In another thread, I commented:
Kindness. After Taesul rescued Seonhae from her drug-induced coma in Ep 11/12, he told Mr Park that his life flashed before him and that after the experience, he felt like he should live kindly.
As a child, Sigma set great store by his artwork. He thought drawing was his superpower just like Taesul’s genius was his superpower. He believed his drawings were prophetic.
Telling Sigma that his artwork was amateurish and “kitschy” according to the critics was unnecessarily unkind of Taesul. 🙂 Seohae looked askance at him.
But oh well. A psychopath is still a psychopath. Taesul can’t be held accountable for Sigma’s own psychopathic choices. But even a psychopath can speak a nugget of truth. Taesul could have been a little kinder, bit tolerant, more emphatic back then when he was a child and now as an adult.
Here’s @GrowingBeautifully’s response in full. Thanks, GB! My additional comment is attached at the very end. 🙂
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@pkml3 If there was a fault with Tae Sul (and there’s more than one) especially when we first saw him, it was arrogance and the desire to ‘perform,’ take the limelight (usually from Eddy) and that came together with a lack of consideration.
I did note that he bothers about his employees, even when he thought he was going to die on the plane. Even in Ep 14, he wanted his staff to get out of the building before the showdown with Sigma. However he hardly gave his Board of Directors the time of day, neglected his business, made use of Eddy to keep the company going but did not respect him. He had showed a great lack of care and consideration (and faithfulness) for Seo Jin who had been his girlfriend, and had hence caused their breakup. He’d been a playboy and even stolen his friend’s girlfriend. Not at all the saint we’d like our heroes to be.
With Seo Won Ju (Sigma as a child), I felt that Tae Sul was at first indifferent. He didn’t care about whether Won Ju or anyone else in school liked him or not. He merely tolerated him when Won Ju followed him around. However when he found out that Won Ju had discovered from him how to cause the explosion in his home that killed his family, TS was ‘grossed out’. He found Won Ju accosting him after that event, without a shred of guilt or sorrow for what he’d done, and so rejected him completely.
He was so repulsed by Won Ju that it’s not likely he could have found a kinder way to get Won Ju to stay away from him.
Won Ju’s Drawings
As a child, Sigma set great store by his artwork. He thought drawing was his superpower just like Taesul’s genius was his superpower. He believed his drawings were prophetic.
Now that I remember Won Ju’s childhood drawings … he had drawn more than one with an aeroplane. Regarding one of them which had Tae Sul in it, he had written “Tae Sul fixing a falling plane.” This seems to be a sign of some kind of clairvoyance on the part of Won Ju.
He not only had a gift for drawing, but he did envision some aspects of the future. (Unless his future self came and told him all about it?) Most of his drawings seemed to do with Tae Sul. Tae Sul did mention to him that he wanted to make a time machine, however the design Won Ju drew seems to be pretty accurate.
Tae Sul had only done a pencil sketch, which looked nothing like the ultimate uploader.
But Won Ju seems to have fleshed it out. He had already done a drawing of people flying through the air and an uploader that looks much like what we see now.
There’s a drawing on ‘Inventing’ which looks like someone in the uploader, and next to it ‘The Best Company’ which I believe has Tae Sul as the giant.
There was only one of Won Ju/Sigma, himself smiling at destruction with an aeroplane with engine on fire. What is scary is that Won Ju really drew himself looking like Sigma would look as an adult.
That last drawing seemed to predict that he, as Sigma, would be enjoying the destruction of the world. So I’m not sure if he just had grandiose ideas, but he does seem to have predicted quite accurately as a child.
However as an adult, he may have come to depend more on getting intel from himself of the future, or on the many camera records he has of past time loops. To his minions (and to Bong Seon), he still seems to be clairvoyant or all-knowing.
…Ep 11/12, he told Mr Park that his life flashed before him and that after the experience, he felt like he should live kindly.
This is the growth arc I’d like to see in Tae Sul. We see that he does have consideration for Bong Seon, and respects SH. He however has to get over being petty or arrogant with people like Jae Sun. He needs to learn to let others take the limelight and be more appreciative of Eddy who had been loyal for a long time before he gave up. Fortunately he was able to apologise to his brother, whom he had failed to appreciate fully or treat better.
Sigma as Sisyphus
I agree with you that Sigma is Sisyphus, and the clue of that Greek alphabet ‘sigma’, being the ‘S’ of Sisyphus, suggests that Won Ju considered himself Sisyphus. He felt himself always despised and rejected, except where he could have control over his minions. However he had no friends. He likely didn’t see himself as being punished so much as always having to loop back so that he could get to meet Tae Sul, his only friend, again and again, and so that he could play his deadly games with him, and pay him back for his rejection, by beating him every time.
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@GrowingBeautifully,
Yes, Sigma hero-worshipped Taesul after Taesul rescued him from the bullies. It’s pathetic to see him willing to go through the plotting and scheming, not to mention destruction, ad nauseum all because of an unrequited friendship and desperate attention from Taesul. In contrast, I find it heroic that Seohae was determined to bear suffering and death ad infinitum because of her love for Taesul and the dream of a peaceful world.
I’m not sure how the young Won Ju was able to predict Taesul’s fixing the plane or inventing the time machine. It could be clairvoyance as you said. (But you know me, I don’t believe in psychics. lol. I should trademark this expression.)
It could also be wish-fulfillment as in he created the situations themselves that lead to his “visions” becoming real. I think this is what happened to his drawing of burning his family home to the ground.
It could also be time-travel; he travelled back in time or sent a message back in time.
But clairvoyance is the easiest explanation.
Thanks @pkml3. So much nicer to see all the images.
