Apple TV’s 2-Part Drama Is Quietly One of Its Best Shows

What does it mean to resist? Apple TV’s Pachinko shows that resistance isn’t always a major act of protest; sometimes, it’s the act of perseverance. Based on the novel by Min Jin Lee, Pachinko depicts how generations of the same family are shaped by both colonial and patriarchal forces. From the Japanese annexation of Korea and the aftermath of World War II to the era of the Japanese economic boom, Pachinko oscillates between a grandmother who lived during the earlier periods of the occupation and her much more privileged grandson who still has to deal with the repercussions of his mixed heritage.

Times might have changed, but discrimination persists in different forms — sometimes from the most obvious instances to the more discreet and quietly harmful ones. However, Pachinko shouldn't be thought of as a story of war. Although global events unfold in the background, Pachinko is essentially a story of a family that finds itself through a shared past.

What Is 'Pachinko' About?

Pachinko, which spans two timelines, is a historical epic that follows four generations of a Korean family living before, during, and post-Japanese occupation, tracing their story from 1915 in the fishing village of Busan to more recent events in 1989 Tokyo and Osaka. Much of the story is told from the perspective of Kim Sunja (Kim Min-ha), who is only 16 years old when the show first introduces her.

In 1915, as the daughter of a boardinghouse owner, Sunja's life takes a drastic turn following an encounter with a wealthy 34-year-old man, Koh Hansu (Lee Min-ho), a Korean native whose notorious reputation stems from his affiliation with the Japanese Yakuza. When their affair results in Sunja's pregnancy, she is forced to live through her new experience with shame. With limited options to save face, she receives a solution when a young Korean pastor, Baek Isak (Steve Sang-Hyun), proposes marriage. In return, she must leave her mother and follow him to Osaka.

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Why Couldn't Koreans Wear White in 'Pachinko'?

During the Japanese rule over Korea, white clothing was completely banned.

Decades later, in 1989, Sunja’s grandson Solomon Baek (Jin Ha), a Yale-educated businessman based in New York, finds his career progression stalled despite a strong track record. Eager to prove his worth, he volunteers to handle a multimillion-dollar deal in Japan, confident he can persuade a Korean landowner to delay the transaction. Upon arriving in Japan, Solomon makes a brief stop in Osaka, where he visits his father and Sunja's second-born son, Baek Mozasu (Soji Arai), who operates a successful pachinko business. He also reunites with his now-elderly grandmother Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung), who seems to be more at peace despite her turbulent past.

'Pachinko' Shifts Between Two Different Timelines

Although Pachinko shifts between different timelines and characters, its storylines are bound by one overarching theme: the Zainichi community. The term “Zainichi,” which literally translates to “foreign resident” in Japanese, refers to ethnic Koreans living in Japan. This community is largely composed of immigrants and their descendants who migrated from the Korean Peninsula during Japan’s colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. However, the term “Zainichi” carries negative connotations due to the long-standing and strained relationship between Korea and Japan, both before and after Korea’s independence. As a result, many within the Zainichi community struggle with their sense of identity, often feeling caught between being Korean and Japanese, which places them in a persistent state of cultural and national ambiguity.

As Pachinko shows, being Zainichi is never easy — whether during the height of Japanese annexation or even in modern, cosmopolitan times. In Sunja’s storyline, her move to Osaka in 1931 following her marriage to Baek Isak is far from a fairytale ending. She is forced to live in the Korean ghetto of Ikaino, where most Koreans in Osaka resided, in overcrowded and inhumane conditions, with houses packed tightly together and even near pigsties. Even so, she is not protected from what the Japanese authorities could do to her if she rebels against their political values, while also facing broader threats shaped by international tensions and American intervention.

Even in 1989, things have not changed for Solomon. Despite his Ivy League background, his Korean-Japanese heritage leads his Japanese colleagues and superiors to distrust him when he mediates the sale of land owned by an elderly Korean woman. His loyalty is constantly questioned, and his success becomes proof of his belonging. Failure would not only cost him his job but also brand him a traitor, suggesting he sides with Koreans rather than Japan, mirroring the same prejudice faced in Sunja’s time.

'Pachinko' Depicts a Striking Form of Resistance

Image via Apple TV+

It is difficult to be a woman, wife, and mother as a Zainichi, and yet that is what Sunja is in Pachinko. All her life, the odds have been heavily stacked against her. It is one thing to be taken advantage of by a man much older than her, but starting over in a country that despises her ethnicity presents an entirely different struggle. In an ideal world, she would be a Zainichi who protests against the occupation, just as the Korean independence movement did in 1919. However, protests such as these would lead to immediate imprisonment, as warned in Pachinko.

However, Sunja refuses to be a victim of her circumstances. Where there is an opening for hope and a better future, she takes it. Even when she is offered ways out, she refuses to let others, especially Hansu, define her path, gradually claiming control over her life and her children. Although the risks are great, she makes difficult decisions to ensure her sons are able to live better lives than she did. Indirectly, Sunja’s determination to survive by any means necessary has enabled her grandson, Solomon, to work in corporate Tokyo.

During Sunja’s time, there was not much room for her to change her fate, understandably so as a woman of that era. A lot of hardships may have happened in her life, but that does not mean her future generations have to experience what she did. Resistance, in this sense, means ensuring that her offspring do not have to suffer as much as she did. She may not be able to dismantle the system itself, but for Pachinko's Sunja, what matters is the safety of her family — and it all starts with taking control of what little she has, planting the seeds on barren soil for trees that will grow in the centuries to come.

Release Date 2022 - 2024-00-00