it out and presses the red button. Just as Agent Jung is about to squeeze the trigger growling, “goodbye”, lights out. Jung drops his sniper rifle, picks up his handgun and walks out towards a limping SH in the dark. The lights suddenly come back on. CB Chief and his men capture SH. Jung walks up to SH. Cocks his gun. SH gets a flashback of Future Jung’s warning. 🙄😑. Headlights. Expensive sports car pulls up the driveway and door opens…to reveal…it’s Sun! With dark hair. And cashed up from a Lotto win.
Woohoo! It’s Jaesun! But what’s he doing there at the party? Don’t tell me he invested in the stocks as soon as he won the lotto.
Somehow SH manages to get in the car. CB Chief yells out the most logical course of action, “drop your guns. Check the licence plate.” Huh? What happened to “shoot to kill”? CB men watch helplessly as the car speeds away. No shots are fired. Probably because it’s such an expensive ride and you know guys and their cars. Check it out. So cool. No scratches allowed on such magnificence, that would be anathema. Instead, they try to run after it like fan boys. SH passes out in the car – probably blood loss. But not before she urges Sun to turn the car around because she needs to get TSul. Screen blacks out with SH.
🎶Musical interlude. 🎶 Flashbacks of tender OTP moments…okay. We so needed that to gather our thoughts.
Beeping of hospital equipment. TSul wakes up. Eddy Kim and SJ rush to his side. They ask him how much he remembers. They tell him he was shot at the conference. Eh? They try to convince him that he was in a coma. TSul shakes off SJ’s attempts to check on him. He asks them what they are trying to pull and where SH is. He rambles on like a crazy man about events he remembers. Then SJ says, “today is 19Aug”. 😮. TSul grabs Eddy’s phone and sure enough, the date is 19Aug 9:09am. He gets out of bed and turns the TV on…and the date is 19Aug. TSul continues his rambling amid Eddy/SJ’s concerned looks. He breaks out into a run to try to get away but succumbs when SJ hits him with sedative. He receives more tests and SJ tries to convince him he’s having delusions. Eddy takes him home and makes him a banana smoothie and hands him tranquilizer pills.
There’s a bit of detail here which I’ll write about it separately.
TSul tells a sympathetic Eddy about the future. SJ has sent Eddy to monitor TSul and to disconnect his internet (cut him off from the outside world?). Eddy leaves but not before telling TSul, “you’ll get headaches from those pills”. Yeah Eddy, he’s not the only one (with headaches). TSul starts to see visions of his brother again. And flashbacks(flash forwards?) of times with SH. He gets a nosebleed (?).
Yes, the nosebleed was a weird detail. I don’t get why this director included that. I know it’s a kdrama trope that when somebody gets a nosebleed, he’s under a lot of stress.
SJ is the Chairman’s daughter. She tells her mom not to get sick. They are in kahoots about keeping TSul drugged up and in the dark. SJ visits and tries to convince him it’s all in his head. That none of it really happened. Then she drops the bomb…where is the key? 😮. TSul realizes that she’s poisoning him? Making him worse? SJ and Chairman discuss putting TSul into an asylum. Eddy to them is just a pawn because he’s happy to get managerial rights to QnT. Someone wants the key. Sigma? Without the key to hand over, they won’t have the medicine required to keep SJ’s mother alive. Flashback to actual sequence of events that transpired after SJ sedated TSul at the wedding. When he wakes up, it’s actually 29Aug 2020. They have tricked him into believing that it’s 19Aug.
What happened was he was brought to the hospital on August 29, 2020, the night of the party. But they reset everything to August 19.
On August 19, Taesul learned about time travel. He and Seohae met the future sniper Hyunki and brought him to his mother’s house. He and Seohae jumped over the bridge, and spent the night at SeoJin’s office.
We don’t know exactly when Taesul woke up, whether it was a day after the party (August 29) or two after the party (August 30). All we know is that they reset all timers to make it look like it was August 19 again.
TSul passes out on the floor of his apartment. We see TSul having visions/dreams that coalesce the past, present and future. And we empathize completely. 😂.
This is important. When Taesul collapsed after Seojin pressed him about the key, he made a mental connection that three groups of people were after the key.
