Apple TV+ Original ‘Pachinko’ Returns with Season 2
Yoon Yeo-jeong, Lee Min-ho, and Kim Min-ha appear once again
“It contains the story of moving beyond survival to adaptation”
“Let’s talk about very personal parts of our history”
Director Lee Sang-il, a Korean resident in Japan, also participated in the production.
Yoon Yeo-jeong: “Japanese lines are so damn good… I won’t do season 3”
“If season 1 was about people surviving in a dry and barren land, season 2 is about all those people falling in love.”
At the production conference for Season 2 of the Apple TV+ original series ‘Pachinko’ held in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 23rd, actor Lee Min-ho compared the first and second seasons. He said, “If you watch this work, you will realize how much love is a good energy and driving force in living life.”
◇Season 1 is the first half of the original work, Season 2 is the second half of the original work
‘Pachinko’, which was first released in 2022 and received nearly unanimous support from critics and the public, is back. This work, based on the novel of the same name by Korean-American writer Lee Min-jin in 2017, was selected as one of the TV series of the year in 2022 by the American weekly TIME, and received an average score of 86 from 40 media outlets on the American review site Metacritic, receiving recognition for its completeness. It also recorded a Tomato Index of 97%, which shows public support, on the American content rating site Rotten Tomatoes.
‘Pachinko’ covers the period from the 1910s to the present, and depicts the lives of the diaspora who were swept up in the turbulent times and wandered between Japan and the United States. The work features first-generation immigrants who were born in Joseon but ended up living in Japan, second-generation Zainichi who have Korean blood but are more familiar with Japan, and third-generation Zainichi who have absorbed American culture at the same time. If Season 1 covered the first half of the original work, Season 2 covers the second half.
◇“A story about adapting after surviving”
Yoon Yeo-jeong, who played Seon-ja who became an old woman in the previous work, Kim Min-ha, who played the young Seon-ja, and Lee Min-ho, who played Han-soo who is entangled with Seon-ja, will appear in the new season as well. Yoon Yeo-jeong, who attended the event, said, “I wanted to express the spirit of a woman who was uneducated and very poor, but lived without being superficial.” She added, “I learned about the backstory of history that we didn’t know about and about Ja-ichi’s life, and I learned a lot.” Lee Min-ho said, “I’m grateful for the opportunity to talk about even the very personal parts of our history,” and Kim Min-ha said, “I’m touched that it’s a story that is part of Korean history but also relatable to many viewers around the world.”
Just as the original novel was selected as the book of the year by the New York Times, BBC, etc. in the year it was published, drawing attention to immigrants, the series ‘Pachinko’ also received favorable reviews for richly depicting the twisted history and lives of immigrants intertwined in Korea, Japan, and the United States. Kim Min-ha said, “In the previous seasons, I tried to portray the characters trying to survive, but now I tried to portray them adapting after surviving.” Lee Min-ho said, “If season 1 showed survival, in season 2, I wanted to show characters who have evolved one step further and reveal their desires.”
◇Immigrant actors and staff in immigrant stories
‘Pachinko’ is a story about Korean immigrants, so it became a hot topic that the production team and actors were all immigrants. Producer Su Hu, and season 1 directors Kogonada and Justin Chon are all Korean-Americans. Yoon Yeo-jeong has lived as an immigrant in her youth, and Jin Ha, who played the role of Seonja’s grandson Solomon, is also Korean-American. In addition, many other actors and staff members were immigrants.
This trend continues this season. Director Lee Sang-il, who joined as a director, is a Zainichi who represents the Japanese film industry, and co-director Ervin Chan is a Taiwanese-American. The director is also well-known in Korea for ‘Hula Girls’ (2007), ‘Unforgiven’ (2013), ‘Rage’ (2017), and ‘The Wandering Moon’ (2023). Kim Min-ha said that she was moved by a conversation she had with the director. “I joked with Director Lee Sang-il not to give up on me, and he said, ‘This is my story, so I will never let go. ‘ I was really moved at that moment.”
◇“I don’t want to do season 3… You guys do it yourselves”
Since Korea, Japan, and the United States are all set in this drama, Korean, Japanese, and English are all used. The actors also acted in three languages. Yoon Yeo-jeong, who had a lot of Japanese lines this season, said it was “deadly.” She said, “I memorized the lines like I was memorizing the multiplication tables,” and “When we were filming in Toronto, I never went outside because I was memorizing my Japanese lines.” When asked if there would be a season 3, Lee Min-ho and Kim Min-ha said they would do it again if there was, but Yoon Yeo-jeong made everyone laugh by saying, “I can’t do it, so you guys do it among yourselves.”
Lee Min-ho also acted in two languages, Korean and Japanese. He said, “I was on set listening to Japanese in my left ear, Korean in my right ear, and English in front of me.” He added, “I thought that this situation was the force that allowed me to immerse myself in this work.”
Season 2 of ‘Pachinko’, which consists of a total of 8 episodes, will be released with one episode per week starting on the 23rd.
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2024-08-24 07:46:03