Will Trent is a crime/police procedural series. It doesn’t try to be anything else, even if they do have a dog that many of us love to see.
While Betty is an interesting part of the book series by Karin Slaughter, she is not the main character. The main character is Will Trent. And going into the series thinking that the book and the TV series are all about the dog is setting yourself up for failure. It’s setting yourself up to not enjoy the series for what it is.
Don’t get me wrong, we watch Will Trent as much for the dog, as we do getting to see Will and his partner Faith solve any number of cases. We didn’t come into this show thinking it was going to be the next Turner & Hooch. They did that already (twice). But it does seem like a lot of people did start watching the show thinking that. They were wrong and it seems like there are some feisty people out there unhappy that this series isn’t giving them that dog and buddy cop dramedy they expected.
Will Trent is not the next Turner & Hooch and it doesn’t need to be
We do Betty watch every week here at Dog O’Day because we love those moments that humanize Will Trent. He is a flawed character whose dog helps to show us all another side of him. But we did not go into the show thinking that it was going to be about the dog. And if you do, you will be disappointed.
However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch it for the dog. In fact, that is a big reason why we tuned in. We wanted to see how the dog played into the series and the storylines. And we were not disappointed. We did not think this was going to be a buddy cop series featuring a dog and his detective. Instead, we get to see those little snippets of what a person is like in the comfort of their own home with their dog at their side.
Betty adds something special to the series and she does it in a way that plays off of the character perfectly. If you really enjoy police procedurals and detective shows, then this is the show for you. But if you were looking for a TV series about a dog, this is not the one.