Monk - General Discussion

[chessiegal]

Monk came around to dogs in "Mr. Monk and the Dog".

[andromeda331]

3 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Monk came around to dogs in "Mr. Monk and the Dog".

I always wished Monk got a dog after that episode. 

[chessiegal]

Hallmark Movies and Mysteries is doing a Monk marathon Saturday starting at 11 am ET.

[fishcakes]

Fun fact about Mr. Monk and the Dog: In that episode, Natalie gives him a pooper scooper called the Shapoopie, which is a real device invented by Tony's brother Dan. It's no longer on the market, which ... well, you can kind of see why:

 

[chessiegal]

@fishcakes Thanks for sharing. That was hilarious. And indeed, a fun fact.

[Bastet]

I ... I don't even know what to type.  I'll just stick with Tony is a very kind brother.

[rejnel]

I’d put off watching the movie because I’d heard it was very dark. Having just finished a series rewatch, I didn’t want to be jolted out of my Monk happy place. But watched Mr. Monk’s last case yesterday and enjoyed it. 

Question: several of you have mentioned Adrian moving on with the dog Watson as his companion as if it’s canon, but the movie I watched never made that explicit. Did I miss or inadvertently skip something?

[fishcakes]

22 hours ago, rejnel said:

Question: several of you have mentioned Adrian moving on with the dog Watson as his companion as if it’s canon, but the movie I watched never made that explicit. Did I miss or inadvertently skip something?

I think it's just that when Monk saw Natalie had left Watson in his apartment he smiled a little, so the assumption is that he's going to keep him. And maybe we just want him to have a dog since everyone else is leaving again.

[rejnel]

Quote

 . . . when Monk saw Natalie had left Watson in his apartment . . . 

Thanks! I actually did miss this. Must have been folding laundry and just listening to audio at that point. Glad  he's got that sweet dog. 

ETA oh good lord--I see what I did, missed the very final 20 seconds of the movie. That'll teach me! Glad I got to see that little dog again. He and Adrian look like a perfect match.

Edited January 17 by rejnel
adding new information

[Bastet]

I settled in to finally watch the reunion movie last night, but wound up falling asleep pretty quickly, so I'll have to give it another go tonight.  Unfortunately, I didn't like much of anything about the little bit I saw. 

First, Monk was upset about having to return his advance because Molly had asked him to pay for the wedding.  What?!  You don't as an employed adult ask someone to pay for your wedding, and certainly not the guy who used to be married to the biological mother you never knew.  It would have made so much more sense for Monk to have offered, she declined, he made a big deal about insisting so she agreed, and now he can't bear the thought of having to back out. 

Then Molly showed up, and I found the actor distractingly bad -- clunky delivery and no presence.

Natalie arrived, and it made all the sense in the world to me that Molly had become close with her while Natalie worked for Monk and stayed in touch with her after Natalie moved.  Then Randy showed up.  Huh?  He moved across the country at the same time Molly came into Monk's life.  To whatever extent Monk kept in touch with Randy in the first place, which I don't think would have been extensive, I have a hard time imagining Randy having any relationship with Molly beyond her joining the two of them occasionally if Randy had lunch with Monk when he came back to San Francisco from time to time -- certainly not "fly out for my wedding" close.  It would have made more sense - because of course they have to come up with a reason to have Randy there, as this is a reunion movie - if Monk had invited his few friends to show off (in a sweet, proud way, not an obnoxious way) his stepdaughter rather than playing Molly's own reaction to him the same as hers to Natalie.

That's as far as I got; Stottlemeyer hadn't even arrived yet (they'd mentioned him).  So I have almost the whole thing left to go, and I hope it improves (I also thought the pacing of the opening scene was off, even though it's always fun when they put Brooke Adams in there somewhere).

Edited February 8 by Bastet

[Bastet]

I finally watched the movie last night - meh.  Something that amateur hour would have been bad enough in the middle of a season, cranking out episodes week after week, but with all the time they had to write this one?  There were two funny moments, but I can only remember one of them -- Randy's bridge-lowering theory.  That was classic.  (Although, keeping with one of the movie's recurring flaws, they stepped on it with another pacing error, where his up and down demonstration went on too long.)

