Sisyphus: The Myth has everything a sci-fi fan wants – time travel, martial arts, a misfit hero and, of course, flying luggage
- The Netflix show follows the adventures of Han Tae-sul, played by Cho Seung-woo, as he travels through time
- Park Shin-hye assumes the role of a mistress of martial arts habitually slipping from the Control Bureau’s noose
Greek mythology has it that Sisyphus, having proved himself a bad element by slaughtering innocents, beating death and even deceiving the gods once or twice, was condemned by Zeus to roll a mighty boulder to the top of a hill … whereupon it would plunge back down again. Whereupon he would roll it to the top, whereupon … and so on. To the end of time.
But that original Sisyphus had it easy compared to Han Tae-sul (played by Cho Seung-woo) in Sisyphus: The Myth (Netflix, series one, all episodes now streaming). If Tae-sul does turn out to be Seoul’s own Sisyphus, then his Sisyphean task seems to be to make sense of a sometimes sprawling, but always visually arresting, adventure caper involving time travel, a sinister government agency and a formidable female street fighter sent to save him from his lamentable fate … sent through a portal from the future, that is.
That mistress of martial arts, the taciturn Gang Seo-hae (Park Shin-hye) is an early target of the merciless Control Bureau and its cunning chief, Hwang Hyun-seung (Choi Jung-woo). Which gives her plenty of opportunity to show off her slickest self-defence moves as she habitually slips the bureau’s noose.
By then we’ve learned that Tae-sul is an engineering hotshot as well as a wealthy, troubled loner, an inventor and possibly a Tony Stark fanboy without (so far) the shiny suit. He’s also CEO of his own company, whose boardroom dealings he neglects with the disdain of Bruce Wayne when obliged to show up at Wayne Enterprises.
Should Tae-sul evolve into some sort of superhero, saving himself and the world while also fighting off visions of his departed brother with a stash of pills and figuring out the frightening potential of a piece of flying luggage – a Pandora’s suitcase of gizmos old and new – he’ll deserve an adoring public.
Because any futuristic, retro-flavoured, time-warping mystery-thriller with possible romantic characteristics (such as this) regularly runs the risk of losing the plot. But that’s the beauty of sci-fi: it all makes sense in the end. Usually.
HBO’s Mare of Easttown reunites Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce
Dealing with decidedly more terra firma-inspired terrors is Kate Winslet in seven-part series Mare of Easttown (HBO Go and HBO from 10am tomorrow, repeated at 11pm on HBO; new episodes weekly).
Winslet, as world-weary Pennsylvania detective Mare Sheehan, could do with superpowers of her own as Small Town USA devours itself in a conflagration of murder, junkie disappearances, intimidation, violent family conflicts and paternity cases, while her own life stumbles from one domestic catastrophe to another. The drafting in from out of town of an assistant detective to help with the caseload does little to improve her mood. But at least the unexpected appearance of Guy Pearce as a treacle-smooth visiting college professor gives her the occasional break – between the sheets – from the pressures of a job that makes her answerable to an entire community that knows her personally.
Winslet and Pearce memorably starred together a decade ago in the series Mildred Pierce, and here they have no trouble in recreating the vulnerability and self-doubt (her) and raffishness and charisma (him) they radiated first time round. Their characters may now be radically different, but as in that initial outing they again make an unlikely pair, even if each is able to supply something missing from the life of the other.
Meanwhile, in Easttown’s simmering, claustrophobic environment, there is always a chance that someone will have seen something and will be happy to snitch on their neighbours – and the juicier the crime the better. Big cities don’t have all the fun.
