‘Hey,’ readers this blog aren’t saying ‘it’s been a while since Jim wrote about Monk, in which Tony Shalhoub plays an OCD-afflicted ex-police detective in San Francisco.’ Yeah, well I have them all on DVD — look, I scanned in the cover above and everything — but what I don’t have is a DVD player.
Thankfully what I do have — or did, this post having been written in the past — was access to an online streaming platform that had Monk as one of its many, many, many, too many options, and so I was able to watch season 6 and write down some thoughts episode-by-episode. Also, why can’t you screenshot streamed TV any more? Is it expected that we’ll copy every frame and distribute our own copyright-baiting versions? Who has the time? So, no pictures from the show itself, because I’m old and technology confuses and scares me.
By now, the die of the series of pretty much cast: some unusual setups held together with sporadic flashes of superb writing, lots of extended comedy which either works for you or doesn’t (most of it doesn’t for me, I’m afraid), and a recurring cast who are very comfortable in their roles by now. Shalhoub is superb, of course, but MVP of season 6 is Ted Levine as Captain Leland Sottlemeyer, who seems to be the one sane person in the entire show. Clearly the writers don’t know what to do with Jason Gray-Stanford’s Lieutenant Randy Disher, as he’s just an idiot in every episode, often to tediously unfunny effect — in one, he acts like a human statue for the majority of the time, and it makes zero difference to his impact on proceedings.
Also, Traylor Howard is there as Natalie Teeger, and somehow manages to feel like a key part of things despite not really being given much to do. I feel a little sorry for Howard; she’s clearly a good actress, but this isn’t a show which requires her to demonstrate it most of the time.
As to the episodes? Well, it’s the usual mixed bag…
‘Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan’ (6.1, o.b. 13th July 2007)
[Scr. Andy Breckman; Dir. Randy Zisk]
Sarah Silverman returns as Marci, the woman obsessed with Monk, and an interesting puzzle: how could her dog be responsible for a fatal attack on a neighbour when it died three days ago? The answer fails to consider things like forensics — the woman didn’t die from the dog bites, after all, as she was hit over the head — and there’s a far more interesting solution available that is sadly not even considered. Given that Monk is becoming less and less about the mysteries, however, this isn’t too bad for the sort of thing you have on in the room and barely pay attention to. Wow, how standards have dropped, eh?
‘Mr. Monk and the Rapper’ (6.2, o.b. 20th July 2007)
[Scr. Dan Dratch; Dir. Paris Barclay]
A rapper is killed in a — quite impressive, it must be said — car bomb, and his onetime-colleague-turned-rival, Murderuss (Snoop Dogg), finds himself under suspicion, not least for having written a song about how he was going to kill the man using a car bomb. I appreciate that this putting Monk in awkward situations is supposed to be funny, but the way he constantly becomes scared when around the non-white suspects does not play for quite so many laughs two decades later. The core idea is a good one, though, and was I alone in not realising how tall Snoop Dogg is?
‘Mr. Monk and the Naked Man’ (6.3, o.b. 27th July 2007)
[Scr. Tom Gammill & Max Pross; Dir. Randy Zisk]
A woman is stabbed on a nudist beach. Hours and hours later, after a fudged attempt at engaging with bigotry and tasteless joke that makes light of child abuse, there’s been one half-clue that could have been better seeded. Alfred Molina’s in this, but I have no idea why. I had completely forgotten that he was English, thought, so that was fun.
‘Mr. Monk and the Bad Girlfriend’ (6.4, o.b. 3rd August 2007)
[Scr. Joe Toplyn; Dir. Wendey Stanzler]
A realtor is shot while showing a house, and Monk suspects Stottlemeyer’s girlfriend, who was on a video call to Stottlemeyer, Monk, and Natalie and thus impossibly far away from the scene. Not hard to figure out, but the use of the novel-at-the-time live video technology is intriguing and would have been pretty surprising; post-Zoom we’re all a little savvier. Still, there’s some decent material as the characters try to wrestle with the core dilemma. Good for the era.
‘Mr. Monk and the Birds and the Bees’ (6.5, o.b. 10th August 2007)
[Scr. Peter Wolk; Dir. Michael Watkins]
Robert Sherman (Vincent Ventresca) shoots his wife and an intruder in a staged break in, and must act distressed despite his plans coming together. I do enjoy these inverted episodes, and the sense of a wider scheme underneath this — involving Natalie’s daughter — is actually pretty clever. More awful comedy with the human ashes at the funeral home, but then one great joke (“I put it on a mug, too.”). I’ve been a fan of Ventresca since The Invisible Man (2000-02), and it’s great to see him. Best episode of the season so far.
‘Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure’ (6.6, o.b. 17th August 2007)
[Scr. Jonathan Collier; Dir. Sam Weisman]
When the son of Monk’s therapist finds a map on a dead body, he and his idiot friends are convinced it will lead to the plunder from a recent bank robbery. There’s very slightly more plot here than I’d initially feared and it manages to tie in some earlier points well come the conclusion, but this is lightweight. Also, they would absolutely have suffocated to death in that car; I appreciate that would have made for a more downbeat episode, though.
‘Mr. Monk and the Daredevil’ (6.7, o.b. 24th August 2007)
[Scr. Alan Zweibel; Dir. Jonathan Collier]
Monk refuses to believe it when “real life Spider-Man” the Frisco Fly turns out to be Harold Crenshaw, another patient of Monk’s therapist (“You got vertigo when Dr. Kroeger put in thicker carpet.”). Shenanigans are, of course, in effect, but while Harold laps up the adoration why doesn’t the real Fly come forward? Always fun to see David Koechner, who sleazes better than anyone, and for all the serendipity on display this is kinda fun.
