Sisyphus the Myth: The Suitcase

As I said in my premier post about this drama, I didn’t know anything about Sisyphus: The Myth going into it. And after four episodes…I still don’t? I don’t even know how to describe it to give you an accurate synopsis. I’m part confused, part intrigued, and part questioning everything. I don’t even know if I liked or didn’t like it.

I went on a journey during the first four episodes of this drama. The first ten minutes of the drama I was super invested. I liked the dystopian feel it had going for it, it was dark and had a lot of good dark mystery and then it jumped to the plane crash that was less suspenseful and more “McGuiver slowly does things”. The tone is messy on this one. I couldn’t really come up with my feelings about this one…I kind of hate it but don’t want to drop it? I was going to post a full first impressions review on this one, but we spent the most recent episode of the Certified Noonas discussing the first four episodes, which you can listen to here, and I decided that I knew what I wanted to switch the focus of this post on to the one thing that has kept me going. The thing that I, a professional prop artisan for more than a decade, loves most. A prop. THE prop.

Let’s give it up to the real star of this drama: The Suitcase.

Do you see Park Shin Hye or Cho Seung Woo in the credits? No. But you do see The Suitcase.

The Suitcase goes everywhere. Need to run away from shiny-Lovecraftian soldiers by hiding under a train? No man left behind.

To be honest, I too would be scared of The Suitcase and want to keep it safe at all costs. From what we are presented with, it is the first killer in the drama.

Honestly, most of the intrigue in the drama comes from The Suitcase, or because of The Suitcase. Why are they SO important? Why is it that kind? Are the objects in it picked by the person, or do they have a list that they specifically have to bring and are assigned to. Why do they only contain mostly objects and equipment?

Park Shin Hye’s character really loves her suitcase. Obviously they contain important things, but for her it’s a life or death thing. She’d kill for that thing.

My question too, dude.

The Suitcase: 1 Human Bodies: 0

All jokes aside, the drama officially focuses on The Suitcase by choice and not just accidental occurrences. It is consistently added to shots to show how important it is, even taking up as much presence as the characters themselves. It constantly keeps up the main mystery of the drama, and contains a lot of the answers that we need but just don’t know. Almost every character that has been presented as major player in the drama has some sort of tie to The Suitcase, and for each it’s slightly different. Some know more than others, and some are just searching for the answers.

I’m really hoping that the drama keeps diving into the story behind The Suitcase and it doesn’t just start to slowly lose focus of it. Props can be used in a lot of different ways: sometimes passively, sometimes to further a story, and sometimes to further the creation of a character. The Suitcase has done all of those. The humans who came with them have different backgrounds, different reasons, and even filled their’s with different objects. The Suitcase holds something special and real for all that are connected with it. It’s just a box, but it holds the power to do so much more.

So here’s to The Suitcase. You keep me intrigued with your mystery and constant presence, and help fill this sad prop maker’s heart who has been out of her industry for a year with a little bit of joy. The ability that one single non-human item has that it can hold so much and pull a story along is part of the reason I decided to get into making them as a profession, and it’s nice to be reminded of that joy sometimes while I wait to be able to create that magic again.

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