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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Best Viki drama I've seen so far

I watched this primarily for Cha Eun-kyung. The actress, Jang Na-ra, was captivating at every turn and her story was so compelling. Her scenes with her hoobae, her child, her "work husband", and even her arguments with her ex and his mistress were so entertaining to watch. She had chemistry with everyone. Were it not for her, I would not have been as interested in this show.

The views on divorce are prevalent throughout several kdramas with stories like the World of the Married doing the worst to portray women that get divorced as being incapable of "making it work". Finding out this story was written by a divorce attorney made a lot of sense. There is a clear intent here to destigmatize divorce and present it more as a way for women to find new lives beyond being reduced to the services they offer their husbands. The turn into the murder plot was jarring. I understand the purpose - to basically shame families that see divorce as more of a blight than their daughter suffering domestic violence. In a show that made sort of light of that issue with an earlier case where the women kept coming for consultations but ultimately stayed, it seemed a bit of a turn.

CEK's divorce and custody battle were long, but I enjoyed seeing the way she repaired her relationship with her daughter. Her ex was despicable and so was the mistress, but it was a bit odd how their story wrapped up and they pretty much exit the series. Hence me feeling like this show probably could've been even shorter. I enjoyed the different cases, especially the one about the woman that wanted her ex to take primary custody. However, this series overall surpassed Perfect Marriage Revenge as the best Viki drama I've watched. The pacing was a lot better and there was less melodramatic acting in this series, in my opinion.

I enjoyed how Han Yu-ri encouraged CEK and was relentless in trying to achieve justice for her. However, I found her stances a bit baffling, particularly in the case where the woman wanted a divorce because her family didn't see her. HYR was incapable of seeing past how the children felt and that confused me considering her previous cases. That that story ends with an agreement to revisit divorce was disheartening to me. The number of men that only "wake up" when their wife talks about divorce, act better for a few months, and then go right back to treating them like crap is exactly why women fall into these cycles and end up stuck.

The romance between HYR and her coworker Jeon Eun-ho was the weakest part of the show for me. I didn't buy the romance, I didn't see the chemistry, and it takes up roughly 30-35% of the show. Honestly, I didn't really like JEH's character until he was working with CEK and that was probably because it showed his competency better than any other case.

Overall, the acting was good in this series. The stories were mostly compelling. The pacing was really good. I hope it serves to destigmatize divorce and show women that it's never too late to reinvent themselves and get out of bad relationships. Even if they can't find attorneys like CEK to fight for them, I hope they fight for themselves.

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A nice watch for a change

after I've been ranting about the bad quality of newer dramas lately, a big yaayyy, 'good partner' is really nice to watch.
Yes, it's a typcial law drama, but a good one.
I had it on my watch list as I watch anything with Nam Ji-hyun. She was the lead of the first drama I ever watched ('suspicious partner' - another partner-title and she was a lawyer too) and no matter what I've seen her in yet, she is a great actress, I really like her vibes, I like that she also chooses non-vain roles, and same goes for her social media - I can't put into words how refreshing it is to see any Korean actor or actress on Instagramm who posts non-filtered, normal human pictures for a change. She does often, she has two normal cats (not the typical tiny white dog), well, in short, I really like her.

This drama started interesting, the actors are all quite good, the cases are interesting concerning emotional aspects as well as showing some specific tricky sides of the Korean law system. It also shows how difficult it is wanting professional success in your field on the one hand, and your conscience intercepting on the other.
Each case has been interesting enough for me to watch the whole episode without ff-skipping or just leaving for five minutes because it wouldn't matter if I missed them - as I sadly do often these days with other dramas that lack quality.

This is for you if you like this kind of law-setting in general and if you like to use your brain a little as it requires you actually listening, thinking and just having a love for the beauty of special field language. As I like all these things if they are delivered through good acting and storytelling, I really enjoyed every episode so far.

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Solid drama for the most part!

What I loved about this drama was the growth of both characters; it felt a bit more realistic than most dramas that aim for this. That is because there is no sudden change of behavior; there is a realization when things get messed up, and the characters learn their lessons the hard way. And even then, they don't change 180. The new attorney has grown to appreciate the seasoned attorney's ways, but she still has that idealistic side that she came with. The same is true with the seasoned attorney; she is still cutthroat in many ways but has softened a little after she learned from listening, observing, and suffering from the other side of what and whom she represented prior.

Having said that, the drama seems it will get cliched after the DV incident with the seasoned attorney leaving to start her firm and some scenes we saw in the preview. I think a few people mentioned in the comments this drama should have been 12 episodes, and I couldn't agree more.

Overall, its still a pretty solid watch for me with more realistic characters than you see in most other dramas.

