"Monk" Mr. Monk Takes a Punch (2008)

Director:

Barnet Kellman

Writers:

Andy Breckman (creator)
Salvatore Savo (written by)

TV Series:

"Monk" (2002)

Original Air Date:

8 August 2008 (Season 7, Episode 4)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery | Crime

Plot:

A boxer narrowly avoids a bomb, and Stottlemeyer believes it won't be the only attempt with a championship bout coming up...

Plot Keywords:

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

Cast

Tony Shalhoub	...	Adrian Monk
Traylor Howard	...	Natalie Teeger
Jason Gray-Stanford	...	Lt. Randall Disher
Ted Levine	...	Captain Leland Stottlemeyer
Robert Loggia	...	Louie Flynn
James Lesure	...	Ray Regis
Jon Sklaroff	...	The Iceman
John Capodice	...	Frankie Marino
Patrick O'Connor	...	Daniel MacGraw
Tim Monsion	...	Sound Engineer
Hector Elizondo	...	Dr. Neven Bell
Amaryllis Borrego	...	Mrs. MacGraw
Christopher Goodman	...	CSI Tech
Dave Sebastian Williams	...	Announcer
Emily Happe	...	Cocktail Waitress

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Company:

Mandeville Films

Trivia:

The fighters are named Ray Regis and Carlos Hiraldo. Their last names are references to talk show hosts Regis Philbin and Geraldo Rivera (Hiraldo and Geraldo are both pronounced the same). Which makes add an extra layer of humor to the big fight - Regis vs. Hiraldo/Geraldo - as noted by listening to the commentators during the fight who generally call the participants by their last names only.

Quotes:

Adrian Monk: I am the beast!

What happened to Monk?

Monk is my favorite show but since the seventh season I am very disappointed because the show just lost everything that was good about it. My growing disappointment reached its peak in this episode. I started to wonder if they exchanged the writers for it with a whole new set that has not even seen any of the previous episodes or know anything about Monks past or worst of all simply don't care. In general the show lost on wit and esprit, the murderer and motive are obvious and can be solved by the audience immediately. The jokes are dull and not very funny. I started to feel sorry for the actors to be given such a bad script. Specifically in this episode Monk is portrayed as a physically unfit person who can't run for more than a few seconds before he collapses on the ground in pain. Hello?!? I thought I couldn't trust my eyes and ears. Remember the episode "Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man" where Monk is watching a marathon to see his boyhood hero Tonday Mawwaka, a legendary marathoner and where you find out later that Monk used to be a track and field star in high school. In the end he is given new running shoes from Tonday, whereupon Monk is picking up running again. This all doesn't fit together with this episode. Furthermore Monk doesn't seem to solve any crimes any more as he used to do. Where is the moment where Monk solves the crime and gives his glorious explanations starting with "Here's what happened..."? Instead you just see a halfheartedly flash back of the past incidents. In addition, since when does he touch a door to a dirty recording studio all by himself without Natalie around to give him at least wipes? Since when can he balance on a wooden beam without any protest when he can't even go on the first step of a ladder? And most of all how can Dr. Bell's office interior change every time he sees him without upsetting Monk. Monk likes everything the way it is without change. He used to know every single item and its place in Dr. Krogers office but here everything changes from episode to episode and scene to scene, from different chairs to tables or no tables at all, etc. I wish the writers would put more thought into the episodes and consider Monks disorder and his reactions to certain circumstances. Otherwise Monk is not Monk any more and he becomes non-credible as a character and therefore not enjoyable to watch, which would be a pity and a great loss.