Adrian Monk, the OCD Detective

"Mr. Monk's Favorite Show"  first aired August 7, 2009

The whole episode revolves around a doppelganger show for The Brady Bunch.  Young Monk was all obsessed with this show back in the day, and now someone has blown up the car of one of the stars, a now middle-aged Marsha Brady who has just published a tell-all book.  There's some good satire of the fashions and cheapness of the writing among other things.  Plus, there's some good fun in the squeamishness with which Monk reacts to the star's confessions in her book of unspecified (to us) whoredoms that make even Natalie and Stottlemeyer squirm.

Best thing though, this rates some special notice for being one of the very best "here's what happened" segments in the whole series.  Monk gets hit in the back of the head, and has a dream sequence in which he becomes part of the old show.  He walks in as the uber cool oldest son (in period costume), and ends up delivering his accusations to the then pre-teen character on the show. 

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"Mr. Monk and the Foreign Man"  first aired August 14, 2009

Ansara and Samuel Swangaya from Nigeria cast a very spiritual presence onto Monk, without any bit of religious or spiritual babble talk.  But she was so beautiful and devoted and her last act on Earth before being mowed down by an ignorant drunk was leaving a love message on her husband's phone.  Samuel was the faithful widower, keeping vigil at the site of her death - right on the corner from Monk.

Monk of course was going to identify readily and bond with a man whose wife has just been killed.  Monk naturally identifies way too much, to the point of saying Trudy rather than Ansara repeatedly as he's investigating.  His obsession worries Natalie and Stottlemeyer.  I mean, Monk bonded so much and quickly that he's letting this guy smoke in his home.

The truly spiritual nature of Samuel really comes out right at the end, when he withheld vengeance against the guy who killed his wife and had intended to kill him.  Indeed he didn't even act like he was even thinking about wanting to kill the guy when he got hold of him.  Monk made a point earlier in the episode of telling Samuel that he would help him if he wanted to "do something" to the killer when they caught him. But Samuel beat him really only a very little bit and made him look at a picture of his wife and say her name.  He demanded that this man understand and acknowledge her personhood.  Then he was done.  Monk likewise held up a picture of Trudy to the killer's face and made him say her name, despite his protestations that he's never heard of her.  All in all though, you have to say that Monk perfectly well earned that little indulgence.

Diatribes and losing a vibrant young wife aside, there was a good bit of comedy from several directions spread through this.  Start with Monk's initial reaction to Samuel's vigil labeling him a hippie - and Monk's first idea of a specific "hippie" to mock him with:  Louis Armstrong.  Then there were multiple points of Monk's explanations to him of how we do things in America.  Better yet, there's Samuel confidently explaining to other Americans how we do things here based on Monk's version of America, with even Monk himself quietly cringing and backing away. 

Also, it was maybe not so much exactly funny as really charming watching Samuel playing detective with Monk.  It was a lovely bit of roll reversal as Samuel declares "He's the guy" and Monk is the one trying to step it back.  Samuel made a really good obscure Monk-like mental connection that was critical, where he figures out what the stoners actually saw based on a painting of a fly fisherman on a calendar.  By the end, he's got Monk declaring "he's the guy" in Nigerian.

Samuel finally leaves Monk with a last note of hope for his relief as Monk asks how it feels to know. "Knowing is everything."

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"Mr. Monk and the UFO"  first aired August 21, 2009

The premise of this episode provides some perfect non-neurotic comedic frustration for Monk.  Monk says several times in the series "I believe in what I can see."  Unlike Fox Muldar, Adrian Monk does not particularly want to believe. But in the opening scene, he sure as heck saw something. Then he saw it again with Natalie and a young hotel clerk with a camera phone and internet access.  Still, he's not going to have much patience or respect for a bunch of cheesy UFO cultists showing up talking their silly stuff. 

Naturally, they start figuring that maybe this Monk guy is the alien.  In fairness, you have to grant that if you were going to believe in such things, Adrian Monk might real plausibly look like the alien among us. He often looks and feels like a stranger in a strange land.  You can see how someone might honestly make that mistake. Even Natalie and Stottlemeyer pause to consider the plausibility of the point.

