‘A Man On The Inside’ Ending Explained: Who Stole The Necklace?

Mischief may have been suspected throughout Netflix’s A Man on the Inside, but at the end of the day, the real culprit behind the disappearance of the necklace was… not so fast.

The new comedy from The Good Place creator Mike Schur took viewers on a rollercoaster for seven episodes before finally revealing the identity of the necklace thief whose actions brought Charles (Ted Danson) to Pacific View Retirement Community in the first place. From episode to episode, the audience was fed clues and red herrings, culminating in the twist at the beginning of Episode 8, “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.” And while some fans may have been disappointed in the responsible party reveal, it was actually a perfect ending to a show that refused to shy away from hard-to-discuss topics.

Earlier in the season, while chatting on the phone with his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), Charles explained that the simplest explanation is often the right one. Sure, that comment came up as they were chatting about Emily’s three sons being dumb teenagers, but it was also a stellar example of foreshadowing. You see, when paired with another off-the-cuff remark from a different character, Season 1’s ending is teased from the jump.

In Episode 2, “The Man Who Knew Too Much About Bridges,” the retirement community administrator, Didi (Stephanie Beatriz), explained that Helen Cubbler (Danielle Kennedy) — the resident whose missing necklace Charles was tasked with investigating — would probably find her priceless family heirloom somewhere within the facility.

“I’ve been doing this a long time. Normally, when something is stolen, it almost always turns up between couch cushions,” Didi tells Charles, attempting to put him at ease. For veteran mystery watchers, that line felt like exactly what a guilty person would say to throw someone off the case. The truth is that it’s neither here nor there, but, like most things, is in the gray area.

Charles did not discover Helen’s necklace in a couch cushion but it was found within the walls of the retirement community, just as Didi suspected.

SO WHO STOLE THE NECKLACE? A MAN ON THE INSIDE ENDING EXPLAINED

So, then, who was it that stole the necklace?! Turns out, it was Gladys (Susan Ruttan), the kindly resident who lived across the hall from Charles.

While Charles and Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) initially were presuming the worst of the thief, as it turns out there was no ill intent or greed whatsoever in Gladys’ actions. The gentle and softspoken resident — who began exhibiting dementia symptoms halfway through Season 1 — had grabbed both Helen’s necklace and Elliot’s (John Getz) watch, mistaking them as her own belongings.

Charles was first tipped off to the situation when Gladys showed him her drawings of the Pacific View residents, each wearing costumes from her designing days years before. Realizing that she may have been blurring the lines between the past and present, Charles saw in Gladys something he previously witnessed with his wife Victoria, who died from Alzheimer’s. Armed with first-hand experience, he explained to Didi and Julie that on her worst days, Victoria too would take things that didn’t belong to her out of confusion.

As to why it took so long for everyone to get to the bottom of the case, the reasoning is just as sad as the malefactor. During his time in the facility, Charles witnessed Pacific View residents retract from socializing with Gladys as her symptoms began to worsen. The show even makes a comment about how people — family, friends, and retirement community members alike — withdraw from someone in their life with dementia because they don’t know how to interact. It’s precisely how and why Gladys flew under the radar of the investigation.

“No one thought to suspect her because everyone was pulling away,” Charles tells Didi and Julie while explaining the true details of the case.

Gladys was also responsible for taking Elliot’s vintage Cartier watch, but she returned it to Charles’ room after hearing about the skirmish between the two men. She actually confused that watch for the Rolex one Julie brought to Charles as bait, which is why she put it in Charles’ apartment rather than Elliot’s. Additionally, Gladys’ sticky fingers were behind the roughly three dozen missing salt shakers from back in Episode 6, “Our Man in Sacramento.”

The identification of Gladys as the thief may not have been the glamorous moment some fans were hoping for, but it felt apt for the show about the elderly and aging. Not only did it force Charles to face his buried demons about Victoria’s decline — including that he was planning to have her enter a memory care facility prior to her death — it also proved what Didi told Charles all the way back in Episode 1: “For the majority of seniors, the biggest threat to their well-being isn’t an accident or health, it’s loneliness.”

The entire first season of A Man on the Inside is now streaming on Netflix.