Issue 329 - A Man on the Inside

January 2025

Recently we streamed the Netflix comedy, A Man on the Inside. Expecting little more than some light-hearted humor, we instead found it to be, as Forbes critic Erik Kain puts it, an “emotionally poignant” story, “a genuinely heartfelt exploration of friendship, romance and parenting” in one's senior years.


Our reflections follow.

Finding What is Missing

Charles, played by Ted Danson, is a retired professor whose life, after the death of his wife, seems to have lost all zest. Everything changes when he is recruited to be a spy.


No, this is not international intrigue. A woman living in a senior housing community has had an expensive necklace stolen. Her son hires a private detective to investigate the theft. She, in turn, recruits Charles to go undercover as a new resident in the senior living community, to identify possible suspects, and, if possible, solve the crime.


There is a great deal of humor, including Charles’ clumsy efforts to look like a dashing spy and many hilarious send-ups of stereotypical characters in senior living: the self-important president of the residents’ council, the grouchy old man, the lovelorn older women far too eager to make the acquaintance of a single man moving in down the hall.


After the first few episodes, however, the story deepens. Charles, terribly lonely since his wife’s death, begins to make new friends. He observes his neighbors supporting one another through their frailties. Grieving the death of a new friend in the community helps Charles to further process his grief over his own wife’s death and to talk more openly with his daughter about his late wife’s final, dementia-haunted days.


Eventually, the mystery is solved and the missing necklace recovered. By then, however, both Charles and the viewers can see that possessions such as the necklace were never that important. Ultimately, A Man on the Inside is a celebration of community, of friendship and family, of the many ways, great and small, that we all can encourage and support one another.

-- Bill

Inside and Outside

“Where do you want to be in 50 years?”


That question would likely be asked by a job interviewer, a financial advisor, or maybe even a spiritual director. Where do you want to be –professionally, financially, physically, spiritually…?


Charles Nieuwendyk, in Man on the Inside, didn’t expect to find himself in dark doldrums of grief. This retired university engineering professor, mired in sorrow over his deceased wife, finally was nudged by his daughter, Emily, to ‘get a life’. Charles answered an ad from a private investigator, which got Charles a life he would never expect. His assignment was to spy. At Pacific View retirement home, he was to recover a stolen ruby and diamond necklace.


This Netflix series gives the viewer a look into maturity and its complexities. We see inside the characters:

Our own loneliness, isolation, “things too close to home”. Meaningful relationships, teenagers, lighthearted bantering. Awful feelings about dementia, agitations, jealousy.


On the outside, the characters and their interactions bring the viewer through gut-grabbing laughter, to mystery and intrigue, to enchantment, and to deep feel-good moments.


Movie critic Mary Cox admitted she became obsessed, and binge watched the entire series. She wrote: "Man on the Inside is a comedy, crime show with spats of emotional tension thrown in that will bring tears to your eyes.”

by Jan

Trailer for

A Man on the Inside

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Sincerely,
Bill Howden and Jan Davis
Soul Windows Ministries
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