A Man On The Inside review: A sweet spy show

Some people think about Ted Lasso as ushering in an era of television where kindness is king, the kind where a Kansan with a cannibalism can hand out some books, tape up a “Believe” sign and bring together a rag tag team. But as showrunner, Michael Schur has been in this game from the jump, making series after series that sweetly examine the human condition. First he took on the local management and the good colleague camaraderie Parks and Recreation. Next, he delved into morality and explored its philosophical underpinnings The good place. (And he dug further into these concepts with his book This is how you become perfect.) He then brought his themes of community and attachment to law enforcement Brooklyn Nine-Nine. With its latest series and the first for Netflix, A man on the insideSchur examines the loneliness epidemic through its most vulnerable population: the elderly. Despite the limitations of a season with eight 30-minute episodes can force a sitcom, AMOTI is a cute show with more heart than funny punchlines – and a winning cast to boot. And it will probably make you cry.

Based on Maite Alberdi’s 2020 documentary The mole agent, AMOTI follows a retiree as he is deployed as a spy to investigate a high-dollar theft at a local nursing home. It’s a setup well served by Ted Danson, who plays Charles Nieuwendyk, a friendly former engineer in San Francisco who has little to do after his wife’s death from Alzheimer’s. His busy daughter, Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis b It’s always sunny in Philadelphia), lives with her husband and three teenage sons more than an hour away in Sacramento, and Charles spends her days scouring the paper for interesting articles to cut out and send her. Encouraged by Emily to take up a hobby, he responds to a Kovalenko Investigations print ad he spots in the paper, and in a few moves he is welcomed into the Pacific View Retirement Community as a new resident.

Of course, the very charming Charles makes friends with everyone at the facility in no time (this is a Mike Schur show, after all), although his instructions before entering the place were to be laid low. This choice for Charles to disregard the requirement to remain impersonal seems to be one that Schur himself often makes in his writing. While the common advice is to allow bad things to happen to your characters, to put them through hell, Schur seems determined to maintain a softer touch. Even when he literally lands on people TGP in “the bad place”, they find support and a found family there to rise above their circumstances. He keeps the evil to a minimum, and instead focuses on the goodness of his characters – even when they are idiots. e.g. Parks And RecAndy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) went from bad boyfriend to desperate pit-dweller to town hall shoe shiner to one half of one of the most famous couples in the Pawnee-verse when he proposed to April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) and picked her up. stupid side in the process.

But beyond celebrating its characters’ utility and redeeming qualities, AMOTI highlights the value of experiences in life. And it’s a safe bet that residents who deny themselves the joy of a big, luxurious purchase are going to be breaking out those debit cards to make their dreams come true. But this is no “live, laugh, love,” “feel the rain on your skin,” escapist bullshit: This show reminds its audience that memory is fallible and life itself is fleeting. Which is kind of the perfect vibe for a sitcom that takes place in a retirement center.

It is also worth emphasizing the scope of the performance. San Francisco is a beautiful place, one with a scenic waterfront just a short drive from the Redwoods. Few cities would make a better visual argument for getting out there and exploring while you still can, and the series makes good use of SF, even if some references to Bay Area mainstays, like the San Jose Sharks, can feel a bit clunky and forced at times. (One thing is the show do overlook whether San Francisco is its countercultural hub status, especially in terms of uplifting the queer community. While Eleanor Shellstrop was vocally bisexual throughout Schur’s TGP, AMOTI takes place in the American city with largest percentage of the population identifies as LGBTQ+ yet none of its characters reflect this reality. Some seem coded as such, but the omission stands out. Hopefully this is something that is fixed in later seasons.)

Aside from this oversight, the representations of people from different walks of life feel warmly accurate, if a bit stereotypical. There’s the cigar-smoking curmudgeon with his sarcastic “thanks, Obama” observations and the lecherous old ladies full of spirit (played by Sally Struthers and a glowing Margaret Avery). Most delightfully, there are the teenage sons who argue with their parents with lines like, “Brother, why are you so obsessed with this snake?” Somehow, however, these portrayals of teenagers as somewhat aloof and task-oriented are not so damning. And the dynamic depicted goes for something deeper than a “kids now-day” punchline.

The show also has some neat stylistic choices, including mid-century title cards and split-screen sequences when Charles is in spy mode. If these were deployed frequently, they would be a bit much, but used judiciously, they serve as a sweet nod to the overall genre. The housing facility itself is adorned with wallpaper and crown molding authentic to such spaces, and costume details (such as Charles’s pocket squares and the flowy sweaters of facility director Didi, played by a great Stephanie Beatriz) add depth to these characters and make them feel lived-in .

As the culture generally remains divided and more than a little mean, the appetite for heartwarmers may suffer AMOTI will not be interrupted right now. And sitcoms for the septuagenarian set can provide a rich landscape of emotions and side stories to explore. A man on the inside works because it balances its resonant, evergreen themes related to companionship and aging with measured doses of humor and, indeed, plenty of charm.

A man on the inside premieres November 21 on Netflix