This is my first look (two episode) opinion of Netflix’s Partner Track. Some spoilers ahead.
When Ingrid Yun (Arden Cho) graced my screen on the trailer for Netflix’s Partner Track, based on Helen Wan’s 2013 novel The Partner Track, my ears perked up and eyes widened. Of course, there have been numerous legal dramas centered around strong female leads such as The Good Wife and, more recently (and quite literally), She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, but very rarely do I see a series centered around an Asian-American’s climb to junior partner at a top New York mergers & acquisitions law firm. I saw it as a win for representation on television as an East Asian myself, and of particular interest as a future lawyer with some interest in corporate law.
Taking a break from my Public & Constitutional Law readings (I really needed one), I decided to take the dive. Coming in I had few expectations. I was not familiar with the novel, nor was I familiar with any of the cast. Though the trailer suggested the series would have a certain je ne sais quoi quality, consistent with other Netflix series like Emily in Paris, I gave it the benefit of the doubt. At best, it would be a guilty pleasure I’d watch in-between my 1L readings. At worst, I would abandon it and read a summary of it later online.
Ingrid Yun, at first glance, is a workaholic and extremely competitive. She must be. She works weekends, volunteers for every task at meetings, and goes to sleep playing an M&A podcast every night. Eager to impress her boss for an upcoming partner-track promotion opportunity, she competes with her predominantly white, male colleagues for the lead spot representing a client in a multi-billion-dollar deal. Often, this will be at the expense of her social life. It won’t be a surprise to anyone in the BIPOC community that as one of the very few persons of colour at her firm, Ingrid must work harder than anyone else just for a fraction of the recognition her colleagues receive on a regular basis. Despite being incredibly smart and talented (graduating second in her class at Harvard, I might add) she constantly endures being overlooked by her boss, and in one scene is asked by her new client to fetch him a drink, no doubt because her male, white assistant who happened to also be in the same room fit the mould of a lawyer better. All this happens within the first thirty minutes of the first episode and continues throughout.
I don’t know about you, but nothing about what I described above successfully relieved my stress in trying to understand unwritten constitutional principles. In fact, I’d much rather go back to reading about how the arbitrary abuse of regulatory powers in Roncarelli v Duplessis violates the unwritten principle of the rule of law, than see another minute of Ingrid being subject to the systemic racism and discrimination in the legal profession (I’m mostly exaggerating. I love your course Prof. Kidd White.) Although the story placing Ingrid between two competing love interests, recently reunited one-night-standee Jeff Murphy (Dominic Sherwood) and new flame and New York’s most eligible bachelor Nick Laren (Rob Heaps), certainly spices things up, it ultimately does little to make me forget the constant injustices committed against our heroine.
Having watched this at the conclusion of the Ethical Lawyering in a Global Community course, there is no doubt in my mind that the challenges and barriers BIPOC face in the legal profession are well depicted in this series. Personally, however, I desired a more uplifting series to use as a study break. Television often presents itself as a much-needed escape from reality. Here, it was clear to me that Ingrid’s uphill battle against system racism was central to the series’ plot and her own character arc. Alas, I wanted a series that wouldn’t remind me of the very real challenges I will inevitably face in my own legal career. Please note, I am in no way suggesting that this story is poorly written or unworthy of your attention. Indeed, the realistic portrayal of Arden Cho as Ingrid should be lauded and become a reason for more people to pay attention to it. Regrettably, Ingrid’s experiences were just a little bit too close for comfort.