Pretty much everything about the crime was poorly written, to the point of ridiculous several times, but I liked Monk's personal storyline.  I love him telling the dog not to listen to Natalie, go ahead and give up all the hope he wants.  I shudder to think how much plastic Monk is going to use to dispose of Watson's poop, or what shenanigans he's going to go through to pick it up, but it's good for him to have a pet.  He'd do better with a cat, since they clean themselves and bury their waste (well, some of them, but at least they do it in a box and it's easy to scoop out; he could even get one of those automatic boxes -- although since he'd probably buy a new litter box routinely rather than scrubbing one out, so that would add up), but at least this dog opposes clutter.

I'm glad Molly is going to have a fresh start in NY; it seems clear she and Monk need some physical space so he can't rely on her so much and she doesn't feel so obligated.  He has Watson and the renewed interest in the consulting gig, so it's a fresh start for him, too.

I definitely could have done without this, like 99% of reunion specials, but it was nice to see everyone together again, even though Stottlemeyer was mostly on his own.  I liked when they were at the new police station, and someone calling for the captain caused Stottlemeyer to look up.  I'm not sure I buy him in that particular private security job, but it makes perfect sense he'd have immediately struggled with retirement.  I also liked him messing with Randy by having the gate guards pretend they were fans. 

[chessiegal]

I got a surprise this morning. I was expecting Hallmark Movies and Mysteries to bring Monk back after their October to January 24/7 airing of sappy Christmas movies, but didn't see it. I checked their web site and saw they were airing 2 episodes at 6 and 7 am ET. This morning, I was scrolling through channels and saw they are now airing 3 hours weekdays starting 9 am ET. I wonder what prompted that change?

[shapeshifter]

My oldest daughter is visiting, who hadn’t watched Mr. Monk’s Last Case.
She LOL’d at all the jokes.

At about 1:14, Monk is running off with the Villian-aire’s laptop, and has managed to get out of the mansion, when he is distracted by a set of switches because one is down while the others are up:

 

Of course, when Monk obsessively moves the down switch into the up position, floodlights illuminate the dark tennis courts, revealing Monk’s position.

Monk lowers the switch again, giving him a chance to escape into the night with the evidence-filled laptop, but, of course, he can’t resist pushing it up again, at which point the villain-aire spots Monk.

My daughter and I wondered why Monk didn’t just move all the switches to the down position.

[HyeChaps]

Did you LOL out loud?

[Bastet]

On 2/26/2024 at 6:52 AM, shapeshifter said:

My daughter and I wondered why Monk didn’t just move all the switches to the down position.

Because everyone involved in that undercover op had their brain removed prior to planning it.  It was doomed from jump, when Stottlemeyer had him actually work as a bartender, and put that stupid "disguise" on him.

Stuff like the light switch is why it drove me nuts when there were episodes during the series where people advocated for Monk's reinstatement.  No.  He cannot control his 873 compulsions, even with a life on the line.  He never actually got anyone killed, but he came within seconds a couple of times, and he let suspects get away.  Here he gave himself away, and would have got himself killed if not for this being TV, where you can fall off a cliff into the ocean and survive thanks to an inflatable doll.

But, yeah, since symmetry is his requirement, not that switches must be up, he should have been smart enough to turn all the others off (not that I noticed any lights actually on despite all those switches in the on position, but whatever) once he realized that by turning that one switch on he was giving his location away.  (I don't remember if the killer had already seen it from the first time, though.)

Edited February 28 by Bastet

[fishcakes]

Someone posted all ten episodes of the Little Monk web series on YouTube. These are also on the Best of Monk DVD.

 

[HyeChaps]

Just like Encyclopedia Brown

[BetterButter]

‘Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie’ Might Not Be His Last Case After All, Tony Shalhoub Says

[andromeda331]

1 hour ago, BetterButter said:

‘Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie’ Might Not Be His Last Case After All, Tony Shalhoub Says

That's good.

