TV Jots

Adrian Monk is an original in every way, from his unmatched observational skills to his derailed but once illustrious career as the San Francisco Police Department’s most outstanding and celebrated homicide detective … that is, until the tragic, unsolved murder of his wife Trudy, whom he loved more than anything, precipitated the onset of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Afterwards, the perpetually bereft widower is left virtually incapable of practicing the profession he once excelled in.

The crime dramedy follows Monk’s uneven progress surmounting the numerous resultant debilitating phobias, obsessions, and random peculiarities as he strives to attain his goal of returning full-time to the career he still desires. He is aided in this consuming endeavor by his all-around assistant, originally Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram), and his past and present SFPD colleagues, Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Lieutenant Randall “Randy” Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford), whom he eagerly serves as a consultant to upon request.

When Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) took over the taxing position of Monk’s near constant companion and assistant in crime-detecting in the middle of the third season last year, there was noticeable grumbling among the show’s longstanding fans that she would never be able to replace the beloved Sharona. Originated by Schram in the 2002 debut season of Monk, the spunky, straightforward character was widely credited with helping the series achieve its present level of enduring popularity, supplying a composed and sensible yin to Monk’s uptight and eccentric yang. Together, the pair was downright invincible when it came to surviving assorted escapades and solving crimes within the allotted hour-long, self-contained format.

The fifth episode of the current fifth season, Mr. Monk, Private Eye, was particularly notable given Schram’s abrupt departure. The reason is because it firmly established that Natalie is not only a strong and integral member of the cast, which has been clear for a while, but her role has now morphed from that of a mere hired hand to one that is on a par with Sharona’s. Natalie is a no-nonsense individual who has become such a large part of stubborn Monk’s life that she is capable of influencing both his personal and professional decisions, despite his vehement objections, forcing him to occasionally set aside his myriad inflexible rules and idiosyncrasies and try life on the wild(er), less predictable and rigid side.

In the episode, Natalie uses the example of her late grandfather’s success establishing a profitable toothpaste company in the United Kingdom to convince an extremely reluctant Monk to give running a private detective agency a chance. The venture is supposed to help Monk build his clout, while counteracting the periodic lulls the team encounters when the SFPD doesn’t have any cases for them to solve.

Unfortunately, Natalie and Monk hang around the office for several days with no clients in sight, which compels them to accept the mundane vandalism case that lands on their desks when Linda Fusco (guest star Sharon Lawrence of NYPD Blue), a prominent real estate developer, eventually walks through the door complaining about her dented car fender. Monk is vexed, Natalie ecstatic, and off they go to investigate a petty crime that soon intersects with the meatier disappearance of a schoolteacher that Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher are pursuing.

Mr. Monk, Private Eye also continues the latest trend in this season’s episodes, carried over from last season, showing the title character as he hesitantly yet gradually progresses toward achieving his dream of rejoining the SFPD as a full-fledged detective. To accomplish this feat, Monk must somehow find a way to deemphasize, if not overcome, his psychological issues when faced with the dangerous and demanding work of resolving homicide cases. He’s almost always managed to do this to one extent or another, but never as effectively, steadily, and independently as this season.

While Natalie’s business enterprise yields seemingly insignificant fruit in the beginning, the situation predictably develops into something far more insidious, and once again demonstrates that Monk is capable of much more than he or anyone else believes when threatening predicaments arise that force him to act spontaneously. In the final scenes of the episode, Monk jumps into the ocean to escape the murderer, although he cannot swim, after figuring out the specifics of the crime in his usual ultra-perceptive manner. During the initial seasons of the series, the immeasurably more timid Monk would have probably persisted in finding a hiding spot on the boat rather than consider, let alone attempt, such an audacious escape.

There’s no question that the creative team behind Monk has mastered the series’ humorous crime-light formula. At the same time, they recognize the fact that viewers can only take more of the same exact thing for so long. Consequently, each new successful season has introduced a slight change to the formula geared towards helping the central character avoid remaining stuck in one place, stagnant and enjoyable solely for the various opportunities that watchers receive to laugh at his oddball behavior.

For instance, the third season, as previously mentioned, stirred up the show’s premise by eliminating well-liked Sharona from the picture with nary a warning, and thrusting the unknown widower and single mother Natalie into a job that she initially neither wanted nor welcomed. Thus, the audience had the chance to rediscover Monk’s unconventional disposition all over again through the eyes of an individual who was just as uninitiated as they were when the show first premiered in July 2002 (at which time Sharona and all the other major characters already had a history with Monk, so they understood what to expect from him and weren’t quite as surprised by his actions as the unacquainted can be).

Now followed by the hugely popular, more youth-oriented freshman series Psych, likewise in the vein of crime-light comedy and featuring a similarly unique and uncommonly observant sleuth (Shawn Spencer, played by James Roday), Monk is on a roll that is destined to help USA retain its perch at the top of the basic-cable chain. Viewers can expect additional personal growth from Monk in his relationships with Natalie and others throughout the remainder of this season and subsequent ones, in addition to professional advancement as he continues to make more frequent and significant, albeit inconsistent, strides in his battle against OCD.

This evolution will keep the show interesting and entertaining—the “howdunit” program’s two main assets, since it doesn’t even try to maintain the suspense of a traditional whodunit, often revealing the killer in the earliest scenes or indirectly through the list of guest stars in the opening credits—potentially attracting new viewers and likely further securing the series’ loyal fan base. The last is especially true for the types of older people who, in the mid-1980s to late 1990s, would have veered toward genre programs popular among more mature audiences on pre-procedural-obsessed CBS, such as Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, or even Touched by an Angel.

USA’s announcement on January 12, 2006, that it had simultaneously approved fifth and sixth seasons of Monk demonstrates network executives’ utter confidence in their prize program, and the series’ uniformly high performance before and after the decision proves the faith and support is entirely deserved.

The Verdict: B-

The 5th-season summer finale of Monk premieres Friday, August 25, at 9pm EST on USA

Monk photo courtesy of USA Network and Andrew Eccles