Anuja Vijayan, Kolkata, West Bengal

Suspicious Partner was the first drama that I watched of Ji Chang-wook, one of the A-list actors in the Korean Entertainment industry. I was left completely amazed by his acting and visuals and from there on I continued to enjoy watching his dramas. He has portrayed many remarkable lead roles in K-Dramas and Movies. Suspicious Partner (Korean: 수상한 파트너; RR: Susanghan Pateuneo) is directed by Park Sun-ho and written by Kwon Ki-young. It aired from May 10, 2017, to July 13, 2017, every Wednesday and Thursday on SBS at 22:00 (KST) comprising 40 episodes. It is a legal romantic-comedy genre with a hint of mystery, and spine chilling twists and turns of events.

Plot

The story is about Prosecutor Noh Ji-wook played by Ji Chang-wook and the lawyer Eun Bong-hee played by Nam Ji-hyun. Both Ji Chang-wook and Nam Ji-hyun figured out how to pass on a character with such countless layers and effectively followed through on humour and profundity. Initially, Eun Bong-hee works under Noh Ji-wook as a trainee. Later she gets falsely accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend. Both the leads come together and solve a lot of cases including the case of homicide, where Eun Bong-hee was falsely accused.

Other Casts

The second leads were Ji Eun-hyuk played by Choi Tae-joon and Cha Yoo-Jung played by Kwon Nara. Ji Eun-hyuk played an adorable and warm-hearted person and deep down he was under the guilt of his past mistake. Both the second leads had bitter relations with Noh Ji-wook due to some past issues. The sweet-bitter moments between Choi Tae-joon and Noh Ji-wook were very entertaining. Kwon Nara has exceptionally portrayed the role of a bold and brazen girl. Eventually, as a viewer, we might not like her character much, but as the drama progressed it seemed appealing.

The supporting cast did a great job. Byun Young-hee played by Lee Deok-hwa, Noh Young-suk played by Jo Seung-yeon and Na Ji-hae played by Kim Ye-won did justice to their roles. Both Byun Young-hee and Noh Young-suk were close to the Noh Ji-wook. Na Ji-hae and Eun Bong-hee were initially enemies but as the story progressed they too became friends. She too gives a similar impression like Cha Yoo-jung, but eventually, her character too became appealing in the second half.

Special mention to Jung Hyun-soo played by Dong Ha, he precisely played his character in an eerie and psychotic manner. He was easily able to bluff the investigators and was almost on the verge to divert the attention to someone else, but eventually failed. His action and every small gesture made his character look real and convincing. He nailed his role. Viewers will either hate him for his actions or feel sympathy for his past. 

Why You Should Watch?

One of the best things was the office squad. The entire team will never fail to entertain the audience. Each of them adds a punch to their squad. This series had a total of 10 OST. “101 Reasons Why I Love You” this track was sung by Ji Chang-wook himself.

Eventually, as the story unveils, it can be seen that there is a lot of connection between the characters. Almost all of them were interlinked to each other in one or the other way. This drama is filled with lots of twists and turns, which are unexpectedly revealed one after the other. The storyline keeps you on edge to see what happens next.

To make a perfect mixture of mystery and romance is comparatively a hard one yet Suspicious Partner figures out how to strike one rather well. Since Suspicious Partner finds a way into three sub-classifications of romance, comedy, and thriller it figures out how to find some kind of harmony of the three making the drama so pleasant to watch. The drama even touches on other elements too like heartbreak, passion, work culture, judicial system. 

If you want a package of mixed genres then you should definitely watch suspicious partner. It has nail-biting suspense as the name suggests, that will leave you on edge, it can make you feel butterflies in your stomach through romance, and it will be a stress buster with some pinch of comedy. This show is available to watch on Netflix and Rakuten Viki. Do let us know in the comments section about your experience watching this K-Drama and if you haven’t already, what are you waiting for?