It’s time to crack another case with Charles Nieuwendyk in A Man on the Inside season 2. Ted Danson returns in his Golden Globe-nominated role for the next round of hilarious mystery with his bumbling but lovable character.
This time around, Charles trades in the retirement home for a liberal arts college, where he steps back into his former identity as a professor. He and Julie are tapped by the college’s provost Jack Berenger to find out who stole his laptop and has been blackmailing him.
Throughout A Man on the Inside season 2, the case takes a number of unexpected turns until the big reveal in the season finale. But don’t think the answer that’s first provided is the final answer. There’s a huge twist! Let’s breakdown the whodunit and other developments from the season 2 finale.
A bait and switch blackmailer reveal
In the A Man on the Inside season 2 finale, Charles and Julie believe they have figured out who was behind the blackmailing at Wheeler College all along: Jack Berenger (Max Greenfield) himself! But not so fast… it wasn’t really him. Here’s how they found out.
They piece together clues that point to Berenger orchestrating the theft and blackmail in order to cover up his involvement with Brad Vinick and Project Aurora to save face with faculty and protect his new job offer at Rycliffe University in Texas. He cops to the Texas job, at least.
However, while explaining their conclusion that Berenger planned to victimize himself, Ben Cole (David Stathairn) bursts in and confesses to the stolen laptop, the blackmail, the painting being burned, everything. After making his confession, Dr. Cole resigns from Wheeler College.
Even though the case could have been closed there, Charles realizes that Holly Bodgemark (Jill Talley) was actually the mastermind behind taking down Project Aurora. Cole was simply covering for her and the other staff members she looped in to enact the plan against Vinick.
Holly purposely didn’t include Cole in the plan, but he still managed to figure out what was going on anyway, which gave him the opportunity to put an end to the investigation and fall on the sword for his fellow Wheeler College faculty members.
What else happened in the A Man on the Inside season 2 finale:
- Charles sends Cole to deliver a note to Didi at Pacific View. The note asks Didi to take care of him in his retirement, and she tasks him with reconfiguring their library.
- After Mona brought up heading to Croatia for an extended period of time, Charles made the decision to break up with her because they want different things.
- Emily follows Mona’s advice and changes career paths by getting a part-time job at Wheeler College, where she’s also studying to become a therapist.
- Charles secures his official private investigator license.
- Didi reveals to Julie that bringing her back to Pacific View to work together was because she felt they had a connection. They make a plan to go on a date.
Watch A Man on the Inside only on Netflix.
