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Charles Nieuwendyk (A Man on the Inside)

kevinburtonsmith

Created by Michael Schur

Winging its way from The Land of HUH? is Netflix’ 2024 mini-series A Man on the Inside, an unexpected delight for those tired of grimmer-and-bloodier-than-thou “noir” and phoned-in cosplay detective dramas. It stars Ted Danson (who’s almost eighty) as CHARLES NIEUWENDYK, a quietly retired engineering professor and recent widower from Oakland, California who’s hired by San Francisco private detective JULIE KOVALENKO to go undercover.

Yeah, it’s a mystery.

Well, sorta…

What it mostly is, though, is a quiet riot; an amusing and at times surprisingly moving look at what growing old means to those going through it (Hint: it ain’t for sissies), and those who love them. Yeah, it descends briefly into some surprisingly cringey and mawkish sentimentality at the end, but that doesn’t dilute the sharp-eyed wit and snappy dialogue that — surprise, surprise — is genuinely funny.

At loose ends following the loss of his beloved Dorothy who succumbed to Alzheimer’s a year earlier, the lonely, nerdy Charles is pushed/nagged by his well-meaning but concerned daughter Emily to get up off his butt and do something/anything (she suggests he get a hobby). Emily’s got her own problems: besides worrying about her dad, she and her husband Joel have three rambunctious teenage boys to deal with.

Charles is drawn to a classified in an ad in the local paper placed by JULIE KOVALENKO, a local private eye, and applies.

All-business Julie is looking for someone to pose as a resident at the upscale Pacific View Retirement Community, a high end old folks home, on behalf of a wealthy client whose mother can’t find a precious ruby necklace. Suspecting theft, Julie hopes that by placing an age-appropriate mole in the home temporarily, they can discover who’s behind the theft.

The bookish Charles is intrigued (he loves mysteries — books by Sue Grafton and John LeCarre are seen in his apartment), and applies, and is hired.

Reluctantly.

As Julie tells him, “You’re the best option in a sea of not very good options.” Truth is, she picks Charles mostly because he’s one of the few elderly candidates she’s interviewed who knows how to use a cell phone.

Initially, Charles keeps the job secret from Emily, and acts like just another new resident to the home’s perky and perennially upbeat manager Didi. He’s clearly jazzed about being “the man on the inside,” but he’s hardly a natural, awkwardly fitting in and almost blowing his cover right off the bat. But despite the bumbling he slowly makes friends among his fellow residents, who begin to confide in him.

He’s not sure, though, who to trust. There are plenty of suspects at Pacific View, including Didi (is she too nice?) and other members of the staff. But suspicion soon falls on the other residents, from hot-to-trot would-be femmes fatale and cantankerous would-be alpha males to brooding loners and sweet, charming folks who just want to be friends. Or sexual partners.

The show was created by Michael Schur, the man behind such popular recent sitcoms as Parks & Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place (which also starred Danson), but was inspired by The Mole Agent, an Oscar-nominated 2020 documentary from Chile, written and directed by Maite Alberdi. That film followed the true story of an elderly man who was actually hired by a detective agency to actually go undercover in a nursing home for pretty much the same reason.

For those of you who enjoyed A Man on the Inside, Netflix delivered a second season, with Charles now working with Julie as a private investigator, taking on a variety of small cases, but chomping at the bit for something a little more challenging. The big case arrives when they’re approached by Wheeler College president Jack Beringer and provost Holly Bodgemark, who want the firm to find Beringer’s stolen laptop. Soon enough, Charles is of course over his head, bumbling his way through a case that involves blackmail, vandalism, a pompous billionaire (Gary Cole) and a new love interest: sexy Wheeler music theory professor Mona Margadoff (played by Danson’s real life wife, Mary Steenbergen). It’s less quirky than the first season, and the charm is strained at times, but it all ends more-or-less well for everyone.

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Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

 

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