Apple TV: “Pachinko,” Season 2

Season 2 of “Pachinko” is richer and emotionally deeper than its predecessor. It touches on significant events in Korean/Japanese history—starting in 1945, a time when WW II was ending, and the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were vaporizing thousands of innocent citizens. But it never loses sight of the Korean-Japanese family who is at the center of it all.

The series also flashes forward to the late 1980s, during Japan’s economic bubble. The main character here remains Solomon Baek (Jim-Ha), who is nursing a grudge against the Tokyo bank that fired him after his real estate deal fell through. Meanwhile he is falling hard for a former coworker Naomi (Anna Sawai) whom he tries to enlist to seek revenge.

Jinha (played by Kim Min Ha as a young woman and Youn Yuh-Jung as an elderly one) remains the main reason to watch “Pachinko.” She is the ultimate survivor—of the death of her husband Isak (Steve Sanghyun Moh), a political prisoner; her on-again, off-again relationship with Hanso (Lee Min-Ho), the slick Yakuza gangster; and the wartime destruction of Osaka. Once the war ends, she returns to her humble life as a kimchee merchant, where she saves money for the education of her son Noah (Tae Jung Kang) who seems destined to rise above his humble beginnings.

The most interesting dynamic remains the relationship between Sunja and Hansu, who represent the traditional versus the modern, the sentimental against the practical. The chemistry between Kim and Lee capture this dichotomy with remarkable naturalness.

“Pachinko” also asks an important question—what kind of inner strength does it take to survive a life like Jinha’s? Some, like Sunja’s brother-in-law (Junwoo Han), who was conscripted to work in a munitions factory in Nagasaki, almost dies when the H-Bomb drops. He does survive but will never be the same. And while he and Sunja try to put their unhappy pasts behind them, they discover they cannot. But they attempt to move forward anyway.

Kudos to the splendid Kim Min Ha who can portray grief with a skill that calls to mind actresses of the silent era—a time, as Norma Desmond once said, “when you didn’t need lines, because you had faces.” In short, a must-watch series for anyone who wants to understand how grand events can affect the most humble among us. Hope there’s a Season 3. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

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