When I heard “A Man on the Inside” would be returning for its second season in November, I rejoiced for two reasons: I enjoyed the show’s mischievously light-hearted and emotional first season, and I was recovering from the devastating end of Netflix’s licensing agreement with “The Good Place” in September. Created by Michael Schur (“Parks and Recreation”), “A Man on the Inside” follows Charles Nieuwendyk (Ted Danson, “The Good Place”), a recently widowed and retired professor who finds a renewed sense of purpose as an undercover agent for private investigator Julie Kovalenko (Lilah Richcreek Estrada, “Chicago Med”).
Imbued by the characteristic optimism of Schur’s sit-com work, the first season of “A Man on the Inside” was a heart-warming watch as it focused on the lives of residents in a senior living community. With this in mind, I had a lot to look forward to, like a new world for viewers to immerse themselves in and the friends Charles would undoubtedly make in the second season.
This season, Charles and Julie embark on yet another mysterious case brought to them by Jack Beringer (Max Greenfield, “New Girl”) and Holly Bodgemark (Jill Talley, “SpongeBob SquarePants”), president and provost of Wheeler College, respectively. Jack’s laptop — which contained private information about Jack and a recent major donation to Wheeler — was stolen by an unknown entity, unhappy with that donation bestowed by affluent but morally questionable Wheeler alum Brad Vinick (Gary Cole, “Veep”). But there’s a catch to this donation: Without Brad’s $400 million contribution, Wheeler College will likely have to close its doors forever. With the entire school at stake, Charles goes undercover as a visiting engineering professor at Wheeler to sniff out potential suspects and catch the person responsible for the stolen laptop.
Among the several new cast members joining the show this season, one notable addition is music professor Mona Margadoff played by Mary Steenburgen (“Grace and Frankie”), who is married to Danson in real life. The two play each other’s love interests, and they adorably fall in love hard and fast. Perhaps a little too fast, as their relationship rapidly progresses in the season’s first episode, transitioning from strangers to lovers within 30 minutes. It would have been nice to stretch this out more (I appreciate a slower burn) and it would have been lovely to see Charles flustered in at least one more episode. However, both are widowed in their seventies; they don’t have time to wait. Maybe that is why their romance sparked so fast.
The show hasn’t hesitated to emphasize how little time is left as one gets older. But despite the weight of time and aging in the show’s first season, the second season takes a few moments to make us laugh because of it. Brad — the epitome of the rich corporate executive with a wife who is much younger than his own daughter — talks to Julie and Holly about the mystery at hand while he’s receiving an experimental and comically dangerous anti-aging treatment. Watching Julie and Holly put on protective vests because of the treatment’s potential radiation exposure feels like an overdone take on the wealthy elite; why would Brad care about the potentially dangerous impacts the treatment has on others when it could make his life better? But, it is scenes like these where the show’s humor and genuineness shine.
This season’s cast’s fun performances — both returning and new members — contributes greatly to the show’s playful moments. Longtime English professor Dr. Cole (David Strathairn, “The Blacklist”) is a humanities-obsessed professor who doesn’t get along with former-engineer Charles, yet Strathairn makes sure to endear us to Dr. Cole over his passion for and commitment to Wheeler College. Charles’ daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) takes on a larger role this season as we see her navigate sending her kids to college while rediscovering her own dreams in life, giving us another Nieuwendyk to root for.
Paired with the excellent cast performances, familiar aspects of college life are found everywhere within the show’s writing and set design. From watching Charles fall off an orange motorized scooter to Wheeler students participating in an age-old college tradition, every moment struck a familiar chord within my college student heart. The writers clearly pulled from more realistic sources of information (compared to dramatized tellings of college or high school life like “The Sex Lives of College Girls” or “Riverdale”) to make life at Wheeler College feel accurate, and they executed their vision successfully.
What stood out most of all about setting the show at an academic institution, however, was the frustrations felt by students and faculty alike about the college’s administration and selfishly made decisions. There are plenty of things that they are and clearly should be unsatisfied with, like professors’ insufficient salaries or Jack’s choice to cut financial aid and student life programs to “save money” (since Wheeler is about to go under), but without any regard for what actually matters to the campus community. Charles witnesses several forms of student protests, and he and Julie try to see if the student newspaper would give up an anonymous source who leaked emails from Jack which disclose his pay raise. These conflicts felt a little too familiar as a college student whose own campus has been through its fair share of administrative issues in the last few years. Although the show’s positive outlook on these situations sometimes felt like an unrealistic happily-ever-after, “A Man on the Inside” brought a necessary levity that I think we all could use in life right now.
Schur is not making a groundbreaking show with this season, but he“” ‘’trying to. Through the thoughtful insights Danson offers Charles as he and the community continue to build through his PI work, the heartwarming and comedic performances and the immersion into the life of those at Wheeler College, the second season of “A Man on the Inside” is an easy watch when you need a little faith in humanity again.
Daily Arts Writer Eilene Koo can be reached at ekoo@umich.edu.
