Pachinko Boss Breaks Down ‘Defining Moment’ for Sunja’s Sons — Plus, Is Solomon Finally About to Get a Win?
The following contains spoilers from Season 2, Episode 2 of Pachinko, now streaming on Apple TV+.
Isak’s unannounced homecoming in this week’s episode of Pachinko was tragically cut short when he succumbed to the sepsis he got while imprisoned for seven years. (Read our Performer of the Week write-up for Steve Sang-Hyun Noh and Minha Kim.)
More from TVLine
The clergyman and family man’s heartbreaking passing will have lasting reverberations for not just his wife Sunja, but also their sons, who each laid witness to different aspects of his final hours.
“Isak’s death really cements who those two boys become,” Pachinko showrunner Soo Hugh tells TVLine.
On the one hand, “You have Mozasu (played by Eunseong Kwon) who realizes, ‘My dad did everything right and look how life screwed him over? F–k it, I’m just going to play by my rules,'” the EP previews. “And then you have Noa (Kang Hoo Kim), who saw Isak suffer and realized, ‘I’m not going to be like him, as much as I loved him. So I’m going to make sure that I become [something else].
“It really is such a defining moment for both of them,” Hugh asserts.
Meanwhile in this episode’s 1989 storyline, Solomon (played by Jin Ha) — whose appeal for mercy to Katsu Abe was not only denied but arguably amplified their feud — paid a visit to landowner Han Geum-ja, whom he told about his post-Shiffley’s plight. Conversing at length with the rightfully stubborn woman, Solomon realized that her ramshackle home sits on the site of an old military school and very likely scores of improperly disposed-of corpses.
Solomon later reports back to Yoshii, triumphantly, that he convinced the old woman to sell to Abe-san. And once she does, they will spread word of the land’s unsavory past, effectively leaving Abe-san with a massive debt.
Is Solomon — who was on the ropes after the events of last season’s finale and this week’s stare-down with Abe-san — about to pull off his first big win?
“What’s great about Solomon’s character, and the way Jin plays him, is that brain will never rest, right?It keeps spinning and spinning and spinning,” notes Hugh. But, “it is both his asset and it will become his downfall. So, we see his rise this season — and then we’ll start to get a glimpse of his fall.”
What did you think of all that transpired in Pachinko Season 2, Episode 2?
Best of TVLine
Sign up for Tvline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.