Monk
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| Monk Photo of series box cover taken by Kate Dorsey |
One
of my favorite series to rewatch is Monk. I just watched the entire
series, all eight seasons, again. Not in one sitting, of course. Eight seasons
with about sixteen episodes per season, that would be a lot of sitting. No, it
took me weeks to watch the entire series, and most of the time I was doing
something else at the same time. Still, spending weeks watching a show I enjoy
as much as I do Monk, it was far better than watching what I was finding
on TV.
Former
detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) wants almost nothing more than to be put
back on the police force. The only thing he does want more is to find out who
killed his wife.
The
death of his wife, Trudy (Stellina Rusich, Melora Hardin), is the reason Monk
is no longer on the force. Trudy was killed with a car bomb. Afterwards, Monk
had a breakdown and was released for mental health issues. Monk has always had
phobias and peculiarities. After Trudy’s death, they became more extreme.
With
Monk unable to even get out of bed at first, a nurse was brought in to help
him. Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram) helped get Monk to the point where he is
able to get up and out of his apartment to work on private cases. A few years
after Trudy’s death, Monk is able to consider himself a consultant and private
detective. Sharona is there to help him every step of the way. And to hand him
a lot of handwipes.
Most
of the cases Monk consults for are with the San Francisco Police Department. Captain
Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Lieutenant Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford)
are the two detectives he works with most frequently. At first Leland (he is
most often referred to as Captain) and Randy are not happy to have Monk as part
of the cases. Leland even worked with Monk before Trudy’s death and he is not
happy to have Monk around. The antagonism is apparent in the beginning of the
series. An antagonism that fades to practically nothing as the series goes on. In
fact, the three men become good friends.
I
only mention the three men because Sharona leaves the series partway through
the third season. She moves back to New Jersey with her son Benjy (Kane
Ritchotte, Max Morrow) to give her ex-husband another chance. With her
departure, in comes Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard). Monk meets Natalie when
she kills an intruder in her home. She goes to Monk to figure out why someone
is after her. Once the case is solved, Natalie agrees to become Monk’s
assistant.
The
addition of Natalie is when the relationships between all the main characters
begin to get closer. While she does lose patience with Monk, especially when he
doesn’t pay her, Natalie is incredibly kind and patient. She puts up with his
demanding quirks, but will let him know when he goes too far and is completely
inconsiderate of someone else and their feelings. Natalie’s daughter, Julie
(Emmy Clarke), takes after her mother. She is also very kind to Monk, and works
with her mother to make Monk’s life better.
Also
trying to help is Monk’s psychiatrist Dr. Charles Kroger (Stanley Kamel). Monk
speaks to him multiple times a week, which is why Monk is devastated when Dr.
Kroger dies. He must now find a new psychiatrist. The new psychiatrist is a man
named Dr. Neven Bell (Héctor Elizondo).
With
both psychiatrists, Monk runs into conflict with another patient. Harold
Krenshaw (Tim Bagley) and Monk both have compulsions, except their thoughts on what they need to do are in
different directions. For example, when arranging six magazines on three
shelves, Monk believes there should be two magazines per shelf. Harold
believes the top shelf should have one magazine, the second of two, and the
bottom three. Never do they agree on how anything should be arranged, but both
feel the need to do the act. This causes them to butt heads all the time, along
with the contest of who the doctor likes better. This feud can be tough to
watch as it gets to the point of ridiculousness. The Harold episodes are
definitely not my favorites.
There
are other difficult episodes to watch too. Such as when a man pretends to be
Monk’s friend, or when a house Monk buys gets torn apart. But the hardest for
me to watch is the one where Leland finds out the truth about his girlfriend. A
woman he greatly loved. It is absolutely heartbreaking.
Probably
some of the reason I find these episodes hard is because I really care about
the characters. Which is why I’m glad even with the hard episodes there are
good parts too. Always there are bits of comedy. Plus, no matter what, the
culprit is captured in the end.
The
reason this happens is because Monk is an incredible detective. When it comes
to a case, he notices everything (unfortunately, the same cannot be said for
the personal aspects of his life). He also remembers everything. The
conclusions he puts together often appear to come from thin air, yet are
completely logical, and he’s always right. Except when Monk is dealing with a
trash strike.
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| Putting the Pieces Together Artwork by Kate Dorsey |
While it might seem there is no
one smarter than Monk, there is one person who is. His brother Ambrose (John
Turturro). The reason no one really knows this is because Ambrose never leaves
his house. In fact, most people in Monk’s life didn’t even know Ambrose existed
until he happened to call one day.
From
appearances, it would seem no case would be solved without Monk. That is not
completely true. Everyone else isn’t completely inept. Leland actually is
pretty good at putting pieces together. Randy can be too, despite being
incredibly goofy at times. It’s just that Monk is that much faster and better.
The
series ends with a happy ending for everyone. Including Sharona, as we find
out. All cases and mysteries are solved, except for one. The circumstances
surrounding the death of Natalie’s husband are still in question. Mitch died
during a mission, years before Natalie ever met Monk. The people who survived
the mission made claims against Mitch. Claims which are unproven yet keep a
cloud over his death. The truth of what happened is the one case Monk does not
solve, nor does he try.
I’m
not blaming Monk for not trying to solve what happened to Mitch. For all we
know, Natalie wouldn’t want him too. For her, remembering Mitch as he was
instead of learning a horrible truth may be what’s best.
Throughout
the entire series there is one case Monk repeatedly deals with until the very
end. That is Trudy’s death. It finally gets solved in the final episodes. What
is interesting, though, is how the story of Monk and Trudy change along the way
through the series. How and when they met tends to get altered depending on the
episode. Even events surrounding her death change. This, at times, makes an
oddly inconsistent story.
Despite the inconsistency, Monk is an incredibly enjoyable series to watch. There are plenty of awkward moments, but they are all worth going through in order to experience the good mysteries and great relationships that are formed. In fact, the mysteries and the relationships are the two biggest reasons I am able to watch this series over and over again.
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