Pachinko – Season 2 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Chapter Ten

Episode 2 of Pachinko season 2 begins with kids out in the street playing. They’re buying into the war propaganda and it’s backdropped by Noa, who ends up seeing them messing about. Mozasu happens to be among them and they watch as a soldier arrives on a bicycle and drops off a letter. The family’s father has passed away, and this is, unfortunately, the truth around war.

Noa and Mozasu head home, where the former uses his teacher’s book to study. However, he notices the doorknob twisting and out of nowhere, a man stumbles through and lands on the ground. It’s Isak, he’s back!

Sunja shows up not long after while Isak is recovering. He’s cold and in a rough way. Kyunghee is rattled but Sunja is determined. She knows he’s fought this off before and can beat death again. But how many chances can one have tempting fate?

Kyunghee allows the kids to head out to the telegram office, with word that Isak has returned. Noa races off to Pastor Hu and begs him to come and pray for his father. “The Lord cannot look away again,” He says. As for Sunja, she shows to see Minho and asks him for help.

In exchange for getting Isak a doctor, she’s to go with him alongside her boys. It’s a hard bargain but she reluctantly agrees. At the same time, Mozasu sits with Isak while he struggles to get food down him. They talk about wealth and riches, with Isak admitting that the best riches is that of love.

His demeanour soon changes though when Pastor Hu shows up. Isak’s face drops when he realizes Hu was the one who turned him in initially. This also explains his reluctance to head over to the house in the first place. He actually despises his brother, telling him he gets everything easy. He’s always been jealous of Isak but now, he’s trying to make amends.

Infront of Noa, Isak forgives Hu. Noa is shocked and demands Hu get out and leave. He’s the orchestrator for their downfall but while Isak tries to show mercy, Noa is having none of it.

Speaking plainly to his son, Isak admits that “mercy is neither a gift nor a power. Mercy is an admission that survival comes at a cost”. Isak promises that no matter what, Noa and Mozasu are his sons and he’ll always be their pa. Sunja shows not long after with a doctor but unfortunately it’s too late. Before he passes away, Sunja promises Isak that their sons are going to live good lives.

Meanwhile in Tokyo, during our present timeline, Solomon shows to see Abe-san and begs him for mercy. He doesn’t know what else to do given he’s being stifled out of business. Abe-san refuses to do so, because he’s actually using Solomon as an example. If anybody crosses him, he’ll smite them down.

Solomon arrives to see Han Geum-ja, the woman whom he convinced not to sign a deal with Shiffley’s last season. There’s graffiti all over her walls and Solomon blames himself for this. He’s bitter, pointing out that he was fired from his job, leading to his visa being revoked. He’s basically stuck in the country and bitterly retorts that they all turn on each other at some point.

As they talk, the Halmoni points out that a long time ago, this was the site of a military school and apparently there are bodies buried here. These bones could be just the key they need to fight back.

Now, his plan is to allow them to sell the plot of land to Abe-san. Then, they spread rumours about the bones and it could be enough to send Colton packing. Abe-san would then be left with a big loan but it also means exploiting the dead to get that far. This is just what Abe-san said before about playing dirty.

Solomon knows that he’s had it easy in his life when Geum-ja initially refuses. “Pathetically easy” are his words. He can’t imagine going to sleep on an empty stomach but he’s not a fool. either. He’s seen how Sunja and her look at him and he understands struggle. Eventually she agrees, and the plan gets underway.

The Episode Review

Pachinko returns with another good episode, this one showing the ethics and morals around what it means to be a just and good person. The two timelines interweave together so effortlessly, with Solomon and Isak two sides of the same coin. Both have been through hell but each have very different outlooks on how to get ahead.

It’s interesting that Solomon is taking Abe-san’s advice to heart and deciding to play dirty in return, and his plan is very risky and could backfire. Then again, he doesn’t really have anything else to lose.

Meanwhile, the past timeline shows the horrors of war away from the battlefield, alongside how both Noa and Mozasu are adjusting to this new world order. The ending is particularly cruel with the air raid sirens going off right during the funeral process but similarly feels like a fitting way to end this chapter.

Pachinko has been a solid watch so far and we’ll have to wait and see exactly how the kids react to going with Hansu.