| USA Network celebrates the holidays with a bonus holiday episode of Monk, and comes up a winner. |
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television buhdge
the tube, revisited
Monk
Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa
Premiere:
Friday, December 2, 2005
USA Network
The image of Adrian Monk, his arms outstretched, twirling around on the walkway in front of his assistant Natalie Teeger's home, reveling in the sudden sprinkling of snow, fulfilling Natalie's daughter Julie's wish to celebrate the holiday as those beautiful white flakes fall around her; the neatly-wrapped, unopened Christmas present from Monk's much-missed wife Trudy, perennially unopened, clutched in his palm; and a fresh kiss on the cheek from Natalie sealed by the back of Monk's hand, speaks volumes about the humanity contained in the character brought to life by Tony Shaloub on one of television's most beloved shows. It's a short scene, and it comes at the end of a truly wonderful episode, written with overflowing joy to spare by creator Andy Breckman's brother David.
The murder mystery in this episode, involving a detective in Captain Leland Stottlemeyer's squad who dies suddenly at the annual Christmas party after he drinks from a bottle of Port wine given to Stottlemeyer as a Secret Santa gift, seemed pretty thin and was easily solvable, but the mystery, as in the best Monk episodes, was really beside the point; this episode was all about the dysfunctional details.
And lots of heart-warming details there were: Julie Teeger's tender wish for snow, which she has never seen; Randy Disher's mistaken belief that his Aunt Kay in Boston knitted his Wal-Mart special Christmas sweater: "You can still see where she tore the tag off," says Natalie, rubbing it in playfully, at the party); Randy's pathetic, overly-dramatic harmonizing, on bended knee, no less, with a guitar-picking Stottlemeyer; Monk giving an air purifier to the Captain for his house ("Are you saying my house smells?" wonders Stottlemeyer, who, after putting the still-wrapped gift on a table, asks Monk if he knows what eBay is); Monk and Natalie playing 20 Questions on a stakeout (Natalie correctly guesses Monk is thinking about Trudy without actually playing the game); Monk's realization that the last time it snowed in San Francisco was the day that Trudy died; and Monk going undercover as Santa at a shopping mall...not a great fit for the Defective Detective, as it turns out.
But Breckman, so able a writer, could have made an entire episode out of the affecting undercover Santa scenes. From Monk making all of the stockings pinned to a wall face the same way and Natalie, dressed as an elf, telling the kids that they have to wipe their hands with "magic wipes", to Monk's unease with kids sitting on his lap ("Santa doesn't like the squirmers!" he cries) and Monk's refusal to let the kids kiss him, these scenes were golden. But nothing can match the cute little blonde girl who tells "Santa" her name is Trudy, prompting Monk to tell the little girl the story of his wife's death; the girl comforts Monk by running her hand in a healing way against "Santa's" beard. It's such a wonderful, human moment that bears repeated viewing.
The angel was in the details in Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa, a high-watermark for this series. It's interesting to note, in view of the high level of quality that has been on display since Traylor Howard joined the cast, that this show was originally offered to the ABC network, which turned it down. Now it's USA that's reaping the rewards, and rightly so.
Oh--and you and I. We're reaping the rewards, too. Seven new episodes, created with care by some of the best writers in television, begin unwrapping on January 13. Monk continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. (Click here to see USA's schedule for repeat broadcasts of Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa.)
Alan Haber
December 4, 2005
Go to: USA Network's Monk page