I thought "Fights City Hall" is one of the best written and most enjoyable "Monk" episodes. I have replayed it many times to my delight. (Some spoilers here.) On the negative side:
(1) I didn't care for Monk acting like a helpless jerk protesting the demolition of the garage, especially after he admitted that he probably didn't overlook any clues, having revisited the garage about once a week! Ye, Gads! (He could have taken pictures of the garage wall if he wanted to savior the memory.) As a lot of fans have mentioned lately, we see too much of Monk as a ridiculous slapstick caricature, but fortunately not too much of that is in this episode.
(2) The murdered German tourist bit was a complete waste of time. It could have been taken out with no loss. It had nothing much to do with the planning or commission of the crime, nothing to do with clues and solving it.
(3) Monk is celebrating his victory after the second vote on the garage; then the clues suddenly dawn on him. OK, fine. Then, magically, two (courthouse?) cops happen to have been standing by, listening intently, ready to arrest the guilty newspaperman.
(4) nit picking to end all nit picking: at the start of the episode (when Monk is chained to the garage), Monk tells the councilwoman that one reason the garage shouldn't be demolished is that there might be clues there as to the Trudy murder case. So the councilwoman says she never realized that, so orders the demolition halted and a new council vote on the matter. But that is ridiculous: Monk knew about the first council vote and had to be there to make that obvious argument, which the councilwoman had to hear. On the other hand: the councilwoman halting the demolition and arranging a new vote is certainly needed for the episode story to take place.
(5) the crime and solving parts were no great shakes, but they hardly ever are in "Monk" episodes. What was here is serviceable enough. It is mainly the humor, situations and characters that we appreciate, and they were here in abundance.
(6) I'm irate that the promos for this season finale blatantly lied to us. The promo spends a lot of time showing Monk protesting the imminent destruction of the garage (he chained himself to it) where Trudy was murdered. Monk pleads "... my wife died here," which is immediately followed by the announcer's "and then you won't believe what he finds." All lies. He found nothing.
On the positive side, the episode is a nice, compact, very humorous, well-written yarn that sticks to his solving the case and the garage vote, not to Monk's peculiarities. What I liked are the acting, characters, humor, and good pace. A lot of effort went into writing this episode; they sure aren't coasting to the end of the series. Here are some favorite funny scenes, so many you may wonder how they fit all this into 40 minutes of show time:
(1) Monk, who is chained in the garage and is chanting the old radical protest "Hell no, we won't go," implores Natalie to join in the chant because if he was chanting alone, the "we" part "wouldn't make any sense."
(2) Harold trying to find the name of Monk's therapist: Natalie spits out her drink when Harold mentions the alarm and "Dr. Bell."
(3) Natalie corrects the receptionist that the day is not Friday, and the stupid receptionist replies "Who told you that?"
(4) Monk, exasperated by the receptionist, asks if there is someone else he can talk to, and the receptionist points to Natalie!
(5) the whole hot dog warehouse scene was a riot -- talk of hiding the missing councilwoman in the hot dogs while Randy is eating one, the government forced them to put meat in quotations ("meat"), doctors being unable to figure out the cause of the hot dog czar's frequent chest pains (he was constantly eating the hot dogs!), etc.
(6) Monk unable to get past putting up even one of 1000 posters because the poster and/or the pole are uneven.
(7) Dr. Bell mentions that an assistant could vote for the missing councilwoman. Monk, amazed, stands up. Dr. Bell tells Monk to sit down. Monk says "I think you are a genius." Dr. Bell says, "OK, you can stand."
(8) Monk romancing the receptionist to get her vote: waving the flowers about and sitting on her desk, hesitating to pay $3 for her hot dog, meeting the vendor again and saying "it's a pleasure to see you again" while making quotations marks with his fingers, Monk promising not to tell the receptionist's child (20 years later) that she ate hot dogs during her pregnancy, Monk asserting that the kids don't need a playground -- they could use their imagination and play in the garage, and best of all: the receptionist complains that the councilwoman should have warned her upon hiring her that the councilwoman would likely soon disappear, that she should have mentioned it on the employment poster.
(9) the love nest, cheerleader and French maid costumes/roommates , and the drawer.
(10) Monk is elated when the journal is found. He says "this is all I need." Stottlemeyer and Randy beam, thinking he solved the case, but Monk only thinks of using it to convince the receptionist to vote his way.
(11) Harold's prayer that the murder of the councilwoman be personal or random, not a vendetta against the city council.
(12) Monk's lengthy tantrum, calling the woman a dolt who was only hired for her "pee," and the receptionist then changing her vote.
