Partners of Justice is a South Korean drama series produced by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. The show ran for two seasons from 2018 to 2019. Talks for a third season as of 2020 is potentially in Development Hell as the show's director No Do-chul tendered his resignation on August 2019.note
The show centers on the operations of the National Forensic Service (NFS), a government institute under the South Korean Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The NFS is responsible for conducting forensic operation in incidents to determine if it is a criminal incident or not. Working alongside the NFS is the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (SPO), which prosecutes cases if an incident is determined to be criminal.
Among those working in the NFS is Dr. Baek Beom, a forensic scientist who was a promising medical doctor who was supposed to go to the United States and continue his medical education. It's due to a Noodle Incident that led to an accident that eventually led to medical malpractice.
Recruited to the SPO is Eun Sol, a Non-Idle Rich woman from an upper class family with her father as the president of Woncheong Corp. Regardless of her family wishes, she studies law and enters the SPO. As the newly recruited prosecutor, Eun Sol is assigned to work at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office working on case from the eastern side of Seoul (Seoul Seongdong-guㆍGwangjin-guㆍGangdong-guㆍSongpa-gu).
Eun Sol later clashes with Baek Beom over their work ethics, but realize that they need to work together in investigating criminal cases that may seem complex at first sight.
Partners of Justice consist of the following tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: The second season wraps up with Do Ji-han's colleague from the National Tax Service (NTS) properly investigated. However, No Han-shin and Gal Dae-cheol's part in working with Oh Man-sang to assassinate Yeong-su was not made public as Man-sang was made the scapegoat for his murder, considering that he was wanted by law enforcement. Do Ji-han decides to leave the SPO and be a defense lawyer instead while Eun Sol stays in Seoul Eastern to continue her work to investigate corrupt public figures. And Dr. K was still alive after being left for dead by Dae-cheol via assassin. He decides to join up with Ji-han.
- Darker and Edgier: While the first season shares it part of dark criminal cases being investigation by officers from the Gangdong Police Station, the second season is entirely dark because the majority of its cases were committed secretly by a conspiracy group that uses the services of Dr. K to conduct murders and coverups.
- Myth Arc: The second season is one entire story arc for the underground cleaner Dr. K aka Jang Chul and the SPO/police's attempt to stop his criminal activities.
- Jekyll & Hyde:
- Jang Chul and Dr. K, eventually turning into Split-Personality Takeover
- Invoked multiple times by Kal Dae-Cheol just so he can use Dr. K for his purposes
- Abusive Parents:
- Jang Chul's mother
- Sequel Hook
- The first season ends with the NFS investigating the supposed charred corpse of Man-sang for an autopsy even though the rest of South Korea thinks he did die. Sure enough, it partly leads to the second season.
- The second season ends with Ji-han visting Yang Soo-dong while the latter was off duty. Dr. K shows up from an alley and Soo-dong gets confused as to why Ji-han's working with Dr. K.
- SWAT Team: The Korean National Police Agency's Special Operations Unit gets called in when their assistance is required. Strangely enough, they use SWAT patches even though the SWAT name was dropped as of the 2010s.
- Two Lines, No Waiting:
- The first season shows Baek doing his work while his father sees him and tells him to come back to work in the hospital after the accident that left his fiancee dead. Meanwhile, Eun Sol struggles to do her job as a prosecutor and stand on her own despite the parents not approving of her work and prefering her to work in the family business.
- The second season continues to investigate the mysterious cases that continue to be assigned to the Seoul Eastern DPO while a conspiracy group (mostly led by Amoral Attorney Yoon Tae-jun, serving as the Mouth of Sauron to Oh Pil-joong) uses Dr. K to take care of the messes created by its criminal associates.
- Science Hero:
- The cases most of the time cannot be solved without Dr. Baek's expertise.