‘Mr. Monk and the Wrong Man’ (6.8, o.b. 7th September 2007)
[Scr. Salvatore Savo; Dir. Anton Cropper]
The old ‘detective made a mistake’ trope: a man Monk put in jail for 14 years for a double murder is found innocent on new DNA evidence. Not only is this not how evidence works, this kind of thing has been such a cliché for so many years that it’s hard to engage with. Not sure about helping the obviously violent man find his ex-wife, either. Also, Monk has seen only 410 crime scenes in over 20 years?! I’ve been at more murder scenes than that. Er, forget I said anything.
‘Mr. Monk is Up All Night’ (6.9, o.b. 14th September 2007)
[Scr. David Breckman; Dir. Randy Zisk]
After the sight of a random woman on the street finds Monk afflicted with insomnia, a nighttime walk results in him witnessing a murder. A superb complication then adds to the intrigue and, even if this plot-savvy viewer was able to see through it all, this is one of those times that the loose plotting of an episode can work really well. And Monk’s obsession with the unknown woman has a really rather sweet payoff.
‘Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus’ (6.10, o.b. 7th December 2007)
[Scr. Dan Schofield & Ben Gruber; Dir. Randy Zisk]
When a man dressed as Santa throws stuffed toys off the roof of a building, causing chaos with the traffic below, Monk goes up to confront him and apparently shoots him. This sees the return of shyster lawyer Garrett Price (Larry Miller) who’s good for a couple of scenes, but it’s fairly standard until the midway point when it becomes more interesting and then becomes fairly standard again. Does what you’d expect of a festive episode, however, and difficult to object to on those grounds.
‘Mr. Monk Joins a Cult’ (6.11, o.b. 11th January 2008)
[Scr. Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan; Dir. Anton Cropper]
When a cult leader (Howie Mandel) is accused of murder, Monk goes undercover and falls under the charismatic man’s spell, then has to be deprogrammed. You remember when Gene Hackman was hooked on heroin by rogues in The French Connection 2 (1975) and then goes cold turkey? This is basically that, but the motive makes, like, no sense. Who’d be in that situation and think that murder was the answer? That’s, like, the fifth option on the list, at worst.
‘Mr. Monk Goes to the Bank’ (6.12, o.b. 18th January 2008)
[Scr. Hy Conrad; Dir. Michael Watkins]
When a bank robber goes through the safety deposit boxes at Monk’s bank, he suspects inside help and gets a job as a security guard to observe at closer quarters. I’m not sure the plot makes sense — why steal some stuff but leave other bits in that place, surely it’s riskier left behind. If not, explain why. Also, it’s a combination padlock — combinatorics, people, you would have been out of there in no time!
‘Mr. Monk and the Three Julies’ (6.13, o.b. 25th January 2008)
[Scr. Tom Scharpling & Joe Toplyn; Dir. David Breckman]
A killer is targeting women with the same name as Natalie’s daughter. Parallels with The Terminator (1984) aside, it’s an interesting idea, and when we eventually get to the solution it’s clever and explained well. To get there, however, we spend a long time on stuff which is clearly going to have no bearing — see, this is why episode 5 was so good, because the various threads came together like they all had a purpose. For all the smartness of this, the middle 70% is frustratingly pointless.
‘Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece’ (6.14 o.b. 1st February 2008)
[Scr. John Wurster; Dir. Andre Belgrader]
An intruder at a junkyard is killed by a jerry-rigged trap, and then the owner-operator is killed the following night. What amidst the wares on display could possibly be worth killing for? Meantime, an art dealer (Peter Stormare) pays well over the odds for Monk’s terrible paintings. How the two link doesn’t come until late in the episode, but rewards patience. When Monk is this creative, it’s a real joy.
‘Mr. Monk is on the Run (Part 1)’ (6.15 o.b. 15th February 2008)
[Scr. Tom Scharpling; Dir. Randy Zisk]
When a six-fingered thief steals materials for making a bomb similar to the one that killed Monk’s wife — I had forgotten the killer then had six fingers — we’re supposed to believe Monk would kill a man in cold blood. Jailed, he escapes and goes on the run. Scott Glenn channels the approximate concept of Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive (1992). Hours are spent making a smoothie comedically. Skip to the last 5 minutes if you haven’t figured out the killer, a ‘Previously On Monk’ at the start of Part 2 will save your time.
‘Mr. Monk is on the Run (Part 2)’ (6.16 o.b. 22nd February 2008)
[Scr. Hy Conrad & Dan Dratch; Dir. Randy Zisk]
Monk isn’t dead?!? In fairness, this episode benefits from a change of structure and has some lovely touches (“To make them even.”). That said, I did not recognise the big bad in this until I did some research — never a good policy. It’s a shame we only revisit this o’erarching plot once every season, because there’s good motivation and emotion behind the running threads; more of this sort of thing would make me more excited about the next two seasons. Which, yes, I’ll watch anyway. When I get a DVD player.
~
Monk on The Invisible Event
Oh go get a DVD player Jim, they’re cheap as (micro) chips these days! 🤣. The streamed versions are often edited / compromised compared with the streamed version so do hang on to them. Having said all of that, given what you say here, it’s a bit hard to understand why you kept watching. You only seem to like about 4 of the episodes! 🤣
LikeLike
Apologies , that should read “compared with the DVD versions”
LikeLike