Partner Track star Dominic Sherwood on playing an f-boy and that season 1 finale twist
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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Partner Track season 1.
Jeff Murphy (Dominic Sherwood), what did you do?!
Ingrid Yun (Arden Cho) had a lot working against her while fighting for partner at her firm, but she never saw Jeff's betrayal coming. In the Partner Track season 1 finale, Ingrid makes a big successful move to get back into her firm and change it for the better — all with her loving boyfriend, Jeff, by her side. But in the final moment of the season, Marty Adler (Matthew Rauch), the boss forced to capitulate to Ingrid's return to the firm (and a few of her own demands), informs her that she didn't make partner after all her hard work because Jeff told the partners that Ingrid got arrested, which they didn't know.
We spoke to Sherwood about Jeff's betrayal, when he found out about the shocking ending, and what he hopes to tackle about his cutthroat lawyer character next.
Vanessa Clifton/Netflix
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was your reaction when you learned about what Jeff did and how we'd find out?
DOMINIC SHERWOOD: I knew about this pretty early on. Georgia [Lee, co-showrunner] held my hand through it and said, "although there is this blossoming romance for this character, this is what happens." As a performer trying to get into Jeff's headspace, it's always in the back of my head that I know how far he's willing to go to achieve this goal. It's that tricky balance of, how he does this sort of unforgivable thing, but his motivations have always been his family, and his sisters especially, and not wanting to return to a place of poverty. We're doing this interview pre-show launch, so it'll be interesting to see how people react to it.
Thinking about what happens from the moment he's shocked when Ingrid isn't named partner to the end when we learn what he did, how do you think that final shock shifts what comes before it?
What we were told over and over again is these aren't manipulative feelings in episodes 9 and 10. Ingrid and Jeff are very much falling in love with each other, but Jeff does have, as you mention quite rightly, this morbid secret. Unfortunately, the resolution of that will be, fingers crossed, a season 2 deal.
Vanessa Clifton/Netflix
Considering it in the workplace context, Jeff is impressed with Ingrid's big move at the end. What do you think he thinks of her as a lawyer?
That's so interesting. From minute one, Jeff is very impressed with how Ingrid does business, even in their first scene together. I don't say anything in that scene, and most of my coverage is looking up at her, and he genuinely means what he says when he comes out as much as he's winking and smiling. Jeff says, "I can see who the real competition is," and means that. He's very aware that she's an exceptionally talented, smart, and brave young woman. Also, Jeff is under no illusions of how much harder she's had to work than him to get where she is and that in itself makes the betrayal worse at the end.
The final moment packs a punch because Jeff and Ingrid are in such a wonderful place before that. What was developing that dynamic with Arden like for you?
Arden works really hard. Adam Brooks directed the final block, which is episodes 9 and 10. He worked with us pretty extensively on how we were going to develop the relationship and how a genuine love had formed between these two people. The trick was trying to find the nuance of making it seem genuine, and I give all of the credit to Arden and Adam because they did a lot of the work. The three of us worked together quite extensively to make that work.
Tyler and Rachel declare Jeff a f---boy at the beginning, and then we see this wonderful relationship he develops with Ingrid. Taking everything into consideration, what kind of person do you think Jeff is?
This is the million-dollar question when it comes to Jeff. He has these two sides to him: this damaged little boy who just wanted a father in his life and this crazy manipulative version who we see right at the beginning of the season. He is willing to use charm and charisma to push people aside to climb a ladder, so that's a tricky question. What's cool about how Georgia put this character together, especially at the beginning when I was first reading the scripts, is finding the balance between those two people in Jeff's head because he's both the manipulator and the slightly more sensitive, broken guy — not justifying any of his actions, especially at the end.
What's quite cool about the characters is that the audience will have different opinions. It's almost like reading a book, putting together these bits of action and clues about them. Everyone will have a slightly different opinion based on how much they connected with Ingrid, whether they agreed with Tyler and Rachel at the beginning or connected with Jeff. Maybe it sparks an interesting conversation about who he is and why he is the way he is.
Looking forward to a potential second season, what are you interested in exploring with Jeff?
There are a bunch of things I would like to explore about Jeff. His past is a big one; his dad is gone, and he talks about his mother in the past tense quite a lot, so I would like to find out what happened to them. I want to know what's going on and where his sisters are. That would be a big one for me, to develop a little more understanding of who he is.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Partner Track season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
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