Hi all,
I've been wondering what people thought of the Season Three premiere, "Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan," aka "Mr. Monk Goes To Manhattan." Here are my thoughts:
If you haven't seen the show yet and don't want anything "spoiled," I would suggest not reading this.


**********************************

I have been a huge "Monk" fanatic since the beginning. So, reading negative reviews of this Season Three premiere troubled me a bit. I have, however, also been a long-time hater of critics, and usually take them with less than a grain of salt.

And, it's because of my low opinion of critics and high opinion of "Monk" that it's difficult to admit the fact that this time it really was almost a close call. After weighing the positives and negatives about this episode -- or what were positives and negatives in my opinion -- I came to the overall conclusion that the negatives *nearly* prevailed. It may have been kind of close, but the good *did* outweigh the bad.

Jumping out at me, to begin with, was the dreadfully overdone jackhammer scene. This scene served no purpose in this house other than to frustrate me and disrupt the flow of the story. I guess it was supposed to be funny. It *had* been mildly amusing at first, but was pushed too far past that and into ridiculous.

I've learned to tolerate Monk's quirkiness and even feel the frustration and annoyance his comrades would surely have to
endure being associated with him at those certain "Monk moments," but the ice skating little girl bit was a completely unnecessary interruption to the questioning of a possible homicidal maniac. That seemed like it was forced in by the writers to keep us from forgetting about Monk's problems . . . or maybe to provide an extra laugh, when we might have been getting too wrapped up in the mystery.

On the other hand, the Latvian ambassador mystery itself was typical "Monk" -- clever, tricky, imaginative. I loved it all -- the coats, the mints, "She's now gone meatless," etc. I'll always love that moment at about 10:45 p.m. each Friday night when Monk gets that smile which indicates he's figured out who "the guy" is, or figured out what had happened. This show, of course, had a great one of those. And, I laughed throughout the whole show at Randy Disher's ongoing watch difficulties. Monk's reaction to "Mr. Pee" was pretty funny, although, unfortunately, his ultimate difficulty in deciding which was more important to catch -- a murderer or a public urinater -- really showed how little progress he has made these past couple of years.

Meanwhile, the New York cops merely standing around while Monk stumbled around inside a cordoned-off crime scene, looking confused, was quite improbable -- as was a police sketch artist taking a description of nothing but an ear.

But, the way Captain Stottlemeyer interacted with Bubba (Sorry, but that guy will forever be Forrest Gump's pal Bubba to me) in some scenes was positively wonderful. "First off, the name of our little town is San Francisco, not 'Frisco!' Second of all, we just flew three thousand miles to talk to this guy. It's the first break we've had in seven years!" And, I particularly loved, "Hey Walter, you got a minute?"
"Not right now."
"I think you do." And then, inside the office: "I don't care about the frigging ambassador! He means less than zero to me, okay? My friend's wife got blown up! You understand? And, it killed HIM, too! In a way."

The maligned street preacher scene made sense . . . to a point. After all, the Adrian Monk we know and love would almost certainly be reeled in by somebody asking him "Would you like to see a cleansing?" What I had trouble swallowing was Monk, himself, preaching and acting the way he did toward Sharona in that scene.

On the other hand, I like how they extended the Trudy mystery (now we're looking for a six-fingered man) And, the scene with Monk alone in the hospital room with the dying Warrick Tennyson was worth the price of admission in itself. I also loved the humorous tag scene at the very end of the show, and especially that they played the Season One theme song in the background of it. (I hope they're going to continue doing that throughout this new season's episodes.)



So, over all, I'd give this latest episode, at least a 7.5 or an 8 out of 10.


Any other thoughts out there?


Later,
Art

Originally posted by Artfiore1
Hi all,
I've been wondering what people thought of the Season Three premiere, "Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan," aka "Mr. Monk Goes To Manhattan." Here are my thoughts:
If you haven't seen the show yet and don't want anything "spoiled," I would suggest not reading this.


**********************************

I have been a huge "Monk" fanatic since the beginning. So, reading negative reviews of this Season Three premiere troubled me a bit. I have, however, also been a long-time hater of critics, and usually take them with less than a grain of salt.

