A Man on the Inside Season 2 proves that comedy doesn’t have to be mindless, nor does it give creators an excuse to not have an impactful narrative. Season 2 is engaging from start to finish, and I personally loved the way different character arcs were dealt with. For me, it wasn’t the mystery that made it compelling, but rather the warmth radiated by the characters and the way the story handled its emotional arc. So let’s find out what happened in season 2 and if Charles Nieuwendyk was able to solve the mystery at hand.
Spoiler Alert
What was Charles and Julie’s next case?
Charles was craving to be a part of a meaty case, and he kept telling Julie that he was not happy spying on cheating spouses. Julie told him that if he thought that he would get a case like the Pacific View one every day, he was delusional. That’s when Jack Beringer, president of Wheeler College, walked into Julie’s chambers with the provost (VP), Holly Bodgemark. They told Julie and Charles that somebody had stolen Jack’s laptop and was threatening to reveal his secrets if he made a deal with the famous billionaire, Brad Vinick. Apparently, Vinick had entered into a deal with Beringer where the former had pledged to donate a sum of $400 million to keep the university afloat. But there was somebody out there who was opposed to the idea, and so Charles decided to go undercover and find out who it was. The faculty of the college was informed that there was going to be a visiting faculty for the engineering department, and Charles was supposed to play the part. Charles believed that the blackmailer was one of the faculty members, as they were the only ones who had access to Beringer’s cabin. Charles met the professors, and he was rather fascinated by the kind of passion and dedication they had. It felt that the entire college worked towards making the institution a better place. They all treated it like their own home and had a very strong attachment towards their alma mater. Charles became smitten with Mona Margadoff, the professor of music theory. Mona was not somebody who held herself back, and so things escalated rather quickly between the both of them. But there were a few like Dr. Benjamin Cole who absolutely despised Charles and missed no opportunity to mock him. Dr. Cole was a fascinating man, and he seemed like an extreme version of John Keating from Dead Poets Society. Cole became rather unsavory in his demeanor whenever he saw somebody belittling the liberal arts and advocating for pursuits like finance and technology. He had spent a lifetime surrounded by books, and he just couldn’t appreciate a person who wasn’t moved by good literature. Charles tried to have a brief conversation with every professor and find out if they could have been the blackmailer. Things took a rather grave turn when, during a felicitation ceremony where a portrait of Vinick was to be unveiled and he was to be awarded by the college, the blackmailer carried out their second hit. Vinick’s portrait was set on fire and dumped in a trashcan. Moreover, the blackmailer had the audacity to leave a note and warn the college authorities to not make a deal with Brad Vinick.
What happened at Charles’ Thanksgiving dinner?
Mona was an impulsive woman who did what her heart told her to. She felt that a person who thought a lot before acting ended up missing out on life. Her personality was quite in contrast with that of Charles’, something that he understood later. It so happened that Julie, her mother, Vanessa, Calbert (Charles’ friend from Pacific View), Didi (managing director of Pacific View), Emily, her family (Charles’s daughter), Mona, and everybody ended up coming to Charles’ house for Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving dinner was something that Charles looked forward to the entire year. He liked doing things a particular way, and he didn’t like it when his home became extremely chaotic. There were a few traditions, like telling each other about their favorite Thanksgiving memory, that he liked indulging in, but this time around there was just no time. Almost everybody had a meltdown during the dinner, and though it gave them a new perspective, it somewhat ruined Charles’ dinner.
Julie hadn’t talked to her mother, Vanessa, in years, because she blamed her for her traumatizing childhood. Vanessa got involved in all sorts of illegal activities, and she was put behind bars when Julie was quite young. Julie couldn’t control her emotions, and she ended up lashing out at her mother in front of everybody. Emily got reminded of her mother, who had passed away a couple of years back, and she broke down. Charles, when everybody left, told Mona that he wanted her to be a part of his family traditions, but instead she designed her own evening and dragged him into it. But at the end of the day, they all sat down and had pie together. The best thing was that Mona heard Charles out, and she didn’t react even when she must have felt the urge to defend herself. Charles possibly understood that he couldn’t control how everybody acted or what they did, and sometimes one just needed to flow through chaos.
What was Project Aurora?
After doing their background research on the faculty members, Charles and Julie came to the conclusion that they couldn’t have been behind whatever was happening. So they shifted their focus to other possible suspects. Julie went and talked to the 29-year-old wife of Brad Vinick, Kalsiegh, who was another amusing character. Through her, Julie got to know that Vinick, at that particular moment, was meeting somebody on the college premises. It was discovered that Andrea Yi, the professor of economics, was the one who was meeting him. At first, Charles and Julie thought that she was the blackmailer, but that was not so. Through the information the investigator duo got from Kalseigh and Andrea, they realized that Vinick was working on a secret plan that he’d codenamed Project Aurora. Julie and Charles realized that they didn’t have any option but to steal Vinick’s phone and find out what this secret project was. An elaborate plan was made, and Charles was rather excited to be on such a high-stakes undercover mission. In his mind, he was the shrewd mastermind who was going to win the day for his team. He gave fancy codenames to all his teammates that they all forgot when they reached the scene.
