Partner Track boss breaks down that big finale betrayal and Ingrid's new normal
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Warning: This article contains spoilers about Partner Track season 1.
Ingrid Yun (Arden Cho) won big, then lost big in the Partner Track season finale.
After betraying Zi-Xin 'Z' Min (Desmond Chiam) by closing the SunCorp deal and leaving her firm because of its mistreatment of employees of color, Ingrid begins the season finale at her lowest point. The only thing working is her loving relationship with Jeff Murphy (Dominic Sherwood). To remedy what she did to Z, Ingrid puts an ambitious and risky plan in place to get Ted Lassiter (Fredric Lehne) out of the way to leave the lane open for Z and his work in green energy. With help from allies and her friends, Ingrid pulls it off, which pisses off Marty (Matthew Rauch). In the end, Z brings Ingrid back into the fold at the firm by telling Marty he will only retain the firm if Ingrid is working on his account, and Ingrid demands the firm diversify.
Ingrid is riding high on this big win when Marty drops some big news on her: the reason Ingrid didn't make partner is because Jeff told the firm about her arrest.
We spoke to co-showrunner Georgia Lee about Jeff's betrayal, what Partner Track aims to say about being a person of color in the workplace, what's ahead for Ingrid, and more.
Vanessa Clifton/Netflix Arden Cho as Ingrid Yun, Desmond Chiam as Zi-Xin “Z” Min
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: For viewers unfamiliar with the book, can you share some of the changes you made for the TV show?
GEORGIA LEE: One of the things we did was add characters and expand storylines. Tyler's character is expanded a lot more in the TV show, which we're excited about, and we love Bradley Gibson so much. Rachel's character in the book is actually married with kids and not working, so we thought it could be fun to bring Rachel back into the firm before she left. We wanted to see this dynamic with her, Ingrid, and Tyler. Also, there was no Lena in the books. We added Ingrid's younger sister because I have two younger sisters who are so influential and important in who I am. Lena is a great foil for Ingrid.
In the end, the trio Ingrid, Rachel, and Tyler's center is no longer the firm. How does that change or open up the friendship storytelling moving forward?
Rachel hasn't left the firm, so it's more about her trying to figure out how to balance, which a lot of people can relate to. Tyler has gone off to be chief counsel for Valdo's new fashion collective. We don't even have a green light for season 2 yet. I would just say he's still a lawyer, he's just on the other side of the table.
What was Partner Track trying to explore about being a person of color in the workplace through Ingrid and Tyler?
Parson Valentine & Hunt is such an extreme, white patriarchal [place]. We're exploring what it is to be someone who's not part of the power structure operating in like the ultimate power structure. That is white and male, which these law firms really are. [What] we found fascinating is that while there might be lip service to all the diversity conversations at these firms, what is the reality of it? What are the subtle nuances of it? And that's why episode 5 with the retreat and episode 6 with the HR interview, we were trying very hard to thread the needle getting into some of the nuance and subtlety of it all.
Vanessa Clifton/Netflix
What did you aim to explore through Rachel's storyline?
Her character seems so interesting in the books. We wanted to bring her into the fold. I'm curious about how she got [to where her character starts in the book]. Rachel is a foil to Ingrid as well in some ways. Also, I had my own best friend at the firm and the amount of camaraderie and understanding that you get from having your BFF there who you can have conversations where the person actually understands what you're going through is very powerful. She can have honest conversations with Rachel and Tyler about how she feels that she can't have with anyone else at the firm.
What do you think the storyline with Ingrid's family adds to the story of Partner Track?
It's always about helping us understand the characters more. There's a flashback scene in the book where a young Ingrid goes to New York City for the first time for the amazing Big Apple experience. There's a small scene where they go into a fancy building in the Upper East Side and there's an racist incident with the doorman. She describes feeling confusion and rage. I get upset talking about it because I understand that feeling. Having the family helps us understand at a deeper level that we don't necessarily talk about overtly on the show, but it's underlying everything about why Ingrid is doing what she is. It gives added context.
Ingrid makes her case to Mr. Min to back Z instead of Larry and what she says taps into a conversation first-generation kids have with the generation before them about success in America.
Yes, that's the stuff that gets me excited. My parents didn't have anything when [they] came here. It's like the story Ingrid's mother tells her on the stairs, telling her that her dad was a building supervisor. For me, I always wondered why my parents were so hell-bent on me being successful, and I always thought it was them being like Tiger parents, but the reality as I got older is I realized the context in which they came here. It was scary, so success meant having money, which meant being safe. It's all about, can my kids be safe? It took me a long time to understand that and have compassion for my parents, because sometimes the conversation at home can be very frustrating because we don't understand where they're coming from.
Vanessa Clifton/Netflix
How does the position Ingrid and Z put Marty in mean for what her workplace situation will look like in a potential second season?
I always said at the writers room the theme of season 1 of Ingrid's journey is to learn for herself in a deep way that real power comes from being true to yourself. She starts the season wanting to please Marty, that's all she wants. By the end of the season, not only has she not made Marty happy, the two of them are at loggerheads. That would be interesting to explore in season 2.
How much should that shocking cutthroat move from Jeff change how we view him? Or was this who he always was?
It's a conversation we had in the writers room a lot about Jeff Murphy's character and why he does what he did. Also, what exactly did he do? That would inform how we feel about it and the philosophy of the writers room, is we want every character to be [as] complex and nuanced as possible. Writers are often given the note to make characters more likeable, and I always take issue with that. For me, it's about making the characters more understandable, because if we understand who they are, where they came from, then we will understand why they do what they do. We will come to understand Murphy a bit more as a whole human being in season 2.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Partner Track is now streaming on Netflix.
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