Monk S7.E12 Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door

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While I am typically not a huge fan of Monk episodes that don’t have a lot of humor, I have to admit that I still liked last night’s episode of Monk. Episodes like Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door are needed in order to help develop Monk’s character and hopefully help him get better in the long term. With under a season and a half left, I think this week’s episode was just what was needed to help steer the series to it’s eventual series finale.

This week’s episode revolves around Monk and a woman named Marge. After Marge helps Monk cross the street like he is a small child, Monk becomes attached to her. Marge pretty much becomes a mother figure for Monk sorely needs. In a predictable fashion this relationship leads Monk to this week’s case. A man ends up breaking into the Guiness Book of World Record museum and kills a guard while he steals an exhibit from the museum. It turns out that the thief and murderer is actually Marge’s neighbor. While the police investigate a lead and the neighbor robs a jewelry store (killing the owner), Marge helps Monk get out of his comfort zone.

While meeting with Dr. Bell, Monk thinks that there must be something up with Marge since everyone seems to betray him in some manner (I can’t blame him since anyone he gets close to besides Stottlemeyer, Disher, and Natalie turn out to be killers). So when Monk investigates the jewelry store robbery he determines that Marge’s neighbor (the robber) must be Marge’s son since he has a similar birthmark. Marge also was responsible for giving the neighbor an alibi for the time of the murder (he was playing his drums so loudly that Marge complained). Monk ends up having Marge arrested and he interrogates her in order to get her to confess that she helped out her neighbor/son.

Well it turns out that Marge isn’t the man’s mother. Monk’s behavior upsets Marge though and she refuses to talk to him. While waiting outside Marge’s house, hoping that she will forgive him, he notices some oil outside the neighbor’s house. Monk, Natalie, and Stottlemeyer investigate the neighbor’s garage and find the robot from the missing exhibit. It turns out that the neighbor stole the robot in order to create an alibi for himself as he had the robot play the drums loudly so the neighbors would call the police and he would have an alibi. He would then be able to rob the jewelry store. The neighbor catches them and holds them at gunpoint. Disher shows up and starts shooting at the robot (thinking that it came alive) and that is a big enough distraction for Monk to get the gun away from the killer. After the events of the last couple of days, Marge decides to leave town. Before she leaves though she gives Monk some encouraging words.

As I have already mentioned, the episode wasn’t that funny. The funniest moment had to be when Disher started shooting the robot thinking it came alive and was going to kill them. This episode wasn’t really meant to be that funny though. It was more of a character building episode in my opinion. I think the episode did a good job to get Monk out of his comfort zone and hopefully that will help Monk continue to grow. I don’t know what other Monk fans are looking for in the series finale but I would like to see Monk solve Trudy’s murder and also get over most of his fears so he is finally pretty normal. I believe last night’s episode was the first in several episodes that will help Monk finally start to get over some of his fears.

Quotes:

Stottlemeyer: “I heard you had a disagreement with a do not walk sign.”

Monk: “I made a friend. It’s not that unrealistic.”

Monk: “I forgot to wash my hands.”

Natalie: “Shiver me timbers, you look hungry.”

Your Thoughts: So what did you think of Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door? Do you like that the show appears to finally be letting Monk grow and get over some of his fears?

Photo Credit: USA