‘A Man On The Inside’ Season 2 Netflix Review: Stream It Or Skip It?

It’s almost become expected to see Ted Danson, star of Netflix’s A Man On The Inside, give a funny, heartfelt performance. But the first season of the Michael Schur-created series really brought home a funny and poignant story about aging and eldercare. In Season 2, Danson’s PI-trainee Charles is now on familiar ground: A college campus. We suspect it’ll be just as funny as Season 1, but will the poignancy be there?

Opening Shot: At a swanky hotel bar, a man is sweet talking his girlfriend, and proposing they seal the deal upstairs.

The Gist:  Also sitting at the bar is Charles Niewendyk (Ted Danson), a retired college engineering professor who is now a private investigator trainee. He informs the couple in his voluminous but charming that he was hired by the man’s wife, and as he gets up, he falls over because his leg fell asleep.

Back at the office of his boss, Julie Kovalenko (Lilah Richcreek Estrada), he complains that all he seems to be doing in his trainee phase is look into cheating husbands. Julie tells him that “boring” cases like that are what pay the bills.

Then Jack Beringer (Max Greenfield), president of Wheeler College, and the school’s harried provost, Holly Bodgemark (Jill Talley), walk in. They want Julie to find a laptop that was stolen from Jack’s office. They claim it’s worth “$400 million”, which is how much billionaire venture capitalist Brad Vinick (Gary Cole) pledged to the small college. The people who stole the laptop sent Jack an email threatening to “spill all your secrets” if they take any of Vinick’s “blood money.”

Charles eagerly steps up to go undercover on the case, which is at the alma mater of his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) and son-in-law Joel (Eugene Cordero). The role is one he’s familiar with: He’ll be a visiting professor in the engineering department. During orientation, he’ll be “engaging in PLOP”: Prepare, learn, observe, pursue.

Most of the faculty was on campus that day, and security is lax enough that they all could have had access to Jack’s office. At a ceremony to celebrate Winick, Charles meets several of them: Max Griffin (Sam Huntington), a journalism prof who hates the super rich; Dr. Cole (David Strathairn), the famous head of the English department, Andrea Yi (Michaela Conlin), an economics teacher who isn’t all that upset about Vinick’s presence, and Mona Mrgadoff (Mary Steenburgen), a music professor who randomly leaves conversations to write down music in her head. Charles and Mary hit it off right away, which goes against PLOP.

Photo: COLLEEN E. HAYES/NETFLIX

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? During the first season of A Man On The Inside, created by Michael Schur (Parks & Recreation, The Good Place), we compared it to Only Murders In The Building, and we’re sticking to that notion.

Our Take: As during the first season, Danson’s considerable charms are what sell us on A Man On The Inside. He’s shown audiences over the past fifty years, even before Cheers, that he can be suave and goofy, grumpy and emotional. So when Charles talks about PLOP with dead seriousness, or leaves Julie his extensively boring notes, you laugh because he sells scenes like that so well.

This case seems to be up Charles’ alley, but his attraction to Mona is going to throw a wrench into his investigation. Of course, Danson has fantastic chemistry with Steenburgen — this isn’t the first time the real-life couple have acted together — and Charles navigating new love in his seventies will be fun to watch.

One of the things we’re concerned about a little bit in this season is that Schur and company are keeping Pacific View, the retirement community where Charles went undercover in Season 1, as part of the story, starting with executive director Didi Santos Cordero (Stephanie Beatriz) hiring Julie to do background checks on some new employees. Initially, Julie is suspicious, given how much she and Didi were in conflict as the previous case progressed, but it seems to settle into a tug-of-war between Didi’s caring nature and Julie’s take-no-vacations personality. Things should go deeper here, but we wonder if this is being done to keep Beatriz around (never a bad thing) and filter in some of the friends Charles made there while he was undercover.

Photo: COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Performance Worth Watching: We’ve already talked about Danson, who is as charming and goofy as ever, and his natural chemistry with Steenburgen is a joy to watch. But Schur and company have become experts at getting great actors on his shows, like Cole, Strathairn, Conlin, Greenfield, Beatriz and more.

Sex And Skin: None in the first episode.

Parting Shot: Someone takes Vinick’s portrait for the university honor and sets it on fire. Everyone runs outside to see it aflame in a garbage bin, after seeing the note “IF YOU TAKE HIS MONEY, WHEELER WILL BURN” where the portrait used to be.

Sleeper Star: Other guests in Season 2 will be Jason Mantzoukas, Constance Marie and Madison Hu. And there should be appearances by Sally Struthers and other Season 1 cast members.

Most Pilot-y Line: “I know exactly why I’m like this. Solved that case years ago,” Julie says to Didi, who gives Julie’s paranoia the clinical term “cuckoo bananas.” We want to know more about Julie, and that line feels like such a tease.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The second season of A Man On The Inside may or may not have as much of the sentiment and emotion as the first season, but it should be just as funny, thanks to Schur, Danson, and a great cast.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.