The Acclaimed Apple TV+ Series That K-Drama Fans Need To Watch ASAP

With series like “Severance” and “Slow Horses,” Apple TV+ has a great library of original programming that continues to grow. However, between making your way through episodes of “Ted Lasso” or “Shrinking,” you may have overlooked the streamer’s period drama “Pachinko.” Adapted from the best-selling 2017 novel of the same name by Min Jin Lee, the story’s East Asian setting, including Korea, and heartbreaking emotional beats make it perfect for any K-drama fan. Keeping that in mind, it’s also important to point out that, despite its cast and setting, “Pachinko” is not quite technically a K-drama itself.

“Pachinko” has its narrative split across two time periods centered on matriarch Kim Sunja and her family. In the past, a younger Sunja (Kim Min-ha) endures the brutal Japanese occupation of Korea and being forced to relocate to Japan while pregnant with the illegitimate son of the Japan-based Korean mobster Koh Hansu (Lee Min-ho). As World War II begins, Sunja’s family continues to suffer under Japanese oppression, which affects her husband Baek Isak (Steve Sang-hyun Noh) and their children. Meanwhile, in the show’s 1980s-set storyline, an older Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung) contends with her adult sons and grandson Baek Solomon (Jin Ha), who reaches a turning point in his career in Japan.

Created for television by Soo Hugh, “Pachinko” not only brings Lee’s novel to moving lifebut also expands upon it.

With the benefit of multiple seasons, Soo Hugh’s adaptation of “Pachinko” is able to delve deeper into the lives and inner turbulence of its characters than its source material. Sunja trying to survive in Korea and Japan through the 1930s and ’40s — with children from two different men — is still very much the emotional heart of the story. What Hugh does so well with the source material is explore the characters while firmly rooting the story in real-life history. The most salient example of this is the inclusion of interviews with surviving Zainichi Koreans, i.e. Koreans who emigrated to Japan during their country’s occupation, in the season 1 finale.

Hugh and the series also go beyond Lee’s original book when it comes to both its depiction of Koh Hansu and especially the continuation of the ’80s storyline involving Solomon. Hansu is still a violent and manipulative man on the show, but he comes off more sympathetically and nuanced than in the novel, with Hugh revealing his tragic backstory in the first season. Likewise, the series goes beyond the events of the book when it comes to Solomon’s experiences, showing the character struggling to figure out what to do with his career. As Sunja tries to reconcile with her past at the twilight of her life, Solomon is looking for his future alongside his colleague and eventual girlfriend Ichizaki Naomi (Anna Sawai).

Overall, “Pachinko” presents its characters as being decidedly flawed but also on their own distinct emotional journeys. It also avoids wallowing in melodrama, even as it explores some rather tumultuous subject matter.

The big reason that “Pachinko” isn’t a K-drama by the usual definition is that K-dramas are made primarily by South Korean production companies. Though “Pachinko” certainly employs many Koreans and Korean-Americans in its cast and crew, the series itself is primarily made by American production companies. Though that might seem like a technicality, just because a wine is sparkling doesn’t mean it’s automatically champagne. Having said that, there is plenty in “Pachinko” that virtually any K-drama fan will enjoy, regardless of their country of origin.

The series takes full advantage of its Korean and Japanese settings, though admittedly, the majority of the story takes place in Japan. Series stars Youn Yuh-jung and Lee Min-ho are both celebrated Korean actors, with K-drama fans undoubtedly recognizing Lee from “Boys Over Flowers,” a fantastic and accessible K-drama for first-time viewers. And the story’s penchant for steady melodrama is something that K-drama fans will also appreciate from Korean-produced shows. “Pachinko” doesn’t pull its emotional punches whenever it delivers heartbreaking moments, but also knows when to allow its characters to breathe and enjoy the occasional triumph. This is a storytelling trait that K-dramas tend to pull off exceedingly well.

Apple TV+ does have its own excellent selection of K-dramas worth checking out, which are made by South Korean production companies. But if you’re looking for something that shares broader similarities and is one of Apple TV+’s more underrated originals, check out “Pachinko.”