Pachinko finale spoilers follow.
Pachinko boss Soo Hugh has broken down the show's powerful finale, which premiered on Apple TV+ on Friday (April 29).
The episode ends with Sunja successfully selling kimchi in the market at last, as the camera then zooms up away from her into the sky.
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Speaking to Digital Spy about if it was difficult to choose that particular scene to end on (given how much material is in the book), Hugh said the choice was easy.
"That was the easiest thing to do, because reading the book, I was like, 'Oh, that is the season one ending'," she said.
"For me, it was like, 'That was it'. Because it's such a triumph, right? Just watching her find her voice. And higher and higher up – you still hear her. That came very, very quickly. A lot of other things didn’t, but that did."
The end of the episode featured real-life interviews with Korean women who moved to Japan and stayed there after World War II.
Speaking about the decision to feature real-life Sunjas in the show's finale, Hugh said: "This book is a work of fiction. This show is a work of fiction.
"But it's built on the stories of people who actually lived these lives. You know, that first generation of Zainichi women, they're not going to be with us for that much longer.
"We really wanted to celebrate their lives. We wanted people to see their faces. We wanted to give them a voice, because they didn't have a voice for so long. And I think that seeing their faces – it was incredible."
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As for what she wants viewers to take from watching Pachinko, Hugh is hoping they reflect on their own families.
"When people finish the series, I hope they think about their own families. And I hope they think about who the Sunja is in his or her life, because we all have one," Hugh said.
"We have that person, whether it's one or two or three generations back, that person who really did pay so much of the sacrifices for us. I just hope we give some thought to those people."
Pachinko, based on the novel by Min Jin Lee, is streaming now on Apple TV+.
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