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Monk - 2/13 - SPOILERS!
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Posted by: Inundated

"Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife"

Great episode. It helped bring understanding between Capt. Stottlemeyer and Monk. Though there were at times Capt. Stottlemeyer went over the top in the "I'm avenging my wife" department... like at the end, when the perp was eventually caught. By this time, she was pretty much recovered, no?

I didn't catch the sundial thing at first. But the dog owner was obvious. It would have been interesting if Sharona had actually started dating him. Heh. Oh, the other thing...if that gun (used in a bank robbery) was so vital, why did he leave it in the glove compartment? One would think that a bank robber would, well, hide the gun somewhere in his house...

The tie-in with the trash was a nice touch. "Adrian Monk is jumping into a garbage truck???"

Posted by: ccouger

I liked this one too, although as you mentioned, it did have those weak points. But I do like the poignant moments. Tony Shalhoub is such a good actor that he can shift to sadness without going over the top, and you feel the character's emotion, as when he reacted to the Capt. telling him to "get over Trudy." There were a lot of funny lines in this one, too, and I thought those made up for some plot weaknesses, such as Monk with the cranky neighbor lady. They all seem to be really settling nicely into their characters!

And I really liked that they do mention the kids involved, since on so many shows (CSI, for one...), where there is a single mom character, the kids are only ever brought up as a plot convenience when needed. Well, kids aren't convenient, they're always around in real life and you usually talk about them quite a bit day to day! So I liked that they added in the bit where Sharona couldn't take care of the Capts.' kids because her kid had a dentist appointment, and the Capt. was busy also, so Monk has to "volunteer." Yes, it was a plot convenience to get him into the restaurant, but at least the show does acknowledge from time to time that there are kids involved and these are supposed to be families. Just one more point to set it aside from many other shows.

Posted by: jwjody

It's obvious who the bad guy was. The second him and Sharona were flirting you knew.

J

Posted by: Idearat

More family connections on this show.

Couple weeks ago had Tony Shaloub's brother on the show. As the credits rolled by last night I noticed "Daniel Dratch". I think I only noticed it since Rachel Dratch was on last week.

Sure enough, he's her brother, a regular writer on the show.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

quote:
Originally posted by jwjody
It's obvious who the bad guy was. The second him and Sharona were flirting you knew.

J

Plus, he had long hair. These days, that's a dead giveaway!

Posted by: TeeSee

Maybe Stottlemeyer was mad at himself because the last time he spoke to his wife was during an argument and those might have been the last words he ever said to her. But I agree that he seemed over the top with his anger after it was apparant that she was OK.

Posted by: Hapa

I loved the show because it developed Stottlemeyer -- my second favorite character on the show. I love the balance Ted Levine has struck between gruff and tender; power-asserting yet acknowledges Monk's insight even though Monk isn't a "regular guy".

Posted by: YCantAngieRead

Erm. Sorry about the duplicate thread. Hanging out with a four year-old for a day will make you miss obvious things. :D

I posted this there, though, and I'll say it here:
I was alarmed when I saw the little preview blurb on our digital cable that said "Stottlemeyer's wife is killed in an apparent union disagreement." That would have been really an odd twist to the show, and I'm rather glad it didn't happen. I enjoy the interchanges between Stottlemeyer and his wife, on the few occassions we see them.

And I agree with ccouger-Shaloub is such a good actor that his quick changes from comic to serious are tremendous. I about cried at the line to Stottlemeyer, the one where he tells S. that Monk lives in the world he's experiencing. It's a subtle humor, and I love it-it's true to life because Monk wouldn't know he's a comic character. Fantastic.

Edit to note: I'm also consistently surprised by Ted Levine in this series. I mentioned this in another thread, but it blew my socks off to find he was Jame Gumb (sp?) in Silence Of The Lambs. Takes a very talented actor to pull of someone who has as much ick factor as that, and then play someone like Stottlemeyer. Very nice-deserves an Emmy.

Posted by: Inundated

What else did Ted Levine do? I didn't see Silence of the Lambs, but I definitely recognize him. I just don't remember from where. For that matter, what about the other principals in the show? I see from her bio that Bitty Schram's big credit was "A League of Their Own", but I don't remember her from that movie (possibly because of the period costumes and styling used).

And of course, we know Tony Shalhoub's credits :) But I didn't know he had such a broad range on his resume besides "Wings", which his bio plays down, even though *especially* USA Network viewers would know him best from that show. USA used to run "Wings" about 10 times a day, I think, before it moved to Nick at Nite (it runs twice there now, 3-4 AM ET). The running joke among some TV types was that they should have renamed USA "The Wings Network".

So, you've got a show headed by the guy who used to be the Italian immigrant cabbie in "Wings", the police captain played by the guy who played an "icky" character in "Silence of the Lambs", and the assistant to the title character was a baseball player in "A League of Their Own". Talk about range!!

Posted by: JPriller

The dog owner was obvious from the beginning, because (1) no one else had yet shown up that could possibly be a suspect (besides the obvious union goons) and (2) he didn't just pass through, he had a decent-sized speaking part. A lost-dog owner, with more than just a few throw-away lines? It's gotta be him!

I thought it was a great episode, don't get me wrong, I just like them a bit better when I can't immediately tell who it was! (And yes, I do over-analyze television too much, thanks, I know. :))

Posted by: YCantAngieRead

quote:
And of course, we know Tony Shalhoub's credits But I didn't know he had such a broad range on his resume besides "Wings", which his bio plays down, even though *especially* USA Network viewers would know him best from that show. USA used to run "Wings" about 10 times a day, I think, before it moved to Nick at Nite (it runs twice there now, 3-4 AM ET). The running joke among some TV types was that they should have renamed USA "The Wings Network".

*sigh* I miss Wings. I loved that show. Guess I should have invested in some videotapes back when it was on all the time.

By the way, here's the IMDB website for Ted Levine. If you haven't seen him in Silence of the Lambs, you should-it's incredibly creepy how well that part is played-probably one of the creepiest I've seen.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0505971/

(Edit: Ted Levine was born in Ohio. Perhaps that is where Inundated ran into him. :))

Posted by: murgatroyd

quote:
Originally posted by Inundated
What else did Ted Levine do? I didn't see Silence of the Lambs, but I definitely recognize him. I just don't remember from where. For that matter, what about the other principals in the show? I see from her bio that Bitty Schram's big credit was "A League of Their Own", but I don't remember her from that movie (possibly because of the period costumes and styling used).

Bitty is Evelyn Gardner, the RF. She's the player in the scene where Tom Hanks's character pratically busts a gut trying to stay calm when he is reminding her she needs to work on hitting the cutoff man, that she might want to think about working on it right now, before the beginning of next season. She tells him thanks and walks off and he stands there just shaking.

Jan

Posted by: Inundated

quote:
Originally posted by YCantAngieRead
*sigh* I miss Wings. I loved that show. Guess I should have invested in some videotapes back when it was on all the time.

It's a SP (er...Season Pass for you non-Tivoites ;) ) for me on Nick at Nite. 3 AM and 3:30 AM ET 7 days a week. Actually, the 3:30 AM showing gets bumped to NickP (Pacific Time feed on our digital cable system as an extra time-shifted channel) at 6:30 AM due to another SP of mine.

quote:
(Edit: Ted Levine was born in Ohio. Perhaps that is where Inundated ran into him. :))

It must be, or he's reminding me of someone else, because none of his credits ring a bell. Parma, by the way, is only a few miles north of me (and where all the Cleveland market TV stations have their towers).

Maybe he's just one of those character actors that just look "that way"... but anyway, he's great in Monk.

One funny thing about this episode - when Sharona named the found dog "Adrian", and it caught Monk off-guard. She named the dog that, of course, because he was nervous and always cleaning himself :D

Posted by: PeteEMT

quote:
Originally posted by Inundated
The running joke among some TV types was that they should have renamed USA "The Wings Network".

Not to thread-jack, but USA seems to do this with many shows they purchased the syndication rights to: Currently its Law&Order:SVU comes to mind, as well as they show JAG about 4 times a day

Posted by: Inundated

quote:
Originally posted by murgatroyd
Bitty is Evelyn Gardner, the RF. She's the player in the scene where Tom Hanks's character pratically busts a gut trying to stay calm when he is reminding her she needs to work on hitting the cutoff man, that she might want to think about working on it right now, before the beginning of next season. She tells him thanks and walks off and he stands there just shaking.