Oh good merciful Lord but these "internet people" were a blast. They were literally a very colorful group - starting with the gold people.  I personally very much liked the little princess with the starry head dress.  I'd be delighted to go UFO hunting in the desert with her, talking crazy stuff all night.  Hey, Monk might show a little gratitude to them for rescuing him.  He owed them the truth.  They weren't going to be taken in by some mundane story about a guy killing his sister over an inheritance.  So since they insisted, Monk finally told them all the truth. "I was sent to prepare the way and to observe things and probe things and do alien things to everyone."

Monk absolutely deserved every bit of the raping that Boom Boom the mechanic put to him.  He started out perfectly helpful and reasonable.  That sure looked like legitimately $300 worth of messed up car.  Monk didn't have any complaint at all against the guy or his quote, but just couldn't help himself from repeatedly 100% expressing utter contempt and disrespect to his face.  He couldn't even manage to pretend other than that Boom Boom is a dirty, illiterate moron.  The only one of those that would appear to be true was "dirty," but he's a mechanic, m'kay?  I would have lost respect for Boom Boom if he'd let this city slicker openly disrespect him like that and didn't stick it in him. 

Things turned distinctly sexy in the epilogue, with Natalie chasing the boss around the room and demanding to see his belly button. I think you'd have to classify this as Natalie sexually harassing the boss.  "Leave me alone or I will destroy your whole planet."  I've seen people say that in the series Natalie was "hitting on" the boss.  Well, not quite - but this is about the closest to it.  I'll just say that if Monk were the least bit manlier, he could have had some of that right there.  If she'd acted like that in Ambrose's house, she'd have been in trouble.

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"Mr. Monk Is Someone Else"  first aired August 28, 2009

Adrian Monk was in the zone tonight. They got a good shock with the opening shot of Monk being absolutely wiped out by a big fat bus.  Come to figure that it was in fact a mafia hit man who looks just like him.  Thus Monk gets drawn undercover as Frankie DePalma.  Somehow, Monk got a fairly convincing alpha male personae from imitating his intimidating refrigerator mover. 

Once he got into character, he was magic.  His mind turned off a bunch of weakness, and he thrived on the feelings of strength.  Of course, this also caused Frankie to dress down the FBI agent Terri Crowley, the snitch Vic Mackey famously and fatefully assassinated in the pilot of The Shield.  Most of all, Frankie Monk backed Stottlemeyer down.  They got a lot of good mileage out of how playing gangster brings out something of another side of Monk.  Notice how pleased Stottlemeyer was to see that Monk had that dominance in him. Plus, it's a good thing Stottlemeyer pumped him up when he came back thinking down on himself, cause he turned out to need all of that swagger and a little more unexpectedly the next day.

The writers robbed Monk though.  It was just wrong that Natalie made Monk apologize to Stottlemeyer and buy him a stupid card.  What was he apologizing for?  Stottlemeyer certainly didn't want an apology.  He was, rightly, PROUD of Monk.  Then right at the end, Monk's been staring down the frickin' mob, but he couldn't handle this ignorant refrigerator guy - but two seconds of staring from Natalie does it?  I think Monk had earned a little better than that here.

I really dug that evil old man Greenblatt that Frankie was being hired to kill, in the maybe one minute of screen time he had.  I question whether the hit man could have taken him.  I'm pretty sure that if it had just been the young thug they'd sent with Monk, the old man would have killed him with a frickin' frying pan before he managed to even think about making an "accident."  Best of all was the explanation for why the mob was so intent on whacking some old man they didn't know who had no mob connection or criminal history. They had a very good, believable reason for the intended crime.

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"Mr. Monk Takes the Stand"  first aired September 11, 2009

The only time in the series, they begin with Monk explaining "Here's what happened."  They got this guy dead to rights for killing his wife.  But the rich sculptor artiste has hired the world's smarmiest lawyer Jay Mohr to get him off.  So we watch the fancy lawyer take former Detective Monk apart on the stand - not on anything to do with the facts of the case, but basically by pushing him into a little emotional breakdown on the witness stand.  The defendant is acquitted - Monk's first loss, while the lawyer goes on TV touting his new book Undefeated.  The murdering bastard got off and there was nothing they could ever do about it after an absolute jury acquittal. 

