Partner Track Review: Netflix’s Legal Drama Is A Perfect Series For Binge Watching

Stars: Arden Cho, Alexandra Turshen, Bradley Gibson

Creator: Georgia Lee

Streaming Platform: Netflix

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Partner Track is the legal drama TV series, on Netflix from August 26, 2022, which highlights the dynamics of power and the difficult path that Ingrid Yun, a young lawyer must face to make a career in a sexist workplace. The series is inspired by Helen Wan’s novel of the same name and adapted for the small screen by author Georgia Lee. The ten episodes are a perfect balance between comedy, romance and topics that are more current than ever, too bad for the lack of courage: the series would have needed more bite to stand out!

Partner Track Review: The Story

Partner Track tackles current issues with a hint of romance and an approach reminiscent of the adventures of Sex and the City. The series is set in New York and focuses on the rich and young American society, made up of thirty-year-olds who live in luxurious apartments, attend exclusive parties and wear high-fashion clothing. A life that seems perfect, but not for the three protagonists who collide with a harsh reality. Tyler, Rachel and Ingrid live a seemingly perfect life, work in one of the most renowned and well-known law firms in the city, receive a staggering salary and have endless possibilities ahead of them. It doesn’t take long to find out it’s all a facade. Ingrid (played by Arden Cho) has been a lawyer for six years and dreams of finally becoming a partner after years of hard work and sacrifice. Ambitious and full of determination, the protagonist solves problems from which no other lawyer can extricate herself and she spends her days in the office neglecting family, friendships and romantic relationships.

All his efforts, however, are blocked by the dynamics of power that govern the law firm where he works, in which only those with the right knowledge can make a career. A dynamic that is exclusively male and from which Ingrid, Rachel and Tyler are excluded due to their skin color, gender and sexual orientation. Colleagues back each other, creating groups that it is impossible to fit into if you do not physically resemble the majority. This is the case with Jeff Murphy (Dominic Sherwood), who just arrived from London and manages to make his way by becoming friends with his colleagues and approaching the boss neglecting his job responsibilities but attending to his environment (whether it is a business dinner or golf games) which are precluded to Ingrid but not his male colleagues.

Partner Track Review and Analysis

The protagonists are three Parsons Valentine & Hunt lawyers with big dreams and a lot of will achieve them, but soon the trio takes different paths that show different sides of the same toxic working environment. Tyler seems – at a first superficial glance – the stereotype of the gay African American boy with a passion for fashion, but he is the one who has the most interesting storyline. Targeted by a colleague with strong racist attitudes, the most transformative narrative arc is dedicated to his character, and which best reflects the themes that Partner Track wants to pursue.

Rachel who suffers harassment for being a woman in a law firm where only she and Ingrid are the exceptions is still unclear about what to do in life and, unlike her two friends, she doesn’t like her job. Caged in a role dictated by strict social rules, Rachel is afraid of following her dreams and leaving a secure and prestigious job. Although Rachel and Tyler are the supporting characters of the protagonist, their storylines are the most interesting.

The stories of Tyler and Rachel – being very interesting and focusing on two completely different aspects of working in a purely masculine environment dictated by patriarchal rules – obscure Ingrid who, on the contrary, is entrusted with a much more classic narrative plot. Ingrid is described as a hard worker, but her story arc focuses more on the more classic love triangle, leaving aside the focal point of the series that would need the attention of the protagonist. Only in the last part of Partner Track is Ingrid’s psyche deepened and his character becomes three-dimensional, analyzing some of his facets only hinted at the beginning such as his not being able to say no, the constant fear of losing his job and the obstacles that block the climb of his career due to his Korean origins and of her being a woman.

The reason why Partner Track works so well is the skillful union between a direction and acting devoted to narrative plots that recall the most romantic legal dramas and Sex and the City, without neglecting the main themes of the whole. series from which the stories of the three protagonists develop. This fusion also translates into aesthetics. Emblematic in this sense is the first sequence of the pilot in which Ingrid wears an elegant pink dress that clashes with the rest of the businessmen who crowd the sidewalk, in plaster casts in emblematic dark blue suits. Even the scenography, therefore, carries on the important issues of Partner Track, but without ignoring the most glamorous part of the series, the one characterized by formal dinners, business trips and charity balls up to the very offices of Parsons Valentine & Hunt.

Partner Track Review: The Last Words

Partner Track is a light, fun and ideal series for binge-watching, but not superficial that tackles issues that are more current than ever in a realistic and non-patronizing way, although the love triangle in which the protagonist is involved takes up too much time and space that would be it was better to devote to the numerous narrative plots.