The K-Drama industry might recycle tropes as often as any other entertainment juggernaut, but one accusation can never grace their doorstep: failing to provide unique story concepts. In that regard, Sisyphus: The Myth is a particular highlight. The Netflix-distributed limited series was highly anticipated before it hit the 2021 market, thanks to its all-star cast, acclaimed director (Jin Hyuk, The Legend of the Blue Sea), and Korea’s local JTBC network promoting Sisyphus as an “anniversary special” to mark their tenth year on the airwaves. Blending dystopian sci-fi with mystery, action, and romantic elements, Sisyphus: The Myth isn’t for the faint of heart, but in a positive way; the celebration drama fires on all cylinders with enough high-octane thrills, intriguing twists, and apocalyptic stakes to rival a cinematic blockbuster.
What Is ‘Sisyphus: The Myth’ About?
Han Tae-sul’s (Cho Seung-woo), an eccentric engineer and the CEO of Quantum and Time, an advanced tech development company, already had a laundry list of issues before he survived a disastrous airplane crash. His older brother, Tae-san (Heo Joon-seok), passed away in a similar aviation accident 10 years earlier. Orphaned, lonely, haunted, and immensely capable of selfless love, Tae-sul conceals his wounded vulnerabilities by projecting an attitude of blithe arrogance, cutting wit, and irresponsible immaturity. Once he decodes staggering new facts about Tae-san’s death, his quest for the truth kick-starts a terrifying journey down the rabbit hole — especially since the impact of Tae-sul’s upcoming actions stretches further than he realizes.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
Kang Seo-hae (Park Shin-hye), a battle-trained survivor from the near-future, travels back in time to prevent a nuclear war that reduces the country to a derelict wasteland. Her mission is two-fold: preventing Tae-sul from inventing a functional time machine, and protecting the disaffected genius from assassins sent by Sigma (Kim Byung-chul), a formidable enemy with vengeance on his mind and resources in his pocket. As the unlikely duo plays cat-and-mouse with Sigma as well as other covert enemies, Tae-sul and Seo-hae’s connection — something born of destiny or coincidence — blossoms into an impossible, dimension-shattering love.
‘Sisyphus: The Myth’ Is a Twisty and Visually Stunning Thrill Ride From Start to Finish
For any mythology aficionados, Sisyphus: The Myth‘s title hints at its primary ideas. The series is named after the Greek fable about a power-hungry and manipulative king condemned to spend eternity pushing a boulder uphill — an impossible, cyclical task that always ends in failure. Tae-sul and Seo-hae’s joint burden involves trying over and over again to overcome a doomed result, and the series reinterprets the ancient myth as simultaneously a futile punishment and a testament to the enduring human capacity for free will, perseverance, choosing to survive in a hostile world, and pursuing hope in the face of pre-determined odds.
In true melodramatic sci-fi fashion, every choice in Sisyphus, minor or major, has equal and opposite consequences on a global scale. The premise of individuals racing to rewrite the past fits the Sisyphean model and recalls The Terminator with a side-dose of Black Mirror‘s tech-induced dystopia mindset. That familiarity grounds audiences and gives the themes, as well as Sisyphus‘s contemporary spins on futuristic gimmicks (time travel apparatus, timeline loops, convoluted paradoxes, shadowy business investors, secret conspiracy shenanigans), room to flourish. Jin’s direction and the production budget lend the drama a visually interesting identity through vivid colors, kinetic action sequences, and several practical sets.
Engaging Characters and Magnificent Performances Give ‘Sisyphus: The Myth’ Its Heart
Park Shin-hye sitting among flowers in Sisyphus: The MythImage via Netflix
Cho (The King’s Doctor, Stranger), an award-winning triple threat bridging Korea’s movie, TV, and musical theater worlds, turns his adept hand for measured gravitas and micro-expression authenticity to Tae-sul’s shift from brash, self-centered, and artificially lackadaisical to his truest driving trait: i.e., altruism. Park (The Heirs, The Judge from Hell), also a prolific leading performer, renders Sao-hae as more than an elite soldier who’s been hardened by years huddling inside a nuclear fallout shelter or scavenging her kill-or-be-killed environment. This badass woman hasn’t sacrificed her capacity for kindness nor her femininity; she’s set both aside to ensure she endures long enough to protect her loved ones and innocent strangers alike.
Even against tough competition, this dystopia’s meticulous world-building and nuanced social commentary win the sci-fi crown.
As they evolve into an inseparable unit, Tae-sul and Sao-hae’s chemistry embodies the revelatory self-discovery and rebellious tenderness that can be found at the end of the world. Appropriately, Cho and Park’s synergy supports Sisyphus: The Myth‘s ambitious conceit with the grit, maturity, moral ambiguity, and love-struck foundation the series needs to distinguish itself from kindred narratives. The same praise applies to Sisyphus‘ supporting cast, whose characters parallel the heroes’ shared journey. Basic concepts like love and hatred add nothing new to that common refrain, but the ensemble’s superb performances render those dynamics enjoyable.
Sisyphus: The Myth does commit a few genre-specific and generalized storytelling sins. It struggles to maintain consistent momentum, indulges in convenience-based leaps of logic and internal narrative inconsistencies, and it employs an incongruous, if appropriately bittersweet, finale. To what extent those downsides distract from its positives will depend on each viewer’s personal preference. Sisyphus: The Myth might run for a K-Drama’s standard 16 episodes, but the high entertainment value those 16 hours provide — propulsive action, fascinating ideas, and compelling characters — fly by in an addictively rewarding binge.
