The Sunja we see at the present of the 1980s is the main focus of the series’ other vital half, first as a young child in Busan and then as a young woman seeing the circumstances of her life take her well beyond the walls of her family home.

In a return to his hometown after studying in America, he reconnects with his father Mozasu (Soji Arai) and grandmother Sunja (Youn Yuh Jung). There’s Solomon Baek (Jin Ha), a young upstart employee at a giant international firm called on to help with a lucrative land deal. It’s a century-spanning tale that draws on the untidy nature of remembering the past to fashion an experience all its own.ĭespite its circuitous path, “Pachinko” is at least clear in the main individuals along the way. Drawing from Min Jin Lee’s sprawling bestselling novel, which traces the fate of a Korean family across multiple countries and generations, “Pachinko” is a gorgeous drama built around observing both the crisp and hazy all at once. Aside from the emotional richness of the new Apple TV+ series “ Pachinko,” it becomes apparent very quickly that what sets this eight-episode season apart is that it plays out more as a collective memory than a written history. There’s a built-in framework for an episodic journey that fulfills what’s on the page as an exercise in transposing. Very often, TV adaptations of books naturally play out like fixed objects.

Pachinko the book