The Apple TV+ series Pachinko is not an easy sell. Based on Min Jin Lee’s novel, the characters speak Japanese and Korean (with color-coded subtitles); it’s about the bigotry Koreans experienced in Japan during the 1930s through 1950s — and still faced in the 1980s — and about the upheaval in Japan over the better part of 6 years. Imagine being a second-class citizen in a country devastated by an atomic bomb, only to watch your homeland, just years later, be torn apart by a superpower-driven proxy war, forcing your people to fight against each other. This story is told from the perspective of a Korean family trying to survive this turmoil over three generations.
It is not an easy show to watch. Remember back in the day when we received physical DVDs from Netflix and told ourselves we were going to watch something smart, educational, and enriching? The disc would arrive and sit on top of the DVD player, collecting dust for two months before we finally broke down and watched it, so that we could finally order the new season of Veronica Mars. But remember how good it was when you finally watched it? And how you regretted avoiding it for so long?
That’s Pachinko, the series with episodes piling up on your watch list — not because you don’t love it, but because you’re just never in the mood. It’s heavy! It’s sad! But, my god, it is worth it.
It’s also fighting for its life after wrapping its second season last week. It’s an expensive show, and while Apple has the funds, it needs to justify at least some of its costs to greenlight a third season. And it deserves a third (and probably final) season because there’s nothing else like this on television. They don’t make TV like this anymore — I’m not sure they ever did. It’s a sweeping epic tale with richly drawn characters, the kind of show that should be racking up Emmy Awards. But even awards voters are letting the episodes pile up in their queues because it’s mentally easier to watch The Bear and argue about whether it’s a comedy.
And yet, I cannot stress this enough: Objectively speaking, there’s probably not a better show on television. Every episode feels like a movie directed by an A-list director. There’s so much history here, told from a perspective most Americans never see. It’s a tale of woe, punctuated by moments of profound joy and heart-wrenching drama that moves viewers to tears. The second episode of the second season is the best television episode of the year, and nothing will challenge it.
But it won’t be recognized, and it won’t be heralded. These aren’t the kind of stories that viewers — or even most critics — want to talk about. It’s not a familiar story delivered in a familiar way. It’s a challenging but deeply thoughtful series that will stand the test of time, even if it’s not a topic of conversation around the water cooler. Shrinking returns to Apple TV+ this week, and I suspect a lot of viewers will restart their subscriptions. During those other hours, please give Pachinko a chance. You won’t regret it.