Partner Track has all the makings of a sudsy workplace drama, à la early Grey’s Anatomy but set in a high-profile New York law firm. There are thrilling cases, great outfits (much better than light blue scrubs) and, of course, some very compelling love interests vying for the heart of star lawyer Ingrid Yun (Arden Cho). On one side of the love triangle there’s wealthy, kind-eyed philosophy nerd Nick Laren (Rob Heaps), who’s ready to give Ingrid the world. But her heartstrings can’t help but be pulled by bad boy–slash–former fling Jeff Murphy (Dominic Sherwood). And, as Ingrid tries to make sense of her love life, Parsons Valentine & Hunt office golden boy Dan Fallon (Nolan Gerard Funk) can’t stop hitting on her — or anyone else in his eyeline.

Who should Ingrid choose? “I've been very public with my choice. I'm Team Nick, all the way. I have been since the beginning,” Sherwood tells Tudum, choosing his on-screen romantic rival over his own Murphy. Sherwood, along with Heaps and Funk, are here to help you pick the correct ship to board — and deal with the “white fragility” discussion at the center of Partner Track.

A lot of the romance in Partner Track comes from initial attraction. So, finish this sentence: On a first date I always blank.

Dominic Sherwood: Blank is a lot of it. On a lot of my first dates, I just sit down and I’m like, “Great. What do we talk about? I have no idea.” So I'm at my girlfriend's house right now and — this is embarrassing — on one of my first dates with her, I tore my pants, like button to button. Like the whole way down the back.

I was just like, “Fuck it. I'm in for this. Let's go.” And she was like, “Why are you walking funny?” And I was like, “Here's the thing. I've ripped my pants open. We're just going to live in this space. We're going to own this. And I'm glad I chose to wear underwear today, otherwise, everyone would be seeing the crack of my ass.”

She liked the honesty.

Sherwood: Or she chose to ignore it. Maybe she gave me a pass.

Rob Heaps: You humiliated yourself, and girls like that.

Arden Cho and Rob Heaps as Ingrid Yun and Nick Laren.

Women love vulnerability. And Rob, what about you? Any first-date habits?

Heaps: I don't like sitting opposite someone. It's too intense. One of my favorite things about America is there's loads of bars and restaurants where you can sit side by side. Way better for a first date because then your default is looking ahead, and if you turn to look at the person, it's like, “Oh, I'm looking at you now.”

The internet’s favorite matchmaker recommends that practice to increase intimacy on early dates.

Heaps: Don't make me sound like someone that's read all those books! [Laughs] I'm not a pickup artist.

Of course not — you’ve just stumbled into being a good dater! Nolan, what about you?

Nolan Gerard Funk: I'm a foodie. So I pick somewhere with good food and I can't help but like good lighting. There was a restaurant in New York called Cecconi's. I was having dinner there and I noticed that they had a few candles somewhere in the restaurant. So I just went and grabbed them and put them by us. Then I went there a few days later — all of a sudden the whole bar had candles all over it. I pay a little too much attention to the lighting.

All of your characters fall in different places on the romance scale. What’s your love language? And do you consider yourself romantics?

Heaps: Quoting The Simpsons for me. I think [Nick and I] share a romanticism. When friends are trying to set me up, it's always like, “What's your type?” And I have to say, “I don't have the type. It's not like a hair color or a thing. It's just a feeling.” That for me is romance: that indefinable vibration you get when you meet someone energy-wise that you can't predict. But Nick's whole thing of, like, bringing $800 boxes of sushi is not quite how I roll.

Funk: For me it's communication, both with physical touch and words. I do consider myself hopelessly romantic deep down, but it takes a moment to get there.

Sherwood:  I think my love language genuinely is touch, but I really only sort of figured this out fairly recently. I'm such a boy when I'm sick. I want to be touched and held, but not too much. You have to figure out exactly what [I need] and I'm not interested in telling you, because I'm such a baby. I've been very fortunate that Decker [Sadowski, my girlfriend] managed to figure that out pretty quickly, which was nice.

