'Monk' has always been one of my most watched shows when needing comfort, to relax after a hard day, a good laugh or a way to spend a lazy weekend.
While not one of my favourite 'Monk' episodes, "Mr Monk and the Girl Who Cried Wolf" is still very good and its change of pace (being much creepier and more thriller-like with a touch of horror than the show's usual quirkiness) is refreshing. It also is notable for the introduction of Harold Krenshaw and being one of Sharona's last appearances. It is not deserving of the low score it's got on TV.com, to me that is inexplicable and implies that it is one of the show's worst episodes when to me it isn't.
Stottlemeyer (apart from the garage scene with Monk), Benjy and Trevor are pretty much wasted here and Sharona being found and tracked down so quickly by the "apparition-like dead man" did border on the absurd later. Varla is occasionally a character that comes across as overblown, though most of the time she's funny and has some good lines.
Bitty Schram gives one of her best performances of all her appearances on 'Monk' as Sharona, one really feels for her though we don't question her sanity as much as the other characters do. Emma Caulfield gives one of Season 3's best guest performances, Stanley Kamel is a sympathetic presence and Tim Bagley makes a potentially annoying character entertaining.
One of the best things about 'Monk' has always been the acting of Tony Shalhoub in the title role. It was essential for him to work and be the glue of the show, and Shalhoub not only is that but also at his very best he IS the show. Have always loved the balance of the humour, which is often hilarious, and pathos, which is sincere and touching. It is remarkable here that right from the first episode to when the show ended that one likes him straight away, even with his quirks and deficiencies that could easily have been overplayed, and also that he is better developed than most titular characters of other shows at this particular stage. Who can't help love Monk's brilliant mind too?
"Mr Monk and the Girl Who Cried Wolf" has one of the better mysteries of Season 3. It entertains but is one of the strongest and most unconventional of the season and the show, with a thriller-like element and also a sense of horror. The first appearance of the person haunting Sharona is hard to forget and is a strong contender for the most terrifying of 'Monk'.
It's not just the cast or story though. Another star is the writing, which is also essential to whether the show would be successful or not and succeed it does here. The mix of hilarious wry humour, lovable quirkiness and tender easy-to-relate-to drama is delicately done mostly deft. Monk's OCD is portrayed entertainingly but also sympathetically, it doesn't feel overdone and it is not exploited.
Visually, the episode is shot in a slick and stylish way, and the music is both understated and quirky. While there is a preference for the theme music for Season 1, Randy Newman's "It's a Jungle Out There" has grown on me overtime, found it annoying at first but appreciate its meaning and what it's trying to say much more now.
Overall, very good and a solid attempt at doing something different. 8/10 Bethany Cox