Hmm, I don't remember enough of "A League of Their Own" to remember that particular scene. I might have to rent the DVD!

Posted by: Graymalkin

quote:
Originally posted by murgatroyd
Bitty is Evelyn Gardner, the RF. She's the player in the scene where Tom Hanks's character pratically busts a gut trying to stay calm when he is reminding her she needs to work on hitting the cutoff man, that she might want to think about working on it right now, before the beginning of next season. She tells him thanks and walks off and he stands there just shaking.

Jan

Um, she's also the ballplayer who starts crying during a Hanks tirade, prompting the movie's most famous line from him:

Jimmy Dugan: Evelyn, could you come here for a second? Which team do you play for?
Evelyn Gardner: Well, I'm a Peach.
Jimmy Dugan: Well I was just wonderin' why you would throw home when we got a two-run lead. You let the tying run get on second base and we lost the lead because of you. Start using your head. That's the lump that's three feet above your ass.
[Evelyn starts to cry.]
Jimmy Dugan: Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There's no crying, there's no crying in baseball. Rogers Hornsby was my manager, and he called me a talking pile of pigshit. And that was when my parents drove all the way down from Michigan to see me play the game. And did I cry? NO. NO. And do you know why?
Evelyn Gardner: No, no, no.
Jimmy Dugan: Because there's no crying in baseball.

Posted by: YCantAngieRead

Something funny I noticed only in the second viewing of this episode, which everyone else probably noticed immediately...when Monk is going on to the trashmen about his trash going to sector 9, Stottlemeyer is standing behind him flashing his badge subtly. I thought the trashmen were supposed to be just humoring Monk, but I guess they were intimidated instead. Very funny.

Was again very touched by Ted Levine and Shaloub's performances in this episode. I was constantly being knocked out of my socks by the dry delivery of some very powerful lines.

Posted by: lachacg

quote:
Originally posted by TeeSee
Maybe Stottlemeyer was mad at himself because the last time he spoke to his wife was during an argument and those might have been the last words he ever said to her. But I agree that he seemed over the top with his anger after it was apparant that she was OK.

I don't think he was being over the top. In my opinion, I think everyone who said this is missing the point the episode is really trying to drive home.

Monk can't just forget his wife. He can't turn off his emotions, even after 7 years. Stottlemeyer can't shut off his emotions, even though his wife is apparently OK. It isn't a light switch. You can't turn it on and off. Monk's despair over his wife magnifies his OCD, Stottlemeyer's magnifies his natural tendencies towards anger.

The man's wife was near death. He beats up a candy machine. Violence is his way to channel things. In this light, I don't really find his anger over the top at all. I think the anger is his character.

They drive the "not letting go" point home with some dialogue between Monk and the captain, but I think the concept really permeates all aspects of the episode when you look at it.

In some way, I think it made for a great "Valentine's Day" episode.

Posted by: Inundated

quote:
Originally posted by lachacg
The man's wife was near death. He beats up a candy machine. Violence is his way to channel things. In this light, I don't really find his anger over the top at all. I think the anger is his character.

I'm still kinda new to the show, and all, so I don't really know much about the Stottlemeyer character. I was "with him" when he beat up the candy machine...but it just seemed a bit much that he was nearly trying to kill the guy at the end himself.

It'll be fascinating to watch the character in the future, and see if this is more "in character" for Stottlemeyer than I thought it was.

Posted by: YCantAngieRead

Stottlemeyer's reaction was realistic, in my experience...there was a time several years ago that someone intentionally hurt my very badly, and I know most of the men in my life were furious-and still are, and I have little or no lasting effects from the incident. I still have to remind some of them not to get violent when they see this person. I think it's a correct assumption that it's a larger percentage men who tend to vent their anger and frustration the only way they know how-by feeling like doing something about it-at an incident that causes a loved one pain.

Some women are this way too, though. I don't mean to stereotype.

Posted by: doom1701

I was impressed by this episode. I've always been kinda so-so on Monk--too often the show is nothing but Monk-isms filling an hour of TV. It just gets old.

But this one, as well as the one about Monk's brother, really got into the heads of the characters. You begin to understand who they are, and you also see them push aside their fears for people they care about (Monk and his brother in the burning house, Monk and the garbage truck).