When we first see Sunja, played by Minha Kim, in season two of Pachinko, she is standing in a crowded market place in Osaka. We actually hear her before we see her; she is calling out to the bustling crowds in the market and asking them to buy her kimchi. She waxes eloquent about how tasty it is, and finally adds, ‘Come, get a taste of home’.
In 2021, when Minha Kim began filming for season one of Pachinko, it was only her second professional acting role, and first american production. The young actor took on the challenge of bringing alive the central character of author Min Jin Lee’s celebrated novel Pachinko – a sweeping, expansive chronicle of four generations of a family as they navigate love, loss, grief, and survival. Following a critically acclaimed performance in the first season of the show, Minha was nominated for a Gotham Award for Outstanding Performance in a New Series, and was honoured as Breakout in TV at the 2022 Asian American Award’s Unforgettable Gala. Earlier this year, she was also seen in the music video ‘Come back to me‘, a song by RM of BTS.
Returning for a second season, Minha Kim, in an interview with The Hindu, says she approached the character the same way that she did in the first season, except that the show takes a time jump that she had to be mindful of. “I think the most important part for me is to feel genuinely, and in an authentic way. A time jump meant that I had to maintain her personality, and work on building my own stories of Sunja,” she says.
Minha Kim and Lee Min-ho in a still from season 2 of Pachinko
| Photo Credit:
Apple TV+
In season two of Pachinko, the year is 1945. In Osaka, which is in the throes of a war, Sunja is now physically and emotionally a lot more mature, and has much on her shoulders — her husband has been missing, possibly rotting in prison, she has two young sons to look after, money is tight, and rations are even harder to come by. She is worried about her mother, who is still in Japanese-occupied Korea, her home which she left years ago to make her way to Osaka with her husband. The remnants of her ‘home’, one that she refers to in her first appearance in the show, now lie in the Kimchi she makes, and the Korean she converses in with her sons.
In awe of what Minha brought to the character, director Leanne Welham described her as a ‘smart actor’. Stating that it was not easy to come onto a second season and play a character like Sunja, Leanne says Minha managed to embody all that experience without it feeling heavy, given how intelligent and intuitive she is. “She has this luminance about her when she’s on camera, which is unusual, and amazing to work with,” she adds. Leanne, Arvin Chen, and Sang-il Lee have been credited as directors for the new season, which is in Japanese, Korean and English.
Minha Kim’s performance in the first season of the show was critically acclaimed. In Frame: Minha Kim and Steve Sanghyun Noh
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Apple TV+
Minha says that while Sunja does shoulder great responsibilities, the love she carries ensures that it never feels like a burden to her. Sunja’s emotional turmoil, and how she deals with being a normal woman faced with extraordinary circumstances, was constantly on her mind while filming the show.
“Every situation that she is facing is quite hard. What I tried to do as the character is to just accept it and admit it, something that I feel Sunja is very good at. She just… goes on,” Minha says.
Through the show, Sunja is constantly confronted with the need to make decisions – for herself and her family – that impacts their lives and takes them forward. “Even if she has a moment where she is confused, she is never lost for too long and realises there is no right or wrong in the situation. She is very fast. She has a responsibility to protect her family and protect herself as well,” the actor says.
This also meant that Minha had to remain conscious, she says, of ensuring her portrayal of Sunja was never one-note. “I wanted to bring some diversity in my emotions. It isn’t always the same, and I wanted to build this individual’s relationships with other characters as well,” she explains.
Following a seven-year time leap after season one, Sunja’s sons are now eight and thirteen years old, and in Kyunghee, her sister-in-law, she has found a solid support system. Koh Hansu (played by actor Lee Min-ho) also re-enters her life, bringing forth their shared, troubled past.
The ensemble cast includes Jung Eun-chae, Steve Sanghyun Noh, Jin Ha, Yuh-jung Youn
| Photo Credit:
Apple TV+
Min Ha visibly brightens when asked to speak about the ensemble cast she is a part of – which includes Jung Eun-chae, Lee Min-ho, Steve Sanghyun Noh, Jin Ha, and Yuh-jung Youn. “They are great actors, and we had many conversations about our characters and relationships. But we mostly followed our own instincts, trusted each other and had faith in our own characters. We believed each other,” she says.
In the run up to Pachinko season 2’s premiere in New York, actor Lee Min-ho took to Instagram to share pictures of him and Minha in the city, dressed in casual clothes, cheekily captioned ‘hansu & sunja in newyork’, which delighted fans of the actors and the show.
“The entire cast had a great relationship off camera, and had some time to hang back in Korea after we finished filming. I think this really did help us on set as well,” she smiles.
Season 2 of Pachinko premiers on Apple TV + on August 23.
