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Pachinko: Episodes 2-3 (Drama Hangout)

Behold, your weekly Drama Hangout! We might not be covering this drama, but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a place to talk about it, whether that’s squealing with excitement or piling on the analysis.

This thread is exclusively for this week’s episodes and anything prior, so let’s try to keep it as a place to chat about what’s aired — not spoil future plot points for unsuspecting eyes.

 
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As a Korean Japanese (my grandparents moved to Japan), this show was super interesting and I really wanted to love it, but... I don't know what it is, but I feel like something is missing.
Maybe I was just put off by Solomon's Japanese...
Actually I do think his pronunciation is great for a person who doesn't speak the language, but not good enough to play a person who was born and raised in Japan...

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hang in there, the story is just starting... if nothing else, try to read the book, it is an excellent read!

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also, i want to point out that these valid criticisms about the production (others have said they are speaking weird japanese) should not mire the story's importance.

it is about the korean diaspora in japan and america. it is still a global reality - like what is happening in ukraine, they are fleeing their country under duress. are they received well? is there discrimination? will there be discrimination?

please stay for the story, it is relevant even today.

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I'm always curious about what fans think of the drama because adaptations never live up to your imagination. As someone who didn't read the book, I had no clue what was going on, so these are rhetorical questions that I'm sure will be answered by the end of the series unless I accidentally spoil myself online.

The biggest mystery is Hana. Since Solomon's mother died when he was young, his father remarried Etsuko, so is Hana his step-sister? Were they lovers? Did she run away to be a prostitute and has a terminal illness?

Kim Min-ha's acting is very impressive. Koh Hansu was charming. He may have been a cheater, but he genuinely loved Sunja. I liked their chemistry talking about their dreams and his poor childhood. She has big dreams to take down Japan. Why did he never take off any of his clothes but was always undressing her?

Was Baek Isak staying at their boarding house contagious with tuberculosis? I liked him since he was nice. I can see that he'll marry Sunja and be the father of her child. Their relationship moved fast since he already liked her after a day.

It was sudden how Sunja's father died. Who reported the fisherman ajae? I adored him and was afraid the Japanese soldiers would shoot him in front of the market people and Sunja. The soldier who complimented her mother's cooking was nice, but I thought the mean one would cause trouble for their family.

Naomi and Solomon's commiserating over Americans guessing "Which Asian am I?" was so relatable. I loved when Sunja and the landowner halmeoni reminisced about food from Korea. The opening pachinko dancing sequence feels out of place with the tone of drama, but "Let's Live for Today" song is an earworm.

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as you stated - "Which Asian am I?" was so relatable.

i would suffer thru all their guesses (all these queries occurred when i was on campus in the mid 70s at the UW in washington state). after they exhausted the full SE asian ethnicities (i am not fair skinned), they would say after i told the i'm japanese - "no you're not!"

i mean, really. every single time. i was told the same thing. so i would tell them "okay, think whatever you want."

oh, the "best" one was about a decade ago, i was at a concession stand at the seattle center space needle and the woman working there asked me if i was tibetan. i told her "no" and she said, "omg, you look just like one, i have some living in my house".

she got no tip from me.

all my life i would be asked what i am. and i was never, ever asked if i was what i am. that being japanese.

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That is truly maddening. I really don't understand some people.

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I agree with you though

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I'm not convinced by the the actress playing the young adult Sunja. Her scenes should be the heart of the story, but they are the ones I'm less interested in. I can't see the connection between the 2 Sunja neither.

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I haven't read the book, so I don't know what unpleasantness they will encounter, but for an example of how bad things could get read up on the Kanto Massacre.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kant%C5%8D_Massacre

FWIW, I knew a bit about that from my college days (class in Japanese history among other Asia-related subjects)

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After 3 eps, i am not hooked. Cinematography and acting were top notch. I liked the book. But i just felt bored while watching the drama. Maybe the pacing was the problem. Plot moves on so quickly before the audience digest what just happened. I am guessing same thing will happen in remaining eps too. It`s just missing that emotion moving factor. Also for someone who didn`t read the book, shifting between two eras constantly might feel confusing and serve as spoiler too

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I'm guessing the book had the emotional factor the show is lacking. I hope it does because it's super popular. The only scene I really liked in all 3 episodes is when the two grandmas meet in Tokyo. And due to the pacing and mixing of timelines, I'm more invested in older Sunja's and Solomon's story than younger Sunja's and i feel that's not how it should be.

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Book was page turner, at one point i actually cried.

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Purely my own take on the book of course, but even though it won awards, it was underwhelming for me. As someone mentioned about the show, the plot moves too quickly to process. Same in the book as the characters kept morphing into their future selves before we could really get a grip on them from the beginning. Plus there new characters introduced for every change in time or place. There's so much to taken in that it enters our head, but not our hearts. I wish the book had been a trilogy instead so that we could really get involved with the multi-verse of characters and the events they passed through. So now, when it comes to seeing the tv show and hearing viewers comments about mixing timelines, I'm thinking that I'll just keep the picture I had of Sunja, Hansu and Baek Isak while reading the book and stop there. Their long saga wasn't very satisfying.

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Could it be true a stuntman played LEE MIN HO romance with sunja. Was just curious though 🤔

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obviously not lmao. he did it himself.

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They should have cast Zainichi who can speak both languages fluently. There are a lot of talented Zainichi in Japan. It's actually not hard to find Koreans who can speak Japanese fluently if you try. One of my favorite Youtubers is Zainichi. It's fascinating to watch her dance between these two worlds effortlessly, a beautiful blend of both cultures. I really hate when a character is supposed to be fluent in a language and then ends up not being able to speak it fluently. It's almost impossible for someone who grew up in Asia try to impersonate someone who grew up in America, and vice versa. The way we walk (Asian-Americans tend to strut), the way we talk, our facial expressions - these took us a lifetime to develop, so what makes casting directors think that any actor could pick up these quirks in a few months?

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