The Definitive Pachinko Season Two Character Ranking
...without spoiling the season finale
The Season Two finale of Pachinko aired on Apple TV+ today and instead of spoiling it for everyone who hasn’t seen it, I will provide a definitive ranking list for this season’s characters (okay, it’s only definitive in my warped universe…and maybe with some very minor spoilers).
Hopefully, by not spoiling the season finale, I’ll encourage those who haven’t watched Pachinko to give it a shot. Apple TV+ has a reputation for releasing content that is slow, drawn-out, and requires the viewer to lock-in and really pay attention to the details of the dialogue. When it’s poorly executed, it can be a real drag (*cough* Extrapolations). Most of their content falls into the lukewarm middle. It barely surpasses the threshold of attention—interesting enough to make you want to power through and finish the season, then promptly forget about it (Sunny, Silo, Dark Matter, The Morning Show, The After Party, Schmigadoon). But when it’s done right, like Pachinko (or Severance), they epitomize slow-burn viewing at its best. All this to say, give it a shot and let me know what you think.
NOTE: these rankings were not determined solely on the likability of the characters (in that case, little-boy Mozasu, played by Eunseong Kwon, would be number one). Instead my rankings included a number of factors—mainly, likability, character consistency, the relative importance of their role in the story, and the performance’s ability to elicit a memorable emotional response.
So without further ado, here’s my DEFINITIVE ranking of the characters of Pachinko, Season Two.
10. Noa Baek (played by Kim Kang-hoon)
I struggled with his character the most. I believe it has less to do with Kim Kang-hoon’s performance, and more to do with some of the superfluous characters orbiting around Noa’s universe (the tofu shop girl, the bully he reconciles with during the war, his girlfriend at Waseda University). While I understand their use in pushing the story forward—even showcasing Noa’s obedient heart and forgiving nature—they are all a miss for me. Season Three, however, looks primed to be heavily Noa-driven and there’s a reason his character has only existed in the flashback scenes. Oh boy, get your popcorn and your tissues ready. Next season is gonna be a heartbreaker.
9. Older Mozasu (played by Soji Arai)
I have nothing against Soji Arai’s performance other than I wish there was more of it. Older Mozasu’s character was only in five episodes, compared to seven for the younger. Based on the season finale, however, it looks like the elder will play a more integral role in the main storyline. I can’t wait.
8. Kim Chang-ho (played by Kim Sungkyu) and Kyunghee (played by Jung Eun-chae)
Theirs was my least favorite storyline of the season, which is a shame because they both gave very strong performances. For me, their not-so-hidden romance didn’t provide the season with the explosive conflict I believe the showrunners intended for it to cause. Looking back on this season, if this entire storyline never existed, I probably wouldn’t miss it.
7. Naomi (played by Anna Sawai)
I don’t know if I’m impartially judging Anna Sawai against the strength of her performance in Shogun, but Naomi is a relatively bland character in this Pachinko series. It’s obvious the show is trying to elevate Naomi as a high-moral example amid an ensemble cast of characters with very questionable morals, but most of her scenes fall flat. I think showing a few tidbits of Naomi’s backstory would have helped ground the source of her integrity. At the very least, it would help us empathize with one of the easier characters to root for. Perhaps we’ll get that next season.
6. Tom Andrews (played by Jimmi Simpson)
You may remember Jimmi Simpson from his role as James Walton in the “USS Callister” episode of Black Mirror. If so, then you’ll recognize he plays a near identical role as Tom Andrews in Pachinko. He has a knack for playing the selfish, self-serving, self-indulging character we all love to hate. His on-screen time is extremely limited, but, boy, do I have an intense urge to whack him upside his head every time I see him on my screen.
Kudos to Jimmi.
5. Baek Yoseb (played by Han Joon-woo)
According to IMDB, Baek Yoseb only appeared in four episodes this season, but it seemed like he was an ever-present character—relegated to the upstairs bedroom and hovering over everyone in the shadows like the Phantom of the Opera. His baseball game scene provided one of the most heartwarming moments of the entire show and solely based on the strength of this scene, and the dinner scene immediately preceding it, Han Joon-woo squeezed every ounce of his performance for what it’s worth.
4. Kato (played by Jun Kunimura)
Jun Kunimura is a legend. I’ll always remember him as Boss Tanaka from Kill Bill Vol.1 (the Yakuza underlord whom Oren Ishii beheads). Kunimura as Kato is not an overtly despicable Yakuza crime lord, but his character is just as detestable, albeit under the guise of an extremely subtle and unassuming dishonesty. Kato, though somewhat minor in terms of screentime, plays such an important role in the storyline of the second season and Kunimura’s Kato even looms larger now that I’ve had some time to reflect.
3. Koh Hansu (played by Lee Min-ho)
If there was ever a mixed-bag character, Koh Hansu is it. Sometimes he’s so easy to despise. But then there are moments where we feel sorry for him.“불상하다” as the kwonsas of our Korean churches would say while clicking their lips. Lee Min-ho’s portrayal of this semi-antihero captures well the essence of Pachinko’s thematic tension—motives that are both flawed and heroic, circumstances that simultaneously bring out the best and worst in people, characters who operate from complex family dynamics and the multi-faceted consequences of their actions.
2. Solomon Baek (played by Jin Ha)
A lot of the narrative arc of the second season is about Solomon and his struggles with identity while wrestling with his inner demons. Jin Ha is superb in his role—eliciting so much emotion from the audience. He portrays Solomon’s duplicity in rich color, forcing us to have nuanced emotional responses to his highs and his lows, and in this season, there are a lot more lows. In most other shows, Solomon Baek’s character would be at the very top of the list. But…..
1. Sunja (played by Kim Minha and Youn Yuh-jung)
Was there ever any doubt? Though Pachinko is a show about three generations of a Korean family, the narrative is held together by the strength of Sunja’s character and the ability of Kim Minha and Youn Yuh-jung to cohesively carry her emotional weight. Sunja is both the glue that binds and the fuel that propels. What sets Kim and Youn apart is their ability to wear their emotions on their faces. Pain, regret, sorrow, triumph, victory, and unbridled joy. It’s all there without ever saying a single word.1 Their performances alone should be must-watch viewing because Kim and Youn are displaying the highest levels of their craft.
That’s the list. And that’s Season Two.
There are some unsettling reports about the plausibility of Season Three that have me worried if we’ll ever see a conclusion to this tv adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s book. But I’m holding my breath and crossing my fingers. If For All Mankind and See both received third seasons, I don’t see why Pachinko wouldn’t.
Come on, Apple, do the right thing.
This reminds me of a scene from The Sopranos where Adriana enrolls Christopher in an Acting for Writers class at the local community college. There, Chris discovers a hidden talent for acting. He easily taps into unexplored emotions and as his displays of vulnerability are in front of an entire audience of his classmates, he responds the way most emotionally challenged men respond when they come face to face with their repressed feelings. Violence.
During one of his class exercises, students are paired with one another and they are directed to hold an entire conversation using just the letters A and B. One actor would say, “A,” while the other responds, “B.” The lesson intended to teach the students that emotional expressions can still be powerfully conveyed without dialogue. When it’s Christopher’s turn, his partner turns to him and shouts, “A!” Christopher, still reeling from his previous displays of emotions, cold decks him in the nose and storms off the stage, leaving his partner bloodied and shriveled on the ground like a pile of dirty laundry. I don’t know why this scene is the first thing that comes to mind when I consider how well Kim Minha and Youn Yuh-jung are able to convey emotions without dialogue but, in my mind, the correlation fits. And, man, I miss The Sopranos.