The best Korean series of the decade is now streaming: a heartbreaking and dazzling drama

In a catalog where there are titles like Separación, Servant, Para toda la humanidad, Los amos del aire, the unforgettable Ted Lasso or the recent Sugar, just to name a few, it is quite difficult to stand out. However, even two years after its premiere, Pachinko continues to be one of the best series we have seen in recent years.

The acclaimed drama about identity and survival told through several generations is one of the best series on Apple TV+ and considering that on August 23 it returns with its second season, it is a good opportunity to champion it or take a look if you haven't already.

Based on the eponymous and bestselling novel written by Min Jin Lee, Pachinko is set in the Korean peninsula during the Japanese Empire's occupation. The story of the Pachinko starts with Sunja, a young woman from humble origins living in a fishing village located at the East of the map. With the same delicacy as the intertwining of branches in a basket and making reference to the game that is a whole obsession in the Asian continent, the narration immerses us in an intimate tale about a forbidden love and allows us to delve into a timeline of several generations that travel from Korea and Japan to the United States.

Best of 2022

Thanks to the exhaustive research work carried out by the author of the novel, historical reality is reflected in the narration in a very visual way, facilitating a process of cinematographic adaptation, which Soo Hugh along with directors Kogonada (Columbus), Justin Cho (Blue Bayou) and producers Theresa Kang (Crazy Rich Asians) and Michael Ellenberg (Prometheus, The Morning Show) carried out in a masterful way and with its own personality.

It is one of the best series that the past year 2022 left us, partly due to its prodigious audiovisual style and its way of speaking about resistance as an indispensable condition for human survival. And also for how it easily shifts along the timeline with just the right moves to show the memories that the older version of Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung) holds in her memory.

Frame from season 2 of 'Pachinko'

The whole series is filled with emotional and heartbreaking moments, but the phrase that perhaps will resonate with us the most throughout the episodes will be the one uttered by Sunja's father when she was still very young. He promises her that he would "do whatever it takes to protect her from the ugliness and horrors of the world", not knowing that that deep love he knew how to give her would be the same one she would give to her children and grandchildren, and that it would endure, despite everything. 

Upcoming return

Two years after captivating critics and audiences, Pachinko premieres the new episodes of the second season on August 23. The trailer comes with the new opening sequence of the series, an iconic opening credit sequence that was the favorite of the audience among all series premiered two years ago.

Starring Lee Minho, Yuh-Jung Youn, Minha Kim, Anna Sawai, Jin Ha, Eun Chae Jung, Soji Arai, and Sungkyu Kim, Pachinko is an epic and intimate story that starts with a forbidden love, and grows into a sweeping saga that travels between Korea, Japan, and the United States to tell an unforgettable story.

*This article has been translated automatically using artificial intelligence