Consequential Damages
Episode 8 of Partner Track starts with Ingrid pacing in a jail cell. When she’s brought in for questioning, Nick’s earrings are brought up. Ingrid has no idea what’s going on so she keeps quiet and asks for her lawyer. Jeff shows up and manages to save the day. It turns out Lina actually stole the earrings and the police mistook the culprit for Ingrid. Fingerprint dustings confirm Ingrid is in the clear. Later in the episode, Lina tries to justify her actions by claiming she needed the money for Cirque tryouts. Apparently she has every intention of buying them back but of course, that doesn’t exactly help Ingrid. Ingrid has a big Thanksgiving Dinner to look forward to, while Tyler remains conflicted over his feelings. He speaks to Rachel about his lapse in the bar, snogging the bartender, Javi, and wondering how this is going to fly with Anthony. As for Rachel, she seems to have nailed her interview and she’s also bagged a good guy in Justin too, despite what she thought of him to begin with. Still, she’s suffering from serious writer’s block. Back at the firm, Ingrid shows up with Jeff and they agree to keep the false arrest a secret, especially as they’re so close to the big announcement about who’s going to be made partner. Anyway, Marty facetimes from home and tells the pair that Ted Lassiter is getting anxious about the NewLeaf situation. He wants this deal closed before the shareholder meeting. He encourages the pair to think like partners and wishes them both a happy thanksgiving. While the pair work together, Jeff opens up and admits that Victoria was actually his client in London. One thing led to another and they ended up together. She ended up rifling through his suitcase after the deed and found something she shouldn’t. She used that against him and blew up a huge deal in London for him. As the duo continue on, they stumble upon a clause within the documentation. The Mins have snuck in extra terms to the contract, including something that relates to “excluding consequential damages.” That’s not in the original copy and it seems like they’re trying to pull a fast one. It’s going to take a long time to sort out and despite Jeff offering to take on the role himself, given Ingrid’s prior Thanksgiving plans, she refuses and the pair work tirelessly to try and fix this. Unfortunately, Ingrid’s parents aren’t exactly happy that she’s missing out. It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Ingrid and she vents to Jeff about all her issues, including her friends snubbing her, the diversity gala fiasco and lying to Z. Jeff is super sweet and tells her he believes in her. Honestly, it’s a genuinely really nice moment and puts him in a positive light. Meanwhile, Rachel decides to head over and see Justin on Thanksgiving, but when she meets his friends things are awkward. Tyler’s night is also awkward when he faces the wrath of his parents who look down on his unemployment and lack of business prospects. At least to begin with anyway. In Tyler’s room, there’s a really nice moment between Tyler and his dad, with the latter telling his son that he’s proud of him. Jeff sorts out a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner for Ingrid and the pair end up sharing some home truths about their family lives. Oh, and with Ingrid sorting out the deal with Min Enterprises, she realizes this could well mean she’s going to be made partner. In her excited, flustered state she lets loose and kisses Jeff. The two get hot and heavy. Clothes fly off but Ingrid is about to get a serious less in humility. Nick shows up and spies them together. He’s heartbroken and immediately breaks up with Ingrid. Elsewhere, Tyler comes clean about sleeping with the barman but Anthony is understandably hurt and pissed off. Unfortunately, the pair go their separate ways.
The Episode Review
Good on you Nick, you can do better. I’ve really liked Ingrid through this season but her cheating has been a line too far. There’s a weird amount of skewed morality with female protagonists in western media right now, with a lot of them just nonchalantly cheating on their partners and acting like it’s not a big deal. Partner Track is another classic example. Cheating is never okay, it’s wrong and immoral and the fact that Ingrid didn’t just cheat on Nick once but did it multiple times whilst also stringing him along, just feels wrong and it actually damages her character quite a lot. Hopefully Ingrid can see the error of her ways going forward. Tyler’s cheating also results in him losing Anthony while Rachel and Justin seem like a good match right now, hopefully that keeps up too! Beyond that though, there’s really not a lot of law drama-ing going on, with the focus resting squarely on the romantic drama for now. With 2 episodes to go, it’ll be interesting to see exactly what direction this one takes next – and who Ingrid ends up with at the end.
