Partner Track – Season 1 Episode 1 “Material Adverse Change” Recap & Review

Material Adverse Change

Episode 1 of Partner Track starts with us whisked off to the bustling streets of New York. The toughest, smartest lawyers do Mergers and Acquisitions – so that’s precisely what Ingrid Yun has decided to do.

Ingrid soon learns that there’s a new transfer at M&A from London. He’s a new paralegal and it’s love (lust?) at first sight when they bump into each other in the hallway. His name is Jeff Murphy and we soon learn that he and Ingrid actually met (see: hooked up) at a wedding a while back. It would seem that the pair are competing against one another for the upcoming partner position.

The big drama here stems from Sun Corp. It’s a highly confidential case and Ingrid is playing second fiddle to Dan Fallon, a rich boy with connections. This certainly rubs her up the wrong way – especially when he calls her a paralegal. Anyway, the CEO of Sun Corp, Ted Lassiter, shows up and Ingrid immediately shows her smarts. As for Dan, he tries a different tactic, talking football after the meeting.

Ingrid lives alone and is absolutely dedicated to her job. However, drama involving her sister and mother get in the way of excelling further. Lina hasn’t been heard from for 3 days and Ingrid’s mum is worried. When Ingrid heads out in the middle of work to try and find her sister, Ingrid loses the chance to see Ted Lassiter. She’s not particularly happy, especially when she learns Ted has spoken to Dan and he’s not being particularly open with her.

Ingrid unfortunately has to cancel her date with Nick – a guy she hits it off with earlier in the episode – as a result, needing to try and catch up with work.

Despite making a good play, Dan steals Ingrid’s idea and pitches it to Ted Lassiter. As a result, Ingrid is pushed to the wayside. She’s not happy that Dan has more connections than her, especially as he has a friend that works at the Department of Energy.

Ingrid shows up to see Nick after all at the party that night. Unfortunately Jeff is there too and things are immediately frosty between the two guys. Not only that, but Ingrid also meets Dan’s friend from the Department of Energy, who drunkenly begins spilling details about the case. That gets her thinking. Ingrid decides to skip out on the party and work – but not before kissing Nick first.

Ingrid is going to play dirty, intent on getting Dan in trouble and “protecting the firm” by leaking the price of the deal with Sun Corp to the press. She tells Marty and comes up with an alternate play. After working hard to get this done in less than 60 hours before the article is leaked, Ingrid’s hard work pays off. Sun Corp strike a deal with Min Enterprises. Dan shows up just after and Ingrid smugly tells him she’s now playing by his rules.

The Episode Review

Despite a bit of a rocky start, Partner Track gets back on track by the midway point, partly thanks to the charisma and likability of Ingrid. Ultimately, this a light law drama sprinkled around heavy dollops of soap opera romance. If that’s your jam then this should be perfect fodder for you.

For everyone else, Partner Track feels bang average right now, with a distinct lack of smarts to be considered a top law drama and not enough depth for the supporting players to make it an enticing romance. However, it’s still early days yet and we’ve seen numerous times that opening episodes (pilots) are never a great judge of a show’s quality overall. With 10 episodes to play with, let’s hope Partner Track picks up from here!