(13) Harold finally finding the name of Monk's therapist, Dr. Bell -- "see you in the waiting room."
(1) I didn't care for Monk acting like a helpless jerk protesting the demolition of the garage, especially after he admitted that he probably didn't overlook any clues, having revisited the garage about once a week! Ye, Gads! (He could have taken pictures of the garage wall if he wanted to savior the memory.) As a lot of fans have mentioned lately, we see too much of Monk as a ridiculous slapstick caricature, but fortunately not too much of that is in this episode.
(2) The murdered German tourist bit was a complete waste of time. It could have been taken out with no loss. It had nothing much to do with the planning or commission of the crime, nothing to do with clues and solving it.
(3) Monk is celebrating his victory after the second vote on the garage; then the clues suddenly dawn on him. OK, fine. Then, magically, two (courthouse?) cops happen to have been standing by, listening intently, ready to arrest the guilty newspaperman.
(4) nit picking to end all nit picking: at the start of the episode (when Monk is chained to the garage), Monk tells the councilwoman that one reason the garage shouldn't be demolished is that there might be clues there as to the Trudy murder case. So the councilwoman says she never realized that, so orders the demolition halted and a new council vote on the matter. But that is ridiculous: Monk knew about the first council vote and had to be there to make that obvious argument, which the councilwoman had to hear. On the other hand: the councilwoman halting the demolition and arranging a new vote is certainly needed for the episode story to take place.
(5) the crime and solving parts were no great shakes, but they hardly ever are in "Monk" episodes. What was here is serviceable enough. It is mainly the humor, situations and characters that we appreciate, and they were here in abundance.
(6) I'm irate that the promos for this season finale blatantly lied to us. The promo spends a lot of time showing Monk protesting the imminent destruction of the garage (he chained himself to it) where Trudy was murdered. Monk pleads "... my wife died here," which is immediately followed by the announcer's "and then you won't believe what he finds." All lies. He found nothing.
On the positive side, the episode is a nice, compact, very humorous, well-written yarn that sticks to his solving the case and the garage vote, not to Monk's peculiarities. What I liked are the acting, characters, humor, and good pace. A lot of effort went into writing this episode; they sure aren't coasting to the end of the series. Here are some favorite funny scenes, so many you may wonder how they fit all this into 40 minutes of show time:
(1) Monk, who is chained in the garage and is chanting the old radical protest "Hell no, we won't go," implores Natalie to join in the chant because if he was chanting alone, the "we" part "wouldn't make any sense."
(2) Harold trying to find the name of Monk's therapist: Natalie spits out her drink when Harold mentions the alarm and "Dr. Bell."
(3) Natalie corrects the receptionist that the day is not Friday, and the stupid receptionist replies "Who told you that?"
(4) Monk, exasperated by the receptionist, asks if there is someone else he can talk to, and the receptionist points to Natalie!
(5) the whole hot dog warehouse scene was a riot -- talk of hiding the missing councilwoman in the hot dogs while Randy is eating one, the government forced them to put meat in quotations ("meat"), doctors being unable to figure out the cause of the hot dog czar's frequent chest pains (he was constantly eating the hot dogs!), etc.
(6) Monk unable to get past putting up even one of 1000 posters because the poster and/or the pole are uneven.
(7) Dr. Bell mentions that an assistant could vote for the missing councilwoman. Monk, amazed, stands up. Dr. Bell tells Monk to sit down. Monk says "I think you are a genius." Dr. Bell says, "OK, you can stand."
(8) Monk romancing the receptionist to get her vote: waving the flowers about and sitting on her desk, hesitating to pay $3 for her hot dog, meeting the vendor again and saying "it's a pleasure to see you again" while making quotations marks with his fingers, Monk promising not to tell the receptionist's child (20 years later) that she ate hot dogs during her pregnancy, Monk asserting that the kids don't need a playground -- they could use their imagination and play in the garage, and best of all: the receptionist complains that the councilwoman should have warned her upon hiring her that the councilwoman would likely soon disappear, that she should have mentioned it on the employment poster.
(9) the love nest, cheerleader and French maid costumes/roommates , and the drawer.
(10) Monk is elated when the journal is found. He says "this is all I need." Stottlemeyer and Randy beam, thinking he solved the case, but Monk only thinks of using it to convince the receptionist to vote his way.
(11) Harold's prayer that the murder of the councilwoman be personal or random, not a vendetta against the city council.
(12) Monk's lengthy tantrum, calling the woman a dolt who was only hired for her "pee," and the receptionist then changing her vote.
(13) Harold finally finding the name of Monk's therapist, Dr. Bell -- "see you in the waiting room."