Reviewer Rating: 3.5/5.0
3.5
Pachinko Season 2’s finale left more questions than answers, as it didn’t resolve Solomon and Noah’s storyline and gave Sunja more heartbreak.
On the one hand, Noah is finally forced to see what everyone around him has already noticed: Gao is his biological father.
On the other hand, this new knowledge creates a huge rift in the show’s space-time continuum that deserves more exploration time than the final minutes of Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8.
A lot happens to all the characters in this ending. In 1989, Sunja and Solomon made radically different moral choices that may have driven their families too far apart to reconcile.
and in Both Looking at the timeline, Motha’s life is defined by the pinball parlor.
Noah is still a good student
The 1951 storyline shows that Noah has adjusted easily to college life and continues to impress his teachers. However, surprisingly, Noah attends dinner parties with Gao every week.
Another surprise is that he now allows Koh to pay for his dormitory fees, whereas just a year ago getting money from him was a big issue.
I kind of wanted to see what had happened between Noa and Koh since 1950 and see exactly how their relationship rose to this more harmonious level.
It was enough to assume that some sort of guided-cut “remember to be nice to mom’s old friend” action had occurred, and that assumption had to get me through.
Noah also had a romantic relationship with Akiko Nakazono, the young woman we saw at the end of Pachinko Season 2 Episode 7. Noah seems to have had an eventful year!
Akiko Plays with Fire on the Pachinko Machine Season 2 Episode 8
It’s hard to understand Akiko as a character.
From the last episode, I thought she was a campus revolutionary, but after hearing her thoughts on Tolstoy and how she treated Noah, I’m not sure.
I feel like maybe not all He teams up with Noa when he becomes angry over Akiko’s desire to see Koh. Would Noah be embarrassed to be seen with gangsters?
Maybe he likes their dynamic, him being the “poor” boyfriend, and her seeing him in Koh’s palatial home threatens that?
or…Does Noa suspect Koh is his father and is afraid the look on Akiko’s face will confirm it?
Whatever the reason, I feel conflicted about Akiko due to the bickering between Akiko and Noah.
Oddly, he’s a little annoyed that she wants to see Xu; it seems to be more than just a desire to keep his school and home life separate.
But Noah also pointed out that he never said no to her, only asked her not to do it one thing.
Their literature class must not have gotten to the story of Bluebeard’s Castle yet. But otherwise, Noah would know how this request is usually fulfilled.
While I feel like Noah could have articulated his request better, I also think Akiko fully intended to force the meeting with Gao no matter what.
Noah’s obvious strong feelings about the incident were like catnip and didn’t give her pause. This tells me that this is the point where their relationship is destined to fall apart.
Mozasu gets a job at Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8
Let’s face it: Moz’s magnet hack for the pinball machine was genius. Wrongmind you, but genius.
Junko’s noodles save the day again, and Mr. Goto, out of respect for the goddess of food, hires Moz as a worker at his pachinko parlor to keep him out of trouble.
I think Goto and Junko just sorted out this underlying issue decades later, but it’s fun to see Moz try to keep a smile on his face as his academic-free future is decided.
It turned out to be Viri Interestingly, this job puts Moz on the path of his grandfather and grandson Yoshii, long ago.
I wanted to know more about their history before 1989, when we only got a tiny taste of Moz, reminding Yoshii that he had shown him some serious kindness.
For what, Moz? Why are you showing mercy to him?
Apparently, Moz stayed in the pinball industry, because in 1989 he got his own living room.
Of course, I realize that Moz and Yoshii wouldn’t be such enemies if they hadn’t been involved in something other than pachinko at some point. But I guess we won’t know more until next season.
Solomon and Sunja face a tough room
Solomon is packed with people at the downtown Marriott or any crowded hotel conference room.
When asked about the potential real estate crisis, he wanted to tell the truth as Moz looked at him from one corner but Yoshii glared at him from another.