And I’m more of a romantic than Jeff Murphy for sure. I mean I'd have to be, otherwise I'd just be this monster. I like to show the people I care about that I care about them. Definitely.

Domic Sherwood shoots Ingrid a look as Jeff Murphy.

We learn a lot about all your characters over the course of the season. But Jeff really does come off as a possible player at first. Who do you want Ingrid to choose?

Funk: I'm Team Dan, of course.

Heaps: There's potential there. Dan Fallon in a possible Season 2? I'm very intrigued where that's going to go.

I like Murphy. I like his insecurity about his past and his upbringing. I found that quite affecting and how much work he's done to get over those hurdles and present himself in a certain way. It's ironically quite an American thing. Although the character is British, that's a version of the American dream. It doesn't matter where you're from or who you are — you can raise yourself up.

Sherwood: The interesting point with Nick is his character does strive for that too. Nick and Jeff are actually quite similar people in a lot of ways. Nick is beguiled by his past as well, and that develops who he is in his future, especially when it comes to the heritage of his parents. What's so interesting about Nick is he is hyperaware of his status and his place in the world, but sort of rebels against it as much as he can.

Heaps: Yeah, you're right. They have dominating father figures in both cases as well. Very weird offscreen presences there.

Nolan, we learn Dan also has a very powerful off-screen dad. Did you create a mental backstory for him that you brought to the character?

Funk: Here's the thing about Dan Fallon: He's ultra ambitious, reactionary as hell and obviously has a lot of growing to do over the course of the season. But I know there's a much deeper side to him and the reasons for that are yet to be revealed. I absolutely think there are a lot more layers to him. Anyone who's that inflammatory — underneath it, there's always insecurity and there's always hurt and there's always pain. Those who are hurt, go and hurt.

Nolan Gerard Funk as Dan Fallon. 

The inherent ability to do harm as a handsome white man — whether on purpose or unintentionally — is ultimately a huge theme in Partner Track. Did it change how any of you approach the world?

Sherwood: The interesting parallel is, if you're uncomfortable watching these events on screen, then the realization has to be found that these uncomfortable situations exist. It’s a little bit of a call to answer for people to realize that this stuff does happen and it happens on the regular. So, as an audience, maybe, let's embrace a little… uncomfortability to elicit some change.

That's at least what I found discovering these stories and especially while working with the people who portray these roles and the writing team. Listening to the passion they provide for these roles and for these scenarios is eye-opening to an extent that I hadn't experienced before.

Funk: It's exciting to be a part of something that has such beautiful representation in it. I personally struggled with accepting the role at the beginning because I'd already explored this sort of social problem on Dear White People with Barry Jenkins. It was one of the hardest things I've had to do in my career.

I definitely had a lot of fear going into this show. But the thing that made me willing to keep going is, I thought, “If there is some change through art and I can be a very minor contribution in that, then it's worth it.” I'm definitely aware of it, and it's definitely not a comfortable thing to be exploring so heavily in this season.

Heaps: Nolan —and I know it was hard for you — but Dan is really a believable person in all his shades and all his light. You understand why that person is the way he is. And then you see him come up against it, be a bit challenged by it. That's a much more mature way of looking at it.

And it’s a really current way of approaching a touchy topic.

Heaps: People keep comparing this to Suits. You could argue that show had two lead characters who are both white. Now we have an Asian American lead. So when you play a character like Dan or Murphy or Nick now, there's an awareness that you probably didn't have 15 years ago of, “This is a privileged white person.” It doesn't mean that you can't approach it with humor and fun. It's just that added layer of awareness.

And what was Arden like as a leader?

Heaps: She's an absolute trooper.

Funk: And an established poker player. Wildly impressive.

Sherwood: We found out very early that she's a phenomenal poker player. So whenever that came up, we were all just like, “Nope, we're good.”

Heaps: If she does try and drag you to a Korean karaoke bar, though, do say yes.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Partner Track Season 1 Trailer