Lawn Ranger Motto: You're only young once, but you can be always be immature.
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Originally Posted by Ockeghem
Does anyone know if Bitty Schram might make a guest appearance sometime this season? I think it could be worked into the storyline; however, I'm not sure the two parties (Schram and TPTB) left on the best of terms, which might make it difficult for her to return in any capacity. I'd love to see it, though. Some of the dialogue between she and Traylor Howard might be fascinating, to say the least.
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"Because he's the hero that Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now... and so we'll hunt him... because he can take it... because he's not a hero... he's a silent guardian, a watchful protector... a DARK KNIGHT."
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Originally Posted by Zack Gibbs
I fully expect for them to go to this well before the show is over, they'll run out of ideas eventually and suddenly they won't have so much pride.
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"Because he's the hero that Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now... and so we'll hunt him... because he can take it... because he's not a hero... he's a silent guardian, a watchful protector... a DARK KNIGHT."
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Originally Posted by Zack Gibbs
I haven't seen anything saying that this is Monk's last season. I know that the show is expensive and when they renewed for Season 7 (16 episodes) they said they'd have to start looking at "the end," but that doesn't mean it actually is. USA will probably find that money somewhere for Season 8.
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| USA's Jeff Wachtel tells Variety that Monk is "a hugely significant show" for the cable channel. He also adds, "It's a tentpole for our success, and it's been a successful launching pad," referring to the fact that Monk was used to bring an audience to USA's hit Psych, which will likely be paired with Monk again this summer. The Hollywood Reporter says Monk will once again split its season, with the first half debuting in July, and the second half in January. Due to how pricey it's become, it's likely Season 7 of Monk will be the last one. Wachtel tells Variety "We have to be thinking of that," and that producer Breckman is "starting to wrap up the show's mythology if this is, in fact, the final season." -- IGN-TV |
| Unfortunately the rest of the show had the typical flaws of the past few seasons: poor writing, little mystery and an unbelievable plot. |
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Originally Posted by Ockeghem
I too was wondering why 'Honest Jake' kept Monk and Natalie alive; sometimes, I just resort to the 'it's in the script' line, like I do with much of Trek.
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Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt
This was definitely one of the weaker mysteries, even by the looser standardds of the later seasons. I think this has to do with the fact that the script was written before Stanley Kamel died; Dr. Kroeger's death gave Adrian greater motivation to move, but it also ate up a lot of screentime with showing Monk's loss and introducing the new pyschiatrist. That pushed the mystery even further into the background than usual.
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Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt
Which was okay with me; both the actor Stanley Kamel and the character Dr. Kroeger deserved an episode that paused and paid its respects. The most movie scene in a long time came at the very end, with Adrian back in his apartment reading a book in the open window as Chopin wafted through, the camera pulling back to a photo of Dr. Kroeger and then fading into an "in loving memory" title card for Stanley Kamel.
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Originally Posted by Ockeghem
Adam,
Very well said. I must say, I was a tad confused as to the why with regard to Monk moving. A Chopin work played too loudly? No way. I was perplexed by that for almost the entire hour, until the writers (via the new therapist) reminded the audience that the composer was one of Kroeger's favorites. I wish I had remembered that, but I did not. It made so much more sense when they informed the viewer of that tidbit later in the episode. |
| Bravo. I too loved this ending. About the only topper for me (and I realize that this may not be pragmatic at this point) would be to end the series with Trudy somehow being found alive and well.... |
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Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
I'm not sure it was ever established the Kroger liked Chopin. We rarely saw Monk in his waiting room and I don't recall ever hearing any "sourced" music playing in those scenes. I suspect that Stanley Kamel was fond of Chopin, perhaps listened to his muisc in his dressing room, and that the writers used that as a plot point as a kind of private tribute that only the cast and crew would get.
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Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
I don't think Trudy's return was ever in the cards, but solving her murder certainly is. And it may be that Monk will move on once that happens and find happiness with someone else.
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Originally Posted by Ockeghem
... I must say, IMO the first actor who played Dale the Whale was more fitting than Tim Curry, although I like Curry in other things.
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Originally Posted by GlennH
I also liked Adam Arkin in the role better than Tim Curry, and both of those actors better than the third actor to portray him (in Season 6), Ray Porter. He seems to keep getting more repulsive, which may be what they want I suppose.
List of Monk characters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| He seems to keep getting more repulsive, which may be what they want I suppose. |
That's the problem with recurring characters, you can never be sure that you're going to be able to get the actor who created a given role the next time you want to use that character. Then the choice is either use a different character in that particular script or cast a different actor to play the part.
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Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
I think the actor change was more a matter of price and/or availability than a planned evolution of the character, but I guess you work with what you have. That's the problem with recurring characters, you can never be sure that you're going to be able to get the actor who created a given role the next time you want to use that character. Then the choice is either use a different character in that particular script or cast a different actor to play the part.
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Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!
Also, they should definitely not bring Trudy back from the grave, it would be too easy an out for Adrian and it would come off as nothing but an enormous cop-out to let him off the hook like that when we've watched him struggle with his problems like he has been all these years.
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Originally Posted by Ockeghem
I've been mulling over your comment regarding Ray Porter. Is this the episode with the 'window' in Dale's prison cell? Or is it another episode? I am trying to recall which of those I have seen thus far. I own the first five seasons of Monk on DVD, but I don't know if that includes two or three 'Dale' episodes.
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Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt
Not to mention how horrible it would be if she WAS alive somewhere. Either she betrayed him and faked her own death which would go against everything we know about her, or someone held her captive against her will purely to torture Monk.
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Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt
Not to mention how horrible it would be if she WAS alive somewhere. Either she betrayed him and faked her own death which would go against everything we know about her, or someone held her captive against her will purely to torture Monk. Neither is a scenario I would enjoy.Without spoiling anything, the third Dale the Whale episode is very recent. Definitely not in the first five seasons.
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Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
The window subplot was seen in "Mr. Monk Goes to Jail", the S2 season finale. Tim Curry played Dale "The Whale" in that episode, in which Dales gives Monk a clue to Trudy's murder, and tells him the man he's looking for was last seen in New York. The last shot in the episode shows Dale looking out the new window in his cell at a plane (presumably Monk's NY flight) rising up towards cruising altitude.
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Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
Ray Porter appears as Dale in the season six finale - about which the less said the better, as you haven't seen it yet.
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Originally Posted by GlennH
Joe, I think Adam tried to avoid giving even that much spoiler info on the latest Dale sighting, since his appearance was not obvious in that storyline until it happened.
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Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino
The problem is I didn't see Adam's post until after I posted mine, since we were composing our messages around the same time. And actually...
Warning Spoiler! Click to show ...I was expecting Dale to show up in that episode given the subject matter and the fact that the guy Monk tracked down was, in fact, the guy Dale said was involved in Trudy's murder back at the end of season 2 when he sent Monk off to New York.
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