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Pachinko season 2 aired episode 7 on Apple TV+ on October 4, 2024. Starring Kim Min-ah as Sunja and Lee Min-ho as Hansu, the new episodes ushered in several changes into their lives, opening doors to new stories and paving the way for the next generation.
Episode 7 opens with Noa heading for his college as his mother, Sunja, along with their family and neighbors celebrate one last celebratory meal together. Hansu's journey of living under his father and his father-in-law's shadows comes to a close as he takes a big step of killing his father-in-law to protect what he has built. Sunja struggles with the reality of Noa leaving the nest and heading to an unknown city.
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Meanwhile, the 1989 timeline in Pachinko season 2 episode 7—which runs in parallel with 1950—shows an older Sunja finding a friend in an old man, Kato, as they feed the birds together. The intentions of Kato are questioned by Sunja's second son, Mozasu, who gets into a conflict with Sunja later.
Furthermore, Sunja's grandson, Solomon, gets his former girlfriend Naomi fired from her job to wage war against Abe-san. Meanwhile, Mr. Kim (in 1950) bids goodbye to Kyunghee and goes to fight in the North and South Korean War.
Pachinko season 2 episode 7 heralds unsettling changes in everyone's lives, hinting at a future turmoil
Hansu arrives at Noa's celebration at the beginning of Pachinko season 2 episode 7. The neighbors and Sunja's family dine together as Noa gets enrolled in Waseda University—one of the most prestigious colleges in Japan in 1950. Hansu gifts Noa the same pocket watch that Sunja had pawned off years ago.
This scene establishes a full-circle moment as Hansu got the pocket watch from his father, he handed it to Sunja two decades ago. After this, she pawned the pocket watch in season 1 to get over a difficult time. The watch made its way back to Hansu, who gifted it to his son, Noa.
Although Noa doesn't know that Hansu is his biological father and the pocket watch is a significant element for both his parents. Pachinko season 2 episode 7 shifts to 1989, when Solomon makes Tom fire Naomi. In the previous episode, Solomon learnt that Naomi was cheating on him as she was betrothed to another man. They ended their relationship, waging war against each other.
The next day, Naomi gets called by the bank director and she sees Tom (her boss) sitting beside the director. They tell her to resign as she disclosed confidential details about Abe-san's loan to thrid-party individuals. Naomi tries to fight back and realizes that Solomon could have been behind this as she had only told him. Later, Tom calls Solomon to inform him that Naomi has been fired.
Pachinko season 2 episode 7 shows an old Sunja planting a sapling with her new friend, Kato. He tells her how she needs to change the plant's tub to save it from dying, and she states that "new changes" have never yielded good results for her.
The scene is a contrast between a younger Sunja (Kim Min-ah), packing Noa's clothes as she fights her tears back in 1950, and an older Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung) who is worried if the plant will survive in a new environment. The story shifts back to 1950 and depicts Sunja and her family having a quiet dinner together as it is Noa's last night with them.
Yoseb—Kyunghee's husband and Noa's uncle—comes down to the dining room and questions why nobody invited him to join. He starts shouting and blaming them all for cooking bad food when Mozasu (13) shouts back at Yoseb. He angrily retorts asking Yoseb why he keeps treating everyone badly when the family has only taken care of him.
Mozasu says that they are not the reason that Yoseb got burnt during the Nagasaki bomb blast. Noa gets up from his seat, grabs a scarf from another room, and puts it on Yoseb's burnt face. He and Mozasu try to drag Yoseb out of the house while he tries to fight them off. Noa requests Yoseb that he should fight his fears and step outside the house as his pain is only making it worse for others.
After a while, Yoseb agrees and steps outside his house for the first time in five years after the 1945 Nagasaki bomb blast. Noa and Mozasu take him to the nearby park where kids are having a baseball match and their fathers are cheering for them. At that moment, Yoseb realizes that the war ended long back and everyone has moved on—and he smiles for the first time.
In the next scene, Hansu comes to meet Sunja as she is cleaning her porch while Noa, Mozasu, and Yoseb are outside. She asks Hansu how he found the pocket watch again and he tells her that he never let Sunja and Noa out of his sight since they left Korea 20 years ago. Hansu shares his worries about his daughter getting married to a man, who hates him.
He recalls his time with Sunja from 20 years ago in Korea when they first met. Hansu confesses that it was the most happiest time in his life as he used to meet her at the laundry's cove and help her wash clothes by the river. He then tells her that the sadness from these memories and his hatred for his father-in-law is festering within him, rotting his soul.
Later in Pachinko season 2 episode 7, Sunja advises him to let go of whatever is hurting him. A solemn Hansu walks towards Sunja, thanks her, and leaves. Meanwhile, the old Sunja in 1989 then tells Kato to visit America and he reveals that it's an expensive idea. Sunja hands over her saved money, asking him to use it in America.
Meanwhile, a private investigator informs Sunja's second son, Mozasu, of Kato's background. He reveals that Kato has a debt of 29 million yen and had killed 139 American POWs (prisoners of war) in 1948 in Osaka. Mozasu further shares the information to his mother and expresses his concerns. Sunja questions him that Kato's past doesn't change the fact that he is her friend. She says:
"How long were you with Etsuko? And Solomon has a Japanese girlfriend. Why is it okay for the two of you, but for me to just have a friend..."
Pachinko season 2 episode 7 shifts to a sequence where Mr. Kim is waiting outside Sunja's house with his bag—a place he called home for five years. Yoseb enters the house carrying firewood and Mr. Kim expresses his gratitude for letting him stay for so long.
Yoseb asks Mr. Kim to stay and not go to the war to fight for their homeland. He shares that he knows Kyunghee (his wife) loves Mr. Kim and gives them his permission.
Mr. Kim runs to Kyunghee and tells her that Yoseb knows about them and has decided to let her go. However, Kyunghee replies that she will stay devoted to Yoseb as his wife because her duty is bigger than her love for Mr. Kim.
Kyunghee tells Mr. Kim to go fight for their homeland (Korea) and survive the war because she cannot bear to live in a world without him. She asks him to return to her once he marries someone else and finds his happiness. Pachinko season 2 episode 7 then depicts Sunja preparing herself to bid adieu to her son, Noa.
In the next scene, a younger Sunja travels to Tokyo with Noa to drop him off at college. She tells him to not walk her out as she wouldn't be able to bear saying goodbye. She asks him to visit her every once in a while and tell her how big the world is so that she can learn about it too.
As two timelines—1950 and 1989—are shown running parallels, episode 7 displays the similarities between each scene despite happening in two separate time frames. It strongly establishes the symbolism of how history repeats itself uniquely.
Pachinko Season 2 Episode 7 wraps up with Isamu entering Hansu's father-in-law's house and stabbing him as Hansu watches it quietly. This hints at Hansu joining forces with his competitor, Isamu, from the underworld.
With the murder of his father-in-law, Hansu solidifies his position as the head of his empire, ushering in a new change in the power dynamics, where he used to be second-in-command for decades.
Pachinko Season 2 will release episode 8 on October 11, 2024, on Apple TV+.