And, it's because of my low opinion of critics and high opinion of "Monk" that it's difficult to admit the fact that this time it really was almost a close call. After weighing the positives and negatives about this episode -- or what were positives and negatives in my opinion -- I came to the overall conclusion that the negatives *nearly* prevailed. It may have been kind of close, but the good *did* outweigh the bad.

Jumping out at me, to begin with, was the dreadfully overdone jackhammer scene. This scene served no purpose in this house other than to frustrate me and disrupt the flow of the story. I guess it was supposed to be funny. It *had* been mildly amusing at first, but was pushed too far past that and into ridiculous.

I've learned to tolerate Monk's quirkiness and even feel the frustration and annoyance his comrades would surely have to
endure being associated with him at those certain "Monk moments," but the ice skating little girl bit was a completely unnecessary interruption to the questioning of a possible homicidal maniac. That seemed like it was forced in by the writers to keep us from forgetting about Monk's problems . . . or maybe to provide an extra laugh, when we might have been getting too wrapped up in the mystery.

On the other hand, the Latvian ambassador mystery itself was typical "Monk" -- clever, tricky, imaginative. I loved it all -- the coats, the mints, "She's now gone meatless," etc. I'll always love that moment at about 10:45 p.m. each Friday night when Monk gets that smile which indicates he's figured out who "the guy" is, or figured out what had happened. This show, of course, had a great one of those. And, I laughed throughout the whole show at Randy Disher's ongoing watch difficulties. Monk's reaction to "Mr. Pee" was pretty funny, although, unfortunately, his ultimate difficulty in deciding which was more important to catch -- a murderer or a public urinater -- really showed how little progress he has made these past couple of years.

Meanwhile, the New York cops merely standing around while Monk stumbled around inside a cordoned-off crime scene, looking confused, was quite improbable -- as was a police sketch artist taking a description of nothing but an ear.

But, the way Captain Stottlemeyer interacted with Bubba (Sorry, but that guy will forever be Forrest Gump's pal Bubba to me) in some scenes was positively wonderful. "First off, the name of our little town is San Francisco, not 'Frisco!' Second of all, we just flew three thousand miles to talk to this guy. It's the first break we've had in seven years!" And, I particularly loved, "Hey Walter, you got a minute?"
"Not right now."
"I think you do." And then, inside the office: "I don't care about the frigging ambassador! He means less than zero to me, okay? My friend's wife got blown up! You understand? And, it killed HIM, too! In a way."

The maligned street preacher scene made sense . . . to a point. After all, the Adrian Monk we know and love would almost certainly be reeled in by somebody asking him "Would you like to see a cleansing?" What I had trouble swallowing was Monk, himself, preaching and acting the way he did toward Sharona in that scene.

On the other hand, I like how they extended the Trudy mystery (now we're looking for a six-fingered man) And, the scene with Monk alone in the hospital room with the dying Warrick Tennyson was worth the price of admission in itself. I also loved the humorous tag scene at the very end of the show, and especially that they played the Season One theme song in the background of it. (I hope they're going to continue doing that throughout this new season's episodes.)



So, over all, I'd give this latest episode, at least a 7.5 or an 8 out of 10.


Any other thoughts out there?


Later,
Art

Art, you summed it up perfectly.

Your right about the scene on the street between Monk and Stottlemyer, really over done.

I really liked the scene between Stottlemyer and the NYPD detective (your right Mykelti Williams will always be "Bubba", which is all I was thinking every time he was in a scene. LOL), it was really great to see him take control and call Monk "friend."

The street preacher scene was I agree was a little out of character even for Monk, here again the writers were stretching things a little.

The scene with the "Pee" guy was funny, when he had to make up his mind about which one was more of a criminal. LOL

Your right about solving the mystery, true Monk style. The scene with Tennyson was great, I thought he was really going to kill him. But of course our Mr. Monk has too much of Trudy's spirit to have done that.

I would give it an 8.

The jackhammer scene was grotesquely overdone. ohno: I think it may have been used to fill a couple minutes because the show ran a bit short. *shrugs*

I loved Mr. Pee. That was great. :rotflmao:

One of my favorite Monk scenes ever was in the hospital with Tennyson...really dramatic and emotional. :nod: Good episode.

