“Pachinko,” the Apple TV+ drama that follows multiple generations in the lives of a Korean family in the 20th century, returned for its second season on August 23 to great acclaim. The series won our Gold Derby TV Award for Best Drama Series when it last aired more than two years ago, and the extended hiatus doesn’t seem to have hurt the show, if reviews are to be believed.
The drama’s second season has a MetaCritic score of 85 based on 11 reviews counted at the time of this writing. Ten of those reviews are rated positive and one is mixed, but none is unequivocally negative. On Rotten Tomatoes, where reviews are simply counted as positive or negative, the series is 100% fresh, with all 15 critics currently counted giving the show their seal of approval. These numbers aren’t far off from the first season’s ratings: 87 on MetaCritic based on 29 reviews and 97% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes based on 62 reviews. So, even though more TV journalists have commented on the show’s first season than currently on its second season, enthusiasm for the show remains strong.
Laura Sirikula (IGN) says: “In this amazing second season So, Hugh expands ‘Pachinko’ into a master class in resonance and reflection, while also paying respect to the book’s overarching themes.” Elias Gonzalez (Paste) believes that these new episodes “not only match their predecessors, but even surpass them with magnificent imagery and heartbreaking family drama that touches deeply. To put it bluntly, it is one of the best shows of the year.” Chase Hutchinson (Collider) joins in these enthusiastic praises: “As with its spectacular first season, the series continues to spin a sweeping tapestry of emotions that spans decades and includes moments big and small that will leave you speechless”; he thinks the series “should be part of any discussion of the greatest modern shows.”
Robert Lloyd (Los Angeles Times) also admires the series, but says that the second season is a transitional phase that “ends without much resolution and with gaps still to be filled. While it offers all the sensual pleasures of the first season’s performances and staging, as well as its share of love and death, it is very much in the middle of a book.” John Anderson (Wall Street Journal) criticizes that the show is “occasionally trapped in its own narrative,” but “the performances are consistently good.” And Alistair Ryder (Looper), who wrote the only mixed review on MetaCritic, argues, “In several episodes of the second season, the characters are overshadowed by the weight of the historical events surrounding them… The impact is blunted this time around because the historical drama has become so over-the-top.”
In addition to sweeping our Gold Derby Awards, the first season of Pachinko also picked up a whole host of impressive accolades: a Peabody Award, an AFI nod as one of the 10 Best Television Programs of 2022, an Independent Spirit Award for Ensemble Cast, a Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough Series – Long Form, and a Critics Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Series, to name a few. Surprisingly, however, the show was only up for an Emmy for Best Main Title Design, which went instead to the Apple TV+ series Severance.
But the television landscape is different in 2022, with top nominees like “Succession,” “Ozark” and “Better Call Saul” no longer airing. Other programs like “Stranger Things,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Yellowjackets” and the aforementioned “Severance” likely won’t return until 2025, opening the playing field for this year’s Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards. If the series can gain traction at those high-profile events, the Emmys could be next. It’s not unusual for the Television Academy to lag on some series; for example, “The Gilded Age” and “Slow Horses” were nominated for best drama series for the first time this year for their second and third seasons, respectively. Either way, the epic period drama’s second season seems like a must-see.
