Tyler is one of Ingrid Yun’s best friends and a fellow lawyer at Parsons, Valentine & Hunt but when faced with a difficult situation, he has no option but to quit. Partner Track is now streaming on Netflix.
Tyler works in the Intellectual Property (IP) department of his firm and is on his way to becoming a partner just like his peers. He is also a gay black man who is dating a local politician.
Tyler wants to impress his boss, Raymond Vanderlin, so he goes above and beyond to land their target Luxe, a prominent fashion label. However, things only go downhill from there for Tyler at the firm.
Dealing with lug-heads
Tyler wins over Luxe by accurately observing that they’re being dragged online by an upstart designer named Valdo. His suggestion is to acquire Valdo and for that reason, he is paired with Dan Fallon from Mergers & Acquisitions.
After Valdo doesn’t want to be acquired and files a countersuit, Tyler has to depose him and convince him to drop the lawsuit against Luxe. While he’s talking in the break room about the work he has to put in, Dan tells him that the fact that he’s gay and black helps his chances of going ahead in the firm which means he doesn’t need to work as hard.
Tyler calls Dan out for how blatantly racist his remarks were but Tyler refuses to accept the fact. Tyler gives him a lecture on white fragility and how needs to take better care of what comments he makes around the office.
A provocative routine
Dan is asked to do the stand-up routine at the company retreat and he takes that opportunity to get back at Tyler for the lecture he received.
His routine involves talking about white fragility and teaching his colleagues about what it truly is but he uses a sarcastic tone throughout and he even thanks Tyler by name during his routine for educating him on the issue.
His entire routine gets laughs from many of the senior members and oblivious associates from the law firm but it also makes several people uncomfortable, especially people of colour.
Tyler gets up and leaves the retreat and Ingrid leaves along with him but not before bringing the issue up with Marty Adler who says he’ll look into it.
A pointless investigation
On the first day back at the office, Marty calls the entire firm together and talks about their culture of respect and how they do not tolerate insensitivity in any form. He tells everyone that HR will be conducting an investigation into the events of the retreat and then making a decision.
Karen from HR questions everyone at the retreat and she gets varying opinions on how they interpreted the routine. Karen asks Tyler what he feels would be a suitable punishment and he says that putting him on probation would send the right message.
Ingrid feels the same way and as a bonus, probation would take him out of the running for partner that year. Karen takes all the evidence that she gathers and gives her recommendations to the management committee.
When Ingrid meets Marty later on and asks him what the committee decided, he tells her that Dan is only getting reprimanded and will have to undergo sensitivity training. He tells Ingrid that she has to take this news to Tyler and convince him to accept it.
She also tells him that the company is offering 500,000 dollars as severance in case he is not happy with the decision. Tyler is angry with the fact that Dan is barely facing any repercussions and Ingrid being the one to break the news about the payoff for his silence makes him more enraged.
He has time to mull over his decision but ultimately he goes out in a blaze of glory by announcing his resignation on an Instagram live while also calling out the racist culture of the firm.
Also Read: Partner Track (2022) ending explained: Does Ingrid become a partner?