I've bitched pretty much in these notes about times where Monk's being a self-indulgent wussy.  But really, I have to say that he was not being self-indulgent, or an easy whiner when he decided to quit being a detective here.  A really smart and ruthless guy went to work on his mind, and beat him.  It's not that Monk lost a case, but that his highly carefully provoked little breakdown means that a nasty murderer got off, and could never be tried again.  All any other murderer he could ever figure out would have to do is hire this disgusting lawyer, or one minimally sharp enough to copy his tactics.  You can see how Monk would feel helpless and worthless.  It wasn't that Monk's little ego couldn't take being defeated.  He was used to taking all kinds of humiliating defeats.  It was that he would no longer be able to set things right.

This might be the best Disher episode of the series.  Disher's Big Buddy thing was the most seriously meritorious thing about the guy, and really showed what he was about in his heart.  His old little buddy has really screwed up, pretty clearly guilty of murdering a woman while robbing her store for $30.  He confessed to robbing the place, but not murder.  His Big Buddy breaks out their old friendship bracelets which symbolized their promise never to lie to each other, and then took the kid's denial at his word and went to bat for him.

That secondary story worked especially well with the main story.  It was perhaps one of those too convenient co-incidences that the auto parts store story involved somebody specifically close to Disher like it did, but the basic idea of the second murder made good sense.  That stupid little robbery would be just the kind of little curve ball that would cause someone to do something rash like that - and give Monk the opening to make things right. 

I noted that I got a kind of funny active tingly thrill of joy like I don't quite remember at any other moment in the series from Monk when he's facing Jay Mohr in the police station and smiling in an aggressively confident manner at the prospect of facing him in court again.  Bring it, bitch.

But I note approvingly that Monk and the show made only the very most minimal and pro forma schadenfreude over Jay Mohr now being defeated and deflated at the end.  Screw the punk ass lawyer.  The innocent boy being rescued was a bigger point, and the murderer finally being punished. Monk's little corner of the world was in proper order again - after he came back to the empty court room to straighten the mic and the legal pad.

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"Mr. Monk and the Critic"  first aired September 18, 2009

I guess I'd have to say that this episode charmed me more than anything else.  Also, all three basic strands of the show worked, and worked together.  One was the actual crime.  Basically, a theater critic recruited a stand in for an alibi and murdered his girlfriend during a live performance that he was reviewing.  That is a fairly reasonable and plausible criminal idea. 

They also got good and unusually positive comedy out of Monk's OCD conditioning.  He was very positively pleased with the luxurious and spotless public restroom at the theater where Natalie's daughter was performing.  The Love Boat alum playing the critical bathroom attendant was praised as "the Michelangelo of lavatories" for his excellent work.  Their mutual admiration society was sweet and charming.

But the main high power charming part came from Natalie.  Turns out that the critic's critical mistake was writing a bad review of her daughter's performance that he hadn't seen.  No one who had been in that theater and seen that performance could have written that awful review.  Now, the stage mom thing was cute, but also she was right.  Having seen Julie's performance with Mom and Monk, we might appreciate the point aesthetically.  But moreover, he hadn't seen the performance in fact because he had snuck off to commit the murder.  For the kicker, they bring it down to the ultimate point of establishing his guilt was to prove that he had in fact not seen Julie Teager's performance.  Mom totally vindicated.  Web critic totally charmed.

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"Mr. Monk and the Voodoo Curse" first aired September 25, 2009

They conjured up a particularly nice criminal premise with the voodoo curse.  The opening scene showed an old woman getting killed in a fluke accident by a little league baseball.  Then her grandchildren find a voodoo doll with a baseball attached to the head - postmarked three days before the accident.  From there, they play out all kind of natural heebie jeebies all around.  A couple more freak accidents with voodoo dolls involved, and the primitive parts of the human psyche are being stroked.