The broker, Mr. Park, and he was willing to kill him for it.
The Control Bureau, and they were willing to kill him and harm everyone around him, for it.
And Seojin, and she also seemed willing to kill him for it — or at least, kill his brains so he’d end up in a mental asylum).
The only person who wanted him to hide the key very well was Seohae. She didn’t want him– or anybody else — opening the safe, and learning how to create the time machine.
Use your brain, SJ mocks. You’re so going to regret saying that SJ. Because he does. The space bit of the much touted Space Time Continuum makes a cameo. As the backdrop to SH who with Yoda like aplomb points TSul in the right direction to reorient his time. The wax/wane cycles of the moon. Of course. Elementary. Who needs a watch or calendar when you have the moon? After some quick calculations care of squiggly mathematical theorems which materialize like Star Wars opening credits, TSul works out it’s now 15Sept 2020. ((GASP)) And wakes up just as a mug (?) smashes on the floor.
And it’s true. There was a waning crescent on September 15, 2020.
He walks over and picks up a shard, it’s not something that belongs to him? I spy a certain EMP device on the floor next to the shards with the wedding pic attached to it. SJ seems so obsessed with the whereabouts of the key that it never occurs to her that it’s weird that a mug would just smash on the floor and TSul is holding a photo and a device in his hand. TSul flips to the back of the photo and SH has written, “I don’t want to get married either”.
I like this. I like that they have jokes that nobody else would understand. To me, the text sometimes doesn’t matter as much as the SUBTEXT. I don’t expect either TaeSul or SeoHae to come up with flowery language because for the most of their time together, TaeSul had been squawking or nagging her about something. So this petulant message from Seohae was well-suited for him. It tells me that although he certainly got under her skin when he said she wasn’t his type, she was going to be there to help him out when he needed.
TSul laughs. SJ realizes something’s off and calls security. Red button is pressed. Black out. Cool. And just like that, TSul makes his escape.
SJ heads downstairs and meets up with 🥷 Ninjas who nod at her command to search for HTSul. Eddie pulls up and asks where TSul is. Ninja warriors don’t faze him at all. He tries to dial the Police and SJ stops him. She tells him she’s got it under control. A worried Eddie asks, “why are you doing this?” She warns, “just do as you’re told.” And spineless Eddie backs down.
Does SeoJin really love Eddie? Her mask has fallen off.
Back at CB HQ, Jung is watching video footage of sexy SH at the party taking down waiters. He’s frustrated she got away. CB Chief assures him, “the operation was going to fail anyway.” Huh? He shows Jung a report stamped, “operation expected to fail”. Jung is confused (and so are we). “Why ask me to do it then?” CB Chief gives him an explanation that’s clear as mud. “Would you have done it if I told you?” Jung says yes. Chief replies sagely, “Don’t try too hard. Just do your best.” No Chief you got it wrong. It’s “Do…or do not..there is no try.” Jung is frustrated. Chief leaves with parting words, “just trust me. You’ll catch her. Just wait.” Like hell he is.
hahaha. This is funny, nrllee. The Chief tried to be Jedi master and failed.
TSul is on the run and they are hunting him. Cue MacGyver music. He uses an analog phone and hooks it up and makes a phone call to SH who picks up? She sounds preoccupied, distant. This is NOT the SH we know. She doesn’t seem to care about TSul at all? He tells her where he is right now as Ninja1 flips out his baton and approaches stealthily (not). She says she’s busy right now then orders him to get down. He does and bam…Ninja1 is downed by a sniper (?) bullet.
Here, I like that Taesul complied with Seohae’s command to get down without protest. Next time, I’m hoping he’ll obey her instinctively.
As TSul walks out he notices that there’s a trail of bodies of Ninjas and MIB from Team SJ. He walks up to a high point (a bridge of sorts) to calm himself only to see SH saunter up, sniper rifle in hand. He smiles goofily at her. And smoke billows up (for effect you know).
He went to the overpass when he realized that SeoHae must have been assisting him and shooting his assassins from an elevated spot.
