The newest Netflix crime comedy takes us deep into the tension-fraught underbelly of... a San Francisco retirement home. A Man on the Inside introduced us to our investigator in episode 1, and now it's time for him to investigate.
A Man on the Inside is about a retiree who lacks meaning in life... until he's hired by a private investigator to go undercover in a retirement home to find a missing necklace.
While it's mainly a character-based comedy series, A Man on the Inside ostensibly has a crime that needs to be solved, with a few clues (or red herrings) dropped here and there.
That's why this A Man on the Inside episode 2 recap will walk you through what happened in the second episode of the series. Spoilers ensue!
The start of the investigation
The episode starts where the first left off: Charles (Ted Danson) is ready to investigate. He records his first memo for Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) and is then called by his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) who wishes him luck with his 'class' which she thinks is what he's at the home for.
Charles meets Julie in the retirement home foyer and she brings him things he forgot. She also tells him what he needs to do that day: meet the people of the home and make a list of suspects.
Charles introduces himself to people including grouchy pensioner Jan, staff member Jayden (Miles Fowler) and some more people, but at breakfast he has no-one to sit with so skips the meal.
Two women, Virginia (Sally Struthers) and Florence (Margaret Avery) come to his room to welcome him, and they take him to lunch. They refer to themselves as the welcome wagon and give him some tips for around the home, and bring him in on the rapport they have with some of the staff members.
At the same time Emily and her husband Joel (Eugene Cordero) discover that all three of their children broke bones on the trapoline.
Making friends (and enemies)
Charles meets more women from around the home at happy hour, all of whom are flirting with him or bringing him presents. Jayden has had to step in as bartender for happy hour but he doesn't know what he's doing so Charles steps in, and soon a big party is happening. Charles also meets Elliott (John Getz) who's basically the only other male resident there.
The party continues into the evening and eventually they're smoking weed and staring at the Golden Gate Bridge at night. We also see that Elliott is interested in Virginia but she rebuffs him.
The next morning, Julie visits Charles but he's hungover. She's not impressed but wants him to make contact with Helen (the victim of the robbery) that day. Charles meets with Helen and endures a long session looking at her holiday photos, before discovering that it's the wrong Helen. He meets the right one and she's guarded, not giving away information, and eventually she pulls an alarm cord.
Charles is taken to Didi (Stephanie Beatriz)'s office, who mentions the robbery but thinks Helen simply lost the necklace. She advises Charles to stay away from Helen as she has a bad attitude. Later Charles sends a voice note to Julie suggesting that Jan could be a suspect, before realizing that he was standing next to a memorial table for the recently-deceased Jan.
The first real clue
When Charles returns to his room, he sees a note telling him to "back off". When he takes this to Julie, she thinks that his cover has been blown. That evening he records a voice note to Julie reflecting on how he's a terrible detective, but he decides to delete it before sending it.
That evening, Charles goes on a date with Virginia, but tells her at the start that he's not over his wife who died a year prior. She's okay if they remain friends, and also mentions that she has bursitis.
When Emily calls Charles to ask about his day, she mentions that her kids broke their bones, and he has to reassure her that she's not a terrible parent. Then he sniffs the note he was left, and finds a clue: it smells like cigar smoke. This leads him to Elliott's room, because the man liked cigars.
We learn that Elliott left the note because he's into Virginia and wanted to warn Charles off. Then Jayden shows up, and walks right into Elliott's room, to let him know that the van is ready if they want to run errands.
Elliott reveals that the staff sometimes just walk in if they're familiar with the resident. Charles finds this suspicious and lets Julie know about it, and thinks that this could have been a cover for the necklace to have been stolen.
That night, Elliott's antique watch is stolen.
