Alan Haber: A Monk Off the Old Chip: Rebirth!. buhdge

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"Someone should translate the idea of 15 minutes of fame into a reality show. Now, that kind of thing I would watch, as long as the briefly-famous person went right back into obscurity immediately after his or her segment."-Alan Haber

*A Monk* Off the Old Chip : Rebirth!** It's a whole new sleuthing game, and we're the winners, deduces Alan Haber In my last examination of USA Network's Monk, I questioned whether Traylor Howard's Natalie Teeger was a better match for the Defective Detective than Sharona. I said that time would tell, and by the hands on the clock, that time is now: the answer is a definitive "Yes." In the seven episodes that aired between January 21 and March 4, constituting the back end of Monk's third season, the writers have managed to avoid going further down the foxhole by replacing Bitty Schram's Sharona Fleming with Natalie Teeger, a more grounded character, a single mother trying to make ends meet working at a bar to support her equally more-grounded daughter, which makes her a better match for Monk's eccentricities. She approaches Monk's phobias with a human eye grounded in the real world; she has already convinced Monk to put Trudy's things in storage and give up Trudy's office so he can afford to pay Natalie what she deserves (that Trudy, appearing to Monk in a dream, says this is quite the poignant moment). Natalie has also managed to instill enough confidence in her boss to get him to exist in the world a bit more comfortably. It suddenly seems wrong to call Monk the Defective Detective; he doesn't seem as defective as he used to. I suspect this is because Natalie doesn't play up his phobias--she recognizes them as such and supports him so that toning them down doesn't seem like such a trudge through the mud. Just watch Monk holding the little boy in the third season closer, "Mr. Monk and the Kid"; Monk never asks for a wipe to erase those nasty kid germs. He feels a solid measure of love for the boy, even to the point of considering looking after him permanently. Which, of course, could not happen, not unless Monk was cured for good. And that's not going to be until the series gets cancelled, and based upon the third seasons's final seven episodes, I hope this doesn't happen for many light years. The quality of the last seven third season episodes was nearly-uniformly high, with barely a misstep, and only one episode that didn't really work. The first of the seven, "Mr. Monk and the Red Herring," was one of the best examples of how good these writers can be and how on top of the show's ethos they are; its mystery was intriguing, and the introduction of Natalie and her daughter was sensitively handled. Right from the start, Natalie wasn't going to be the suffering type; rather, she immediately announced herself as fiercely independent and equally as caring. Even better, Natalie's daughter isn't annoying as Sharona's son could be, regardless of which actor played him. Instead, Julie is a well-rounded, decidedly normal kid. The idea that she could believe in the comfort of the idea that her deceased father bought her a fish that has lived a veritable lifetime instead of the year or so that would naturally be expected is simply wonderful, a way for her to hold on to the memory of her dad. The second episode, "Mr. Monk vs. the Cobra," was hysterical and well-written all the way. Was Kung Fu movie star Sonny Chow still alive and responsible for a murder? That seemed to be incidental to the rapidly growing respect that Monk and Natalie were having for each other. There were many very clever and funny/sad set-pieces on hand, including the one where Monk refuses to take off his shoes, thereby insulting his hosts. Natalie remarks that she's never seen Monk's feet. When the master Kung Fu guy, played by the veteran actor Mako, remarks that something sad has entered the room. Monk immediately states the obvious: that something is him. The best part of the episode contains some of Tony Shaloub's finest acting on the series: when Monk is buried alive by the bad guy, he loses oxygen and imagines Trudy with him, giving him the impetus to live on. Very touching stuff. "Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever," the third Natalie episode, had the makings of a real disaster--somehow, setting Monk's phobias free in nature seemed like a too-easy idea, maybe even cliche, but the writers made it work. The mystery--who killed Martin Willowby?--was handled with aplomb as the gang combined a bit of a rest with work. The "B" story--Disher's fortune cookie adventure--at least wrapped up with him joining Stottlemeyer and crew in the outdoors to solve the murder, but the major misstep is continuing to portray Randy Disher as an idiot. "Mr. Monk Gets Stuck in Traffic" is the only poor episode of the seven in discussion. I like the premise--Monk gets stuck in a traffic jam and winds up solving a murder in the process--but the execution was less than successful, and stuffed with obnoxious guest characters. Even Julie Teeger was reduced to simply having to go to the bathroom. "Mr. Monk Goes to Vegas" was better, but still not a home run; the mystery, involving a murder in an elevator, was good, but this time around, Stottlemeyer had his brush with idiocy, getting plastered at a bachelor party and acting like he did in the infamous chimp episode, which no one wants to repeat ever again in their lifetimes. The writers redeemed themselves with the penultimate third season episode, "Mr. Monk and the Election," which gave Howard a chance to shine. The story, involving Natalie running for a vacant school board seat, was well-realized, showing Teeger's passion for caring for her daughter and keeping Julie's school open. As great as Howard was in this episode, the growing relationship between Monk and Natalie really started to show teeth during this hour, a very, very good thing. Perhaps the last third season episode, "Mr. Monk and the Kid," was the best of the bunch. A young, foster child finds a severed finger in the park, setting into motion Monk and Natalie, who get to work figuring out the mystery of who the finger belongs to. A very interesting case that had, at least for me, a surprise ending. Best of all, Monk's previously untested, at least to this extent, strong desire to have a child came to the fore; Tony Shaloub's scenes with the toddler were especially heartwarming and well-acted. So, a great bunch of episodes, for the most part, and a terrific addition to the cast in the form of Traylor Howard. Monk is once again on track--reborn, if you will--and the wait for new episodes, scheduled to air this summer, seems already too long. With this show consistently attracting around five million viewers each week, and landing at the top of the ratings for original cable series, it is obvious that viewers agree: Monk is still the champ. March 6, 2005
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A Monk Off the Old Chip : Rebirth!
It's a whole new sleuthing game, and we're the winners, deduces Alan Haber

In my last examination of USA Network's Monk, I questioned whether Traylor Howard's Natalie Teeger was a better match for the Defective Detective than Sharona. I said that time would tell, and by the hands on the clock, that time is now: the answer is a definitive "Yes."

