Notice! This post contains SPOILERS for The Man Inside
Ted Danson’s New Netflix Show A man inside is based on The mole agenta real-life story of an 83-year-old man named Sergio Chamy who went undercover in a nursing home to investigate alleged crimes. A man inside cast and characters add to the show’s charm, as do the numerous connections to Michael in The good placeWidely considered one of Ted Danson’s best roles. However, the true story also plays an important role in popularity A man inside already proven to be.
Many of the themes in A man inside– aging, family, acceptance and loneliness – are also directly due to the true story in The mole agent. Despite A man inside being based on The mole agentHowever, the Netflix show takes a number of (respectful) liberties. Here is the true story of The mole agent and how A man inside compare.
A Man Inside is based on the 2020 documentary The Mole Agent
The Mole Agent is a shocking true story
The mole agent is a 2020 documentary starring 83-year-old Sergio Chamy, a Chilean man hired by a private investigator to go undercover at a local nursing home. Like Charles in A man inside, Sergio achieves this by pretending to be a resident of the communitymoving and approaching other residents to obtain information. The cause of this investigation is quite different between the two stories, however.
Sergio was hired because there were allegations that the nursing home was mistreating its residents.
In A man insideOne of the residents claims there is a jewelry thief on the loose in the retirement community who has stolen a family heirloom – a priceless ruby necklace. His son hires Julie, a private investigator, who decides that the only way to catch the would-be thief is to have someone in their 70s or 80s pose as a resident. In real life, Sergio was hired because there were allegations that the nursing home mistreated its residents. Therefore, Although the basic premise of investigation and undercover work remained the same, the risks were quite different.
Who Sergio met at the nursing home in Agent Mole and how they compare to the characters in A Man Inside
Sergio, like Charles, met people full of life and personality
In A man insideCharles encounters several charming characters at the retirement community. In addition to the very likable nature of Danson’s character, which is in many ways the perfect payoff for Michael in The good placeCharles meets Calbert, Florence, Gladys and Virginia, whom he eventually befriends. Calbert is easily the resident with whom Charles becomes closest, and they end up remaining true confidants, even continuing to meet after Charles’ ruse was revealed.
Although their relationship is a bit more complicated, Gladys is also among the characters who become closer to Charles during his stay at the retirement community. Unfortunately, this is because Gladys is starting to lose her memory, just like Charles’ late wife did. Because of this personal connection, Charles makes several attempts to help Gladys. Although part of this story in A man inside is fabricated, Gladys is based on a real person, Marta, and on A man insideit becomes an integral part of the investigation.
Gladys is based on a real person, Marta, and on A man insideit becomes an integral part of the investigation.
Charles also befriends Florence, who dies a painful death in the show. Before her death, Florence encouraged Charles to explore the arts, helping him embrace and act out a famous scene from Shakespeare’s play. How do you like at his memorial service. Florence’s best friend, Virginia, is a little more eccentric than the other characters, which makes everything even funnier. Virginia is one of the characters A man inside who most clearly has a real-life counterpartin addition to Gladys/Marta.
A man inside Virginia is based on a real person, Berta, who appeared in The mole agent. In the program, Virginia falls in love with Charles, just as Berta falls in love with Sergio in the documentary. One of the distinctions between Virginia and Berta is their relationship history. While Berta had never been married before and wanted to marry Sergio, Virginia had an on-and-off relationship with another resident, Elliott. Despite this relationship, Virginia (jokingly) grew stronger when she met Charles, and remained flirtatious on the show, although she ended up with Elliott once again.
What Sergio discovered about Sonia in the Chilean nursing home in Mole Agent
Similar to a man on the inside, Sergio discovers that no crime is being committed
As mentioned, the objective of Sergio’s spy mission in real life was quite different from that of Charles in real life. A man inside. For Sergio, this undercover role was intended to reveal any mistreatment of nursing home residents. Specifically, Sergio was investigating allegations that a resident, Sonia, was being mistreated, which his daughter believed to be the case.
At the end, Sergio discovered that no one, including Sônia, was being mistreated. The only problem Sergio identified was a single instance of the nurses forgetting to give Sônia her medication, which appeared to be completely accidental. However, Sergio discovered that Marta stole items from Sônia and other residents because of her memory loss. This seems to have served as inspiration for A man insidefor that is exactly what Charles discovers.
Gladys, like Marta, unwittingly stole from the other residents, which is why the ruby necklace in question disappeared. This also explained the disappearance of several strange objects, including dozens of salt shakers. In both A man inside and The mole agentThere was, therefore, no true crime being committed.
What happened to Sergio from Agent Mole, the inspiration for Ted Danson’s Charles
This is a big change in a man inside – probably for one main reason
One of the biggest differences between The mole agent and A man inside It’s the way stories end. In A man insideCharles receives and accepts a new spy mission (although details of the mission are not revealed), which hints at a possible second season. For Sergio, his spying days were behind him after he solved the case.
However, in a surprising turn of events, Sergio became famous in Chile and became an actor. Most recently, Sergio appeared in Perra Vida (2024). Although their endings may be different, A man inside remains faithful to The mole agent in many ways and respects the incredible real-life story of Sergio Chamy.