Why “Pachinko”'s explosive season 2 finale diverged from the book: 'To confront your mother is probably the hardest thing'

Showrunner Soo Hugh talks taking a more muted approach from the novel with that emotional goodbye in the season 2 finale.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the Pachinko season 2 finale, "Chapter Sixteen."

Sunja and her sons might have evaded the atomic bombs dropped on Japanese soil during the turbulent World War II, but not so much the explosions that come with truths thought to be buried in the rubble.

In Pachinko’s season 2 finale (streaming now on Apple TV+), the matriarch played by Minha Kim’s worst fear materializes: eldest son Noa (Tae Ju Kang) learns that Hansu (Lee Minho) is his father, and his world implodes after an emotional confrontation with the “foul” crime boss. In contrast, and in a departure from the book the series is based upon, the creative team headed by showrunner and writer Soo Hugh opted for a strikingly muted exchange between mother and son. Noa does not confront Sunja about this, instead offering a thinly-veiled farewell before the young Korean leaves his life behind and adopts a Japanese persona in Nagano.

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As Hugh explains to Entertainment Weekly, the creative departure was rooted in the intense exchange between father and son that came before. “That sucked so much of the energy in terms of Noa’s anger and hurt and betrayal,” she says. “By the time he gets to Sunja, he's already made up his mind that he's going to go. I love Sunja's line later when she says to Hansu, ‘When he came to me that night, he was saying goodbye. It was his mercy.’ When I think about their relationship, it's such a special intimate relationship, so it didn't feel quite right that they would have that explosion.”

<p>courtesy of apple tv+</p> Lee Minho as Hansu and Tae Ju Kang as Noa on 'Pachinko'

courtesy of apple tv+

Lee Minho as Hansu and Tae Ju Kang as Noa on 'Pachinko'

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Of the explosion with Hansu, “He worked himself,” Hugh adds of Kang, who takes over the role from the teenage Kang Hoon Kim for Noa’s college years. “He was really in the scene. He got so emotional, he had to step away a few times. You're asking actors to really go places, especially in scenes like that, and it's really a marvel that he was able to bring that out.”

Hugh and co. played with different versions of that muted mother-son moment, including one where the distraught Noa does confront his mother, but none of them felt right. “I always say there are scenes when you read them and you just know that it sounds like TV, if that makes sense,” says Hugh. “I feel like to be able to confront your mother is probably the hardest thing in the world to do. I just don't think the words are there for him.”

<p>courtesy of apple tv+</p> Minha Kim as Sunja on 'Pachinko'

courtesy of apple tv+

Minha Kim as Sunja on 'Pachinko'

Metaphorical implosions are accompanied with literal ones this season. The historical epic, having depicted the 7.9-magnitude Great Kantō earthquake in season 1, continues with big moments in history this season — namely, the United States' atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Related: Pachinko remains a time-hopping treasure in its masterful second season

“We had a lot of interesting conversations,” Hugh says of the affecting scenes. “And I'm of two minds on this and I don't think I've quite reconciled what the right answer is for me. When you're talking about something of that seriousness, how do you depict it? Is it cheap? Is it gross to depict it for entertainment value? But then in some ways, people learn from shows like this as well. So what's the line that you should cross and not cross?”

<p>courtesy of apple tv+</p> Tae Ju Kang as Noa on 'Pachinko'

courtesy of apple tv+

Tae Ju Kang as Noa on 'Pachinko'

Has Hugh seen Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, about the creation of the atomic bomb, by any chance? “I thought it was amazing,” she shares. “I mean, I was really worried because I was like, he's going to show us the $200 million version. But he didn't. I thought that was such an interesting choice not to show the actual detonation of Hiroshima in that movie. It didn't come out until after we finished shooting. It was interesting to watch in light of what we’ve made.”

No word yet from Apple TV+ on whether the sophomore season, currently at an inevitable 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, will be followed up with a season 3. “We just need more people to watch,” says Hugh. But she very much hopes to expand the sweeping world originally created by novelist Min Jin Lee. “I just want to see these boys grow up,” she says. “Noa’s 20, 21 when we leave him, and Mozasu is 14. To be able to see Mozasu in his 20s, fall in love for the first time. And we also haven't seen Solomon's birth. There's still so many huge moments left to explore.” 

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.