PACHINKO S2 Review: Chained to Memories

Can the past ever loosen its grip?

Pachinko
All eight episodes of the first season are now streaming on Apple TV+. The first episode of Season 2 premieres globally Friday, August 23. Subsequent episodes will premiere every Friday. I've seen all 16 episodes in Seasons 1 and 2.

Every step we take is tied to the past in some way. How we walk, where we walk, why we walk: it's all inextricably bound to memories of what we've done before.

In Season 1, we met Sunja as a child in Busan, Korea, who ended up moving to Osaka, Japan, with her family. In 1945, the story of Sunja and her family continues.

Young adult Sunja (Kim Min-ha) is raising her two sons -- teenage Noa and pre-adolescent Mozasu -- living with her sister-in-law Kyunghee (Jung Eun-chae) and running a food stand to eke out a living. They are awaiting the return of their husbands: Sunja's husband Isak (Steve Sanghyun Noh) is in jail, while Kyunghee's husband Yoseb (Han Joon-woo), who is Isak's brother, is working at a factory in Nagasaki.

Hovering around is Mr. Kim (Kim Sung-kyu), a regular customer whose true identity and purpose is soon revealed, as well as Koh Hansu (Lee Min-ho), the fish merchant who began a love affair with Sunja that resulted in a child, Noa, and a broken heart.

In Season 1, we met Solomon as a young NYC businessman who volunteered to travel to Japan to close an important land deal with a stubborn Korean woman. On the verge of closing the deal, the woman hesitated, remembering all the anti-Korean hatred she had suffered over the years; secretly encouraged by Solomon, she refused to sign. In 1989, the story of Solomon continues.

Now adrift after being fired by his firm, Solomon (Jin Ha), who is the son of Mozasu (Soji Arai) and grandson of Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung), revisits the woman who blocked the land deal and starts to figure out a new course of action.

Created by Soo Hugh, the series is based on Min Jin Lee's novel of the same name, which was first published in 2017, and is apparently written in chronological order. The series changes that up by bouncing back and forth between key events in the past and 1989, which serves as an anchor. Thus, it's easy to see how those events reverberate through the decades and affect the characters in their present day.

The first episode, written by Soo Hugh and directed by Leanne Welham, effectively sets up the second season. In 1945, people wait anxiously to see how the war will end; they are struggling to survive and don't have much hope, though no one can anticipate the atomic disasters in the offing. In 1989, people are still anxious, only over many things that can be termined mini-disasters in their lives, and dealing with the long-term consequences of their shared past.

It's easy to jump into the first episode without having seen the first season. If you possibly can, however, I'd recommend catching up as quickly as you can, as much as anything because everything that happens will have greater resonance.

Pachinko is a show that resides on a teeter-totter of emotions, informed by personal experiences and the lasting damage that systemic discrimination can have, crossing generational lines. The deep hatred that can develop between neighboring nations can become so ingrained that residents of one nation may speak out in knee-jerk fashion against residents of another nation. (As a light skinned American-born person I can't tell you how many times I've heard white people mutter 'dirty Mexican' around me, without realizing that I'm of Mexican-Irish descent.)

Rarely explored in mainstream movies or television shows, the animosity between Japanese and Korean people dates back multiple centuries to Japan's invasion of Korea, which was only heightened when Japan annexed Korea in 1910, increasing up to 1945, which is when Season 2 picks up. Discriminatory words are frequently heard throughout the series, which can be enraging for all concerned.

Yet, that's one of the sources that the series draws upon to fuel its energy. In many ways, everyone in the series is chained to memories from the past. Those are explored in greater depth throughout Season 2, probably more so than in Season 1, which presented some of the events that influenced what happened in 1989. Each of the three excellent directors for Season 2 -- Leanne Welham, Arvin Chen, and Sang-il Lee -- build on the outstanding framework established by Soo Hugh and her fellow writers.

As Season 1 had a standout episode, so too does Season 2. But that's to come. For now, it's best to soak in the characters and the atmosphere, and contemplate the memories that continue to grip our collective attention. Featuring stirring performances and splendid period costuming, production design, and makeup, Pachinko picks up right where it left off, casting an absorbing, spellbinding, and troubling vision, unlike anything else I've seen in recent memory.