Pachinko (Season 1)


Pachinko (2022) 파친코
Based on the novel "Pachinko" by Lee Min-jin. 
Directed by Kogonada and Justin Chon, starring Kim Min-ha, Lee Min-ho, Noh Sang-hyun, Jin Ha and Youn Yuh-jung.

Watched 28 - 31 December 2024 — 8 episodes (DRAMACOOL)

Kim Sun-ja (Kim Min-ha) was born and raised in Busan, Korea, in the early 20th century, while Korea was under Japanese rule. She falls in love with a man named Koh Han-su (Lee Min-ho). She can see that he is a powerful person and from a different social class from her, but she is unaware of his complete background. Meanwhile, a church priest named Baek Isak (Noh Sang-hyun) comes to stay at the lodge run by Kim Sun-ja's mother. When he learns of Kim Sun-ja's situation, he tries to give her advice, but, when he experiences her unwavering conviction, he offers to marry her. Kim Sun-ja soon moves to Japan and faces difficult times as a Korean immigrant living in a unfamiliar land. In New York in 1989, Baek Solomon (Jin Ha) is determined to succeed in the corporate world. A company wants to build a new hotel in Tokyo, but a Korean woman refuses to sell her land where the hotel is to be built. Baek Solomon offers to his bosses to travel to Tokyo and persuade the woman to sell her land to the hotel group. He also goes to see his family there. (Synopsis: AsianWiki)

*I prioritised this K-drama (which is actually an American production from Apple TV+) because it's been on my watchlist since forever and I can only access it via Dramacool. Dramacool ceased operations on 28 November 2024 due to copyright issues, but they still have the old content on the site (they just don't upload new stuff). I guess it will be a matter of time before the whole site will disappear from the internet, so I felt an urgency to watch this series. 
*First of all, the cinematography is beautiful. I'm very susceptible to gorgeous visuals and in that respect this series ticks the box. 
*The story revolves around the predicament of immigrant people (Korean) in a foreign country (Japan), a theme that's still relevant today. I don't mind different time periods but the bouncing back and forth between timelines felt a bit disjointed here, and it made the story lose its flow and it's therefore less compelling. Linear storytelling would have worked better for me. I also preferred the past timeline, and didn't like the present one very much. (I didn't really like Solomon and I also found Hana, his ex-girlfriend, unappealing.)
*Despite good performances, I wasn't too invested in the characters. Yet I like the bonding between the two women Kim Sun-ja (Kim Min-ha) and Kyung-hee (Jung Eun-chae) in their younger years. I also like the leading actress Kim Min-ha. I had never seen her before, and though she's not beautiful in the classic sense, she has an interesting face.
*I really like the first episode with Sun-ja's childhood and her relationship with her father. Love Yu-na as Sun-ja. 
*There is a second season. This makes sense since the final episode of season 1 is clearly not the end of the story. As I was trying to rate this first season, I realised that I wasn't inclined to watch season 2 right away. In fact, I wouldn't even mind if there's no way for me to access the second season once they've shut down Dramacool completely. I guess I just didn't like season 1 well enough and didn't care enough about the characters. Having said all this, I might still watch season 2.