KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Some TV shows are just meant to be enjoyed on as big a screen as you can find, at the highest resolution.

Apple TV+'s Pachinko certainly fits that description. I watched it first on a smaller laptop display but it wasn't until I binged it a second time in 4K on a TV that I understood the rave reviews.

Oscar-winning actress Youn Yuh-Jung who plays the protagonist Sunja in her later years was impressed by the sheer quality and I agree.

While blockbuster films such as The Batman have been criticised for being so darkly lit to the point that you can barely see anything, Pachinko is in contrast, perfectly happy to embrace the entire spectrum of light and colour.

From the energy and vibrance of the title sequence to the wide shots of lush Korean fields, the show isn't afraid to make the effort to create scenes that are easy to enjoy just for the visual aspect.

Creating a flow

Directors Kogonada and Justin Chon directed different episodes simultaneously so when I asked them at a press conference if they'd had the opportunity to compare notes, they said it wasn't the case.

Fortunately their styles were complementary enough the episodes flowed without a jarring contrast between them.

Why choose two directors more known for indie work instead of more established mainstream names? Perhaps it was just simply about choosing people who would have a real connection with the material.

Pachinko at its heart is a story about a family of immigrants, a tale that is mirrored across generations and different diasporas.

There is a certain kind of ache, a longing for the familiarity of home and loved ones, that will feel familiar to immigrants, first-generation or not.

Actor Lee Min-ho gets to stretch his acting wings as a somewhat tragic not-quite villain. — Picture courtesy of Apple

In one episode, a character expresses sorrow at feeling unwanted by the people of her new country and when the person she is speaking to agrees with her, that shared feeling helps bridge the awkward gap in their relationship.

That shared pain is also reflected in another scene where one character admitted that every day she lives full of fear.

The reply she got was simply: "I'm scared too. So let's be scared together.”

This shared experience and its relatability transfers well on screen and the strength of Pachinko is how easy it is to care about the characters.

What is a family drama without some measure of suffering? A little melodrama is expected but it helps that the setting ― the Japanese occupation of Korea ― makes the events palpable.

Too many threads

I found the existence of Anna Sawai's not-in-the-book character Naomi incongruous at times as her purpose seemed lost in the sea of other minor characters.

While it's expected that TV adaptations will depart somewhat from their original material due to the differences in medium, it felt like the script perhaps tried a little too hard to build backstory where it wasn't strictly necessary and paid too little attention to some details that could use a bit more exposition.

Popular actor Lee Min-ho got an entire episode dedicated to the backstory of his character. Whether you like the episode or not would depend on whether you liked his character enough.

I found it a little jarring that the other episodes employed the back-and-forth storytelling narrative showing the contrast of the past and present while Min-ho's episode was dedicated entirely to his character's past.

Still, Pachinko's strengths exceed its flaws and let's hope that the second season eschews the superfluous and concentrates on its best parts ― the solid characterisations by an excellent ensemble cast.

Pachinko is now screening on Apple TV+ with new episodes each Friday with eight episodes in total.

Watch the fun title sequence below: