WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Partner Track season 1.As of August 26th, all ten episodes of Partner Track season 1 are available to stream on Netflix. The show follows Ingrid Yun, a young lawyer who will do whatever it takes to make partner at her law firm. However, when she's forced to choose between her friends and her career, the partner track starts to veer off course.
The series stars Arden Cho, Bradley Gibson, Alexandra Turshen, Rob Heaps, Matthew Rauch, Nolan Gerard Funk, Dominic Sherwood, and Roby Attal.
Screen Rant chats with actress Alexandra Turshen about Rachel's season 1 journey, and her friendship with Tyler and Ingrid.
Alexandra Turshen Breaks Down Partner Track
Screen Rant: I loved Partner Track. It was such a great first season.
Alexandra Turshen: I'm so pleased. Thank you for saying that.
Screen Rant: Rachel was actually my favorite character—and not just because we have the same name! Were there any aspects of her personality that really drew you in or made you want to play her?
Alexandra Turshen: Oh my gosh. Yeah, she's just unapologetically a boss. I mean, what a fun, powerful character to step into. She's fiercely loyal. She's a party girl. She has an appetite for men and the fast-paced life of New York City. She also just has an appetite—girl can eat. There were so many fun, like, food scenes for Rachel [laughs]. Which I personally am a big fan of. I always tell people, Rachel jumps off the page. She's so fiery, and I fell in love with Rachel after the first scene, when she calls her friend out for always apologizing. I'm like, "Oh, man. We're saying it. I love that, and I really want to play this girl."
I gave it my all because, all the pillars of what make Rachel Rachel, I do identify with, and eventually, also the journey that she goes on. Rachel is on a journey to tap into her creative side—to try something new, and she has to fail. And that is an actor's journey all the way. There's a lot of failure. Rachel doesn't just get to wake up and call herself a playwright. She has to write plays. She has to put in the work. And that's something that she is sort of out of the habit of doing at her law firm as a litigator. She's grown a little complacent over the years. And that's where we meet her. So that's where we see the story taking her in season 1. And that is all very relatable to me.
Screen Rant: As you said, what Rachel really wants to do is be a playwright, and she decides to go after that in the finale. If the show's renewed for a second season, where are you hoping she finds herself with that?
Alexandra Turshen: Oh, gosh. I hope downtown theater, baby. Take me back! I think that would be great. That's where I got my start in New York—downtown theater. There's something so romantic and gritty about downtown theater. I hope that's where we go. Who knows? I mean, it's a little hush, hush, so I don't know where it'll go. I don't know. We end the season on Rachel's going to be celibate, but then she gets a text from Dan Fallon. I mean, who knows?
Screen Rant: I really love the friendship between Rachel, Ingrid, and Tyler. It was sad to watch that fall apart for a little bit. Why do you think it was so much harder for Rachel to forgive Ingrid?
Alexandra Turshen: That's a really good question. I thought about that a lot. Because, first of all, I wasn't there. Rachel wasn't there. She was getting busy in a boat for the big—I can't even call it a microaggression—for the big aggressive racist rant masquerading as comedy from Dan Fallon. In some ways they kind of took Rachel out of the equation strategically. And as a friend and ally of these two—her two friends of color—who really had to take that on face to face...the only thing that I was able to wrap my head around is that Rachel is, like I said, fiercely loyal, and she's very protective of her friends. As am I. I am a middle sister, and that has shaped so much of who I am. I'm fiercely loyal and protective of my tribe, my sisters, my friends.
A lot of the things that I've done in my life has taken me to these really intense friendship groups like being a middle sister, being a ballet dancer, being in the marching band, I had these really intense tribes going to an all women's college. So I take my friendship very seriously. And you know, these people are my ride or die all the way. So what I channeled, what I tapped into in order to hang on to that, to sustain that anger at Ingrid for betraying our friend, Tyler, was that she disrupted our symbiosis, our friendship, workplace, you know, Harvard graduate into Parsons Valentine. We were siblings, we're friends, we're family. We came up together at school, we entered the workplace, and we've been holding the line for each other. And she broke the line, she broke the alliance.
And sometimes it's easier to stand up for others when you see an injustice than it is to stand up for yourself. So I think Rachel had to hold the line—not like Tyler needed any help. I think it was such a clear betrayal and Rachel is someone who also doesn't value the partner track in the same way as Ingrid. So it was so obvious to me that it was a friendship betrayal and crossing the line, especially when it came to something as egregious as the racist event. I just had to channel like, "Look, I'm Tyler's sister. And if Tyler can't hang on to this, then Rachel's going to." Rachel has to hold Ingrid able and hold the line with Tyler when one of ours steps out of line—when the alignment is broken.
Screen Rant: You also mentioned the boat scene. It was hilarious watching you guys trying to chase down someone in a kayak. Was that fun to film?
Alexandra Turshen: Oh my gosh, that was my favorite day on set for so many reasons. First of all, I really just have to give a huge shout-out to this incredible crew on Partner Track. Everyone brought their absolute a-game that day because it was an intense day. You're out, actually in Staten Island, which was very funny. It's a beautiful lake in Staten Island and the stakes are really high. I wouldn't say it was like a dangerous scene in any way, but we had a whole floating dock with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment and people were on it in their life vests. It felt more high-stakes.
The energy was high and people really had to be impeccable with their work, but also with their steps. I mean, you step the wrong way...you're not looking, and you're in the water. Everyone was having a great time. The weather was just beautiful. Fall in New York just doesn't get any better. The leaves were changing for us. It was just so beautiful on this lake. And everyone was excited to be there and to have a fun day and a beautiful location on the water—literally on the water. It was really challenging to shoot on the dock itself that I'm running on in heels. The dock itself was a rocking, like, floating dock. So if I'm running on it, okay, I can sort of time when the dog is going to be rocking with my footsteps, but I was running with a camera operator, who's awesome—Patrick.
He was running backwards in a mask with a steadicam. I don't know how many pounds, but a lot—a lot of pounds. And he was running backwards, and I was running with him. So we had to sort of like run in sync, backwards on a floating dock, and it was wild. It was just wild. And the stunt guys, like these old-school New York stunt guys, who you know, have been around the block and seen everything—it was just fun. It was such a fun vibe. And, of course, working with Roby Attal is wonderful—who plays Justin. He's a young actor, but he's impeccable. He's on time, over-prepared, and oh so cute. It's always really fun working with him. And we were in a boat!
About Partner Track
Ingrid Yun, a 1st generation Korean American and the first lawyer in her family, experiences the trials and tribulations of excelling at the prestigious (but old school) law firm, Parsons Valentine. With the of her friends, she battles through workplace challenges to break through the glass ceiling on her path to become partner. But will her drive and ambition leave room for love?
Check out our other Partner Track interviews with stars Bradley Gibson as well.
Partner Track season 1 is currently available to stream on Netflix.