- The Nose Knows:
- Baek uses his superior sense of smell during autopsies, even smelling that Jang Chul was near a dead body recently becoming suspicious of him immediately
- Subverted when Dr. K forces a beverage down Investigator Park Young Su's throat before his death so he can blind Baek's sense of smell during the autopsy
- Good Is Not Nice:
- Dr. Baek yells at his co-workers and is often rude to them
- Berserk Button:
- Car accident victims for Baek
- Red Oni, Blue Oni
- Eun Sol is the Red Oni to Baek Beom's Blue Oni
- Malicious Misnaming
- Eun Sol calls Baek Beom "Bbak Beom" where "bbak" means angry or frustrated and Beom means tiger (His real last name "Baek" means white). Eventually other characters start calling him that (mostly behind his back) when they are frustrated with him.
- Significant Name Shift
- Eun Sol calls Dr. Baek "Oppa" when he collapses in the autopsy room in episode 7 of the first season
- Locked in a Freezer
- Same episode as above, Dr. Baek and Eun Sol are put under lockdown in the autopsy room as the dead body in there might be infected with MERS
- Han Seo-Hyun literally when she is kidnapped and held for ransom
- Major Injury Underreaction:
- When Eun Sol cuts herself during the lockdown in the morgue next to dead body because she doesn't want to hinder the investigation. It immediately turns into a Roadside Surgery because of the infection risk.
- Subverted when she cries out as Baek pours the disinfectant on her hand.
- Scars Are Ugly
- Inverted as Eun Sol likes her scar because it lengthened the life line on her palm
- Defrosting Ice Queen
- Gender inverted: Eun Sol gradually gets Baek to (somewhat) open up to her
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- He regularly takes care of the dog at NFS, in one episode builds him a doghouse
- Mistaken for Murderer
- Kang Hyun is convinced Baek killed Investigator Seo Jeong-min, as well as Kang's brother 10 years ago
- Irrational Hatred
- Kang Hyun towards Baek.
- Averted when it turns out he is convinced that Baek killed his brother and made it look like a suicide
- Grudging "Thank You"
- Cha Soo-Ho even records it on his phone when Dr. Baek thanks him for clearing his name
- Creepy Mortician
- Baek does his autopsies without a mask (so he can smell everything), and is ridiculed behind his back for his unconventional methods of performing autopsies
- Perky Goth:
- Sally in the second season
- Awesomeness by Analysis:
- Both Stella and Sally
- Put on a Bus:
- Stella goes back to the US after season one
- Cha Soo-Ho is transferred as well after season one but The Bus Came Back for the final episode of season two
- The Workaholic:
- Baek even has a bed in his office
- Slightly subverted as we see Baek numerous times actually living in his apartment unit
- Ma Do Nam becomes this after losing his son
- Badass Driver:
- Eun Sol when Baek asks her for a ride then keeps telling her what not to do while driving. At first it looks like she Drives Like Crazy but she gets to them to the NFS safely and parks the car perfectly
- In the second season Baek opts for Eun Sol's driving instead of Sally's because he knows she gets them there faster
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside:
- Baek turns into this after he proposes to his girlfriend who tells him that she's pregnant from his best friend. This leads to the Noodle Incident where he crashes their car (Tragic Mistake) and Han So-hee supposedly dies (Convenient Coma) in the accident. After this Kang Yong, his best friend, commits suicide.
- Love-Obstructing Parents
- Baek's father who convinced Han So-hee to give up Baek Beom so he can continue his studies in the US. Turns into a Third-Act Misunderstanding as Han So-Hee was already pregnant with Beom's child and Kang Yong is Mistaken for Betrayal in the process
- Killed Off for Real:
- Han So-Hee immediately after she wakes up from the coma
- The Determinator
- If Baek Beom is onto something he doesn't give up, even if it involves stealing a corpse to perform an autopsy on it.
- Eun Sol goes to great lengths if she is convinced about the killer's identity, mostly because she's an Excellent Judge of Character
- Parental Favoritism / The Un-Favourite
- Eun Sol's parents favour her brother
- Contrived Coincidence
- Eun Sol moves into the apartment unit right next to Baek's
- Commuting on a Bus
- Eun Sol despite being the female lead of the show seems to have disappeared in second half of season two from the main storyline