Scene changes to monitor screens with the exact scene above. Someone is watching them. Hello Truman show. Someone who is drawing a dog (?) on a notepad. Okay. I guess TSul did look like Goofy. He lets out a sigh and comments, “this is my favorite part. So romantic. Don’t you agree Mr Han TSan?” Camera pans to a chair next to him where TSan is bound and gagged.
This tells us that, while Jung Hyunki is being set up as Seohae’s adversary and SeoJin is Taesul’s jealous, psycho ex-girlfriend, their real nemesis is the Mr. Train/Cat Guy. He knows Taesul’s weak spot is his Hyung, and Seohae’s weak spot is Taesul. So by kidnapping Taesan, he was setting the cat loose on the lovebirds.
This is awesome!!! Thanks @nrllee and @pm3! I totally enjoyed this.
You’re welcome. 😆
@packmule3 I do wonder about the motive of Cat/Dog Man. It’s a bit like the Truman show? He just likes watching? Playing God? Is he the head of Sigma?
The 2 hospital staff with popped veins were similar to the mutant assassin at the conference. And he was part of Sigma. So presumably, SJ is part of their team? It’s hard to miss their disfigurement. I am also beginning to think that the Ninjas who appeared at TSul’s home after he escaped are Team Sigma. Why else would they need to wear hoods except to hide the fact that they are disfigured? I get the feeling that the Time Machine Sigma has is faulty or missing a piece. Which is why the people they send over are disfigured? SH and Officer Jung arrived fine?
Did you work out how they could classify the plane incident as an “attack on TSul”? Unless using his brother TSan and his suitcase as a projectile/missile is their definition of an “attack”.
Hope Nursery School would possibly be a nod to Pandora’s box, it’s the last item in the list. Where Hope is the one thing remaining in the box after it was opened. And I guess you could also look at children as the hope for a better future. That they would learn from the mistakes of the past to build a better future.
The Cat/Dog/Train man is likely Sigma in the flesh, hiring the goons to come over and take a shot at Taesul. And Seojin’s group can very well end up working with Sigma.
But for now, let’s separate them. We can form the allies and coalitions later when the story progresses.
I don’t think Cat/Dog/Sigma just watches. I think he killed the copilot and the restaurant owner…unless there’s a rogue element in the Control Bureau team.
He’s probably watching the monitors to frighten or torture Taesan with the display of his omniscience.
SeoJin can become part of Sigma’s team later on, but as of Episode 6, her allegiance is shifty. She could be pro-CB or pro-Sigma.
1. She just figured out what Taesan meant when he was scribbling Sigma in Episode 5.
2. She probably wasn’t aware (like Taesul) that Sigma had shares in QnT company.
3. Her father cooperated with the Control Bureau and seemed scared of them. Not Sigma.
4. She cooperated with the Control Bureau and allowed them to conduct a sting operation to capture both SeoHae and Taesul during the company party.
5. The Control Bureau allowed her to keep custody of Taesul. He should have been handed over to the Control Bureau. Why was she keeping him?
6. However, she didn’t call up the police to report TS and SH, because she knew that the Control Bureau were tapping her lines.
7. We don’t know who the supplier of her mom’s medicine is.
Could be CB, hence they’re not demanding that Taesul be remanded to the custody of the CB. They’re withholding drugs until SeoJin gets the key from Taesul and hand it over.
Could be Sigma. I don’t know how, but whatever.
No. Facial disfigurement isn’t necessarily a sign of being on Team Sigma. The cat/dog/train/Sigma guy HIMSELF wasn’t deformed when he appeared on the train tracks.
The vein scars of Seojin’s men were hideous, weren’t they? I don’t know why they were wearing hoods. This Director is weird. Seojin’s men could be hiding scars or they could just be trying to be cool dudes.
The illegal traveler Jung Hyunki had a scar on his left cheek. One of the sidekicks of Mr Park has a scar on his left throat. The scar seemed to have been blurred out on Kissasian; it was more visible on Netflix.
