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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Jack Seale

Pachinko season two review – this excellent drama is extremely close to being an all-time classic

Jung Eun-chae (centre) as Kyunghee in Pachinko.
Never a chore … Jung Eun-chae (centre) as Kyunghee in Pachinko. Photograph: Apple TV+

A historical epic, filmed in Korean and Japanese and following several generations of a family along two timelines? It sounds like a time investment you might never get around to making, but season two of Pachinko confirms that this show is worth the effort – and that effort is in fact minimal, since drama as deft and heartfelt as this can never be a chore.

Sunja (Minha Kim) is a Korean woman living in Japan in the last years of Japanese colonial rule over Korea. We rejoin her in 1945 in Osaka, where she works hard to bring up her sons, Noa and Mozasu, in the absence of her husband, who has been imprisoned for sedition. Meanwhile, in Tokyo in 1989, Solomon (Jin Ha) – the son of Mozasu and grandson of Sunja – is trying to make his fortune amid economic uncertainty.

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