Monk“Mr. Monk Falls in Love”
Original Air Date: August 22, 2008
Jeff P. - TwoCents Reviewer
jeffp@thetwocentscorp.com
The Murder –
Randy Disher and his date are standing outside a restaurant looking for a taxi. They notice one across the street and run over to catch it. After they realize the cab isn’t moving, they see the driver is dead with something sticking out of his neck.
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[Photo: USA Network Photo: Carol Kaelson]
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Monk
ReplyDelete“Mr. Monk Falls in Love”
Original Air Date: August 22, 2008
Jeff P. - TwoCents Reviewer
jeffp@thetwocentscorp.com
The Murder –
Randy Disher and his date are standing outside a restaurant looking for a taxi. They notice one across the street and run over to catch it. After they realize the cab isn’t moving, they see the driver is dead with something sticking out of his neck.
Captain Stottlemeyer is discussing the murder to everyone. The victim was Drazen Murkel and was killed by a hatpin! They find a charm bracelet and compile a set of clues from it. Their investigation leads them to Layla Zlatavich. Monk instantly seems to fancy her. He tells the Captain that she “is not the guy”. Stottlemeyer doesn’t understand why Monk is so sure, but Natalie figures out that Monk has a crush on Layla. Back at the station everyone insists that Layla is the killer, but Adrian refuses to give in.
Back at Monk’s house, Natalie answers the phone and it’s Layla. She is on her way over and wants Monk to know that she’s innocent. She comes by to declare her innocence, and Monk tells her he believes her… because who cares about evidence? She tells him she’d like to hire him but she doesn’t have a lot of money, however, Monk agrees to help her for nothing. On the way out, she makes a dinner date with him so they can discuss the case.
They have dinner at a restaurant where the cook prepares the dinner in front of you. Monk takes a pass, since he doesn’t care for the concept of someone touching his food like that. After dinner, Layla maintains her innocence, and Monk tries to get more info from her. At one point she tells him that her father, two brothers and fiancé’ were murdered by a man named Korsten Emerrich. Monk looks over on the wall at a dartboard, and there’s a picture of the cab driver riddled with darts. Layla tells Monk that this is the butcher that killed her family! Unfortunately, Layla now has a motive for the murder. (A murder that he still doesn’t want to admit she may have done).
The Captain wants to arrest Layla and Monk is still fighting for her. After leaving the meeting, Natalie tells Adrian that they department is filing a complaint against Monk because they feel he’s obstructing the case. Monk goes over to see Layla to tell her he can’t see her anymore for legal reasons. But after getting splashed by a puddle, he ends up at her house so she can wash his pants. She gets Monk to dance with her and it’s obvious she’s falling for her. Before they have a moment, there’s a knock on the door. It’s Stottlemeyer and the police with a search warrant! They find a box with Layla’s family crest on it. It turns out that it’s the same crest as the one on the hatpin. At this point, Layla confesses that she killed him.
Even after her recorded confession at the station, Monk still wants to believe she’s innocent. Natalie consoles him because she knows that he cared about Layla. Monk looks in the evidence bag and sees a letter from Layla’s mother that he finds interesting. They go to a village where they believe her mother is hiding. They find her and Monk tells her that he knows that she, and not Layla, committed the murder. She was in town visiting Layla for her birthday and happened to get the taxi with Korsten driving it. She recognized him as the butcher that killed her husband and sons and immediately stabbed him with her hatpin. Of course it has their family crest on it. They offer to take her to see her daughter, which means a stop at the police department.
Layla and her mom are crying at the station after the truth comes out. Stottlemeyer asks Adrian how he knew Layla was innocent, and he admits that he didn’t know. He only hoped that she was.
Monk greets her in the hall and Layla asks why Monk brought her mother in. And, why he told the police that she did it. Monk replies “Because she did it”. Monk offers to talk to Layla outside, but she refuses. She tells him to go back to his wife. He asks if she said “wife” or “life”? She answers “Both”. She leaves and Monk hangs his head in sadness.
This was an interesting episode in that Monk seemed finally to be able to look at someone other than Trudy. The whole time I expected to hear that Layla was the killer, only for them to pull the rug out from under me again! (Let’s just say that I’m no Columbo). I hope that Monk will find happiness before this series ends. But I have no problem basking in the comedy that his UNhappiness brings to each episode.