I must stress that, for now, it’s best not to combine or assume same loyalties. This will save us the headache of untangling the alliances later on. 😂
But the Sigma assassins on Aug 15 definitely used subpar time machines. 😂
The averted plane crash was meant to be an attack on TaeSul. The downloader wasn’t supposed to download Hyung in space but on the ground. We assumed it was a systems error or glitch of the time machine. But what if it wasn’t? What if Taesan hit the airplane windshield bec somebody purposely put in the wrong coordinates? It would be killing two birds with one stone.
@packmule3 good points. I agree about the PD. The fact that he’s so sloppy makes it hard for us to work out what are salient points that allude to something significant in the plot or if it’s just an “oops, didn’t think of that” moment on his part 🙄. I am not putting a lot of hope in him getting details right. He’s just not meticulous enough. I did notice the scar on one of the henchmen for Park and also on Officer Jung.
To be honest I’m just peeved that TS and SH did not heed what the police guy told them. He told TS precisely not to go the second floor and for SH not to go outside. But I guess it was meant to happen.
Wait a minute, I had a sudden weird idea. What if the employee from the Chinese restaurant turns out to be the guy drawing the cat? I mean how come he manages to rescue SH, while the CB team did nothing? It made me think that there’s something fishy about the guy.
As much as the director has some issues with his execution. I’m really confused by the amount of vile hatered some people have for this show, reading about it on other websites is just urgh, and very questionable to me. It’s not the worst thing ever, it has an interesting premise to it and a good mystery I think. So why are people acting like it’s the worst thing on earth to happen to kdramas just weird
🙂 I ignore them.
Frankly, I’m too busy figuring out where this director is going with the story to pay attention to how viewers are liking the show. Their reactions are irrelevant so I don’t mind them. Just like I don’t pay attention to polls….
Also, if they haven’t noticed and raised a stink about the two sets of time (and now three because of the gaslighting) in the beginning of the drama, then they aren’t fully getting the show anyway. 😈
Yes.
I think this Director and the scriptwriters lack subtlety about their theme.
We already got an inkling of the “hope” message when we saw that Seohae had a colorful machine gun. Then we got another dose of the “hope” message from the BTS poster and “Spring Day” plug.
We got the “hope” theme from the opening of the Pandora’s box or suitcase. That was obvious, too.
But these signs weren’t enough. We’re going to be bamboozled with the “hope” message again with the final setting at the “Hope” nursery school. 🤣 In case we didn’t get that we’re supposed to have hope even when we’re doing the Sisyphean task of trying to make sense of our absurd lives in an absurd world.
Lol. The French writer Camus talked about this absurd life in his philosophical writing, which oddly enough (or not subtly enough) has the same title as this kdrama. 🤣🤣 The prime difference is hope. For Camus, hope in not possible in a crazy world. For this kdrama, there’s an emphasis on hope.
Thanks @pkml3 and @nrllee. I only read a bit of this and forgot to add a comment so that I’d get notifications! Well I’m righting that now.
❀.(*´◡`*)❀.
@Packmule3,
In kdramas, the rendering of certain scenes is designed to be quickly understandable rather than realistic. Here are some examples, concerning historical dramas :
– When it’s dark, we see as if it’s full daylight, thanks to very powerful bluish projectors.
– When a character hides behind a wall and observes other characters, he is always half visible and could easily be seen, but the people observed never turn their heads in his direction.
– When a character is imprisoned, it is always the same wooden cages, whose bars are so far apart that it is easy to slip one’s head (and therefore one’s body) into them to escape. But no one ever escapes like that.
– When a character is captured and tied with a rope, it is always something crude, a rope around his body, which anyone could easily remove by raising his arms. The rope just serves as a visual indicator to tell the viewer “he is immobilized”, as an element of narration, never to be realistic knots that can hinder any movement. Moreover, in Sisyphus, there is exactly such a scene.
The narrative meaning overrides the exact detail.
———————
On another website, I read an interesting theory, which I report here (thanks SolidSnake) :
Sun won the lottery, he was apprehended by ICB, which monitors lottery winners. Then ICB blackmailed Sun. Perhaps by threatening one of his close relations, like his sister. ICB ordered Sun to rescue Seo Hae, so that he could serve as a spy and keep an eye on her in a more efficient way than previous attempts.
This would explain why :
– Sun just happened to be there to rescue Seo Hae.