So Solomon lied. He (or maybe just me) finally realized that Yoshii had been running a scam using his golf club dream, selling memberships that would never be used because the club would never be built.
He also learned that Mr. Abe committed suicide because of the failed deal, but he did not appear very upset by the news.
I think Solomon will probably win the Tokyo Business Person of the Year award next year, unless his soul comes back before then.
The concept of mercy is a recurring theme this season, with nearly every character providing it at some point in Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8.
Except maybe Solomon, unless you think he was being kind to himself by lying to prevent Yoshii from punishing him, or worse.
Junko makes a difficult decision about Kato and shows mercy to him by silently bearing witness to his war stories.
It didn’t change Sunja’s mind, but it felt like a conscious act of kindness to show her now ex-friend that she couldn’t accept what he did but could respect who he was with her.
So far, Kato has been a ray of light. Before Moz found out, I actually thought Kato and Junko might be traveling to America. But she actually threw away all the plants he helped her repot!
Koh hosts dinner in Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8
The dinner at Xu’s house was like a rapidly falling boulder.
From the pre-funk interactions with Kurogane, you can see Kurogane create a real-time connection between his master and Noah, to Akiko ruining the dessert course on what promises to be the worst night of Noah’s life.
Gao dismissed Teacher Noah’s wishes with his trademark bluntness. I thought about how Sunja could have changed Noah’s mind more gently.
I wish Koh would stop and make a mental note to ask her for help.
Instead, he joins forces with Akiko, the daughter of an official, to bring (or force) Noah into politics.
Akiko has one moment She thinks of redemption when she diplomatically points out that Noah will do well in politics, but it has to be his decision. Other than that, I couldn’t believe she ruined Noah’s dad dinner. How does she know where Koh lives?
Then Noah learned the truth. His reaction? Not good, Bob.
Noah’s violent behavior is horrifying, but not surprising after a lifetime of restraint. Whatever suspicions Noah had about Gao before, Noah received a lot of That night, he received a flood of information that even he couldn’t distinguish.
But it wasn’t fun to see him choke Akiko, and it wasn’t fun to see Koh repeat it later when he pushed the waitress down in his club.
It’s hard to say what Noah plans to do after bidding farewell to Sunja. It turned out he had been missing for weeks and did nothing to help me figure it out.
I can’t put my finger on the importance of Nagano or Noah’s new name, Minato Ogawa. But like his brother, he found a job sweeping floors in a pinball shop, and the transformative moment was palpable.
It’s no secret that Noah (or Ogawa) is absent from the 1989 timeline. I hope we learn more about why in season 2, especially since we spent so much time in Noah’s formative years.
In the final moments of the episode, Noah was thrown away with a new name and a new job, which was disappointing.
If season 3 isn’t all about the rise of Minato Ogawa and the adventures of Mozzie’s youth, I guess… I’ll have to stick with season 4.
And don’t get me started on the fact that Joseph kept Mr. Kim’s letter to Kyung Hee! This episode needs more time.
I think it would be best not to accept Joseph White’s offer to step aside and let the couple stay together, as hiding these letters would be the most despicable act and would only hint at a worse situation.
Pachinko Season 2 Episode 8 wraps up the most important plot point (Noah learning about Koh) and resolves smaller stories like Kato’s fate, Tom’s move to Macau, and Moz’s debt being erased.
Considering the quality of the previous episodes and how invested we are in these characters now, this is an episode that should be great.
There was a lot to cover in this episode, so it felt a little rushed at times, but overall it worked well as a season finale. I just hope this series doesn’t end up like Lost, where every mystery solved spawns five new ones.
What do you think, TV Fanatics? Are you satisfied with the ending of Pachinko Season 2 or do you want more?
Did I miss the previous mention of Port Ogawa, or is this the first time we’ve heard the name?
Are you looking forward to Pachinko Season 3? Let us know in the comments!
