'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.
After half of the previous episodes being disappointing (the overstuffed and under-cooked "Mr Monk Takes the Stand" with two uninspired cases and one of the show's flimsiest alibis, "Mr Monk and the Critic" which despite some delightful character moments had a far too obvious mystery and the how the crime was done/opportunity aspect was very weak and particularly the excessively silly "Mr Monk and the UFO"), while not classic 'Monk' Season 8 is back on track with "Mr Monk and the Voodoo Curse". To me, up to this point of Season 8 it's joint second best (the other being "Mr Monk is Someone Else", which made an absurd concept surprisingly work), with the best and only outstanding episode thus far being "Mr Monk and the Foreign Man".
In a way, "Mr Monk and the Voodoo Curse" is one of the weirdest 'Monk' episodes with the incorporation of the voodoo. You'd think understandably that 'Monk' doesn't work when weird, this (unlike "Mr Monk and the UFO" was a case of weird being done well and being intriguing, the weirdness worked because voodoo as well as mysterious is strange so it was appropriate). Occasionally it gets a little too outlandish and one does wish there was more Disher and Stottlemeyer. Also find that the Mitch angle, no matter how important it was to give Natalie some character development, didn't resonate emotionally as much as Monk with Trudy (which has real pathos), due to it not having as much exposure, more of a sense of Monk struggling to come to terms and Monk being a more interesting character than Natalie.
On top of being one of the weirdest, "Mr Monk and the Voodoo Curse" has also been one of the most interesting and most different and suspenseful 'Monk' episodes in quite some while. The voodoo angle and Natalie's predicament has a real mystery and menace and is done very suspensefully, and the mystery is the best in a long time. It is a complex twisty one with nothing being too obvious, too convoluted or silly. The climax is one of 'Monk's' most tension-filled and shocking, finally a solution where nothing is what it seems. As far as Natalie-centric episodes go too, it's one of the better ones, one cares for Natalie here and one loves how caring Monk is towards her and how he cares for her (refreshing after seeing episodes lately where he was uncharacteristically mean).
Tony Shalhoub can always be depended on to be good as Monk, being consistently one of the best things about every episode regardless of what material is thrown at him. 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.
As ever, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford and Ted Levine give great support, while Meatloaf (yes you saw right) is surprisingly effective and gives an amusing quality to a potentially odd character.
Writing is wry, suspenseful and quirky.
Visually, the episode is slick and stylish as ever. 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, weird but different, very intriguing and very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox