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, BetterButter said:

‘Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie’ Might Not Be His Last Case After All, Tony Shalhoub Says

Tony looks great in that picture.
He must still run or at least jog.

Quote

And good news, Monk fans: Breckman is totally game to “explore another chapter.” “This is my retirement plan,” he cracked.

🙌❤️😃👏

It could be fun for Monk to be a mentor to a younger sleuth if they cast it right.

[DoctorAtomic]

Being a mentor would be a good take for another movie. I don't think there needs to be another reunion, and a new story would be a good direction to go. 

I thought the new chief was good. I'd like to see her back. 

[MisterGlass]

I've been rewatching the show from the beginning now that it is on Netflix.  It's been a nice bit of nostalgia as I haven't watched it all the way through since the original run.  I've just made it to the departure of Sharona/arrival of Natalie.

Two things have struck me.  First, some of my favorite episodes of the series are in the first three seasons.  It always surprises me when I remember that Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale was only the third episode of the series.  It is so sharp, with all the characters dialed in.  Another favorite of mine, Mr. Monk Takes a Vacation, is only the ninth episode.

Second, it is fun to look back at all the guest stars, especially those who became better known to me afterward.  Seeing Michael Hogan in the pilot before he became Saul Tigh on Battlestar Galactica.  Or Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jane Lynch, Ken Marino, and Todd Stashwick.  It's a game of spot the character actor.

[chessiegal]

Hallmark Mystery Channel airs Monk weekdays from 9 -12 am ET. Unlike Cozi, they air them in the order they were originally aired. Hallmark is starting the series over again, tomorrow April 22.

So many favorites! I appreciated when the writers poked fun at themselves. I enjoyed the episodes with Tony's wife Brooke Adams. She was in 5 episodes.

[chessiegal]

I finally watched the movie. It was a little slow, but nice to see folks again.

I know it's fiction, but I have a problem with the amount of Lorazepam Monk was hoarding. I have a prescription for it - used it back in the days I was flying. It's a controlled substance and you can become addicted to it. A reputable doctor would not prescribe so many refills. My doctor has to authorize every refill. 

[shapeshifter]

32 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

I know it's fiction, but I have a problem with the amount of Lorazepam Monk was hoarding. I have a prescription for it - used it back in the days I was flying. It's a controlled substance and you can become addicted to it. A reputable doctor would not prescribe so many refills. My doctor has to authorize every refill. 

How many refills did it look like there were? 
It was about 20 years ago when I had regular prescriptions for controlled substances, so I don't recall how many you could get.

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

How many refills did it look like there were? 
It was about 20 years ago when I had regular prescriptions for controlled substances, so I don't recall how many you could get.

It looked like about 50-60 bottles. My Lorazepam comes with 0 refills for 20 pills. Every refill has to be approved by my doctor.  

[Bastet]

In general, five refills of Lorazepam are allowed before a new prescription is required; more stringent authorization requirements vary based on state and provider.  In CA (where I am, and I take it, although not regularly; I have a dose for when my chronic anxiety amps up and then a larger one for when it's severe), if Monk didn't take let's say half of his prescribed dose and kept hoarding it, he could believably amass that supply, but that requires him skipping doses/taking lesser doses for quite a while.  I think it can be said to work within the bounds of TV, but I'd have to go back and look at the visual of his medicine cabinet, and this reunion movie wasn't worth me taking that time.

[chessiegal]

I have never gotten a Lorazepam prescription that allows refills without a doctor's approval. They are always 0 refills. Maybe it's a Maryland practice. 🤷‍♂️

[fishcakes]

On 4/30/2024 at 5:22 PM, chessiegal said:

It looked like about 50-60 bottles. My Lorazepam comes with 0 refills for 20 pills. Every refill has to be approved by my doctor.  

Not to be morbid, but isn't 20 pills enough to kill a person? Limiting refills is a probably a good idea, but if someone can do themselves in by filling the prescription once, then I don't really get the logic.

