Any review of the work from television producer Michael Schur will include the word “warmth.” Writer and producer of the infamous US remake The office and composer of Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nineagain Nice placeSchur has a well-earned reputation as a master of the feel-good single-camera sitcom. His latest project, based on a documentary The Mole Agent by director Maite Alberdi, stars Ted Danson as an untrained spy who enters a retirement community. And while this may sound like one of Schur’s kookier lines, it’s actually his least cartoonish contribution. The Man Inside not terribly funny, but comfortable, heartfelt television.
A year after losing his wife to Alzheimer’s, Charles (Danson) has become lonely and aimless. When his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) suggests he take up a new hobby, Charles begins working for private investigator Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) as a mole in a retirement community where valuable jewelry has been stolen. Under the pretense of being a new citizen, Charles delves into the lives of other retirees, breaking Julie’s first rule of hiding: Don’t befriend the suspects.
The Man Inside it has superficial similarities to Hulu Loner Criminals in the Buildingbecause it stars the comedy icon in his 70s as a novice sleuth who is buried in a group of rich and innocent characters who might do nothing. Overall, however, The Man Inside it’s grounded and honest, and much less plot-driven. Over the course of a few episodes, the series becomes less about a wannabe spy whose self-confidence leads to hijinx and more about a lonely man finding purpose and much-needed friendship. The tension comes not from low-level secrecy but from the inevitability that Charles’s plot will be revealed and that his new relationship will be revealed.
Because of that, it’s a much simpler drama than a sitcom. Hibs’ most clever bits are the occasional hibs on failing bodies and the technological impotence of retired newborns, but these are usually throwaways that cut through the chaos of a compassionate look at old age. Residents of Pacific View Retirement Home are given time off from work and responsibility, but also face the grief of loss, abandonment, and the gradual deterioration of their abilities. Even the most fortunate among them automatically distance themselves from anyone suffering from high mental decline, unwilling to look this terrifying reminder of their possible future in the eye.
“I miss my old self,” said one member of Pacific View’s memory ward during a moment of silence. To put it bluntly, the way a person might remember furniture that can’t be removed from their last apartment. More than any seasonal goals, these are the kinds of moments that stand out.
Pacific View is full of characters you want to laugh with, and not, starting with Danson’s Charles. Far from his famous “man” Sam Malone HappinessCharles is a sweet genius who always seems surprised when people find him attractive. Similarly, Stephanie Beatriz contradicts her cool, finished persona as the director of Pacific View, who is endlessly cheerful despite the heavy fatigue of her job. Sally Struthers and Margaret Avery play the passionate lovers who are the life of every social event and the source and subject of all the best gossip. Most likable of all is Stephen Mckinley Henderson, who plays the same kind of compelling everyday guy you’d see in any stage or screen drama. These are people you’d like to know—maybe you even know them, but ironically you’ve chosen to put them in a place where you don’t have to see them or think about them.
The world of Pacific View is so full and vibrant that any characters outside of it feel unnecessary. The audience is privy to some of the poignant events of the family sitcom at the home of Charles’ daughter Emily, where she and her husband (Eugene Cordero) try to contend with three Internet-addicted boys who act as a unit. Their subplots add up a bit and are symptomatic of a disease that plagues many streaming-era series: the feeling that this could have been a 100-minute feature rather than a 4-hour season of television.
Never is this feeling more intense than in the final moments of the first season, which hold the hook for a second. This is not a story that calls for a sequel. The characters’ journeys feel complete, the mystery is solved, and since the mystery was never important in the first place, the idea of Charles taking on another case is less appealing. The Man Inside he may not have legs a Parks & Recbut it is a novel of the show’s cozy plane. It makes you think less, feel more, and allows you to get on with your day. If you have retired parents, you may feel compelled to call them and say hello. If you are a retired person with children, you may feel compelled to call them and listen to them.
All eight episodes of ‘A Man in the Inside’ are streaming now on Netflix.