But they got the best heebie jeebies from Natalie, who believes in voodoo to start with.  Then after a couple of these freak episodes, Natalie gets a voodoo doll, and the head pops off.  In theory, we know that voodoo is nonsense, but we don't have any other explanation yet.  We can readily enough see why Natalie is in hysterics.  Then we get to the little story of why she believes in voodoo.

Then there's Meat Loaf as the Rev Jorgensen, who runs the little hoodoo shop that sells the voodoo dolls.  Everything about this character was pure beauty, right down to the last touch of throwing herbs at the crashed and "cursed" ambulance at the end. His big ultra cheesy "un-curse" ceremony at Natalie's was priceless, as were Monk's disgusted reaction shots.

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"Mr. Monk Goes To Group Therapy"  first aired October 9, 2009

Harold Krenshaw from MonkHorror of horrors, Monk finds that his insurance only covers 2,000 individual psychiatric consultations, and he's using up his last one.  But the good side is that he is eligible for 2,000 sessions of group therapy.  There's Mr. Monk and any group of people.  Then there's Monk and a group of OCD patients - including the dreaded Harold Krenshaw.  Then he figures out that someone is killing off his therapy group.  This gives one of the few times in the series where the famously Eeyore-like Monk really smiles.  Hey, I can understand that.  This was one of the half dozen or so funniest episodes of the series.

This leads to one of the funnier scenes in the series, with Harold offering a "here's what happened" segment explaining to their group how Monk was supposedly the killer, including a scene with Monk lifting up big Auggie over his head and tossing him off a building. Hell, he's got Monk himself half believing it.

The last act of this was especially beautiful, starting with Monk and Harold locked up in the trunk of a car.  For one thing, in that trunk Monk came up with a way of looking at the situation that not just placated the understandably panicked Harold but basically cured them both of claustrophobia. 

Their total reconciliation after these years was truly touching, and their final group session at the shrink's home with the killer was an unexpectedly gentle but absolutely appropriate ending.  This was also a particularly good showcase for the calm and controlled Dr Bell.  I don't know if poor old Dr Kroger could have handled this scene.

The loving smiles between Monk and Harold in this his final scene of the series, and then Harold's last gesture detailed in the epilogue were some of the best grace notes of all as they start to bring the series in for a landing.  God bless and preserve Harold Krenshaw.

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"Happy Birthday, Mr. Monk"  first aired October 16, 2009

Mr. Monk's true religionThe birthday theme worked a couple of ways.  One way was Monk's great dread of birthdays because of an extremely inane excuse for a "traumatic" 10th birthday party.  This was one of those not entirely infrequent Monk storylines that make me just want to slap him.  On the other hand, this set up the entirely entertaining challenge to Natalie to outsmart him enough to throw him a surprise party.  I'll just say they got him good.  They really had to go the whole distance, but that just makes the victory in surprising him sweeter.  It was a particularly nice touch how Cowboy Hank showed up just in time to lasso the murderer.

This was also a very special Stottlemeyer episode, in which he meets TK Jensen, his  eventual Missus.  Of course he wasn't calling her back to the crime scene just to chat her up - that would be a serious abuse of his authority.  Third tries a charm.  Ted Levine plays a pretty good mature romantic scene.  The cooing and bonding are very nice.  The T in TK stands for "Trudy."  Oy vey.

Then there was Monk and his love affair with the revolutionary new vacuum.  Monk could barely stand to tear himself away from the damned vacuum cleaner to even think about those two murders he's supposed to be investigating. He's dancing with the thing like he thinks he's Fred Astaire and the vacuum was Ginger Frickin' Rogers. Seems like there was a vacuum commercial a few years back with Fred Astaire digitally dancing with the cleaning machine.  But damned if it wasn't Monk obsessing over the vacuum that gave him the clue that solved the case - a guy adjusting his tool belt.     