As for the movie, it did seem crazy unlikely that he had one cabinet filled with vials, but I think that was them just making it obvious that Monk was hoarding. At the end, when he was in the park and had the pills all lined up on his handkerchief, it looked like he only had about 50 pills, which again, I assume would do the job, but since it's Monk, I would guess that was everything he had ever purchased. He's always been so against any kind of medication or drug (chaining himself to the tractor on Randy's farm after smelling marijuana burning and screaming that he had the munchies lol) that I think he got the prescription in the first place with the intent of never taking any until he had enough for suicide.

[chessiegal]

From what I've read, I don't think one bottle, depending on the dosage, would be enough to cause an overdose. As usual, Monk was going way overboard.

[shapeshifter]

16 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

At the end, when he was in the park and had the pills all lined up on his handkerchief, it looked like he only had about 50 pills, which again, I assume would do the job, but since it's Monk, I would guess that was everything he had ever purchased

Thank you. It was the number of pills I was wondering about. So only a couple of months' worth.

 

17 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

He's always been so against any kind of medication or drug

3.9 "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine" was the exception:

Quote

The SFPD launches a citywide manhunt after Stottlemeyer is shot and wounded on the job with a gun belonging to a woman who has just committed suicide. Feeling overwhelmed by his OCD, Monk starts taking a new medication to control his symptoms, but it causes a drastic personality change and hinders his ability to find a connection between the two incidents. 

wikipedia.org/wiki/Monk_season_3

 

[fishcakes]

5 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

3.9 "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine" was the exception:

Yes, but it's the exception that reinforces the rule.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

3.9 "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine" was the exception:

Whoever wrote that episode should be ashamed of themselves for its presentation of anti-depressants and those who prescribe and take them.

[Calvada]

I like how there are often casual callbacks to previous episodes.  Such as Natalie asking about a shirt's inspector when buying one for Monk, or Leland playing with his green yo-yo, or Monk mentioning that he had once been buried alive, or my favorite, when Natalie finds out that Monk thinks she will go to hell and asks him why, one of his reasons is that she kissed a leper.  

I enjoyed the one where Monk gets tickets to the playoff football game, something he has no interest in, because Tony Shalhoub is a longtime NFL season ticket holder.  That was some acting!  My favorite episode is the one about the garbage strike, for all the many reasons others have mentioned, but especially for that shot of him in the clean room when he smiles when Leland asks him if he is sure about his solution. 

[chessiegal]

I love this show and discovered it in syndication during the pandemic. I'm retired but saw it when I was home and not able to do activities outside the home. I enjoy the continuity references too. I like the writers poking fun at themselves and the show. One example is when Monk is riding through a film studio in a golf cart, he asks if some folks are famous. The studio employee says they're nobody, just writers. We have Marci Maven complaining about a show changing the theme song. We also have Disher playing some of the original theme song on a piano. When Stottlemeyer asks him what he's doing, he says - playing background music, they always do that.

I also enjoy the more famous guest stars: Rachel Dratch, Sarah Silverman, Snoop Dog, Stanley Tucci (a friend of Tony's), Howie Mandel, Willie Nelson, and Eric McCormack come to mind. Tony's wife Brooke Adams appears in 5 episodes and his brother Michael is in 2 episodes.

But there are continuity lapses that bother me. Trudy's age when she dies was either 34 or 35, depending on the episode. The bomb that killed her was sometimes under the passenger seat and other times under the driver's seat. The biggest was how they met and when they got married. We have them meeting when he was a detective, then the story changed to they met in college at Berkeley, with an entire episode devoted to it.

ETA: I forgot Trudy's office - she worked at a paper and had a desk there, then we have Monk paying for an empty office space.

Edited May 8 by chessiegal

[shapeshifter]

35 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

 I like the writers poking fun at themselves and the show.……But there are continuity lapses that bother me.…Trudy's office - she worked at a paper and had a desk there, then we have Monk paying for an empty office space.

