This review may contain spoilers
When tropes serve the message
If there's one thing Korean shows like, it's using tropes and building around comforting, well-known settings. Lawyer procedurals are one of these well-loved settings in K-shows, but here, the focus is not so much the setting but the message of the series.
See, at its core, Good Partners has a feminist message of the place of women in relationships, whether they be platonic, marital, or professional, and what better settings than a divorce attorney cabinet to explore these questions? Through various cases we examine the question of marriage being a prison to women in South Korea due to the rigidity of the divorce laws, we question whether women can truly florish in an institution created by and for men, we opint out that children are people who often suffer because they are treated like the belonging of their parents rather than people who can voice their opinion and who can see when they are used as a living punition by adults, ...
/!\ On the notes of serious questions being raised I have to emphasize that episodes 12 to 14 are explicitly about marital abuse, with a violent murder taking place onscreen.
It is seriously refreshing and so lovely how this show does not treat the audience like imbeciles, and leaves you to guess things they have shown but not said explicitly, just like it is very refreshing to get an open end regarding the relationship between some of the characters instead of tying every single storyline neatly with a little bow. After all, it would be weird if they put all those relationships into neat boxes when the core of the show is how beautifully complex it all is.
Honestly, I would not be mad if we got a season 2.
See, at its core, Good Partners has a feminist message of the place of women in relationships, whether they be platonic, marital, or professional, and what better settings than a divorce attorney cabinet to explore these questions? Through various cases we examine the question of marriage being a prison to women in South Korea due to the rigidity of the divorce laws, we question whether women can truly florish in an institution created by and for men, we opint out that children are people who often suffer because they are treated like the belonging of their parents rather than people who can voice their opinion and who can see when they are used as a living punition by adults, ...
/!\ On the notes of serious questions being raised I have to emphasize that episodes 12 to 14 are explicitly about marital abuse, with a violent murder taking place onscreen.
It is seriously refreshing and so lovely how this show does not treat the audience like imbeciles, and leaves you to guess things they have shown but not said explicitly, just like it is very refreshing to get an open end regarding the relationship between some of the characters instead of tying every single storyline neatly with a little bow. After all, it would be weird if they put all those relationships into neat boxes when the core of the show is how beautifully complex it all is.
Honestly, I would not be mad if we got a season 2.
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