phoenixfrost

My 2 cents: his life serves to show the progress or lack thereof of Koreans' struggle for dignity in Japan, from the first time Sunja set foot in the country to Solomon's challenges at work. No matter how accomplished he is, having been educated in the US, he will always be an outsider because of his origin. This is one of the main themes in Pachinko. But unlike Sunja, who took her outsider status humbly, Solomon is rebelling against it. He is getting obsessed with taking revenge on Abe-san. Another thing, Solomon is feeling guilty of being a descendant of somebody (Sunja) who suffered a lot so he will live. The thought that he might not be worthy of such sacrifice is prickling his conscience. So maybe he represents the Korean youths in Japan? Actually, the seeming lack of direction of his story makes me curious as to what it is leading to. He can turn either good or bad. It's intriguing.

Here's a recap of S2 Ep6 to help put things in order:
https://collider.com/pachinko-season-2-episode-6-recap/

Some articles about Pachinko:

"Pachinko Season 2 Episode 6 Recap: It's Called Human Nature"
https://collider.com/pachinko-season-2-episode-6-recap/

"Pachinko Is Easily One Of The Best TV Shows Of The Decade, So Here's Why It Needs To Be Next On Your 'To Watch' List"
https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/pachinko-reasons-to-watch

"the seven best shows to stream this week"
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/aug/16/from-pachinko-to-oceanxplorers-the-seven-best-shows-to-stream-this-week

Hansu is trending on X/Twitter US.
https://x.com/dsoundofmusic7/status/1840449963001798731

On Apple TV, this is shown once a week. Ep 7 will be shown on Oct 4. Ep 8 will be shown on Pct 11.

Anybody who knows World History knows about the Nagasaki bombing. Nobody needs to be on site to know when a depiction of a scene is original and powerful. For originality, one just needs to look at other depictions of nuclear bombings. Most, if not all, show the mushroom cloud. The power of a scene is determined by its effect on a discerning audience, not the ignorant fault finders. That blast got my heart pounding and made me distraught thinking of around 40,000 people who died in the bombing and around 30,000 more who would die from injuries and the effects of radiation.

There's a long list of interesting movie/drama villains - Darth Vader, Voldemort, Hannibal Lecter, Micheal Corleone, to name a few. They fire up one's imagination, making one wonder what made them what they are. Hansu in the book didn't elicit this kind of reaction from me. That Hansu in the drama did means the scriptwriter did a good job at making him interesting. Or perhaps it was the casting of LMH that did the trick. Whatever the reason, it worked, the drama made a bland character come to life. This is what a good drama does. It's not about justifying bad characters. It's about realistically showing the journey of characters, drawing viewers into the story and making viewers feel what the characters feel.

I love sci-fi. I love dramas that fire up my imagination and this one sent my imagination a blazing LOL

I agree, Netflix should release this. But would you believe the Netflix version got nominated for the Emmys LOL

This version also got shortlisted for the China TV Golden Eagle Awards, the Chinese equivalent of the Emmys.

The depiction of the Nagasaki bombing in S2 Ep5 is truly original and powerful. The grey scale coloring sets the segment apart from the rest of the drama highlighting its significance. It shows Yoseb as a munitions factory worker for a few days leading up to Aug 9, each start-of-day frame dated and accompanied by a barely audible sound of a clock ticking. There is no unoriginal mushroom cloud. Just a blast and a blinding light every person in that scene would have felt and seen.

It's almost sacrilegious how haters keep trying to drag this excellent drama down.

I love that Pachinko is NOT a typical kdrama with one-dimensional black and white characters and Hansu is not a typical kdrama one-dimensional baddie. Having dimensions in drama characters makes them more realistic as real-life people are not black and white. A good person may have a dark side. A bad person may have a good side. It makes for more interesting viewing. The Hansu character in the novel was bland. I didn't find him interesting at all. Which was why I was disappointed when I found out LMH was playing him. But LMH raised Hansu's interest factor a thousand times.

I would like that too as long as it's done plausibly, devoid of cheap sentiment as this drama has been managing to accomplish so far

In Asian dramas, loveless marriages are solved by having the couples fall in love with each other 😄

Too bad it still found its way to the toxic kdrama environment. A masterpiece like this is best kept hidden from viewers who not only won't appreciate dramas devoid of cheap sentiment but would also tear them down for inane reasons.

You're right, one can't ignore LMH's presence when he is onscreen. And even though Hansu's constant influence in Sunja's life is not shown, you can feel he knows what she is up to every day since she arrived in Osaka and perhaps even before that. Her selling his watch that ended up back in his possession is kind of heartwarming, him trying to help her secretly.

I'm also intrigued what Solomon's story is leading to. Perhaps he will be a living example of his grandma's principle of placing importance on how wealth is gotten. He is using the landowner's property to exact revenge on Abe-san. Will he make his grandma proud or disappointed?

Little Mozasu is a scene-stealer haha. I'm excited about the older Noa. He looks hot LOL

Kim Min Ha's acting is western style - not overacting. She received acting awards and nominations for season 1 as noted here:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8888462/awards/?ref_=tt_awd

LMH's western/nuanced style of acting fits perfectly in the drama.

Comments about the ML and FL not behaving as expected of lead characters in kdramas is one of the reasons I wanted this drama removed from MDL. This is not strictly a kdrama. Sunja may be a fictional character but her story is based on several Korean women who lived in Japan for real. Thus, her story will not be as fairytale perfect as a perfectly fictional kdrama character. Same with Hansu. He is a unique character. I haven't watched a kdrama ML like him. One reason the book Pachinko became well-loved was because of its fleshed-out characters. They're not caricatures. They are flawed and made mistakes, did reprehensible things due to the circumstances they had to navigate. Readers and viewers are drawn to the historical context and the survival instinct of these characters. No matter what life threw at them, they found ways to survive. It's inspiring. And though the series sometimes deviates from the book to provide more drama as many adaptations do, the gist is maintained - this is a story of the will of a group of people to survive and thrive despite history failing them.

'hoping this happens

he fatally harmed himself after he found out who his real dad is

I bought the novel from amazon