– ICB chief tells Jung that his snipe attempt was destined to fail.
– ICB agents do not shoot at Sun’s car and let them escape.
I’m reading the rest of your article now 😉
Separating Sigma and the man with the cat is surprising, but it is true that there is no proof that he is Sigma.
Indeed, the man with the cat could be a former ICB agent. He looks young, and there are a lot of young models in the organization. His past at ICB gave him access to all the information of the hunt of Tae Sul and Seo Hae, in the previous time loop.
@M: yes, Sun could be “alpha” time traveler and/or Cat-man.
@BeingWritten : the appreciations of others are useless. Just analyze the drama as we do here. People are unable to detect empirical qualities, such as the incredible number of different sets remarkably well filmed (unlike the stunts on green screen). This is an objective fact that is easy to compare with other dramas. If they can’t do it, we won’t be able to do it for them, lol! Moreover, they take things very emotionally, like a belief, whereas you can have some hindsight on the good or the bad without dramatizing.
In the end, only your judgment counts, without outside parasites. That’s why it’s interesting to see dramas that are already finished broadcasting, and you’ve never read any commentary on them. I saw W the first time under these conditions. I’ve never read any comment on it before, I barely read the pitch. There was Lee Jung Seok, check. It was about Manhwa, check. As a result, I started the drama at 5PM, didn’t sleep all night, and finished it at 12AM the next day. If a critic says something stupid about the drama, what else can I do but smile? And there are a lot of negative comments about this drama. 🙂
@WEnchanteur
That theory of yours of Sun being blackmailed might just be it. It totally fits the narrative. Unless he’s pulling a Taecyeon act ala Vincenzo.
So far even Eddie could not be trusted. The brokers not sure. And TS trusty bodyguard is out of the picture. Nobody mentioned him again.
Well I do hope that the show will give us some answers sooner than later. Only 10 episodes left.
Fun recap and comments 🙂 Who is Sigma? It is definitely Kim Byung Cheol (“cat man”) according to a Korean article https://www.mk.co.kr/star/hot-issues/view/2021/03/213834/ The title makes it clear ‘시지프스’ 김병철=시그마 (‘Sisyphus’ Kim Byung Cheol=Sigma). There were 3 teaser posters released before Sisyphus aired with the two main leads and a mystery character. After episode 6, the poster with Kim Byung Cheol was released, revealing the mystery character (the poster that @nrllee linked on the open thread). The director referred to Sigma as “the hidden card” or “the last villain.” So everyone is after the key except Sigma? What is he after??
Thanks much @royangi. I went to that Korean site and used Google Translate, and it’s pretty much as you mentioned.
I copied and pasted from the imperfect translation of Google Translate, the last paragraphs:
“First, Sigma, looking down at our world with an unknown face, creates a cool tension with far more eerie gazes than imagined by only looking at the silhouette. The fact that his cold life is heading for hantaesul is the point that causes goosebumps. Even 10 years ago, the older brother Han Tae-san (Heo Jun-seok), who made strange noises to Tae-Sul, such as “The Enforcement Bureau”, “The Provincial Government”, and “Another Existence” already knew his existence. Tae-san was the one who witnessed the moment when Sigma, who was a smuggler, had just arrived, and there were various dangers that would happen to Tae-sul in the future, such as a photo of Tae-sul held in his hand and a conference sniper incident. Sigma has been hiding in this world from that time until now and watching Taesul.”
“The production crew said, “Finally, the face of Sigma was revealed. Taesul is still being watched from behind, but from the broadcast afterwards, it gradually begins to reveal its true colors, and Taesul and the West Sea are expected to be sucked into a larger whirlpool. We ask for a lot of interest in future stories about how the appearance of Sigma will stir up the “strong” partner’s journey through Sisyphus.” ”
So this says that Sigma arrived that day TSan saw him on the railway tracks… and that Sigma has been watching TSul ever since.
°˖ ✧◝(○ ヮ ○)◜✧˖ °
@GB O what? They just gave us all the spoilers. 🙄 Truman show. So I was kinda hoping they would let the audience work it out for themselves. But I guess not. Maybe they felt that the story was so convoluted they had to offer some handholding by revealing everything…😂
Thanks @GB, I’m watching it now and it is him, Sigma.
Maybe your right @nrllee because my sister said she’s up to episode 6 and she said it’s confusing.
I just read there was spoilers.
I’m lucky, I didnt full read the whole thing.
I know nothing! I know nothing! I know nothing!
Don’t speak to me ! Wooossshhhh
Sorry All!!! I thought that as this is the Episode 6 Thread, that those were no longer spoilers. I guess I should have put out the SPOILER warning anyway.
Hep ! psssst !
I have a CRAZY theory, it’s not supposed to be true.
But I’m posting this because it would be a good idea for a screenplay.
Sigma is IMMORTAL. I don’t know how.
He doesn’t age, so:
He appears in the subway in 2001, then lives the time of the loop, then he goes back in time in 2021.
The character has no past and no future. He lives only during the time loop.
And this time loop repeats itself an infinite number of times.
There has never been a beginning and there will never be an end.
Of course, he knows it by heart, and he can see it on his screens and say :
“This is my favorite part. It’s romantic.”
Since the loop is infinite, Sigma was never young, and he was never born.
That freezes the blood, doesn’t it?
Σ(๑+⌓ o｡)シ
At first, I thought too the man on the tracks = the cat man at end of Ep 6. But maybe they are not the same person. Sigma has a group of assassins in the future, I’m guessing he is a force to be reckon with. So if he would to time travel he should have been up/downloaded from a more advanced portal than those illegal immigrants who arrived scarcely clothed w/min. belongings.
In Ep 1, the cameo appearance of actor Lee Jae-won (Sp. Director Hong in Mr. Queen) caught my attention. And not sure if I missed anything, so far LJW did not appear again after the focus face shot (31:38) in Ep 1. Had I not seen this guy in Mr Queen, I would dismissed him as another extra on the set. According to kdramapal.com ‘Lee Jae-won is set to play the role of a fund manager who will add conflict to the story’, so I’m guessing he is the man on the track that Tae-san saw. He brought with him info from the future to help him make a fortune from stock investments in the past…
Being JTBC’s 10th Anniversary Special Drama, I’m expecting a more sophisticated plot here 😏 n hopefully it doesn’t disappoint us.
Ah, a surprise note, I’m enjoying Vincenzo so far even though the story plot n SJK acting mafia?! wasn’t attractive for me lol.
@2uke,
It can be Sigma.
Sigma is young in 2021, let’s say 22, then he travel back to 2001.
At this time, his younger self is, of course 2 years old.
(2021-2001 = 20, so 22 – 20 = 2)
They both get older during 20 years.
When they reach 2021 :
Sigma older self is 42, and younger self 22.
Younger self travel back in time to 2001.
Older self (42) continue to live post 2021 and send killers in the past.
When it’s 2040, older self is 61. He can send killers too.
You could also get a twisted plot like, when it’s 2035, older self, 56, come back in time. Let’s call him “older older self” now, and Let’s say he go back in 2015, so you get 3 sigma at this moment :
Younger self is 6.
older self is 26.
older older self is 56.
One of my old theory (I don’t remember if it’s stand yet), it’s :
Conference killers are not Sigma one.
They are from the future Control Bureau post 2021.
What made me do this link :
ICB boss gave to policeman Jung the Sniper rifle the alien killer used.
Same rifle and box. Barret82 .50.
Hi @WEnchanteur, your theory of Sigma is v interesting n plausible 😄 I agree that the cat man at E6 ending is Sigma, as for the man on the train tracks… let’s see what unveils in E7
@GB @nrllee They did reveal a lot in that article. I guess I don’t mind, though, because I like to know what’s happening (too impatient haha). There are still questions to be answered and in the end we’ll see how the pieces of the puzzle fit together…
@2uke I also noticed the actor Lee Jaewon shaking Taesul’s hand except I recognized him as the brother in Record of Youth since I didn’t watch Mr. Queen. Interesting, he’ll have a role in future episodes. Also heard that a newbie actress will play Sun’s sister. So the theory @WEnchanteur posted about Sun being blackmailed by the Control Bureau with his sister taken hostage could happen.
