Another movie genre I love to watch is legal dramas and I have watched quite a few. Lawyers are widely known to be sharks, tough and ready to fight for whatever they want with some spunk! I came across this new legal drama series by Netflix and was ready for some of this spunk.
I don't mind much if some of the supporting cast are passive or timid in their performances but not the leading actor. Especially in a television series! This is the character every viewer looks up to. It is through this leading character that we judge other actors and how well the storyline was executed. In this new Netflix series, the opposite was the case.
Netflix’s Partner Track (2022) is an American legal/romance series based on a novel of the same name by Helen Wan. It focuses on a young first-generation Chinese-American, Ingrid Yun, who works at the prestigious and competitive New York law firm, Parsons Valentine & Hunt. She's an associate who fights alongside her fellow associates for the position of a partner in the firm.
Ingrid Yun (played by Arden Cho) works hard and is determined to be the first Asian to make a partner but distractions stand in her way. Will she make it as her morality is called into question?
Cast Chemistry
The first season of this series comprises ten episodes of about forty-two minutes each and somehow I feel the story was rushed. We are yet to fully know and understand the characters and boom, the season is over! I don't know if it will be renewed for a second season but one thing I was not impressed with is the performance of the lead actor, Arden Cho.
When a lead actor or actress is not assertive, easily acquiescent to whatever unpleasant or insulting things her boss and colleagues at work dish out to her. Also, her chemistry with lead actor, Jeff Murphy (played by Dominic Sherwood), was zero. The story is that she had a one-night stand with Jeff at a wedding some years back and could not get him out of her head. Then he reappears from the London office at their New York office as her competitor and the flames come alive again. But I saw no flame. They related like they were distant, platonic friends rather than a couple who had spent the night together before.
I'm not sure Arden Cho is the right person to play the part of Ingrid Yun unless that's how the author wrote her book. Her chemistry with her fellow cast members was non-existent. Yes, she's beautiful, but still, a little spunk may make her likeable.
I admire the spunk of Rachel Friedman (played by Alexandra Turshen) and Tyler Robinson, litigators in Parsons Valentine & Hunt and close friends with Ingrid Yun. They fought against the competitive system in the firm, stood up for what they believed in and pursued what they wanted, unlike Ingrid. The season ended in a cliffhanger where Ingrid was hung out to dry. Hopefully, in the next season she'll grow some backbone!
Review
Aside from the cast's chemistry, this legal series is good, suspenseful with some romantic intrigue and somewhat relatable. Societal issues like racial microaggressions and diversity at work were explored.
I love how every episode starts with an opening narration of an idiom or some law that gives an insight into the episode's theme. The visual effects were superb and I enjoyed the display of Brooklyn, New York's picturesque sceneries.
Overall, it's a good show (that could be better). I'll recommend it if you are in the mood for a relaxing and mindless binge-worthy series.
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Images are screenshots taken from the movie