Among the great puzzles, is that aeroplane that pops up in more than 1 drawing. It seems now that not much was by happenstance. Which means that Sigma was able to target that plane with TSul in it, send the suitcase to crash into it, etc. The other great puzzle is why Tae San is seen flying through the air. We see people downloaded and materialising on the ground and waking up with their suitcases not far off, but Tae San was ‘flung’ into the path of the plane, so that his image would be captured, and so that TSul would be galvanised to seek out the suitcase.
In the suitcase were clues that could have led him to Sigma/Won Ju, if only he had looked at the old school books and seen the drawings then. However the focus at first was the key and the missing blueprints.
The thing is, if I heard Sigma rightly, Tae San was already in the clutches of Sigma in the future and allowed to download back into 2020, and yet he was given free reign to hide and to change history/save Tae Sul if he could. This too is a bit of a paradox.
I wrote in my notes that I believed Sigma was able to even determine where he would land when he downloaded, so that he would meet Tae San at the railway tracks and ‘pass him’ the photo with all the important dates behind it, calling those dates, the times when TSul would be attacked. A sure-fire way to get Tae San to believe in future travelers, to fall into Sigma’s hands and to appear crazy.
I managed to watch Ep 13 with subs, so I’ll just leave a post on that thread.
Has anyone watched the German tv series Dark (2017-2020) on Netflix and found some ‘too coincidental similarities’ in Sisyphus? I started Dark after a few episodes into Sisyphus n binged on all 3 seasons two weeks ago so was lagged on Sisyphus.
Both dramas are same genre-sci-fi/time travel but maybe in characters/dialogue, etc. I sensed that deja vu. Lol. In Sisyphus 1st or 2nd Ep, there was a line by one of the Control Bureau ‘It’s not a matter of where, but when.’ n from Dark season 1 ‘It’s not a matter of when, but how’. Another case was the nuclear war, in Dark it was a nuclear explosion, both events were pivotal points in time. I only juz skim this n Robert’s question on Sigma’ scar post, n can’t wait ask to if anyone seen Dark?…
hm, some korean drama writers are pretty good at borrowing ideas n expanding on them n just so happen I spotted them every now n then.
I was going to write about the suitcase in the Easter banana, part 2, but I dropped it bec I was in a rush. The suitcase that Tsul saw did get sucked into the plane engine. But it showed up at Gimpo bec that was the original story or “myth.”
Kinda like nobody really shot at the artist Seo Gilbok but he still had to come out running of the building with a shoulder won.
And yes. I don’t get why TSan was transported in midair instead of the ground like other illegal aliens. I can theorize (as I’ve written in the other thread) that everything that was written on the back of the photo as “attacks on Han Taesul” were NOT MEANT to kill him but to force him to create the uploader. If you view the “attacks” as prodding Taesul towards Sigma’s end goal, then it would make sense that Taesan appeared out of nowhere and crashed into the plane windshield. Because without Taesan’s face plastered on the windshield, Taesul wouldn’t give that whole airplane incident a second look. He said he wasn’t being a hero, he did what he had to do. I interpreted his comment as dismissive. Meaning, he was over it. He moved on. He didn’t care to dwell on it anymore.
But seeing his brother’s face on the USB made him look for his brother. Wasn he in search of the body when he went to field in Gimpo? But he found the suitcase instead.
Yes. I agree. He focused on the camera, cellphone, and key. He should have checked out the other contents. Because if Taesan bothered to bring them back with him, then they should be important too. I seem to recall some tools too and vials. That’s why I originally thought that Taesan had a bad arm and he needed to inject himself with those drugs.
As for the photo, I thought he brought it back with him to remind him of the dates and his goals. Or his scheduled meetings with Taesul.
Funny, right? SeoHae had a locket with her family picture. (Hyunki. Didn’t he have a picture of his mom? I can’t remember) But Sigma had a picture of two brothers unrelated to him because he had no family of his own.
Thanks for the back to back posts on Sisyphus! I feel like I’m cramming for a test or presentation before the final 2 episodes! LOL! I can only watch later tonight. Sigh…
Yes, part of my love/hate feelings for TaeSul’s character is the lack of empathy and consideration for others. I’m glad to see he is getting better with his relationship with SH. And his remorse for his brother. As for Eddy, still pissed on his gaslighting so I may not be as forgiving on that.
And I know this is on another thread but I’m also rooting for JaeSun and Bingbing love line. 😂
@pkml3, yes you really need to write about your thoughts on why Gil Bok wasn’t actually shot and yet he bled. That suitcase conundrum of being in one piece after going through the plane’s engine always puzzled me.
Yes you’re right about the family photos that every uploader carried with them. Only Sigma had no family, but he had the photo that would lure Tae San to find out about the uploaders. It can’t have been coincidence that he was holding that photo of TSan and TSul just where TSan was to find him.
Yup I agree that ‘everything that was written on the back of the photo as “attacks on Han Taesul” were NOT MEANT to kill him but to force him to create the uploader.’
Yup, it was probably his brother that TSul was searching for in Gimpo. Unbeknownst to him, his brother had managed to be picked up by Park. I gather that Park and TSan wanted TSul to find the suitcase and bring them the key.
The medicine the uploaders brought back have so far not been used, as far as I can tell. Even the instant noodles were never eaten by Hyeon Gi’s mum.
It’s super late. Good night!
Jaesun and BingBing. Did you also notice how she told him to stand up straight in Ep 12? 😂 But chances are Jaesun will die. Because he doesn’t show up in the future. And so will Eddie. He’s dead too.
I’ll watch Eps 15 and 16 tomorrow. Back to back so I don’t have to wait to see what happens at the end.