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"Mr. Monk and Sharona"  first aired October 23, 2009

After the actress' abrupt departure five seasons ago, she comes back here for a curtain call.  The murder of an uncle she barely knew was a somewhat interesting, but really only minimally adequate Monk storyline.  By my lights, the Natalie Teager character turned out to be far more interesting, but it was really funny to see them together one time, competing for Monk's loyalty.  Plus, she needed to come back to resolve not just her story, but to hook up with Disher.  Looking back on the social dynamics of those first three seasons, they were setting this point up nearly every episode of her three seasons.

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"Mr. Monk and the Dog"  first aired October 30, 2009

There wasn't really much of a crime here, an unfortunate accident between lovers - and thus no fancy setup, impossible crimes with impossible criminals.  It's plain vanilla, crime wise. 

But it's a bonanza of Monk comedy and good pathos.  Monk has to take this big shaggy dog.  Monk of course is about beside himself with the routine mammalian physicality of a very nice puppy.  But "they eat, and then they uneat."  Imagine Monk's horror when he catches the dog drinking from the toilet.  He can only touch her with gloves on.

But of course he quickly falls in love with the dog, and he's buying her all five flavors of ice cream for dessert to see which one she prefers.  He spends hours brushing and washing the dog.  That cuteness sets up the good sad pathos when Monk gets the call and has to gently break it to the dog that the nice lady who took care of her had an accident and wouldn't ever be coming back. 

So what's the nature phobic Monk even to think when the dog starts delivering a litter of puppies with which no one (but the perp) knew she was pregnant - right in the middle of his apartment.  The writers do an excellent job of  working the dog integrally into the plot, with Monk naming her first puppy "Exhibit A."  Plus, they end with a particularly nice moment of grace and peace with the perp and Monk quietly admiring the beauty of the puppies that he had come intending to kill.

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"Mr. Monk Goes Camping" first aired November 6, 2009

This episode has a scenario that is, from one way of looking at it, particularly pathetic, but pretty effective as a final extrapolation of the series long theme of Monk's desperation to get his badge back.  Monk volunteers to go camping with Disher's youth group - with every bit of the physical suffering and psychic discomfort you could imagine.  He knowingly subjects himself to such things purely for the chance to suck up to one of the boys because his father is on the police review board.  The kid isn't stupid, and quite understandably in context really looks down on Monk until right at the end. 

It's a very good point for Monk, and ultimately the impressive thing, that when the situation unexpectedly arises that the boy's understandably adamant wish to hold on to his prize fish suddenly conflicts with a murder investigation, Monk will absolutely chase the boy down and take his fish - even if that totally alienates the kid and queers his chance at re-instatement.

Then there's the big climactic scene with the bear, which plays like some freaky parody of Walker, Texas Ranger.  Except in this case, rather than wrestling the bear or such, Monk just calmly talks at the bear explaining himself at some length until it just gets bored and wanders off rather than eating him and the kid.  Somewhat unlikely, but a really good scene.

Over the course of the series, the writers sometimes loaded poor Lt Disher down with comedic conceits that tend to undermine the credibility of the character or the series.  But Lt Disher in this episode hits the sweet spot.  You can perhaps get some humor out of scoutmaster Disher, but when you have a bunch of kids in the woods with serious murdering thugs looking for them, it's clear that Randy Disher's the guy you want on duty.

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"Mr. Monk Is the Best Man" first aired November 13, 2009

This episode starts to bring the series in for a landing, giving the main resolution for Stottlemeyer.  Tragically, he's getting married - but what are you going to do?  Of course, Monk has to be the best man.  His neuroses are on pretty much their lowest simmer.  But the most obvious display of his OCD this week was entirely charming.  As best man, Stottlemeyer has ceremonially entrusted him to hold the ring until the service.  Monk insists on holding it in his hand the entire time, working essentially one handed at the lab and such.  Adrian managed to not have any kind of scene at the wedding really at all, other than needing a little help getting that hand pried open after several days of holding the ring.

It was one good last time of twisting Stottlemeyer around the horrible luck in love theme.  His Trudy is a wonderful gal totally in love with Leland, but a few death threats and ransacked homes and car bombs and such would start to give any girl second thoughts. Significantly, note that TK came to Leland to tell him that she'd marry him anyway, before she knew who it was and while the threat was still open.  Then she finds out that the problem had been her girlfriend, not anything really to do with her police captain.

