"Monk" Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month (2004)

Director:

Scott Foley

Writers:

Andy Breckman (creator)
Ross Abrash (written by)

TV Series:

"Monk" (2002)

Original Air Date:

6 August 2004 (Season 3, Episode 7)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery | Crime

Plot:

Monk goes undercover at a department store to investigate the mysterious death of a popular store employee. In the process he also gains valuable insights into the life of his former partner, who happens to be the store's head of security. |

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Obsessive Compulsive Disorder | Murder | Widower | Multiple Actors For One Character

Cast

Tony Shalhoub	...	Adrian Monk
Bitty Schram	...	Sharona Fleming
Jason Gray-Stanford	...	Lt. Randall Disher
Ted Levine	...	Captain Leland Stottlemeyer
Enrico Colantoni	...	Joe Christie
Alanna Ubach	...	Jennie Silverman
Kane Ritchotte	...	Benjy Fleming
Maree Cheatham	...	Edna Coruthers
Michael Weston	...	Morris
Kyle Davis	...	Ronnie
Esther Scott	...	Delores
Patrick Thomas O'Brien	...	Brent Donovan
Stanley Kamel	...	Dr. Charles Kroger
Sharon Johnston	...	Clara
Jill Wagner	...	Crystal

Color:

Color

Certification:

Portugal:M/12

Company:

Mandeville Films

Trivia:

Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) has a girlfriend named Crystal Smith, played by Jill Wagner She is described as the "...world's leading wallet photo model." Crystal Smith is the name of Playboy's Playmate for September 1971.

Quotes:

Adrian Monk: What do you know about her?
Joe Christie: That's Jennie Silverman. She's the best employee we've got. They just offered her a management position at the new store on Livingston and she turned it down.
Adrian Monk: Why would she do that?
Joe Christie: [pointedly] I don't know. Maybe she has friends here she's loyal to.
[pause]
Adrian Monk: Those two cops were married. One of them had kids. I'm loyal to them.

Fine episode showing what Monk was like before wife's death

This episode is special because of the character of Joe Christie, Monk's last police partner before Monk's wife's death, and the admiration Christie has for Monk despite the fact that Monk, Stottlemeyer, and the others came to think that Christie was a "bad" cop, getting Christie fired, so that Christie ends up a security guard in the department store that is the setting for this episode. I am new to the Monk show this year (2008) so I did not see this episode "in order," but it seems to me that Christie should have been a recurring character. The way the actor plays him is very warm and affecting and you get the sense that he might well be intended to re-appear in later episodes -- but he does not. However, the actor got a regular part on another series (Veronica Mars) that same year, so perhaps what happened is that he had to choose between series and chose the Mars series.