I do love the way you collected all those clever, self-referential bits by the writers.

I've learned to accept that lack of continuity is supposed to be as much of an inside joke as the writers poking fun at themselves through the script, although audiences don't generally seem to be amused.
But since I have a runaway imagination that instantly comes up with possible (often farfetched) reasons for such inconsistencies, I will offer up an explanation to the dilemma of Trudy's office materializing out of nowhere for purposes of the Case Of the Week: 
Because she worked on stories that had sensitive (if not classified) information requiring her to meet with sources who did not want to be identified to the public, she rented a separate office. 

To be clear: This is not Monk canon. 

Edited May 8 by shapeshifter

[fishcakes]

17 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Tony's wife Brooke Adams appears in 5 episodes and his brother Michael is in 2 episodes.

Michael was in three episodes: Mr. Monk and The Missing Granny, Mr. Monk Bumps His Head, and Mr. Monk is the Best Man. In the missing granny episode, I always wondered how many takes it took the two brothers to get through the, "what are you smoking, man?" "I'm smoking the TRUTH, MAN!" scene without laughing.

Tony's sister Susan Shalhoub Larkin was in Mr. Monk and the Genius, and the shushing monk in Mr. Monk and the Miracle was Tony's nephew, Tony Larkin.

Speaking of Mr. Monk and the Genius, I think it's a shame that the actress that played the murdered woman was never cast as a potential love interest for Monk because they had a lot of chemistry just in that one scene. Much more so than any of the three women they had Adrian show interest in in other episodes.

24 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

But there are continuity lapses that bother me. Trudy's age when she dies was either 34 or 35, depending on the episode.

They do say both at various times, but she had to be 35 because her tombstone says 1962 - 1997 and we know she died in December a couple of weeks before Christmas. But her birthday is earlier in the year; in Mr. Monk and Mrs. Monk, Adrian mentions to Dr. Kroger that Trudy's birthday was the day before and the next day he goes to Leland's backyard cookout in what looks to be summer.

[andromeda331]

One that bugs me is in Mr. Monk and the Game Show Trudy takes Monk to meet her parents' for the first time when he's a detective. But they met in college and dated in college. Its hard to imagine she would have waited that long.

[chessiegal]

6 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

One that bugs me is in Mr. Monk and the Game Show Trudy takes Monk to meet her parents' for the first time when he's a detective. But they met in college and dated in college. Its hard to imagine she would have waited that long.

That's a major inconsistency I mentioned. There are 2 stories on when Trudy and Monk met. One is they met when he was a detective, the second is they met in college.

[shapeshifter]

10 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

One that bugs me is in Mr. Monk and the Game Show Trudy takes Monk to meet her parents' for the first time when he's a detective. But they met in college and dated in college. Its hard to imagine she would have waited that long.

Maybe Monk was too anxious to meet them earlier?

[andromeda331]

5 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

That's a major inconsistency I mentioned. There are 2 stories on when Trudy and Monk met. One is they met when he was a detective, the second is they met in college.

I just reread your post and it was there. I don't know how I missed it. Sorry.

5 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Maybe Monk was too anxious to meet them earlier?

Yes but I don't think he'd wait that long because it would make Trudy happy. I do love that her parents' were so great to him.

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

But they met in college and dated in college.

Only according to one episode, where they ignored what they'd already established in order to support the plot of the college reunion mystery.  Don't all other references to their relationship back up the original timeline, where they met later (including the whole thing about Molly, as having been impregnated by her professor and secretly giving birth certainly wouldn't work if Trudy was already dating Monk in college)?

[chessiegal]

They also reference Monk meeting Trudy in college in the episode about Monk's 100th case, but that was a review, so referring to the already aired college reunion episode. In "Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame", Monk tells the pro baseball player that what keeps him going is being the detective Trudy fell in love with. To me, that means Monk and Trudy did not meet/fall in love in college, but when Monk was on the SFPD. I think there are other episodes where Monk says the same thing. The writers clearly had two different scenarios on how/when Trudy and Monk got together and they contradict one another. The writers use which of these scenarios fits the plot du jour.

