Monk: Season Four

Season four of Monk is one of the best seasons so far. The episodes are:

Mr. Monk and the other Detective. In this one Monk is outshined by another detective but like Monk says he is probably cheating.

Mr. Monk goes home again. In this one it is Halloween and someone is stealing candy from kids who went to Monk's brother's house. Could this tye into the murder of a security guard?

Mr. Monk Stays in bed. In this one Monk is sick for the first time but he still manages to solve the case of the murdered judge and the pizza boy.

Mr. Monk goes to the office. In this one Monk goes under cover at an office to solve the murder of a security guard and who broke the hand of a millionaire.

Mr. Monk gets drunk. In this one Monk gets drunk (from one sip of wine) and he remembers talking to a man no one can seem to remember. Is he going insane or is everybody trying to hide something.

Mr. Monk and Mrs. Monk. In this one Monk is getting better with his O.C.D. but that just happens to be the time when people start seeing his departed wife.

Mr. Monk goes to a wedding. In this one Natalie's brother is getting married and Monk thinks the bride is up to no good.

Mr. Monk and little Monk. In this one Monk runs into his old middle school flame and this brings back flashbacks to when he was a kid.

Mr. Monk and the secret santa. In this one a police officer is poisoned after drinking a bottle of wine he got for Christmas. Can Monk solve the case?

Mr. Monk goes to a fashion show. In this one Monk's favorite shirt inspector is upset. Monk learns her son is behind bars for a crime he could not have committed.

Mr. Monk bumps his head. In this one Monk gets a false lead about the murderer of his wife. When confronting the con artist Monk gets hit in the head, put on back of the truck, and sent to a far off town. Even with amnesia Monk is able to solve the murder of a waitress he met.

Mr. Monk and the captain's marriage. In this one Captain Stottlemeyer hits a cop who said he was sleeping with his wife. Monk agrees to shadow his wife and try to solve a murder at the same time.

Mr. Monk and the big reward. In this one Monk is trying to find a stolen diamond with a $1,000,000 rewars.

Mr. Monk and the astronaut. In this one Monk is trying to solve the murder of a woman. There is only one problem though, his key suspect was in outer space when it happened

Mr. Monk goes to the dentist. In this one Lt. Disher claims to have witnessed a murder while under sleeping gas at the dentist's office. Monk believes him but when the dentist kidnapps him he undergoes what the dentist calls Marathon Man.

Mr. Monk gets jury duty. This is the season finale where Monk sees if he can solve the case he is there for and stop a drug king pin who is trying to escape in the same courthouse.

Monk is one of my favorite shows and I look forward to June 27th when I can complete my collection.

Season Four of Monk was the best season yet. Tony Shaloub proved that he is funny in any situation (as Monk). The season also dealt with the other main characters in a more in depth way, giving Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford, a chance to show us more about their characters lives. The Captain's Marriage, and Mr. Monk Goes To The Dentist, gave us a different view or aspect, if you will, of both of them. I especially liked Jason Gray-Stanford's debut as a so called rock singer (very funny). My whole family has been watching Monk from the beginning, and we love this show!!!

Everyone's favorite obsessive-compulsive phobic detective is back! Police consultant Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) has sixteen more cases to solve. They're sure to leave him terrified and us helpless with laughter.

In this batch of episodes, Monk is faced with a brand new set of puzzles. Who shot the pizza delivery guy? Why did a masked man break a stock analyst's right hand? Did Monk's late wife fake her death? Who tried to run over Lieutenant Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford)? And how could an astronaut commit murder when he was in space? While working on answering these puzzles, he must face the challenge of dealing with the dentist, the flu, a cubical, a hangover, and amnesia.

Once again, the plots here are a little on the thin side. Heck, Monk usually tells us 15 minutes into the show who done it. The problem is figuring out how the person did it. I usually can't put all the pieces together until Monk explains it at the end, and then I feel foolish for missing it.

Of course, the heart of the show is the humor. The writers go out of their way to put Monk into situation that make him uncomfortable to show him over reacting to things. Yet they keep him human, making us care for him. This is best shown in "Mr. Monk and the Astronaut." In one scene, we're laughing at his reaction to the laser pointers, the next we're feeling sorry for him as the suspect in the case belittles him. Yet by the end we're proud as always of the way Monk overcomes his fears to save the day. Overall, this keeps Monk human.

Of course, the show works because the acting is so good. The actors take the material and make it shine. The cast is lead by Tony Shalhoub who brings Monk to life expertly. This is the first full season with Traylor Howard as Monk's new assistant Natalie. I may be in the minority, but she continues to grow on me each time I see her. There is an innocence and sweetness that compliments Monk so well. And Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford continue their great work as the police who constantly have to call on Monk to solve their hardest cases.

Unfortunately, this season does have a couple of negatives. While Monk's wife's murder is mentioned a few times, that storyline seems to have been dropped. I like the few clues we were given each season to advance that story. And this season has the single worst episode of the show yet. "Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist" misses the comedy mark and becomes really dark really fast. While I liked the fact they made Lt. Disher smart for a change, the rest of the episode just didn't work for me.

Those who have been buying the previous seasons know what to expect here. All sixteen episodes are presented in widescreen and Dolby sound on four discs. The set is light on extras, this time giving us only two both on the last disc. The first is a fifteen-minute look at the process the writing staff goes through to create an episode, looking specifically at "Mr. Monk and the Big Reward." Despite what the box says, the actual second bonus feature is a brief profile of Jon Perkins, the detective who consults on the show to help add a bit of realize to it.

On the whole, this is another fine season of a great dramedy. This is the perfect way to preserve the show to watch over and over again.

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