A Man on the Inside review

A Man on the Inside is here to break your heart, piece it back together, and then break it once again.

In Michael Schur‘s latest comedy series, heart overrules humor as Schur — co-creator of Parks and Recreation and creator/showrunner of The Good Place — tells a story of mystery, loneliness, and community.

A Man on the Inside acts as a reunion for the series creator and Ted Danson, who stars as the titular “man” tasked with sleuthing inside a San Francisco retirement community where a priceless necklace has gone missing. Before going undercover, Charles (Danson) is a bereft widower who spends his days mailing newspaper clippings to his daughter, Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), eating and reading alone, and doing everything he can to distract from the empty space on his wife’s side of the bed after her death from Alzheimer’s. Encouraged by Emily to get back out into the world and find a hobby to preoccupy himself, Charles looks to the classified ads and conveniently discovers a listing put up by Julia Kovalenko (Lilah Richcreek Estrada), a PI in search of an elderly investigative assistant.

Charles — a retired engineering professor — impresses Julia with his wit (a.k.a he knows how to use a cellphone), secures the job on the spot, and moves into the Pacific View Retirement Community, a bustling geriatric habitat managed by Didi Santos-Cordero (Stephanie Beatriz). What follows is eight episodes of classic spy motifs, timeless devilment, and a raucous ensemble that infuses life into a story about the oldest among us.

Filling out the cast of characters inside the Pacific View Retirement Community are residents like Virginia (Sally Struthers), Florence (Margaret Avery), Calbert (Stephen McKinley-Henderson), Elliot (John Getz), Gladys (Susan Ruttan), and Helen (Danielle Kennedy), the woman whose beloved family heirloom is presumed stolen after vanishing from her room.

From the very first scenes in Episode 1, “Tinker Tailor Older Spy,” the show does not attempt to hide that it will be a bittersweet comedy just as eager to bring about laughs as it is to have you shedding tears. While I cannot predict I’ll be able to get the de-aged Danson from the first moment of Episode 1 out of my head anytime soon, it’s helpful to zoom out and remember that the sentiment is what’s important. Much like the beginning sequence from Disney and Pixar’s Up, A Man on the Inside succinctly tells the tale of a widower who loved so deeply and fully that the audience can’t help but feel when that one love, that ever-so-special connection, is taken away in a matter of moments.

The sad truth of the show is that it’s, well, rather sad. It will be a gut punch for anyone who has watched a loved one on the decline, something I myself have seen multiple times. The upside is that it will be there with open arms to give you a warm and gentle hug after inflicting the pain. I think A Man on the Inside is a classic example of a “Call Your Mom-edy,” a phrase I have made up just now that applies to any show that can make you laugh and get you to call your mother (or anyone special really) and tell them how much you love them.

The show itself is the perfect comedy series to watch with the whole family, as it’s both wholesome and witty. Much like Only Murders in the Building — which is coincidentally executive-produced by Schur’s wife, J.J. Philbin — A Man on the Inside relies on the silliness of the elderly cast members to deliver the best lines and gags. You can expect technological confusion, cranky community members, and miscommunications spawned by the hard of hearing. In spite of the predictability of some of the show’s jokes, it’s hard not to be charmed by the residents who wind up becoming surrogate grandparents to each and every watcher.

Each character, kookier and more eccentric than the last, reminds us that while they may constantly go overlooked by society, they still have so much more to contribute. This seems to be a growing trend on TV, especially as OMITB enters its fourth season and Kathy Bates’ new show on CBS, Matlock, centers around an elderly woman acting as a double agent inside a New York City law firm for personal reasons. They say blondes have more fun but the grays are certainly giving them a run for their money on television, at the moment.

As someone who has spent the better part of a decade making their whole life about television and what to watch, I’ve come to learn that a show’s content is second only to how it makes you feel. So even when a joke comes off feeling a bit cheesy, it’s being delivered with such earnestness that it’s hard not to giggle. Even more so, the show is at its best when it explores the beauty in life’s monotony.

In Episode 6, “Our Man in Sacramento,” the viewer tags along with Didi and witnesses the mountain of obstacles she faces on a day-to-day basis, including the loss of a resident and the heartbreak of having to convey that information to others. Beatriz, who most viewers probably know best for playing the tough-skinned Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, slips into a soft and kind-hearted role with such grace that you can’t help but wait eagerly for her next scene.

In becoming a love letter to senior citizens, the show also acts as a “thank you” to everyone who is there looking out for them — i.e. people like Didi. At one point, her character even calls out someone else for adding to the already crazy workload and mental burden her staff faces every day. Like Parks and Recreation, the show thanks the unsung heroes who do it for the love of the job and the difference they make. And like another one of Schur’s hit series, The Good Place, A Man on the Inside encourages us to be kinder and better than we were the day before and does so with a punchline.

To put it briefly, A Man on the Inside is a breezy and fun septuagenarian shenanigan tale from start to finish. We still recommend grabbing a box of tissues before sitting down to press play, but maybe we have hyperbolized the sorrowful bits.

Not likely as one line from the trailer adequately sums up what you can expect from the show; “For a majority of seniors, the biggest threat to their well-being isn’t an accident or health, it’s loneliness,” Beatriz’s character says. Of course, that’s almost immediately followed up by a clip of Charles finding an entire pizza tacked onto the back of his coat after explicitly being told to “lay low,” so maybe that’s a more appropriate summary of the show.

One thing is for sure, you’ll get a little bit of both while watching A Man on the Inside.

All episodes of A Man on the Inside premiere Thursday, November 21 on Netflix.