No.of Epis: 16Year/TV Station: 2009/KBS
Cast:
Kim Hyun Joo ~ Kang Eun Ho
Lee Dong Wook ~ Lee Tae Jo
Choi Chul Ho ~ Lee Young Woo
Lee Honey ~ Han Jung Won
Synopsis: (edited from Dramabeans.com)
Kang Eun Ho is a lawyer who works in her father's small lawyer firm in a small town. While she worries that her father, a former judge from drinking too much, she has to take care of her son Jae Dong, who's suffering from an illness. Eun Ho later leaves for Seoul & joins "Lee Kim Attorneys". Lee Tae Jo is a lawyer of "Lee Kim", who dresses in fancy suits, drives a fancy car, flirts with women, and has a flippant attitude with a lot of judges & prosecutors at the courthouse. Han Jung Won, also a lawyer of "Lee Kim", is sharp & professional, and she always rebuffs Tae Jo's advances. Unknown to others, Jung Won is having an affair with Lee Young Woo, who's working in Hae Yoon, a large law firm. Young Woo also happens to be Tae Jo's older brother. Tae Jo is assigned to work with Eun Ho on her first case. Both of them could not stop arguing and bickering, but they worked hand in hand to help their clients. Tae Jo soon finds himself falling for Eun Ho, but he later learns that Eun Ho's deceased husband's death is related to his friend's suicide...
Slacker's Review:
I enjoyed HK lawyer-themed dramas, but I don't think I have watched a Korean one. The biggest draw to "Partner" has to be the two cast, KHJ & LDW. Honestly, the plot was kinda dry, as the cases were not that exciting, and they seemed to drag. But luckily, "Partner" was not a dead serious drama, lots of comedic effects were done through Lee Tae Jo. However, like the usual Korean plot developments, our Tae Jo would not remain that funny for long. Lolz~ The first case had an unexpected twist, and I thought the screenwriter did a good job in showing how Young Woo "won" the case, though Tae Jo & Eun Ho won the case on surface. The most memorable case in "Partner" would have to be Eun Ho vs her univ lecturer. I thought the case made Eun Ho learned a lot. She trusted & respected a lot for her lecturer, but it turned out that her lecturer was someone horrible. I could feel the despair of Eun Ho as her respect & trust for her teacher collapsed. Luckily, the girl get back on her foot after letting off her emotions and went on "war" against her lecturer. The last case was draggy, and it was rushed. We all knew that Tae Jo would be dragged into a case, but it's really too typical la. So, our guy was framed for murdering his friend, but Young Woo finally "liang xin fa xian" and helped his brother in the end.
As for the romance part, I am glad that they did not focused too much on it, though I bet viewers wanted more from Tae Jo & Eun Ho. Haha! The romance part was more focused on Young Woo & Jung Won though, and their ending was sort of expected.
Kim Hyun Joo is one of my fav. actress, and I enjoyed her performance in "Partner". However, Eun Ho was a typical character in lawyer-themed dramas. She's kinda naive, lack of experience & tends to be too emotional. I absolutely loved KHJ's scenes with LDW! Haha! Watching them working & bickering is the main source of entertainment in "Partner", or else I wld fall asleep with the court scenes.
I have not seen Lee Dong Wook after "My Girl", and I thought he has improved a lot. He's much more expressive in "Partner", and I liked his eyes expressions. Tae Jo is someone who tried to "act cool" & had that flippant attitude towards things, but that's just on surface. I liked to see how he changed his attitude & behaviour after working with Eun Ho, and how he showed his affection to her (from unknowingly to "couldn't help it"). The last scene was nicely done, I liked how Eun Ho and Tae Jo clapped their hands, and hold on to each other...as they become partners in both work & life.
I knew Choi Chul Ho was very funny in his previous work "Queen of Housewives" (which I hope SCV wld air it soon), but he's a super serious guy here. Young Woo was that kind of guy who seemed to be evil, but deep down, his personality was not that bad. He had a sad childhood, as his mum chose to leave with Tae Jo, while he was stuck with his "cold-blooded" father. He loved Jung Won very much, but he had to marry his wife for Hae Yoon's business. I thought Young Woo was the most pathetic fella here, as he could not choose anything for himself, even up till the last scene, he became the scapegoat for his father's wrongdoings. Overall, CCH's acting was alright here, since his character was kinda restricted in terms of showing expressions. However, he's quite handsome when he's serious. Haha!
Honey Lee's tv debut was quite impressive. Her acting was not bad, as she really looked very cool & professional as Jung Won. Most of her scenes were related to Young Woo, and we got to see the confident Jung Won broke down into tears for a few times. I thought Jung Won was a pretty lonely person. Her horrible dad finally let go of her after Young Woo's wife paid him a big sum of money, while she could not hold onto Young Woo, who's already married with a kid. In the end, she had Young Woo's child, but she leaves for US alone, without telling the guy that she's pregnant.
OST was alright, Super Junior's sub-team K.R.Y had a song, while Kim Hyun Joo was also featured in the ost.
