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Good Partner korean drama review
Completed
Good Partner
6 people found this review helpful
by alexanny23
27 days ago
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

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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