Take a look at the role and group of “Pachinko” in the “Best Episode” of the first season.

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There are ambitious shows and then there are pachinko – Multiplicity, a trilingual family saga that juggles many chronicles from the 20th century while focusing on the experience of an ethnic minority group in Japan, the Zainichi Koreans, who few Americans have heard of from Min Jin’s 2017 novel Jin Lee, based on on Apple TV. + theater. In the book’s passage, showrunner So Hugh tells the stories of matriarch Sunja (played by Minha Kim in the 1930s and Yu-Yong Yun in the 1980s) and her grandson Solomon (Jin Ha) together. Hugh, Kim and Ha were joined by director Justin Chon, who directed four of the season’s eight episodes (Cogonada directed the rest), and executive producers Michael Ellenberg and Theresa Kang-Low. the hollywood reporter About the “fourth chapter”, the half of the season and the favorites of several teams.

Inside pachinkoIn the fourth episode, Sunja and her new husband travel from a Korean fishing village to Osaka, a move that not only leaves her mother, Yanjin (Inji Jong) forever, but also sets her descendants on a new path. Nearly 60 years later, Solomon is threatened with a career contract when his Japanese and American colleagues trust him to persuade a Korean landowner to sell his land, while Sunja, now a widowed grandmother, prepares to return to Korea. in the first place.

So you told me “Chapter Four” was your favorite. Because?

very large You can’t pick any of your kids, but even through the letters, I texted Justin from the hairdresser saying, “104 is the best episode.” I’m specifically thinking about the sequence in which Janjin cooks rice. [a luxury for Sunja’s last meal]. It was Justin and Kogonada’s mandate, it must be a cult. And so what Justin did was very emotional.

Theresa Kang Lowe The response we get for this episode is that he feels most deeply Korean and therefore everyone who isn’t Korean connects with him as if he is his own family. I have heard from many people that this has allowed them to talk about their own family experiences in the family.

Dude, you said your proudest work of the entire season was also on 104. How did you get the emotion out of those scenes since the sun is usually pretty stoic?

my kim In the fourth episode, I have to say goodbye a lot: Janjin, my home, my country. How scary it is to leave the house and never know when we will meet. At that time we didn’t have iPhones or emails, and Sunja and Yanjin couldn’t read, so they couldn’t send messages. Before filming the farewell scene, my mother sent me a message: “I miss my mother too.” I never thought of my mother as my grandmother’s daughter. I don’t know how, but my mom always texted me when I needed to.

Didn’t he know you were going to film this scene?

Kim Not when I was drinking in a foreign country [Japan and Canada]He texted me a lot because I missed him and every time he did that he gave me a lot of encouragement. Right before the scene where Yanjin gave me the rice, Inji changed clothes and said, “How can I let you go?” Before turning on the camera. It made me so crazy. So I think those around me helped me to be in that moment. It came from honesty and not from principle.

Solomon is like a chameleon that adapts to a diverse culture. Gene, who is Solomon to himself?

j-ha Oh boy. This is the problem he faces at the end of the season. When he’s in the conference room with the owner and everyone assembled and decides to substantially screw up his own business he’s worked so hard to complete, it’s a big change for Solomon. The ghosts of his past surfaced to the innkeeper in his speech and this becomes the connection with Solomon at the most important moment in his life.

What effect will that have on Solomon when the owner suddenly switches from Japanese to Korean, something only he understands?

which Dagger. Even for me, when I left Korea at a very young age, there is something inherently emotional about the language. At school, one of the tools I tried to use was listening to Korean music. Hearing stories woven into emotional Korean songs had a profound effect on me, which was different from listening to music with English lyrics. I think Solomon felt the same way. In Shakespeare, when moving from verse to prose, the moment of change is sometimes the most important. Likewise, when and why we switched from Japanese to Korean or vice versa are some of the most fascinating details we have in our show.

Michael Ellenberg Gina didn’t speak Japanese in this case. Part of the rigorous audition process was that he showed his ability to do it all and mastered it. As a spectator, you have no idea. Remember, a large part of our audience doesn’t speak any of these three languages, but their emotion, their behavior, everything changes as they move between languages.

In the final sequence of this episode, Solomon is the most restrained, dancing in the rain while his grandmother takes a dip in the beach water for the first time in 50 years. Justin, did that affect how these scenes were filmed?

justin chon The rain wasn’t actually written. I just wanted to visually find a way to connect people in two different countries and make me feel like they’re sharing the same experience. I’ve had a lot of problems with YJ since it was one of the early days of filming. (laughs.)

Drink an Oscar winner?

chon I wet him, he called me and said, “I’m crazy about you. You’ve been in the water a long time.” I bought her a nice bottle of white wine the next day. But I think it’s wonderful: on an emotional level, the two of them go through this cathartic experience together and it connects them. So who cares about the logistics? How do you feel?

The interview is edited for length and clarity.

The story first appeared in the June 8 issue of The Gossipify. Click here to subscribe.