This is not the first episode of the series that hinges on an eco-terrorist killing people in the process of hiding their past.  That would be the blackout episode.  But in fairness, you got to think that San Francisco would be thick with these kind of folk. They probably have an active or retired eco-terrorist on every block there.  They'd probably have needed to have at least half a dozen of their perps be eco-terrorists to have come out proportional for a series set in Pelosi's Playground.  Damned Democrats.

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"Mr. Monk and the Badge" first aired November 20, 2009

In this penultimate episode of the series, we finally resolve Monk's #2 issue: his dozen year status under suspension from the force on psych leave.  He's re-instated, and back at roll call as Detective Monk.  Of course he's miserable.

Partly Monk doesn't blend into the new force and the computer system and such, but partly it's bad fortune.  Pretty much the first case he works on back as an official cop involves a young cop who has been murdered, and whom Monk suspects of being somehow dirty.  Note that his boss and Leland above that specifically told Monk that he should investigate if he thought the boy was dirty, but that he'd best be absolutely sure before he said anything.  But none of this made Adrian any friends on the force.  You can appreciate the unavoidable dramatic conflict here.  Monk has to follow his insight, but it's certainly no bad reflection that other officers do not appreciate having a fellow officer accusing their fallen brother of corruption with no evidence.  In defense of the poor dead young officer, Monk was right - but it was really the most minimal of "corruption".  It's not like he was taking payoffs to let a criminal off the hook or anything like that.

Besides everything else then, Monk's new police partner failed him and nearly got him murdered.  He didn't respect Monk, and wasn't all that worried about being on time for whatever wild goose chase Monk's on.  

Of course, he was better off all along as a private consultant.  He probably makes more money.  He gets to pick his cases.  He works directly with Captain Stottlemeyer.  Really, it was just the idea that he was pulled off the force for being unfit that had been eating him.  But now having surmounted that shame issue, he can quit and take some contentment in knowing how good he's got it. He's a former policeman now entirely by choice.

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"Mr. Monk and the End (Part One)" first aired November 27, 2009

"Mr. Monk and the End (Part Two)"  first aired December 4, 2009

This is one of the most satisfying conclusions to a TV series I've seen.  Partly that's artistic, and partly it's emotional or sentimental.  Like The Fugitive or The Shield, this series started out with a major dramatic premise that demanded resolution.  The show lasted long enough, with enough serious meat of character development over a period of years to build up a hell of a lot of payout.  This is the biggest advantage that a really good tv series has over theatrical movies.

"It's time to say goodbye.  It won't be much longer."

He finally solves Trudy's murder.  This is the thing he's wanted most, the personal need and the professional humiliation of being the supposed brilliant detective that can't solve the one case that he cares about.  As viewers, we've spent some 125 hours over eight years stewing in this frustration.  Invested viewers get a pretty big payoff of catharsis and resolution, and eventually just pure feelings of relief for Adrian Monk after these years.

But careful and repeated viewings will be rewarded with awe and wonder for the beautiful artistry of creative details in getting this resolution.  One of the very most beautiful and brilliant things in the whole series was that final clue.  In fact, it wasn't really a clue, but pretty much the complete answer to the puzzle - literally wrapped up with a pretty ribbon and bow right under his nose for 12 years.  It took being at death's door for him to open that last Christmas present.  It was treated like he was calling for last rites when he finally asks to open the package. 

Can I get you anything?  How about some tea?

Uh-uh, just Trudy's gift.

No, Mr. Monk, no.

It's time.

The writers spent years earning the investment of deep symbolism in that package.  In the end, it turns out that it was exactly the attitude he took toward that one physical package that held him back for years.  This package on the shelf represents his refusal to try to let go.  At any point over these years, if he'd have made the symbolic commitment to trying to let go and move on by opening her last Christmas present, he would have immediately had the answer to the question that tortured him all these years. 

