My favorite episode of the beautifully written and deeply humanistic Season 2 of the Netflix mystery-comedy-drama series “A Man on the Inside” is a “bottle episode,” i.e., an interlude limited to just a couple of primary sets, with the main plot on hold as we delve into a lovely and poignant ensemble character study.
Ted Danson’s Charles Nieuwendyk, a widowed and retired professor of engineering turned private eye, is hosting a Thanksgiving gathering at his home. It’s his most treasured holiday tradition: “Small group. Close friends and loved ones…We talk, we drink, we eat. We have a calm, quiet evening.”
Spoiler alert: that’s not quite how it goes. The gathering expands to more than a dozen guests, including one complete stranger, and turns into a messy and weird and heartbreaking but also wonderful affair, involving everything from a spilled entrée to the search for the perfect pecan pie to some surprising revelations to a guinea pig named Joni Mitchell, don’t ask.
It’s a near-perfect episode of cozy, smart, empathetic television. The second season of “A Man on the Inside” represents another triumph from series creator Michael Schur, whose resume includes writing, producing, and/or creating duties on “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and “The Good Place” (which also starred Danson). Please keep making TV, good sir. You are providing some of the best binge-worthy and rerun-gold comedy standards of this century.
Season 2 opens with the erudite but slightly goofy Charles getting restless with his job as an apprentice private eye for the San Francisco-based Kovalenko Investigations, as he’s mired in a rut of working mundane cases, usually involving someone suspected of infidelity. Just as Charles’ boss Julie Kovalenko (Lilah Richreeck-Estrada, expertly playing the contrasting-character comedic foil) explains that this is the nature of the gig, that juicy cases are few and far between, in walks Jack Berenger (Max Greenfield), the slick president of the liberal arts Wheeler College, and the frazzled and overextended provost, one Holly Bodgemark (Jill Talley).
As Jack explains it, Wheeler’s wealthiest alum, the preternaturally unethical billionaire Brad Vinick (Gary Cole) has verbally pledged $400 million to the school— but someone calling themselves “Wheeler Guardian” has stolen Berenger’s laptop and has sent an email saying, “You take one dollar of [Vinick’s] bloody money, I spill all your secrets.” Concerned that even the whiff of a scandal will scare Vinick away, Berenger and Holly are hoping Kovalenko Investigations can help them identify “Wheeler Guardian” and retrieve the laptop.
“Every single faculty member could be a suspect,” says Charles. “Your only chance to save Wheeler College is if you have…”
Well. A Man on the Inside.
It’s a clever setup; who better to go undercover at the Wheeler College as “Charles Nieuwendyk, visiting lecturer in engineering,” than Charles Nieuwendyk, retired engineering professor? (The Caltech campus in Pasadena, CA, doubles for the fictional Wheeler College, and the production team makes great use of the idyllic exteriors.) We’re introduced to a bevy of well-drawn, colorful academics and students—any of them could be a suspect!—played by a strong cast.
Most notably, there’s Mary Steenburgen (Danson’s longtime real-life spouse) as professor of music theory Mona Margadoff, a free-spirited soul who sang lead in a one-hit wonder band called Lavender Highway in the 1970s; David Straitharn as Dr. Benjamin Cole, the curmudgeonly but beloved head of the English Dept.; and Madison Hu as Claire Chung, a junior who works multiple jobs on campus to help offset the cost of tuition.
The writers also find welcome excuses—some more intrinsic to the main story than others—to bring back first-season favorites, including Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Charles’ daughter, Emily; Stephen McKinley Henderson as Charles’ friend Calbert; and Stephanie Beatriz as Didi, the managing director of the Pacific View retirement residence.
The central mystery in Season 2 isn’t all that compelling; it’s really just an ongoing McGuffin that opens doors to myriad storylines exploring the complicated nature of relationships between parents and grown siblings, the lasting value of friendship and loyalty, and the possibility of love at an advanced age. There’s zero mention of politics, but there’s an obvious real-world connection in a plot about a liberal arts college that is struggling financially and is considering a deal with the devil to stay afloat. (We also get some sly social and economic commentary, as when Claire laments that changing guidelines mean she’ll have to drop out, and she says, “I made a lot of memories here, and you can’t really put a price tag on that, you know? Well, actually, you can. It’s $86,000 a year.”)
A few minor characters are broad and sitcom-y, e.g., Lisa Gilroy’s Kelseigh Rose, the new and much younger and selfie-obsessed wife of the billionaire Brad Vinick. (It’s not the fault of Gilroy, who does what she can with a cartoonishly stupid role.) This is but a quibble, though, as the casting on the whole is quite brilliant; I mean, Cole owns the role of a vainglorious rich d-bag in hilarious fashion, and how can you top Strathairn as a grouchy academic who looks like he cuts his own hair and clearly believes books are so much better than people?
Danson, a master at playing dignified yet silly, is right up there with Pierce Brosnan as Guys In Their Seventies Who Look Spectacular in Tailored Suits. He has created yet another memorable comedic character in Charles, who has his flights of ego and his moments of self-indulgence, but is just about the best dad, grandfather, friend, and colleague—and Man on the Inside—you could ever hope to have.
This is low-key, endearing, stress-free viewing at its best. The quiet humor is soothing, and the moments that have your eyes glistening are well-earned and artfully executed.
All eight episodes of Season 2 of “A Man on the Inside” were screened for review.
