Pachinko turns a heralded novel into a laser-focused epic

polygon.com:

Historical epics aren’t new. Nor are family dramas that span generations, or period pieces. We’ve all seen them: shows with perfectly curated and historically accurate set decor; intergenerational family dramas which end with the youngest generation learning about their heritage and coming to a new understanding of themselves; stories of enslavement, torture, resilience, and struggle. And yet, Apple TV Plus’ newest drama, Pachinko, manages to take all of these tropes and refine them into something beautifully specific and new: a Korean family epic.

Pachinko doesn’t fit into one genre box because it escapes the trappings of traditional historical fiction (see: Downton Abbey’s penchant for style over substance). The intricacy of the sets and the costumes is gorgeous, but unlike other period shows, the eight-episode series doesn’t suffer from being so overloaded with visual detail that it sacrifices the story. It tackles the history of the Japanese occupation of Korea and racism in Japan and abroad without being too educational or preachy. Most importantly, it tells the story of one woman surviving tragic injustices without fetishizing her suffering.

Based on Min Jin Lee’s bestseller of the same name, Pachinko follows two main characters, Sunja and her grandson Solomon, in two main time periods, the 1930s and 1989. The season begins in 1989, when Solomon (Jin Ha) is denied a promotion at his American bank job and decides to return to Japan to close a deal that should solidify his reputation at the company. But Solomon is really an entry point into Sunja’s story, which takes up a bulk of the mini-series. Played by three different actors — Yu-na Jeon as Young Sunja, Minha Kim as Teen Sunja, and Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung as