“Pachinko” Season 1 Ending Explained: Episode 8 Recap And Review

Published Categorized as K-Dramas and K-Movies
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Apple TV+ drama “Pachinko” has wrapped up its run for its first season today, here is a recap of the 1st season episode 8 as well as the ending explained.

Why was Isak arrested?

In the beginning of “Pachinko” season 1 episode 8, we see that Isak has been arrested by Japanese police and taken into custody. Initially, Sungja is left puzzled by why they’d take away a man who is only a pastor and insists he’s done nothing wrong. Since they came for him by name, it means someone ratted him out.

Sungja tells Yoseb who goes to police to inquire but is given no answer aside from the fact that its a serious crime.

Sungja sees a Korean woman and she ends up recognizing who Isak is, she takes her to a secret meeting with other communists [ Hasegawa] and it turns out Isak was planning something against their emperor hence his arrest, he was arrested for suspected treason against the emperor . Police raid the meeting and take away the two people who talked to Sungja, she’s also questioned but is let go because police concluded she had nothing to do with it.

On her way out with her son Noa, she sees Isak getting escorted away and they tearfully separate. The situation is dire.

Did Hana pass away?

Yes, she did. She is suffering from a lot of pain and confides in Solomon how she wanted her death to be more glorious. Solomon ends up taking away her bed and escorting her to the rooftop so she could see Tokyo’s skyline one last time. She dies there and her mother tells her, ‘sweet dreams.’

What happens to Solomon?

He decided to strike a deal with the devil Yoshii who tells him they’re living in an economic bubble thats about to burst. Instead of going with pachinko as a business, Solomon suggests he uses ‘ways’ to make the grandma sell her house so they could sell it back to the corporation he used to work for after making them beg for it.

Solomon’s father isn’t happy to hear his son lost his job, he wants him to go back to America but he tells him his via expired. They have a fight and later, the father lashes out on his mother Sungja and brings up what happened to Noa.

After Hana’s death on the rooftop, Sungja hands Solomon the same watch Hansu had given her. She used to think it was a curse but doesn’t believe that anymore, she believes this watch ‘saved their family.’

What happened to Noa?

The drama hints that something terrible happened to Noa in the past hence why we don’t see him in the present, this means he’s likely dead.

Noa is a determined young boy when his father was arrested and taken away by police. He was only seven at the time.

Walking the next day to school after his father’s arrest, Hansu walks by his side. Noa doesn’t know who Hansu is. He gives him advice and tells him, ‘be so good that they can’t deny you what you’re owned,’ and ‘never look back.’ He hands him the watch Sungja had pawned previously.

Hansu seems to know a lot about Noa and Isak despite keeping his distance from them, this seems to be the first time he’s met his son.

What happens to Sungja in the year 1938?

Despite being devastated that her husband has been arrested, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She wakes up in the morning and makes kimchi, she plans on selling it at the market.

Yoseb isn’t happy she’s doing it, he’s been let go from his job after telling his boss his brother went away for a crime related to politics. Nevertheless, Sungja insists on helping him out, she goes to the market to sell the kimchi and is booed by people telling her to go away because of the smell, then one nice Japanese man tells her to stand next to him and sell.

She begins using her limited Japanese and yell at the market to sell her kimchi.

When is “Pachinko” Season 2 coming?

“Pachinko” Season 2 is likely in the making and while Apple TV+ had not yet made an official announcement about it. Deadline had an interview with the show’s creators who teased season two, read about their interview here.

“Pachinko” Season 1 ending review

Wow! That was heartbreaking. I cried a lot in this episode, this was very emotional.

I really liked “Pachinko,” I didn’t expect I’d like it this much but I did. I know its not everyone’s cup of tea but to those curious about those time periods, I think this would be a treat.

I liked everyone’s acting, the cinematography, and the amount of effort put into making sure this sheds light on what happened during that period.

I wished episode 8 provided more of a conclusion but I get why they didn’t.

I will definitely be waiting for season two.

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By Jass K.

Hi, I am Jass k. I discuss some of the hottest currently airing kdramas on this site in form of reviews an/or recaps, join me in the discussion~

3 comments

  1. I watched Pachinko as it was much talked about, has international cast including a big budget. Also more so for the ‘A list’ actor Lee Min Ho who auditioned for a role. He is loves the storyline and is a passionate and humble actor.

    I am disappointed as Lee Min Ho’s role is so small and he does not have much air time. The lead actress is not my type to look at.

    Somehow I felt something is missing and there is no oomph.

  2. If you like this series, go read the book. It has greater details which the show skims over or changes to allow key moments or emotions to stand out. The book is also linear in its storytelling. I can understand why the author gave her go-ahead but refrained from series involvement. The producers took liberties in the visual story telling. Not only that, one key character was totally misrepresented, which is rather disrespectful to the novel.

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