‘A Man on the Inside’ is Charming
Ted Danson in A Man on the Inside | Credit: Netflix
Widower Charles (Ted Danson) goes undercover as a resident in a nursing home in the hopes of finding a stolen piece of jewelry. While there, he discovers more than he bargained for.
A Man on the Inside is just delightful. It has moments of wonderful light-hearted comedy and also moments of real emotional depth. You instantly fall in love with these characters and can’t help but root for them. Despite its fun nature, this show doesn’t shy away from difficult topics like death and how we cope with this reality of life.
The show largely rests on Ted Danson’s shoulders, and he is able to handle it with ease. Charles isn’t a private investigator or a police officer; he is a retired engineering professor. He is logical and methodical, with a passion for puzzles and finding solutions.
Charles is also lonely; his wife died a year earlier, and he has gotten stuck. Taking part in this investigation and connecting with the residents of the nursing home helps him find a piece of himself again.
This fish-out-of-water framing is perfect for this story and leads to plenty of humorous moments. Despite his enthusiasm, Charles just isn’t that good at being a spy. He also struggles with using spy technology, which leads to some pretty hilarious blunders throughout the series. The comedic timing of A Man on the Inside is always impeccable.
John Getz and Ted Danson in A Man on the Inside | Credit: Netflix
But this show isn’t all laughs and jokes; there’s some real depth to these characters and what they’re going through.
Most of the season’s runtime is spent in a nursing home, where all of the residents are rather advanced in years. This show doesn’t shy away from the difficult realities of growing older. Some residents struggle with maintaining a relationship with their children; others don’t get any visits from their family, which is its own source of pain. We see the difficulty of what happens when someone starts to lose their memory and pieces of themselves. A Man on the Inside also shows us how characters grapple with difficult diagnoses and what it’s like to lose a friend.
This light-hearted comedy knows that we need to see those low moments to really appreciate the comedic moments. A Man on the Inside does a great job of balancing the silly and serious plotlines so that we never tip too far into one or the other.
Charles also has a somewhat distant relationship with his daughter, Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). Though they talk with some regularity, they aren’t close. They both try to reach out to one another but struggle to do so after the death of the family member who held them together. It’s interesting to watch them navigate the ups and downs of life and learn to connect better as they go along.
Lilah Richcreek Estrada in A Man on the Inside | Credit: Netflix
A Man on the Inside is a really fun comedy that is perfect to escape into for a few hours. The characters are all endearing — even the most cantankerous of them — and you just want to spend time with this unusual group. But the show isn’t just fluff. There’s plenty of depth to these characters and their experiences, which helps make this show meaningful.
The season ends with a perfect setup for a second season, which I hope Netflix will greenlight right away. It would be a joy to spend more time with these characters.