First I Laughed, Then I Felt Pity, Now It Just Irritates Me
At the end of the day, the story of Adrian Monk is the tale of a sad and pitiful man who is utterly trapped at the moment of his wife's death; too guilty to live and too scared to die.

Four years before the first episode, Adrian Monk was one of the best Detectives in the San Francisco Police Department, and he was married to the love of his life.

Being a cop and being married to Trudy were the two pillars of Monk's existence. And so when Trudy was killed by a car bomb, Monk was so emotionally crippled and convinced that the bomb was meant for him that he slumped into a catatonic depression and didn't leave his house for three years.

A few months before the first episode however, Monk's old captain hires a nurse named Sharrona to take care of him. And so by the time of the first episode, with a lot of pain and a lot of work, Monk is able to leave the house and work as a private consultant for the SFPD.

From the opening of the first episode however, Monk is still so convinced that HE killed his wife, and that if he hadn't been a police officer then his wife would still be alive that he is still terrified of everything. And he has to fight every inch of the way to do the job he's being paid for.

Monk wants to be a cop again, but he is still crippled by guilt. And so all of his countless phobias, neuroses and obsessive compulsive disorders are just subconscious excuses to stop working, to go home and to hide.

In the first scene of the pilot episode for example, Monk is supposed to be investigating a murder. But he's obsessed with the fear that he left the gas on, giving him the perfect excuse to dash back home as soon as he can.

In the episode `Mr Monk Goes to Mexico' all of Monk's bottled water is stolen. He won't drink anything except `Sierra Springs.' And so after two days of dehydration, he has yet another excuse to leave as soon as possible.

In every episode of course, we're all supposed to laugh at Adrian's self-inflicted pain.

"Look, he's dying of thirst but refuses to drink anything...it's Hilarious."

So in the end, I don't know which I hated more; Monk for being so emotionally crippled and irrationally guilty, the people who laugh at his suffering or the rest of the cast for not opening a bottle of Perrier and pouring it down his throat.

One thread running through all four series is Monk's hunt for the man who killed his wife. But once again, Monk is so convinced that he caused his wife's death that, subconsciously, he never wants to find him.

He never wants to confirm the fact that the bomb was meant for him, or even worse, that it was meant for Trudy. And so in one episode when he finds a clue to his wife's death, it turns out that he's already questioned that witness four times, but that he always makes himself forget.

He cleans and he vacuums every waking moment to keep his mind off Trudy's murder. He's created all kinds of fears and phobias to punish himself and to keep him from doing the one thing that he loves. And not once in four series does anyone punch him in the face and scream "Trudy's Dead! It Wasn't Your Fault! So Stop Punishing Yourself!"

Even leaving aside Monk's emotional paralysis however, the storylines of each episode are usually predictable, ridiculous and a carbon copy of a previous episode.

"The Ferris Wheel Operator Stabbed Him After the Cop Got Off."

"She Faked the Injury, Committed the Murder and Then Broke Her Own Foot to Avoid Suspicion."

"He Used an Electromagnet."

These are just three of the blindingly obvious answers that it took my girlfriend and I less than five seconds to figure out. And after a couple of episodes, I realised that ANYTHING strange or odd or seemingly unrelated is almost always directly connected to the case.

"Over there is the sound stage where we do all the dubbing. HINT HINT!"

Yes, some of the comedy repartee is truly hilarious, but most of it completely stupid and utterly inappropriate. And so all I can suggest is that you watch each episode once or twice, three times at most. Anymore than that, it'll take all your strength to avoid smashing the TV.


A great Show for a great price!
Along with "House", Monk is one of my favourite shows now running on TV. Part of the shows humour comes from the contradictional charakters Monk (paranoia-ladden) and Captain Stottlemeyer (rash, slightly choleric, always on the verge of explosion). A lot of fun lies in the character of Adrian Monk himself: Who would bring suitcases full of his favourite bottled drinking water to a trip to Mexico? Who would ask the stewardess to show him the statistics of the airlines recent crashes or who would ask her if the oxygen-masks were recently cleaned when she holds her little monlogue just before take-off? Only Adrian Monk! One just has to love him!

And this box: It offers all episodes from the first four series at a very reasonable price. So if you do not own the series so far, go and get this box :-)

Decent, but no Seinfeld!!
The reason I bought this was that in some online reviews they likened the sense of humour in Monk to Seinfeld. I am a big fan of Seinfeld and have seen every episode so was obviously intruiged. However, after having watched it, I would not call the humour in Monk as like Seinfeld! Monk has some humour in it, which is decent, but it is more of a detective show, not a comedy. Fans of light-hearted detective shows will probably like Monk. It's watchable. In my opinion some of the ways in which the crimes are solved are a little too cosy, but most of the time its good and makes you think whilst watching it.

A feel good modern detective classic
First of all I would just like to say that (at the time of writing) this DVD boxset is an absolute bargain at just under £35 with 61 episodes to enjoy at your own pace.

I first saw this when it was first aired one saturday (can't remember exactly what year it started, time goes so fast) on BBC2 just because I thought the idea of a former detective with obsessive compulsive disorder sounded interesting but I didn't expect it to be this good, from that very first screening I was hooked although I have to say I get very angry at the way the BBC treats this programme. One week they show it, next week they don't, one week they show it, next two weeks they don't etc. This really gets me angry because they always make some excuse about not being able to fit it into their schedule but isn't it amazing how they never fail to be able to show a repeat of some quiz, lifestyle, learning, cooking, gardening, house buying, living in another country type programme etc. It really gets me angry that they can't spare just a forty minutes a week time slot for a programme of this high quality.

Sorry if I sounded like I was more interested in commenting on the BBC rather than Monk so I will get on with it now. I am sure you will know what Monk is all about, if you don't then it is like I have mentioned about a former detective (I say former because he still helps solve crimes in his spare time) who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, it is because of this that he is so good at solving crimes, a kind of blessing in disguise. When the right person is picked to play a particular part it can make all the difference to the success of a programme and Monk is another fine example of this, whoever chose Tony Shalhoub to play this part should be applauded, it was as good a choice as they could have made, imagine if they had chose some young extremely good looking but so wooden that they would be attacked by woodpeckers type instead, this would have been so different for the worse.

This is a really feel good type of detective programme but it can also be really dark and very moving without being over sentimental. There was one episode of this, I can't remember which series it was from but I can't forget the beginning of it, it involved somebody being chain sawed to death in a garage (if that is not dark then I don't know what is) and although you didn't see it, it was more effective because you could hear it from outside the garage and it was cleverly filmed.

Adrian Monk can be funny and irritating to watch, but at times the pain of him having to live with his obsessive compulsive disorder can be incredibly moving as it affects his whole lifestyle. There is one episode in particular that I can remember (but again I can't remember which series exactly) which involves him looking after or adopting a little boy and all I will say about this is that it is one of the most moving episodes of Monk that I have ever seen.

Columbo is still my favourite detective programme ever but this is not far behind and if like me you like Columbo but have never seen Monk, then I would recommend this very highly as well as the outstanding Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

As good as it gets
What can I add to the other reviews on this page? Monk has to be one of the most intelligent/funny/moving/clever shows to ever appear on tv. Here we have some of the best writing (and the witty one liners rival the likes of Frasier or Seinfeld) and one amazing actor in Tony Shalhoub!!! There really isn't another actor I can think of that could have played the character so subtly that it allows you to laugh at his problems with O.C.D ( a very serious problem for many people) but, at the same time, feel almost overwhelming sympathy for his plight - the mark of true acting genius. How can this not rate as 5 stars?!

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