"Monk" Season 7 Thread (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

they did do a show were they pretended she survived, with someone
impersonating trudi.
would they do it again?

 

[Mr. Film]

I don't watch this show that often but I just DVRed like 5 episodes and i'll watch them through out the week. It looks like a pretty good show.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I would say, "No." I think one of the reasons they did that episode (and "Trudy's eyes") was to foreclose the possibility of ever bringing her back - like Dorothy Fontana making Spock an only child when she wrote "Journey to Babel". It not only strengthened the father-son conflict in that episode, she hoped it would slam the door on the otherwise inevitable army of Spock brothers, sisters and half-siblings that his increasing popularity would have tempted the writers to add. (Her plan worked so well that nobody tried to do anything along those lines until the horrendous Star Trek V, where the notion of a Spock half-sibling was just one more stupid plot element lost in a sea of them.)

Besides, how could Trudy come back? Where has she been? Held prisoner somewhere, unable to communicate? Or would they go with the oldest TV cliche of them all, amnesia? What about her body? Granted her car was blown up, but I'm sure dental records and/or DNA were used to confirm her identity.

Monk's grief over Trudy and his struggles to overcome it have been one of the main elements of the show. It would be a dramatic cheat to have erase all that with an implausible happy ending. Much better to show him finally able to move on by starting a new relationship than pulling what almost amounts to a "Bobby in the shower" ending.

Regards,

Joe

 

[TonyD]

you know, at the end of the ep that I referenced the woman impersonating trudy died and told Monk she would tell trudy he loves her.

I can see an ending like Somewhere in Time which was mirrored in Titanic.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Steve Zahn is a continually underestimated actor (I myself am guilty of this) because he regularly tackles projects well below the level of his talent. I loved what he brought to Jack Jr., the Aryan-looking half-brother to the rest of the very Mediterranean Monk clan (but no less screwed up for it). He imbued Jack with a lot of Monkish little moments, despite being a pathological liar, con man and fanatical underachiever. When they were in the victim's house for instance, and he picks up on certain things that only Monk would normally pick up on. And when they were in the diner and Jack Jr. orders in Guaraní. Clearly, he's more than a little smart, too. But I felt the connection most acutely when Monk and he were sitting on Monk's couch watching their dad's favorite movie. The way Zahn carried his half of the "Look at us; what do you think?" exchanges hinted that he's plagued by similarly awful demons to those of Monk and Ambrose, perhaps helping to explain his failings.

 

[Randy Tennison]

While a "trudy is alive" episode would be a tremendous disappointment, I do hope that they allow Monk to solve her murder.

I thought they were heading in this direction a couple of seasons ago, which were some of the best episodes ever. But, then they went back to the "bumbling detective" plots, which I've never really liked.

I would love to see Adrian solve the murder and find out why. Episodes that involve him as a person, not just as a sight gag, are the best ones.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I don't think there's any question that they will. That's one of the nice things about having a planned end point instead of getting cancelled between seasons because you cost too much or in mid-season because the ratings drop - you get to tie off loose ends and deal with plot points. (Something ABC belatedly figured out vis a vis Lost.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I can't believe there has been no comment on the last two episodes, which were two fo the best of the whole series. Natalie shooting Monk? Twice?

And Friday's episode. It was worth watching for the Chinatown hommage alone.

Regards,

Joe

 

[TonyD]

meh, too corny and way too much with the slapstick.
call me when they start the final arc with him and his dead wife.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This whole winter season has been closer in feel to the early, melancholy Sharona episodes IMO. While both "Mr. Monk's Other Brother" and "Mr. Monk On Wheels" were heavy on the slapstick, both had a dark undercurrent. Jack Jr. was as damaged by Jack Sr. as Adrian and Ambrose were, though it scarred him in a different way. In the aftermath of the shooting, Monk revealed just how selfish he is and just how much he takes Natalie for granted (and how close to the breaking point she usually is).

And then Friday's episode really felt like an early episode. Not really slapstick-y at all and, as tragic as the old lady being revealed as an accomplice would have been, the truth was much worse. Because so many have taken advantage of Monk's longing for friendship over the years, he wasn't able to trust it when the real thing came along -- and made a horrific accusation at the first true friend he'd had in a long, long time.

 

[Ockeghem]

Well, I finally saw the most recent episode. And, I thought I had called it (but ended up being wrong due to some wonderful misdirection). Around twenty-five minutes into the episode, I thought the neighbor (the drummer) was the woman's son, and that her real son had not in fact died at age three, and that the two of them had conspired in the murder and robbery. When I learned later that Monk believed the same thing, I was giving myself high fives. Then, I found out that Monk was wrong, and as a result, so was I.

