Mr. Monk Is Someone Else

'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.

There are better 'Monk' episodes than "Mr Monk is Someone Else", including in Season 8 (i.e. "Mr Monk and the Foreign Man"), but also worse ("Mr Monk and the Missing Granny", "Mr Monk and the Big Reward", "Mr Monk and the Rapper", "Mr Monk and the Really Really Dead Guy", "Mr Monk Takes a Punch", "Mr Monk Falls in Love" and "Mr Monk and the UFO" are particularly disappointing). "Mr Monk is Someone Else" is a very enjoyable episode though, and somehow manages to make an implausible concept (Monk having an evil doppelganger and becoming a hit-man) work when it shouldn't have done.

It is lacking in the mystery department, despite the clever ending there just isn't anything really surprising or imaginative here. There are things like Monk being happy to work for the FBI (considering how he was treated by them in previous episodes) and getting into the role of becoming his doppelganger happening rather too easily as well.

However, the episode provides some funny moments (will admit to having a giggle at the photo of DePalma and trying to imagine an evil Monk) and nice quirky little things (like with the tie), while Monk being a tough guy also works because while he could have come over as unnecessarily mean being deliberately out of character there are legitimate reasons given for the way he acts here. Seeing him really getting into it was well done, and as good a character Harold Krenshaw seeing him pushed around was 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.

Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford and Ted Levine are all fine too, their material is strong enough and they're in character. The supporting cast is good.

Writing is funny, quirky and thoughtful and the characterisation of Monk is different but also with shades of the old Monk with great Monk-ish behaviour that is unique in an only Monk way.

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, very enjoyable. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Again, a visually stunning episode, this time featuring Lola's assets!

One-note and with little to nothing to give on the creative side, the shows keeps being watchable thanks to running gags, inside jokes and bold changes in the overall mood.

Calling the guy Frankie DePalma and coupling Monk with his mistress was really nice on the front of homages. However it makes no sense to see Monk can go undercover and act in character on a whim, despite all his pet peeves and germophobia. Sure, the show is already supposed to be taken lightly, but...

I don't know... Monk never grew on me, probably because the frequency of suspension of disbelief it offers is kinda "too fabricated and on the nose".

But well, yes! I loved how he wanted the 20 cent tip back after the server convinced him to pay 20 bucks instead! Now THAT was a tasteful reflection of the character in question! The duel of stares and his hitman persona growing on Monk were also nice touches. So yeah, that was one of my better Monk experiences after all.

Other than watching Tony Shaloub play a different part as Monk stands in for his double, a gangster, this is pretty weak stuff. Monk must overcome his timidness to help out the FBI. He bangs heads with some Mafia types and manages to do fairly well. The plot, however, has been done to death. The usual stereotypical mob characters.

I try my best to find humor in the mr moron's absurd antics but alas there is none

... it really belongs to someone else.

Mob hit man Frankie DePalma is hit by a bus and killed, except the feds know about this and his mob connections do not. Frankie was in LA for a job, and the feds have no idea who the object of his hit would be. But Monk is a dead ringer for DePalma, so the feds ask him if he would be willing to go undercover so that they can find out who is to be hit and stop it. Also, they hope to round up and arrest a bunch of mobsters in the process. Monk agrees to impersonate DePalma and go undercover.

So the rest of the episode is Monk trying to solve the case of who is to be killed without actually killing that person, which the mobsters are anxious to have happen. But while playing tough Frankie DePalma, Monk becomes a little too immersed in the role he's playing, because for the first time in his life he's able to scare people into letting him have his way just by grimacing at them, and he's liking that power.