This video was also uniquely in the series the only objective look we get at the person, on a video.  Pretty much every other appearance of the character in action is seen through Monk's mind.  It's ambiguous, but I generally take the flashback Trudy (notably "Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion") as coming from Monk's memory - which is obviously going to be colored a bit.  Most of her appearances are actually fantasies (notably "Mr. Monk vs the Cobra"), which are obviously going to be highly colored.  This tape is really the only time we get a good clean look at what the actual person Trudy Monk looked like, how she talked and all.

I wanted you to know everything, because you deserve to know everything.  Adrian, you are more than the love of my life.  You are my life.

I have a couple of little beefs with these concluding episodes.  By the series standards, there were only minimal strains on audience credulity here.  But there were a couple of specific points of really kinda unbelievably stupid behavior from this very smart judge.  One was giving Monk a very damned slow poison, giving him several continuing days of life.  Huh?  But that's pretty forgivable on grounds of being the necessary setup to grind Monk down to finally open the g-d package, already.  But the business of having a body buried absolutely in his own backyard really strains credulity for criminal stupidity for no major plot necessity.  I mean, WTF?  Some white trash running a meth lab would know better than that.

The last payoff of the series could be considered cheesy and cliched sentimentality, at least in the abstract.  They couldn't bring back Trudy, but dang it, she had a daughter - and wouldn't you know, she's the spitting image in flesh and spirit.  But in the context, it makes perfectly good sense.  The writers paid good money for the right to this ending.  After all, Trudy basically was killed over this daughter.  Plus, after all the mental hell Monk has been put through, he deserves this nice girl to dote on.   It was very rewarding to see him at the end back in the office, boring everyone with hundreds of photos of the girl. "Oh, and here she is parallel parking!" 

So finally then, we leave Monk back at work, doing what he was put here to do.  He's still neurotic, but not just tortured with it.  He's a little more relaxed, sleeping in the middle of the bed, finally after a dozen years getting some resolution on Trudy. As Samuel Swangaya told him, knowing is everything.  Adrian Monk is as near as he's going to get to having a satisfied mind.

TRUDY AND ADRIAN MONK'S LAST HOUR IMAGES 1  2  3  4  5

TRUDY MONK MURDER IMAGES 1  2  3  4  5

LAST VISION OF TRUDY MONK IMAGES 1  2  3  4

TRUDY MONK VIDEO GIFT IMAGES 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

 

 

 

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MONK PHOTO GALLERIES

VACUUM CLEANER DANCE

MONK'S BIKE RIDE

DENOUEMENT  This is the climax of the series.  You shouldn't look at this page until you've seen it.

TRUDY MONK PHOTO GALLERIES

TRUDY MONK IMAGES 1  2  3  4

STELLINA RUSICH PLAYED TRUDY IN SEASON 1

TRUDY MONK'S FIRST HAUNTING - PILOT IMAGES 1  2  3  4

TRUDY MONK VS OTHER WOMAN IMAGES 1  2  3  4

LINDY NEWTON SPECIAL APPEARANCE AS YOUNG TRUDY MONK

TRUDY AND ADRIAN MONK'S FIRST MEETING IMAGES 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8

MELORA HARDIN PLAYED TRUDY FROM SEASON THREE FORWARD

TRUDY MONK'S MEDICINE PILLOW IMAGES 1  2  3  4

MEETING TRUDY MONK'S PARENTS 1  2  3  4  5  6

IMPOSTER TRUDY MONK IMAGES 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8

BURIED ALIVE WITH TRUDY MONK IMAGES 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8

TRUDY AND ADRIAN MONK'S LAST HOUR IMAGES 1  2  3  4  5

TRUDY MONK MURDER IMAGES 1  2  3  4  5

LAST VISION OF TRUDY MONK IMAGES 1  2  3  4

TRUDY MONK VIDEO GIFT IMAGES 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

 

SEASON 1 NOTES

SEASON 2 NOTES

SEASON 3 NOTES

SEASON 4 NOTES

SEASON 5 NOTES

SEASON 6 NOTES

SEASON 7 NOTES

SEASON 8 NOTES

 

 

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