Although I love misdirection (and in this episode, it really worked as far as I am concerned), they have done the "Here's what really happened" at least twice now, perhaps three (or is it four?) times. When I heard that line again, it was a bit of a letdown. I think if push comes to shove, I don't like the tactic, although it certainly works well in throwing off the viewer a bit. I think what I don't like about it is that in my view it lessens Monk's intuitive and/or case-solving (short-term) abilities just a tad. But that's really not all that bad all things considered, I suppose.

BTW, did anyone else notice the use of the number 12 in the episode? For a moment, I thought it was a cryptic allusion to Mr. Monk and the 12th Man. Seriously, the woman mentioned 'twelve years ago,' the drummer's house had the digits '12' in the first two places, and the newspaper headling read '12%.' (It would have been a scream had the man been playing in 12/8 time. ) I think someone is just having a bit of fun with things like this in Monk, whether or not it actually has anything to do with the episode. After all, it is a show based quite highly on observation.

 

[RAF]

The first two episodes of this new "season" were a mixed bag for me. The latest one (with Gina Rowlands) was classic Monk for me, but the first episode, where Monk got shot in both knees slapped of slapschtick and was too far over the top to be enjoyable as far as I was concerned. When Monk's idiosyncracies are played out in a natural way it works for me, but when they overblow things it smacks of shark-jumping. I literally cringed when he was trying to do his trade mark "hand radar" bit while in the wheelchair. His constant "to the left, no... to the right, a bit more, left...." to Natalie, who was steering the wheelchair, went on way too long to be effective in my estimation and transformed into being annoying.

None of this is a deal breaker for me, of course, and Monk is still on my "must watch" list. In fact the USA trifecta of Monk, Psych and Burn Notice are some of my weekly favorites.



And In Plain Sight comes back in the spring.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I must say the second shooting caught me off guard. I assumed that Monk broke Natalie's foot when he ran it over, and they were both going to end up in wheelchairs at the end. And I certainly thought that Monk, rather than Natalie, would have found a silver lining in the fact that his legs at least matched at the end. But for all the silliness I probaby laughed out loud at this episode more than I have and I know my mother did, as well. (She lives with my sister and brother-in-law and she was laughing so hard they came to her room to check on her.

)

Regards,

Joe

 

[GlennH]

I also suspected the Gena Rowlands character was involved in the crime. This suspicion was based on the fact that Monk had found a "friend" and a motherly figure, and you know those things never pan out well for Monk in the end. But then when he did his "here's what happened" thing and accused her I knew that couldn't be correct because it was too early in the show to wrap things up, plus he hadn't tied in the robot robbery. So then I figured she was actually innocent after all, but we just had to see how it played out with Monk being separated from his new friend in the end.

I guess it's okay for Monk to be wrong on occasion, but in some ways that diminishes part of the appeal of the show which is based on the fact that he's hardly ever wrong and can discern things nobody else can. Not that I'm going to stop watching at this point. I've seen all the episodes and intend to see it through to the end now.

 

[Ockeghem]

Agreed. You knew that she either had to 1) die; 2) be put away as a result of having committed the crime; or 3) move away. (Okay, I didn't think of moving away until I saw the entire episode.) But that works as well.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

At first I too suspected Gena's character of no good but as it wore on I began to suspect that she was genuine and really cared for Adrian, which made it all the more heartbreaking when Adrian became nasty with her because I knew that he was making a terrible mistake. :frowning:

As Adam pointed out it shows how damaged he's become from his past experiences.

I liked the slapstick, it was a bit outside the safety zone but it still made me laugh.

 

[RAF]

I like slapstick comedy as much as the next guy or gal, but it has to be played judiciously in my opinion. Once it is too overdone it loses its effectiveness to me. That's why I carefully used the word "slapschtick." One of the charms of Monk is the occasional slapstick comedy, playing off of his quirkiness. However, too much of a good thing doesn't always work. It reminds me of the time that my daughter, many years ago, was in high school and worked at an Ice Cream parlor. You would think that this would be a dream job. But being around the products all day made her actually hate ice cream after a year or two.

One double dip cone of Monk a week is fine by me.

 

[TonyD]

That was just not a good episode.

 

[Stephen Orr]

Just saw on Hulu that the next four Monk episodes would be delayed on next day streaming by a week. Wonder why.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Oh my god, they killed Kevin, you bastards!