Following a two-year hiatus, Pachinko welcomes back its audience by quickly introducing the central conflict of its second season: World War II. The Season 2 premiere, which was released on Friday, opens with Koh Hansu (Lee Min-ho) checking on shipments of tungsten, which will be used to help fuel Japan’s continued war efforts. In Osaka, the city’s residents—including Sunja (Minha Kim) and her family—receive an ominous warning from American planes flying above, with their propaganda leaflets urging Japanese citizens to petition the emperor to end the war.
As the message explains how the situation will only worsen if Japan refuses to surrender, Pachinko establishes the unnerving tension that hangs over the first half of its gripping, emotional second season. The critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series builds on the strong foundations of its first season to construct an even better, bolder eight-episode saga in Season 2. Created by Soo Hugh, Pachinko continues with the same storytelling structure it instituted in its first run, splitting its narrative into two timelines following a Korean family’s multigenerational journey.
Seven years have passed in the earlier timeline, thrusting Sunja’s story into 1945—the year when the Americans dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Meanwhile, the later timeline resumes in 1989, with Sunja’s grandson Solomon (Jin Ha) trying to create his own legacy as the country’s economic miracle nears its catastrophic collapse. .