Sisyphus: Season 1 – Netflix Review

SISYPHUS: THE MYTH on Netflix is a new sci-fi fantasy series from South Korea. Season 1 has 16 episodes that are each around one hour long. Fortunately, it’s off to an intriguing start – even if it is a bit slow. Read our Sisyphus series review here!

SISYPHUS is a new series on Netflix. We’re dealing with a South Korean production (org. title Sijipeuseu: The Myth) which means amazing production quality and a character-driven plot with a slow-burn pace. This isn’t an original Netflix production, which means it has some of the classic vibes of TV series from South Korea.

A South Korean Netflix production such as the zombie period piece Kingdom has a very different style to it. This latest series is more along the lines of The Tunnel. This isn’t a bad thing. At all. It’s just different and will take some getting used to. Especially the choice of music at times – which is only rarely used. Fortunately!

Continue reading our Sisyphus series review below and find all 16 episodes on Netflix now.

A sci-fi fantasy with lots of potential

While watching episode 1 of Sisyphus, you might find yourself thinking: “I want to watch what’s going on with the girl who travels back in time!” I certainly felt this way, but I do also respect that any first episode needs to introduce several characters and set the stage for many episodes to come.

The fact that Park Shin-hye plays the girl doesn’t hurt. We’ve just watched her in two awesome genre films on Netflix in recent months. First, there’s the zombie movie #Alive and most recently, the straight-up horror movie The Call. Both are very much worth checking out. 

You might like: Our review of the South Korean zombie movie #Alive here >

In this series, she plays a key part, but obviously isn’t the only character that matters. She is someone from the future that travels back in time, so there’s that. Overall, this sci-fi fantasy has a lot going for it. It looks great and has lots of fascinating moments… but also some that drag it down a bit, I’m sorry to say.

A bit too much of a slow-burn vibe

South Korean movies and TV series are known for having slow-burn paces. Or rather, they focus on characters and dwell on moments to make them stick with the viewer. Instead of dialogue, you’ll often see something happen and make your own conclusion. I love this about South Korean productions.

And I will gladly admit that this South Korean series does feature several interesting characters, so it’s not that I was bored. Things just moved too slow for me. At times, anyway. And I love slow-burn pacing, but only when it makes sense.

Plus, I do get really tired of several moments of urgency when characters just do not react, when they need to!

That might just be my pet peeve, but I’m sure you’ll understand what I’m getting at when a character (yet again) ignores calls for them to do something now.

Watch season 1 of Sisyphus on Netflix now!

Sisyphus is directed by Jin Hyuk who previously worked on several other TV series productions. Back in 2013, he did 13 episodes of a fantasy horror-comedy series titled Master’s Sun (org. title Joogoonui Taeyang). I’m not familiar with the series, but it does have an IMDb rating of 8.2, so it clearly has the love of viewers.

The screenplay for the series was written by Jeon Chan-ho and Lee Je-in. Both are without any previous credits on IMDb, but that doesn’t necessarily mean much. Unfortunately, IMDb is only as good as the information people feed it with. When it comes to many Asian actors and filmmakers, it’s grossly lacking.

Season 1 of this sci-fi fantasy series has 16 episodes and each is around one hour long. Essentially, this isn’t the kind of series you binge-watch in a day unless you really want to commit to it. There is definitely a lot of stories (and twists and turns) but it is off to an intriguing start and has a promising setup.

All 16 episodes of Sisyphus (or Sijipeuseu: The Myth) are out on Netflix from April 15, 2021.