A Man on the Inside mystery explained: Who was the thief at Pacific View?

Don't blow his cover, but Ted Danson's going undercover in a retirement home in his new Netflix original series A Man on the Inside. Inspired by the documentary The Mole Agent, the series comes from Parks and Recreation and The Good Place creator Michael Schur, which gives the comedy both its wit and its sneaky pathos.

In A Man on the Inside, Danson plays Charles Nieuwendyk, a recent widower who's pushed by his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) to try something new. Under this advice, Charles answers a newspaper advertisement from private investigator Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) to go undercover in a retirement home to get to the bottom of a stolen necklace mystery.

Even though he's a former engineering professor with zero spy skills under his belt, Charles is very excited to be taking on his exciting new role to find out who's the caper in the retirement home. After an exhaustive investigation that takes many twists and turns, Charles and Julie eventually discover the truth about the thefts, and it's an emotional reveal.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead from the season finale!

Gladys was the thief in A Man on the Inside

When Charles begins to get closer to Gladys (Susan Ruttan), a Pacific View resident battling Alzheimer's, he comes to a realization about the stolen necklace and other items that have been going missing around the retirement home, including a watch and at least 40 salt shakers. Gladys had been mistakenly taking the items believing they belong to her.

Upon Charles' discovery that Gladys was innocently responsible for the thefts, he's able to help her move to the memory care facility to receive the care she requires. The close encounter with Gladys' Alzheimer's disease allows Charles to confront his wife's death the year prior and how that impacted both himself and his relationship with Emily.

Prior to Charles realizing that Gladys had been taking the items from around the retirement home, he and Julie had been looking at a number of suspects who could have been the culprit. The most intriguing red herring they investigated was Didi (Stephanie Beatriz), the manager of the retirement home running the whole ecosystem. She was keyed into everything going on.

Julie believed that because Didi was becoming suspicious of Charles that she was the one who had been snagging the big ticket items and didn't want to be caught. But that wasn't the truth. Didi wasn't worried about them closing in on her because she wasn't the thief. She was just really good at her job and cared about her residents. Julie quickly rules her out as a suspect.

In the end, many people are hurt by Charles lying to them while being undercover. Didi isn't receptive to what he was up to and the position in put her in, and Charles' friend Calbert (Stephen McKinley Henderson) feels betrayed. But Charles is able to make amends, including with Emily, before receiving a call from Emily to take on a whole new undercover investigation!

Watch A Man on the Inside only on Netflix.