In the seven episodes that aired between January 21 and March 4, constituting the back end of Monk's third season, the writers have managed to avoid going further down the foxhole by replacing Bitty Schram's Sharona Fleming with Natalie Teeger, a more grounded character, a single mother trying to make ends meet working at a bar to support her equally more-grounded daughter, which makes her a better match for Monk's eccentricities. She approaches Monk's phobias with a human eye grounded in the real world; she has already convinced Monk to put Trudy's things in storage and give up Trudy's office so he can afford to pay Natalie what she deserves (that Trudy, appearing to Monk in a dream, says this is quite the poignant moment). Natalie has also managed to instill enough confidence in her boss to get him to exist in the world a bit more comfortably.

It suddenly seems wrong to call Monk the Defective Detective; he doesn't seem as defective as he used to. I suspect this is because Natalie doesn't play up his phobias--she recognizes them as such and supports him so that toning them down doesn't seem like such a trudge through the mud. Just watch Monk holding the little boy in the third season closer, "Mr. Monk and the Kid"; Monk never asks for a wipe to erase those nasty kid germs. He feels a solid measure of love for the boy, even to the point of considering looking after him permanently. Which, of course, could not happen, not unless Monk was cured for good. And that's not going to be until the series gets cancelled, and based upon the third seasons's final seven episodes, I hope this doesn't happen for many light years.

The quality of the last seven third season episodes was nearly-uniformly high, with barely a misstep, and only one episode that didn't really work. The first of the seven, "Mr. Monk and the Red Herring," was one of the best examples of how good these writers can be and how on top of the show's ethos they are; its mystery was intriguing, and the introduction of Natalie and her daughter was sensitively handled. Right from the start, Natalie wasn't going to be the suffering type; rather, she immediately announced herself as fiercely independent and equally as caring. Even better, Natalie's daughter isn't annoying as Sharona's son could be, regardless of which actor played him. Instead, Julie is a well-rounded, decidedly normal kid. The idea that she could believe in the comfort of the idea that her deceased father bought her a fish that has lived a veritable lifetime instead of the year or so that would naturally be expected is simply wonderful, a way for her to hold on to the memory of her dad.

The second episode, "Mr. Monk vs. the Cobra," was hysterical and well-written all the way. Was Kung Fu movie star Sonny Chow still alive and responsible for a murder? That seemed to be incidental to the rapidly growing respect that Monk and Natalie were having for each other. There were many very clever and funny/sad set-pieces on hand, including the one where Monk refuses to take off his shoes, thereby insulting his hosts. Natalie remarks that she's never seen Monk's feet. When the master Kung Fu guy, played by the veteran actor Mako, remarks that something sad has entered the room. Monk immediately states the obvious: that something is him. The best part of the episode contains some of Tony Shaloub's finest acting on the series: when Monk is buried alive by the bad guy, he loses oxygen and imagines Trudy with him, giving him the impetus to live on. Very touching stuff.

"Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever," the third Natalie episode, had the makings of a real disaster--somehow, setting Monk's phobias free in nature seemed like a too-easy idea, maybe even cliche, but the writers made it work. The mystery--who killed Martin Willowby?--was handled with aplomb as the gang combined a bit of a rest with work. The "B" story--Disher's fortune cookie adventure--at least wrapped up with him joining Stottlemeyer and crew in the outdoors to solve the murder, but the major misstep is continuing to portray Randy Disher as an idiot.

"Mr. Monk Gets Stuck in Traffic" is the only poor episode of the seven in discussion. I like the premise--Monk gets stuck in a traffic jam and winds up solving a murder in the process--but the execution was less than successful, and stuffed with obnoxious guest characters. Even Julie Teeger was reduced to simply having to go to the bathroom. "Mr. Monk Goes to Vegas" was better, but still not a home run; the mystery, involving a murder in an elevator, was good, but this time around, Stottlemeyer had his brush with idiocy, getting plastered at a bachelor party and acting like he did in the infamous chimp episode, which no one wants to repeat ever again in their lifetimes.

The writers redeemed themselves with the penultimate third season episode, "Mr. Monk and the Election," which gave Howard a chance to shine. The story, involving Natalie running for a vacant school board seat, was well-realized, showing Teeger's passion for caring for her daughter and keeping Julie's school open. As great as Howard was in this episode, the growing relationship between Monk and Natalie really started to show teeth during this hour, a very, very good thing.

Perhaps the last third season episode, "Mr. Monk and the Kid," was the best of the bunch. A young, foster child finds a severed finger in the park, setting into motion Monk and Natalie, who get to work figuring out the mystery of who the finger belongs to. A very interesting case that had, at least for me, a surprise ending. Best of all, Monk's previously untested, at least to this extent, strong desire to have a child came to the fore; Tony Shaloub's scenes with the toddler were especially heartwarming and well-acted.

So, a great bunch of episodes, for the most part, and a terrific addition to the cast in the form of Traylor Howard. Monk is once again on track--reborn, if you will--and the wait for new episodes, scheduled to air this summer, seems already too long. With this show consistently attracting around five million viewers each week, and landing at the top of the ratings for original cable series, it is obvious that viewers agree: Monk is still the champ.

March 6, 2005