# Pachinko (2022)

> A Korean immigrant family across four generations struggles to survive and thrive as it leaves its homeland for Japan and beyond.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/92118

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 16
- Episode runtime: 54 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: drama, history
- Created by: Soo Hugh
- Network: Apple TV
- Cast: Youn Yuh-jung, Soji Arai, Jin Ha, Jung Eun-chae, Kim Min-ha, Jeong In-ji, Kim Sung-kyu, Lee Min-ho
- TMDB rating: 8.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8888462/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: melancholic, nostalgic, elegiac, sweeping

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaim the series as a sweeping, emotionally resonant multigenerational saga with strong performances.

## Synopsis

Pachinko (2022-2024) is a Apple TV prestige historical family saga created by Soo Hugh. Youn Yuh-jung plays the older Sunja, while Kim Min-ha plays the younger Sunja, whose life as a Korean woman in the early twentieth century drives the story. Jin Ha plays Solomon, and Lee Min-ho plays Hansu, two men whose choices shape her family. The engine of the series is the struggle to survive and thrive as the family leaves its homeland and builds a life in Osaka and beyond, with every episode built from money worries, hidden secrets, gambling halls, and the everyday compromises that migration demands. Across two seasons and sixteen episodes, the story moves through four generations, following one lineage as it carries memory, loyalty, and resentment forward. The period is colonial Korea and wartime Japan, rendered in patient, lingering scenes that foreground melancholy, nostalgia, and quiet resilience. Its tone is elegiac and deeply human, with a sweeping, cinematic scale. Fans of Roots, Shogun, and The Crown will find resonance in its generational sweep and its portrait of history felt through a single family.

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