The amount of shows about cops or detectives on television is nothing short of annoying. How many different ways can you solve a crime? How far can you push good taste and make crimes gruesome and horrible? I don’t want to answer that and hope some of these shows go down soon. I rarely wish ill of people’s careers, and hope those people go on to new things, but these need to stop. An odd way to start a review about a cop show, but this one is different. It is about a grieving man using his super OCD powers to notice things and solve crimes. That would sound lame if it weren’t for the “Mentalist” existing. Get it; he’s a detective that uses his mind to solve crimes. Who would have thought?
Even though I’m making light of the whole genre, “Monk” had something I find many of these shows lacking; heart. It had a lot of it. The basic story is this: Adrian Monk was a detective. His wife got killed while picking up cough medicine for his agoraphobic brother. He deeply loved her and this lead to a psychotic break. Though finding out more information throughout the show, it seems like Monk was close to that anyways. He employs a “round the clock” nurse in order to help him deal with his phobias and assist him in his consulting job with the force he had to leave. Now people around the San Francisco are forced to deal with a genius detective that is afraid to touch door knobs or shake hands.
And dead Santa
The things this man is afraid of is staggering. His other neuroses, though born out of tragedy, are pretty humorous. This helps keep the show a little lighter than most cop shows. I list compiled by Marci Maven, Monk’s biggest fan, shows that he is afraid of 312 things. This list includes but s not limited to rats, germs, milk, heights, and ladybugs. Sometimes his fears get in the way and frustrate the viewers and character alike. I’ve seen him blow leads and a case because of his issues and it makes me want to toss a Wii controller through the set. I’m glad though that Netflix has brought this show to my attention, as before I only knew it as a show I saw commercials for during RAW.
Bad choice on my part. Everyone here is better looking than John Cena.
Monk’s nurses are two very important ladies. First, Sharona Fleming is the nurse that helps get Monk out of the house. She was tough on Monk and made him do things that made him uncomfortable. She normally did so with tact as to not shatter the already fragile psyche of the man she was helping. She seemed to enjoy tagging along and playing detective, at least until she was hastily replaced because the actress who portrayed her (Bitty Schram, great name) apparently asked for more money and was canned. The next assistant was Natalie Teeger, who I found a little dull. She is hard on Monk at first, but tends to be more of a pro than Sharona and supports Monk in all his ventures.
Especially if that venture was being a little trashy.
The other two main characters are Monk’s closest pals at the precinct. Lieutenant Disher and Captain Stottlemeyer are the two men that run the show; but often need Monk to solve the cases they can’t handle. Stottlemeyer at first seems to be bothered by the OCD Superman, but the more the show goes on, it becomes clear that they were pretty close before the whole wife drama and the Captain has soft spot for the crazy guy. Disher is a young and kind of dumb second in command. If you need a laugh or someone to fall over, he’s your man. He has a thing for Sharona, but she leaves before they really explore that. She was there three seasons, so you’d think they would have pulled the trigger. The two arcs being the death of Trudy Monk and whether or not Disher and Sharona do it seem to not match in severity.
Here’s what happened: Monk ran for eight successful seasons and won a handful of Emmys. There were a series of novels released around the same characters and Randy Newman got to be on television singing about stuff he saw. The show came to an end when Monk finally found out who killed his wife. I am tempted to spoil it, but you can find out for yourself.
I bet it was mixed candy. Good job Adrian!
Credit goes to: IMDB.com, Netflix.com, insidesocal.com, sidereel.com, joyhog.com and poptower.com