Adapting Min Jin Lee’s bestselling novel, the first season of the Apple TV+ drama “Pachinko” saw a series of editorial decisions that gave the series its own identity. Most importantly, showrunner Soo Hugh and her writers split the story into two timelines, juxtaposing generations of the Baek family — so-called Zainichi Koreans who emigrated to Japan before World War II — half a century apart. “Pachinko” also presented its dialogue almost entirely in Japanese and Korean, with color-coded subtitles that both distinguish the two languages and show how the younger Baeks mixed them together as a form of assimilation.
But for the most part, “Pachinko” stayed true to its inspiration, even refusing to compress Lee’s story into the trendy form of a limited series. (“Pachinko” is the rare source material that demands a multi-season treatment, unlike more edgy expansions like “The Handmaid’s Tale.”) This approach paid off; Season 1 is among the best original series Apple has produced, from the compelling historical details to the painful tragedy of the Baeks, ravaged by historical forces — colonization, conflict, racism — beyond their control. Its quality was nevertheless recognised. While platform siblings like “The Morning Show” were able to make noise through sheer force of star power and ridiculous plot twists, the relatively subdued “Pachinko” earned just one Emmy nomination for Season 1, due to its admittedly excellent, dance-driven opening credits.
With season 2, “Pachinko,” the show further differentiates itself from “Pachinko” the book. This shift is both inevitable and a product of necessity, especially in the more recent 1989 arc that fully follows Lee’s roadmap from the Season 1 finale, which aired over two years ago in the spring of 2022. That’s not the intention . undercut the performances of Hugh and her team, who continue to do justice to Lee’s refined characters and epic historical scope while increasingly putting their own stamp on the Baek family saga.
The defining event of the season, as for most of the world in the mid-20th century, is the global war that saw the height of Japan’s jingoistic nationalism – an ideology particularly cruel to people like Sunja (Minha Kim), a young Korean woman stranded in Osaka with two young sons to care for and her husband, kindly preacher Isak (Steve Sang-Hyun Noh), imprisoned. To provide for the family, Isak’s brother Yoseb (Junwoo Han) has taken a job at a weapons factory in Nagasaki. The knowledge of what is coming to that city adds an undertone of fear to the first half of the season, in addition to the hunger and scarcity that leaves Sunja, an aspiring professional chef, with nothing to sell.
This arc proves to be a showcase for Kim, who evolves Sunja from the naive teenager we first met in a fishing village into a world-weary woman accustomed to the harsh realities of life. Along with subtle but effective work from the hair and makeup teams, Kim ages Sunja by years at a time—by the end of the season, we’ll have been with her for almost two decades—by simply modulating her performance. This season, Sunja’s sons Noa (Kang Hoon Kim) and Mozasu (Eunseong Kwon) are old enough to have their own personalities and storylines, expanding the series’ already expansive ensemble. Noa is quiet, studious and very concerned about doing right by his family; Mozasu is loud, boisterous, and openly defies the anti-Korean prejudices he encounters at school.
“Pachinko” also uses TV’s expansive canvas to build Koh Hansu (Lee Minho), a Korean fishmonger who Macher in the Japanese underworld, who is also Noa’s biological father, to co-protagonist. A huge star in Korea, Lee has the matinee idol looks to make Koh a compelling romantic presence even as he continues down a violent, ethically compromised path. (Costume designer Kyung-hwa Chae’s period tailoring doesn’t hurt either.) With his ill-gotten gains, Koh continues to maintain a peripheral presence in Sunja’s life as a patron whose help she only reluctantly accepts, as when she and Yoseb’s wife Kyunghee (Jung Eun -Chae) shelter from air raids on his farm in the countryside. Koh is not a sympathetic figure, but Lee uses the extra screen time to help the viewer understand the choices he has made to survive, and his defensiveness towards the judgment of others.
The modern timeline, which focuses on Sunja’s grandson Solomon (Jin Ha), proves more difficult to expand. The flashbacks can jump gracefully forward in time, like a stone skipping on a lake; Solomon’s storyline remains rooted in the immediate aftermath of his departure from the fictional bank Shiffley’s in the wake of a botched land deal. (An elderly Korean woman’s refusal to sell her house brought out the American-educated Solomon’s latent fears about his native country.) The ’80s scenes feel less dense as a result, though they do make Anna Sawai a worthy sequel bid on “Shõgun” as Solomon’s ex-colleague Naomi, with whom he begins an affair.
Above all, Salomon’s quest to restore his professional dignity illustrates the cyclical nature of generational trauma. “No matter what the times are, life is never easy,” an adult Mozasu (Soji Arai) tells his mother. An elderly Sunja (“Minari” Oscar winner Youn Yuh-Jung) doesn’t understand why Solomon is still suffering when she has sacrificed so much to make his life easier than hers. But Solomon finds himself in many of the same scenarios as his ancestors: forced by societal prejudices into less respectable career paths and fighting the instinct to confirm the worst suspicions of his oppressors. The past never stays in the past, a theme further explored through older Sunja’s new friendship with a stranger who is also haunted by his past choices.
This season of ‘Pachinko’ has many crescendos, each more tearful than the last. Yet, from devastating deaths to heartbreak to harrowing disasters, the show never feels like it’s resorting to cheap sentiment. ‘Pachinko’ is palpably a labor of love, from the intimate family dynamics it portrays to the tremendous collective effort required to bring a two-period piece to life. Season 2 honors what came before while striking out on its own merits, just as Sunja would want for her own successors.
The first episode of ‘Pachinko’ season 2 is now streaming on Apple TV+, with the remaining episodes airing weekly on Fridays.