Has anyone said anything about the use of the anechoic chamber? The Control Bureau holds interviews there, and I’m beginning to consider the idea of parallel universes as well as time. After all, the name of Tae-Sul’s corporation is “Quantum and Time”. I do like this convoluted narrative, and for @nrllee, for the extended and comprehensive (and yes, riveting) recap – I’m all admiration and gratitude.
Yeay, I am giggling at some of the tropes with TS and SH and of course nrllee’s review! Sorry, I just finished watching ep. 6 yesterday and some of my silence mental notes were finally revealed.
First, despite some technical directing issues, and plots that made me raised an eyebrow i.e. ICB Chief exposing that insecurity and jealousy play a role in its mission to capture the illegal immigrants for the sake of present time humanity is \_(o-o)_/. The lottery mystery resolved. Honestly, the ICB HQ looking a lot like a terrorist agency when they are prepping the ambush, guns and all. PD-nim, we can definitely skip that.
Nevertheless, show makes me grin like an idiot when ever TS and SH are onscreen is good enough for me, for now hahaha. Anyhow, I agree with pm3, SB looked like he knew TS is in the wardrobe. I am wondering what happened to TS’s bodyguard. Upon hearing the voice of the cat (?)/sigma guy, I told sn that he was that translator in Mr. Sunshine but Sn asked if he was also the guy in Skycastle? She nailed it! kekekeke… I thought it was the younger ones… hahaha
So, ex-gf and daddy are motivated to join hand with Sigma due to mommy’s condition. So she actually is using SB (sobs). Will SB help TS later on after he knows gf is in collusion?
So, SH is probably the girl who wrote TS the marriage proposal. TS having nosebleed = SH having nosebleed. Q: is this symptom of time traveling? Radiation effect?
My favorite action flick from the episodes is Seo Hee’s dad wasting no bullets on his opponents. Give me a sharp shooter in action anytime of the day and I’ll be satisfied. 😀 Unto the next episode!
Kalimera!
I am a bit late in the party, but yesterday I was kinda mad with the whole gaslighting thing that I didn’t want to write anything.
Σίγμα / Σ / Sigma is definitely the bad ghost from Goblin. As @GB said somewhere I could recognize his voice anywhere.
Still, Sigma for some reason we don’t know, became a God like persona?
I mean if he is watching everything from above, then he is like a omniscient narrator in literature? (παντεπόπτης αφηγητής;)
In that case, who made him God like? Because obviously he is not God, he pretends to be God. If that is the case, then SH and TS will manage to escape from the time loop. I cannot say how, but the first thought is Deus Ex Machina?
We shall see!
Also, I forgot to write the following.
If your calculations are true then Seo Hae is going to die within the next 15 days. It was September 15th when Tae Sul managed to escape and September 30th is her birthday.
@WEnchanteur,
For me, a myth is an incident that did happen very long time ago, that people used to talk about it, in the old days that was told like a song, that everyone was talking about but added some details that didn’t happen.
(Note: Toss a Coin to your Witcher! Oh Valley of Plenty!)
If that is the case, then what do we have to expect in the next 10 episodes?
Because if Tae Sul is going to die, that means they are not going to drag this until the end.
I truly believe that this time, they will break the loop.
Just because we have Sisyphus: The Myth, as a title.
Hi… I really enjoyed all of the theory and analysis here. Thank you so much, it gives clarity while waiting for the next episodes.
There’s one thing that I still don’t understand though. The shooting during the conference happened in Busan, right? But the bridge incident happened in Seoul. So who brought them to Seoul, was it Mr Park? So they went back from Busan to Seoul by car? Whereas they went to Busan usually by Plane or train. So the car ride must be a long one, then.
Mr Park.
If you rewatch the scene when Taesul was sleeping with his head on SeoHae’s shoulder, the van was entering a toll booth on a highway. The sign said “Seoul.”
Busan to Seoul is 242 miles or 390 km.