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one of the best drama releases this year

this is what happens when you give great actors a great script. everything from the first episode until the last episode was thought through. also, i really liked that the divorce cases were portrayed realistically [court cases can last long and are often messy].
the only complaints i have are regarding two story lines. first, CEG forcing her daughter to interact with her dad, which felt out of character for her. secondly, the whole one sided crush trope between EG and UJ. it's as if writers threw it in the first episodes, but didn't know what to do with it in the final episode. overall, it's a great watch, and i'm thankful to whoever thought casting jang nara and nam jihyun as leading ladies.
PS: if you're a romcom enjoyer, you've come to the wrong place

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woohoo

renewed my Viu subscription for this and it’s worth it. I’ve been in a k-drama slump for so long after marry my husband, and Doona. I totally enjoyed those series. I couldn’t continue lovely runner nor Queen of tears. (I know a lot loved those series) but it wasn’t for me, I wasn’t glued nor did it resonate with me. I’m sorry don’t come after me. Anyway I’m only at ep 3 of good partner and I’ve been hooked in an instant it’s not so heavy but it’s a pretty good series. although Jang Nara’s been portraying a wife that has been cheated on for a handful of series but by far this is my most favorite one haha.

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Great legal drama that does not get boring.

The legal drama series follows a team of lawyers who tackle various cases while dealing with personal struggles. The focus is on attorney Cha Eun's divorce.

I really like the storyline where they work on a different case each episode and the message at the end of each case. It is nice to see different perspectives and stories. I love the team and how they always support each other; I would say they have become a family. Also, Na Ra's performance was great.

Despite the resolution of the main plot by episode 12, the show maintains its quality until the end.

You do not need to watch episode 0, as it is a waste of time and gives away spoilers.

I wish he had confessed to her in the end.

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I watched this show while it was still ongoing which is risky as I quickly lose interest if the storyline is boring ,but this show kept me coming back.
Jang Nara was amazing as usual as well as the rest of the cast. It was refreshing to watch a mature drama without cheap tropes and over the top characters. This was well written and it showed that the screenwriter had knowledge about the legal scene.
I loved how the topic divorce was thoroughly explored, the usual causes, the effect on both parties and the children as well as bouncing back after a divorce.
A job well done .

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Almost really good—but not quite…

I’d really like to give this drama more than the 7.5 I settled on because there is a lot on offer. But for me, the last four episodes lost their way when the main arc of the plot ended and felt much more like introductory episodes trying to establish a story where there wasn’t a thread. This left an overall feeling of blandness and added to the other things against it, I could only drop the rating.

So what would have garnered it an 8. Well, the performances. They were good overall but Jang Na Ra really delivered a standout performance here, and it is worth watching just to see her. The other leads were also good, but with less complex characters also had less of a chance to reveal their talents. Having said that Nam Ji Hyun and P.O stepped up to the plate and I enjoyed their scenes together.

The relationship between the two FLs was well developed, moving from seonbae/hoobae to encompass a well rounded appreciation and friendship. The steps to achieve this were credible too.

The script was informed—the writer has done the job of a divorce attorney, so probably cherry picked from the cases that landed on her desk.They were varied and sometimes had interesting twists, but their resolutions were often trite and rushed.

Which brings me to some of the negatives. I’m not a fan of wailing melo, or saccharine sentimentality in order to create an unrealistically simple happy ending. And there was quite a bit of both. Now this is a personal preference, and I know that there are a lot of people out there who appreciate this approach, so judge for yourselves here. This was particularly apparent to me around some of the interactions with children and spouses.

The forward thrust of the lives of the leads petered out around episode eleven, with Cha Eun Gyeong’s (JNR) main plot line all but resolving. The other characters did not really have a strong enough plot focus to carry through. The result was that the sequential cases continued without a continuing main thread to support them A bit like a steak and onion pie without the pastry, as a result things slopped around the plate with the last few remaining crumbs of piecrust floating in them. Leaving a very unsatisfactory aftertaste.

Overall, this is not a bad watch at all. It has some excellent stuff to offer, but may leave you wishing it was more.

Just editing this to backup unterwegsimkoreanischenD's warning not to watch episode 0 if its available on the platform you watch. It's a weird spoiler filled mish-mash.

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Jang Nara is so good

Cha Eun Kyung, portrayed by Jang Nara in "Good Partner," is a character that truly captivates viewers with her strength and resilience. As a skilled lawyer, Eun Kyung embodies intelligence and determination, navigating the complexities of the legal world with grace and confidence. Her unwavering commitment to justice and her clients showcases her integrity and moral compass, making her a role model for many. Throughout the series, Eun Kyung faces numerous challenges, yet she handles each situation with a blend of empathy and fierce resolve. Jang Nara breathes life into this character, capturing her vulnerabilities and triumphs in a way that resonates deeply with the audience. Cha Eun Kyung’s ability to balance her professional ambitions with personal relationships adds depth to her character, making her not just a brilliant lawyer but also a relatable and inspiring figure. Her journey in "Good Partner" is a testament to the strength of women in demanding roles, and her character is undoubtedly one of the standout elements of the drama.

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