Pachinko TV Show Review: Visually Stunning and Heart-wrenching
Pachinko is an Apple TV+ series that tells the story of a multi-generational Korean family, starting from the early 1900s to World War II to modern day times. It is an epic drama about love and family, filled with gorgeous historical imagery. I was really excited for this show because I really loved the book. To me, this show stays true to the book story-wise, but it takes some creative liberties with pacing. For the most part, I really enjoyed watching this show come to life on the screen.
Pachinko is a story that is about love, family, and overcoming immense hardship. Sunja, the main character, is a girl who grows up in a poor fishing town in Korea during the Japanese colonization of Korea. She is bright and smart, but due to her circumstances, she does not have many prospects. Upward mobility was an impossible concept to fathom. She meets a man named Koh Hansu, played by Lee Min-Ho, and their relationship changes the course of her life and leads to her leaving her home and moving to Japan. Through her courage and some circumstantial luck, she learns to provide for herself and for her family. This first season of Pachinko is only the beginning, as we have only scratched the surface of Sunja’s time and experiences in Japan.
The biggest difference between the show and the book is that the show hops from past to present and back again. Rather than having a fluid story that tells time linearly, we see Sunja’s experiences differently through her eyes as a young girl and then as a much older woman. In this way, the show directly compares the experiences of the past to the experiences of the future. It tells us that everything is intertwined, and history has a weird habit of repeating itself. I generally enjoyed the scenes of the past way more than the scenes of the future. This has to do with the fact that I really adore Kim Min-Ha’s portrayal of teenage Sunja. Sunja is a very likable heroine to start with, but Kim Min-Ha really captures emotion in a stunning way. One of the most memorable and gut-wrenching scenes for me was when Sunja was saying goodbye to her mother at the shipyard before her journey to Japan. The display of raw emotion in that moment made me cry.
What I really love about Pachinko is how it puts a big emphasis on the blending of cultures, specifically Korea, Japan, and the US. Language switches between Korean, Japanese, and English, in an almost fluid manner, depending on a character’s background and what language needs to be used in the moment. I feel that this story is one that is rich with history, language, and culture. It is definitely worthwhile to watch and marvel at.