Though Charles and his so-called team that consisted of Elliot, Virginia, Calbert (all three from the retirement home), and Megan (Julie’s assistant) were unable to steal Vinick’s mobile, Julie’s mother, Vanessa, saved the day for them. Vanessa was an expert pickpocket back in the day, and so she used her skills to get what Julie wanted. Julie successfully hacked Vinick’s mobile and downloaded all the data on it. Before Vinick got to know it had even gone missing in the first place, Charles slid his phone back into his pocket.
Charles, Julie, and their entire team got to know that Project Aurora was a plan to remodel Wheeler College. Vinick referred to it as the new dawn, as he wanted to shut down the liberal arts courses and focus on subjects like biotech, computer science, and economics, through which, as he stated, students could get real jobs and actually make a difference. Vinick was the kind of man who didn’t think that students could make much of a difference by learning about the theory of music, about the history of theater, or about writers like James Joyce. He felt that it was a waste of time and energy. So he wanted to take the soul of Wheeler College and convert it into a place that churned out lab rats. Wheeler was going to be Vinick’s guinea pig, and based on the results he got there, he had plans of remodeling every other university.
Was Charles able to find the blackmailer?
Charles found out that the president of the college, Jack Beringer, was trying to switch jobs and accept an offer from the Rhycliff University in Texas. He wanted to show them that he could bring in funds for the institutions, which was why the deal with Vinick was so important for him, as it was supposed to be proof of his credibility. Charles believed that Beringer blackmailed himself just to portray himself as a victim, as he knew that after the truth about Vinick’s plan came out, the other universities would turn against him. But Charles’ speculations were wrong, as Beringer wasn’t portraying himself as the victim, though he would have liked that to happen. Dr. Benjamin Cole made a dramatic entry and told everybody that he was the one who had blackmailed Beringer because he didn’t want the college to be remodeled and Vinick’s plan to be successful. In that moment, I personally felt that something didn’t add up. Dr. Cole had mentioned earlier that he could teach at Wheeler’s, calling it his second home, because Holly was the one who recruited him around 40 years ago. Holly Bodgemark kept quiet, and she didn’t utter a word. But it didn’t take long for Charles to connect the dots and figure out that it was Holly, not Dr. Cole who had blackmailed Beringer. But that was also not the whole truth, because there was no one person behind the plan. Yes, it was Holly who overheard the conversation that Vinick had with Beringer, where he told him about his plans, but she didn’t act alone. A few members of the faculty came on board and helped her save their college. But that fact remained a secret because the college needed Holly to be at the helm and make sure nobody conducted such a coup in the future.
Dr. Cole confessed to the crime and left his job while Beringer went to Texas. As for Vinick, he was told that his plans had been exposed and that the college would no longer take his donation and give him the opportunity to destroy the legacy of the college. Vinick felt that the members of the college administration were making a foolish choice since they had no clue what they were missing out on.
How did Dr. Benjamin Cole end up at Pacific View?
Mona was the kind of woman Charles had always aspired to be with. She was gorgeous, super fun to hang out with, impulsive, wild, everything a man could ask for. She asked Charles to come with her to Croatia since she had a project there for a year. It seemed like an exciting opportunity, and Charles initially said yes to it. But when he thought about it, his heart didn’t allow him to leave. He had rebuilt his life after his wife’s death with a lot of effort, and he didn’t want to leave everything and go away. He loved Mona more than anything else, but he realized that he was nothing like her. He admired her free-spiritedness, but he was the kind of man who liked being around familiar faces. He confronted Mona and told her the truth. She was hurt, but she liked the fact that he was honest with her, as she didn’t want him to do anything that he wasn’t comfortable with.
Once Charles got to know about Cole, he went to meet the man. Cole had always had a condescending view of Charles. But I believe his perception changed to a certain extent during the James Joyce symposium (which was basically a drinks night hosted by Dr. Cole). Charles went to meet Dr. Cole and asked him to deliver a letter to a specific address. What Cole didn’t know was that Charles was sending him over to Pacific View, and in that letter he had asked Dido to take good care of him. Charles was of the opinion that Dr. Cole needed company, as he didn’t have anybody in his life, and he was too proud to accept that fact. At the end of A Man on the Inside, Charles got his permanent license that officially made him a private investigator. The man was ecstatic, and I cannot wait for him to take up a new case and solve yet another mystery in season 3.
