A Man On The Inside returns looking a bit more like Only Murders In The Building

Season two of the Netflix show finds Ted Danson's private eye going undercover on campus.

By Brian Tallerico | November 20, 2025 | 7:00am

Photo: Netflix

TV Reviews A Man On The Inside

A Man On The Inside returns looking a bit more like Only Murders In The Building

The second season of Netflix’s delightful A Man On The Inside isn’t quite as consistent or ultimately moving as the first, but it’s still a cozy diversion, an eight-episode run filled with characters who are easy to like and a lot of familiar faces. And, of course, given that it’s from The Good Place and How To Be Perfect: The Correct Answer To Every Moral Question‘s Michael Schur, the show has a few things to say about the state of things and how, wherever we go from here, we can’t go there alone.

Ted Danson returns as Charles Nieuwendyk, a retired professor who has an unexpected new passion for private investigation. As the season opens, Charles is a little tired of the same old gigs, especially given how many of them revolve around catching jerks cheating on their partners. The case that got him into the craft at Pacific View Retirement is done, although the writers do somewhat inelegantly push Stephanie Beatriz’s character back into the storytelling in a manner that feels forced, at least early in the season. But Julie Kovalenko (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) is a much more fully realized character this season. She has her own narrative and emotional arcs courtesy of a subplot involving a former con artist played nicely by Constance Marie, a narrative thread which allows for a few great scenes with the always-wonderful Jason Mantzoukas.

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Charles gets the case he wants when Julie comes to him with a new client. Jack Beringer (Max Greenfield) is the controversial president of the prestigious Wheeler College (where Charles’s daughter Emily, played by a returning Mary Elizabeth Ellis, went to school). Jack and a dedicated provost named Holly (Jill Talley) come to Julie and Charles with an enticing case. Just before a big donation from a world-renowned Wheeler alumnus owas about to come in, Jack’s laptop was stolen—and now someone is blackmailing the pair to try and stop the deal. If they can’t find the device, the multi-millionaire asshole Brad Vinick (Gary Cole, in empathy-free sleazebag mode) might take his virtual briefcase of cash and his influencer girlfriend (played by Lisa Gilroy) and walk away. The assignment is simple: Charles will go undercover as a new professor and figure out who stole the laptop to try and destroy the deal.

A Schur show about money invading education is naturally going address the state of higher learning in the 2020s, and it does so via a student working multiple jobs to pay tuition and one of the most tenured/grumpy professors on campus (played by an excellent David Strathairn). Finally on the guest-star ledger is Mary Steenburgen, tackling a quirky music professor who becomes romantically involved with Charles. Watching real-life partners Danson and Steenburgen flirt and work off each other comedically is a lovely. Their scenes have an unforced whimsy to them, adding a comedic fizz to the entire season.

But some of what circles around the Danson/Steenburgen sun can feel a bit inconsistent. Schur and his team drop characters in and out to make thematic points instead of pushing the storytelling forward, as seen in the return of Beatriz’s Didi, some underdeveloped beats with Emily, and other professors (portrayed by the likes of Sam Huntington and Linda Park) who feel thinly sketched. It’s not just the comedy-favorite or guest-star ratio that makes season two of A Man On The Inside feel more like Only Murders In The Building than the first, it’s the sense that the writing has gotten a bit overcrowded for an eight-episode batch. In an era when streaming programs often sag due to not having enough ideas to support their episode order, it can be a bit churlish to criticize one for having too many interesting characters. But there is a fine line between a wealth of ideas and a season that’s just unfocused.

That said, there is something commendable about a modern comedy that features so many smiling people and one written by folks who clearly love everyone onscreen, even the flawed characters. (This season occasionally almost feels like an ode to Steenburgen’s bright presence.) At its core, this is a show about people trying to be better in a world that often makes that difficult—the root of most Schur projects—including the irascible professor and the cynical private investigator. If the first season was more focused on the story of a grieving man learning how to process loss and what was on his “inside,” the second is less ambitious but still remarkably sweet and, ultimately, optimistic about human potential and connection. Maybe this really is the good place.

A Man On The Inside season two premieres November 20 on Netflix