Fastest train travel time: 2 hours 33 min
Slowest train travel time: 5 hours 40 min
By plane: an hour
By car: 4 hours
It’s long road trip but it shouldn’t take days. When they left Busan, it was Aug 15. When they awoke in Seoul, it was Aug 19. 😂
Do you think TS will build the uploader to save SH? I remember in the earlier episode, he was asked to save the woman or save the world. I am guessing he wanted to save her so somehow built the uploader (I haven’t figured out how the loader can save her though). I suspect he would always want to save her as he did in the past episodes. Would it be the reason they are trapped in this loop of he saves her, she saves him…
@Cleopatra, I also think they will break the loop this time. My current thinking is they need to be able to let go of something they didn’t before.
@Star82 I feel the same, it’s great to be able to read all the analysis here and I am very thankful 🙂 So far the show has kept me thinking because of the mystery. I also enjoy watch the development of TS and SH.
@packmule3 intentional or another “oops” moment by the PD/Writer?
@Viva,
I truly believe that will be the case.
If we take into consideration what happen on TK:EM, then we have a possible answer.
People’s choices will change the outcome this time around.
As the mathematician Lee Gon said:
” [..] Beautiful equations are always simple. […] ”
I truly believe since Tae Sul is the mechanic here will have an Epiphany like this one.
Nrllee,
Did you include a link? If you did I can’t see it. 🧐
I’ve to write about the ceramics.
Made a list of absurdities, (like the fan in Ep 5) but I think they’re on point. Will explain later.
@packmule3 I was referring to the point about the Busan-Seoul time disparities. Would it be a glitch and therefore intentional or just one of the many “oops” moments by the PD. Because there are glitches. Like when Sigma is found on the train tracks and TSan is shocked when he wakes up and suddenly the man is up and about and further away walking along the train tracks. I guess the PD could argue that all his oops moments were just glitches in the time continuum. 😂
Ahhh. 🙂
I was answering on my iphone and the links don’t often show up. I thought you posted a screenshot.
I think it’s another time glitch…and I figured out WHEN (not the why, though) it happens.
I’ve to take screenshots to show them to you but Grrrrrr will need to go on kissasian. will be back later.
@packmule3 I have started to use the app Rave to take screenshots for Netflix. I just watch it with the app set on private. I don’t want anyone else watching with me. In fact that’s the only reason I downloaded the app. 😂
Oh! You can do that? Let me try it then. But I’m on my laptop?
@packmule3 I don’t know about the laptop. It’s an app. I use in on my iPad. I think it should work on the laptop too? I had to stop going to KissAsian. The ads were just getting too much.
I’ll check it out later. Seems like it’s only for ipad/iphone so will need another app made for laptop to download Rave onto the laptop.
Ugh. An app for an app.
By the time, I figure out anything I’ve already lost my (slow) train on thought. I can’t remember anymore what I want to write about Sisyphus. lol.
Oh dear, so relatable @pkml3 … if I don’t write it immediately, I forget what I wanted to say.
（=´∇｀=）
@viva @Cleo
Good point. SH and TSul were ‘not supposed to meet each other’ but they did, and they’ve been saving each other since then and that is why they entered into the time loop. Sounds about right.
Yes, there will be changes this time that will affect the loop. They may need to do something really different, or out of character for them, or be forced into a decision they would not normally make. But generally, it should be a choice that one or both of them make.
o(*^▽^*)o
@GrowingBeautifully
I googled the Sisyphus story. He got punished to do the infinite loops because he cheated death. What SH’s father said strikes me – we all need to die one day.
@Cleopatra
If the equation is simple I guess there is a simple way out of the loop.
Now counting down to Thursday to find out what is the motive of Signma. What would he gain out of this? If people going back to the past is to correct regret. What is his?
@Viva,
I believe that they are right. Simplicity is the answer to everything.
Hi there. Just want to ask if protected new post about sisyphus on liminality is limited to old posters only? If it is, I understand. Just asking.
No. It’s “protected” because I must finish it before my zoom conference today. It’s been sitting in my draft box since Saturday. I need to give myself a swift kick 🥾in the butt to get it done.
When it’s finished (hopefully, this century), I’ll remove password.
@packmule3, Hi.
Check soompi please, I used it for sending you a private message.
Ooops, you already answered.
Still, check it, there is another important point. 😉