With series like "Severance" and "Slow Horses," Apple TV+ has a great library of original programming that continues to grow. However, between making your way through episodes of "Ted Lasso" or "Shrinking," you may have overlooked the streamer's period drama "Pachinko." Adapted from the best-selling 2017 novel of the same name by Min Jin Lee, the story's East Asian setting, including Korea, and heartbreaking emotional beats make it perfect for any K-drama fan. Keeping that in mind, it's also important to point out that, despite its cast and setting, "Pachinko" is not quite technically a K-drama itself.

"Pachinko" has its narrative split across two time periods centered on matriarch Kim Sunja and her family. In the past, a younger Sunja (Kim Min-ha) endures the brutal Japanese occupation of Korea and being forced to relocate to Japan while pregnant with the illegitimate son of the Japan-based Korean mobster Koh Hansu (Lee Min-ho). As World War II begins,...