"Pachinko."

I watched the first two episodes to see what all the fuss was about, and now I know. And if you don't, you should.

I wrote yesterday about how “Slow Horses,” and plenty of other series for that matter, often intrigue enough to make you wonder how they will evolve and ultimately what they will be about — and investing a couple of episodes of time usually is enough these days for a harried viewer contemplating a very long list of shows to know whether they are are going to hang around or not.

The implication at the end, however, was that for me the hook of “Slow Horses” was kinda-sorta set, but not deep yet. Raise your hand if you’ve bailed on getting into a third episode, or in the middle of it or in the first 10 minutes of the fourth episode. I see a lot of hands. We’ve all been there.

With “Pachinko” on Apple TV+, based on the book by Min Jin Lee, there’s this very rare occurrence within the first five minutes — you know exactly the kind of story you’re going to get, which is an epic, generational tale that spans from 1910 to 1989 and immediately it sets your expectations for it. I love that kind of quick recognition because you’re probably three things: 1) Totally into that 2) Not into that 3) Into that, but not right now, because it seems too slow and you’re too busy or need something faster-paced at the moment.

It’s just good to know, sometimes.

As it turns out, “Pachinko,” with its lush cinematic first strokes — it feels like a movie and there’s no getting around that — was exactly the kind of thing I’m willing to invest in, even if my initial foray was just the first two hours, back-to-back. (I will say here that “Pachinko” is ultimately far too complicated for this kind of quick take, and to get the full scope of it I would have to, of course, watch the entirety of it, give it a good mulling, and then elaborate in detail.

But as I said yesterday, that’s not the point of this exercise. It’s not an in-depth review so much as it’s an impression (and yes, it did feel like a movie in the best of ways — the scope, the depth, the sense of intricate storytelling, not rushed, nuanced, elliptical). My opt-in desire kicked in almost immediately. I can’t wait to go dive back in, to discover the layers.