Minor spoilers for Netflix’s new movie Spenser Confidential can be found throughout this piece.
Netflix’s Spenser Confidential has consistently been a top watch on the streaming service since it premiered on March 6. The flick has Mark Wahlberg, Black Panther’s Winston Duke, comedienne Elisa Schlesinger and veteran actor Alan Arkin, but if you ask the cast, it’s not their top notch talent that’s really reeling in the viewers. Instead, it’s the movie’s mascot Pearl.
We first hear about Pearl when Spenser is still in prison. He’s asked about “his girl” and he waxes poetic about Pearl for a while before ultimately getting into a prison fight. It’s only later when Alan Arkin brings him back to his hometown of Boston that we learn Pearl is a dog.
Now that Spenser Confidential is out and streaming and we’ve seen how much of a scene-stealer Pearl is, it’s no real surprise to learn the cast knows it’s all about Pearl. In a recent interview with Decider, star Winston Duke admitted as much, saying,
Best buddy cop movie ever! We actually say that Spenser didn’t do anything. It was just me and Pearl. Pearl’s a really special one. We got pretty close, me and that dog. She even pooped on my arm, because she’s an old one. So we got really close while shooting.
Everything about that amuses me, particularly given that the whole bit between Winston Duke’s character Hawk, Spenser and Pearl is that Pearl has really settled into Hawk’s affections while Spenser has been in prison. In real life, the dog who plays her spent enough time with Winston Duke that he even has a poop-related story about her.
That’s how you know it’s true love I guess.
Winston Duke’s not the only person obsessed with Pearl. A quick perusal of fans on social media shows a lot of love for Pearl the pup, who is sadly not a pup that is credited in the credits scenes. This person thinks she’s an award-worthy doggie though:
This person, like Winston Duke, knows Spenser Confidential’s real star is Pearl.
Yet another person liked the Netflix original movie so much they are already asking for a sequel. And yes, Pearl needs to be a part of it.
Ultimately, Netflix has not greenlighted Spenser Confidential 2 yet. However, if you’ve watched the movie, you should already know it blatantly sets up for a second movie during its final scene. In addition --and as I noted prior -- it's consistently been a trending Top 10 movie on Netflix since its release. In fact, I just checked and a couple of weeks after its initial streaming launch, it’s still at #4.
So, if you haven’t caught it yet, it may be one to watch at some point if you’re into action at all. That, or simply into cute pups. This wasn’t even my favorite Netflix movie but I’d watch another thanks to Spenser’s girl.