I forgot to add Meat Loaf to the recognizable Guest Star list.

ETA: Jason Alexander in "Mr. Monk and the other Detective".

Edited May 9 by chessiegal

[shapeshifter]

13 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

But they met in college and dated in college.

8 hours ago, Bastet said:

Only according to one episode, where they ignored what they'd already established in order to support the plot of the college reunion mystery.  Don't all other references to their relationship back up the original timeline, where they met later (including the whole thing about Molly, as having been impregnated by her professor and secretly giving birth certainly wouldn't work if Trudy was already dating Monk in college)?

19 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

They also reference Monk meeting Trudy in college in the episode about Monk's 100th case, but that was a review, so referring to the already aired college reunion episode. In "Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame", Monk tells the pro baseball player that what keeps him going is being the detective Trudy fell in love with. To me, that means Monk and Trudy did not meet/fall in love in college, but when Monk was on the SFPD. I think there are other episodes where Monk says the same thing. The writers clearly had two different scenarios on how/when Trudy and Monk got together and they contradict one another. The writers use which of these scenarios fits the plot du jour.

I'm okay with there being 2 different origin stories for Monk and Trudy's meet-cute, but is there any way to reconcile them by maybe having them meet in college but then not see each other until some years later when Monk is a detective? 

[chessiegal]

11 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I'm okay with there being 2 different origin stories for Monk and Trudy's meet-cute, but is there any way to reconcile them by maybe having them meet in college but then not see each other until some years later when Monk is a detective? 

No. There are other contradictions in the show, but the Monk and Trudy, to me, is the most glaring, especially since they devoted an entire episode to it. Monk is not the only show to have conflicting history. It happens.

[DoctorAtomic]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

ETA: Jason Alexander in "Mr. Monk and the other Detective".

Where did you go to college?
Monk - "Berkeley".
Well, that's accredited too. 

I always remember because people irl always are like 'whoa' when I say it. I usually add more colorful language. 

[HyeChaps]

I wonder of Trudy's parent kept in touch with her daughter.  After all, they were actual family.

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, HyeChaps said:

I wonder of Trudy's parent kept in touch with her daughter.  After all, they were actual family.

So do I.

[Bastet]

It was a misstep not to mention Trudy's parents in the reunion movie.  The fiancé's murder meant no wedding - at which we'd have logically seen Ellisons had the ceremony happened - so it was easy not to include the actors on screen, but to not mention the characters at all was odd; if Molly is this heavily entwined with the guy who happened to marry her biological mom after she was born, she'd logically also have sought out - and which they'd, based on their characterization, have eaten up - a relationship with her biological maternal grandparents, so it was weird not to devote a couple of seconds to referencing them.  Trudy's parents adoring Monk, and vice versa, was a great element of the original series.

[LexieLily]

On 5/10/2024 at 12:12 AM, Bastet said:

It was a misstep not to mention Trudy's parents in the reunion movie.  The fiancé's murder meant no wedding - at which we'd have logically seen Ellisons had the ceremony happened - so it was easy not to include the actors on screen, but to not mention the characters at all was odd; if Molly is this heavily entwined with the guy who happened to marry her biological mom after she was born, she'd logically also have sought out - and which they'd, based on their characterization, have eaten up - a relationship with her biological maternal grandparents, so it was weird not to devote a couple of seconds to referencing them.  Trudy's parents adoring Monk, and vice versa, was a great element of the original series.

I still haven't seen the movie (refuse to buy a streaming service solely to watch one show once) but it does surprise me that Monk never mentioned Trudy's parents in relation to Molly's engagement/wedding. It doesn't correlate with what we knew of them from the show that Trudy's parents wouldn't want to know their late daughter's secret daughter, but maybe something happened in the twelve years we didn't see. Maybe the exact truth of Molly's conception and Trudy's death and how those two things intertwined was ultimately too emotionally difficult for the Ellisons...