Good Partner (2024)

About "good" partners in various senses. A pleasantly vivid and complex, well-rounded story.

“Good Partner” is about lawyer and divorce cases, while radiating quite some ´work life in Seoul´ feeling. The main focus obviously is on divorce and everything that comes with it. In South Korea so far, divorce has been an issue ´non grata´ sort of. But it has become quite hot recently. Being able to deliberately elaborating this topic in a KDrama is due to exploding divorce rates. Even the older generation is increasingly daring to take measures by leaving the unhappy marriage behind and finally daring to make a new start. Of course, separation is never easy and becomes even more complicated as children are involved. “Good Partner” tackles the hot topic fearlessly. Additionally, some still questionable legal issues surrounding divorce are mercilessly brought to light, as are the notorious cheaters and the tragic, far too frequent cases of misogynistic, domestic violence.

“Good Partner” also deals with the rigid chains of command, often enough turning lawyers in large law firms into mere underlings. On the other hand, the KDrama also confronts the question of the right dose of sense of morality, distance or even abstinence one should/must/may/want to emotionally attach to the cases. Furthermore, "Good Partner" also confronts the closed-meshed career culture in everyday office life, where employees can quickly lose themselves while living up to expectations. Work-Life-Balance ist still a fairly new concept. And last but not least, a critical swipe at the unfairly privileged “elite” (= “we have special status and are allowed to do everything”) should not be missing, too.

Embedded in the office world of the two protagonists, quite a lot of contemporary burning issues that currently concern and shape the lives of many people i.e. in South Korea, especially in Seoul, are carefully considered and illuminated from different sides. In doing so, the KDrama is opening up new space for contemporary approaches towards dealing with well-known life issues. A pleasantly vivid and complex, well-rounded story.

“Good Partner” feels like it gets better with each episode. This is also due to the development of the protagonists as they sincerely face their personal concepts and convictions again and again in the context of their cases (not least thanks to Han Yu Ri's untiring sense of morality)... Thus, in the long run, the KDrama is about "good" partners in various senses, not only when it comes to the female leads. However, together those two are creating a pleasant breeze of sisterhood, one that feels particularly good in the midst of a predominantly patriarchal world.

All of this makes “Good Partner” a deserved success. TV audience in the country more than doubled over the course of the 16 episodes. Understandably so. I can definitely recommend this series.





PS:
PLEASE do yourself a favor and give episode “0” a wide berth!!
It's a complete aberration and has nothing to do with the actual KDrama, except that someone apparently got bored during the temporary broadcast break during the 2024 Summer Olympics... You can definitely ignore that one, believe me.

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Here for Nam Ji Hyun & man she is back as an attorney.

I wasn't very keen on watching a legal drama since it takes a detour from the genres of dramas I have been watching lately, but since Nam Ji Hyun is here and she has very few dramas, I had to watch this one. I am so glad that I did.

This is the first time I have seen Jang Na Ra in anything but she is good. I like the current dynamics between the two, they are certainly going to be fun to watch.

Ep 1: The first case, the husband and wife needed to get an divorce, what a jerk. Not only did he continued to have affairs but he refused to let the wife go. He drove that woman crazy, not that she wasn't a little crazy to begin with.

Ep 2: Whoa the cases are something, the second one was even more of rollercoaster than the first one and the way it was handled was ingenious. Although I do feel sad for the kids who lost their father. In the beginning it seemed like the adulterer were winning but thankfully one of them is going to loose. I just hated the cheater and his smug smile. He did not care about his wife or even feel any remorse.

Ep 3: The parallels between the case and Cha Eun Kyung life were so on point. I wonder how cheaters have the audacity to always pin the blame on their partner. They weren't attentive enough, so instead of cheating you could have had conversations or therapy. If that did not seem like a solution a divorce prior to getting together with someone else!

Ep 4: It is only episode 4 and I am so done with the lack of accountability on the part of the cheaters and their affair partners. It is absurd that when called out they are the ones who feel they have been wronged. They don't offer any apologies instead claim that their spouse was at fault. Eck...... (I have been using this word a little too much, but there are people like that)

Ep 5. When are the cheaters going to get their comeuppance? I would have understood them growing apart and even wanting to divorce, nothing wrong with that. But trying to frame a partner who has been loyal to you is kinda low. Doing that just to make themselves feel better for cheating. The person he cheated with is kinda trash. She has an inferiority complex and wants to take it out on the Cha Eun Kyung. The poor kid is gonna suffer because the dad was the only parent that looked after her all the while. Had he not cheated or even been a little remorseful, it would have made sense to give him the custody based on that alone. Since his wife was busy with work, he thought cheating was the solution. Having another family behind her back was the solution. Yes that will solve all the issues in your marriage and make you all one happy family.

Ep 6: Okay that ending was a boss move in terms of dealing with someone so shameless. Give her want she wanted and then take it away. Ingenious. Now, coming to the dad part of it, Kim Ji Sang is a good father and if it is one or the other I hope he gets the custody with Cha Eun Kyung getting visiting rights, because that seems like how they have been living. The only worry I have is the influence Choi Sa Ra will have on the poor baby because she isn't that keen on taking in the child.

Ep 7: Okay, it looks like Cha Eun Kyung is gonna come around and probably settle with Kim Ji Sang. Shared custody hopefully with condition that she doesn't neglect her daughter so much. Coming to what's happening between Choi Sa Ra and Kim Ji Sang, I was surprised. I thought that Ji Sang was gonna actually marry but what can you say just desserts.

Ep 8 & 9: I am never one to blame an affair partner when the partner is the one who cheated and had made a commitment. However, it is hard to find any redeeming qualities where Choi Sa Ra is concerned. Ji Sang is not going to win any nice guy competitions as well, he was all ready to abandon Choi Sa Ra and their baby. It takes two to tango my friend, you gotta reap what you sow. Here's to hoping that he'll think things over and be as decent a parent to the baby as he was to his daughter. My heart breaks for the little Kim Jae Hee who had to make such a tough decision.

Ep 10 & Ep 11: I am glad that they worked it out for Kim Jae Hee's sake. The apology for cheating was long time coming, a child had to explain it to him that what he did was wrong. Even though Sa Ra didn't seem like a good person, what happened with her was sad. I keep feeling that we haven't seen the last of her.

Ep 12 & Ep 13: The new case is terrifying. That guy has so many anger issues and he takes it out on people who are physically weaker than him. Not only does no one reprimand him but instead they sweep it all under a rug, enabling his need to abuse people. That poor woman predicted her own murder she was so sure because she knew no one was going to help her. What as sad fate. I wish this wasn't a short series but a longer drama. maybe they'll give us a second season. Each episode is so interesting to watch.

Ep 14 to Ep 16: By ep 15, it felt like the events had already reached the end. Ep 15 had an interesting case just showing us why there's a need of third party to resolve things because when tempers run high people stop caring about each other but are more concerned about their own feelings. I am glad that the couple parted on good terms since they both wanted different things in life. I did feel like we got less moments between Han Yu Ri & Jeon Eun Ho. They were cute together. At least, they'll work it out with each other. The last few episodes were a bit tame compared to the rest of the drama, but I'm glad that I watched it.

I do feel like it would have been more interesting with more episodes and cases.

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