Hi all,
I'm not so sure, if I were Capt. Stottlemeyer, that I would've left Monk alone in the hospital room with Warrick Tennyson.

Remember -- in "Mr. Monk And The Captain's Wife," when Stottlemeyer was about to confront the guy who'd caused his wife's accident, Monk wanted to hold the captain's gun.
Stottlemeyer said something like, "Why -- are you afraid I'll use it?"
And Monk solemnly replied, "I would."

So, Captain Stottlemeyer had to know, that, if suddenly given the opportunity, Monk might try to kill Tennyson. Therefore, in the captain's shoes at that moment in the hospital, I probably would've been reluctant to grant Monk his "minute alone" with the patient.

But, then again, the captain isn't exactly overflowing with concern over Tennyson's well-being. After all, he was disappointed when the nurse told him that Tennyson wasn't in pain.



Later,
Art

Originally posted by Artfiore1
Hi all,
I'm not so sure, if I were Capt. Stottlemeyer, that I would've left Monk alone in the hospital room with Warrick Tennyson.

Remember -- in "Mr. Monk And The Captain's Wife," when Stottlemeyer was about to confront the guy who'd caused his wife's accident, Monk wanted to hold the captain's gun.
Stottlemeyer said something like, "Why -- are you afraid I'll use it?"
And Monk solemnly replied, "I would."

So, Captain Stottlemeyer had to know, that, if suddenly given the opportunity, Monk might try to kill Tennyson. Therefore, in the captain's shoes at that moment in the hospital, I probably would've been reluctant to grant Monk his "minute alone" with the patient.

But, then again, the captain isn't exactly overflowing with concern over Tennyson's well-being. After all, he was disappointed when the nurse told him that Tennyson wasn't in pain.



Later,
Art

But it showed us that although Monk has all those quirks, we have to realize that he is human. I thought it was a great and shocking scene when Monk stopped the Morifin (spelling?), and them turned it back on because he knew that Trudy wouldn't want him to do that. :wave:

Originally posted by Artfiore1
Remember -- in "Mr. Monk And The Captain's Wife," when Stottlemeyer was about to confront the guy who'd caused his wife's accident, Monk wanted to hold the captain's gun. Stottlemeyer said something like, "Why -- are you afraid I'll use it?" And Monk solemnly replied, "I would."

That was a great scene...extremely well-acted.

So, Captain Stottlemeyer had to know, that, if suddenly given the opportunity, Monk might try to kill Tennyson. Therefore, in the captain's shoes at that moment in the hospital, I probably would've been reluctant to grant Monk his "minute alone" with the patient.

I dunno, but it seems like in this season, Stottlemeyer is closer to Monk. In previous years, he never trusted Monk and almost got aggravated when he was brought in to solve a case. They appear to be more buddy-buddy now.

david&maddie4ever,
From Day One, Captain Stottlemeyer has been jealous of the way Monk always solves the cases which he, Stottlemeyer, and the rest of the force cannot. He's also always been annoyed by Monk's little quirks. I think that, deep down, however, the captain has also always had an *enormous* amount of respect for Monk's powers of observation and deductive abilities, and he actually likes him. I'm not sure if Stottlemeyer even realized, himself, that he had any affection for Monk until that time when he was erroneously informed of Monk's death in Mexico. They've been through a lot over the years -- dating back even to when Monk was a cop on the force -- kind of like an Oscar Madison/Felix Unger friendship: love beneath, and in spite of, all the aggravation.

Then, I think a key step in the evolution of the Stottlemeyer/Monk relationship occurred last season when the captain was put in a situation which gave him a firsthand understanding of some of what Monk went through when he lost Trudy (the aforementioned "Mr. Monk And The Captain's Wife"). There were some great and well-acted scenes in that show, too.

Now, they are more like buddies.

=====================================

Jrnygrl,
You're right about Monk's hospital room scene with Warrick Tennyson. It was an outstanding moment. Monk's natural instinct is to make that guy suffer.

But, to Monk, Trudy was the most wonderful person who ever lived -- someone who would never want to cause someone else pain . . . even someone who'd helped take her life away.


Later,
Art

Originally posted by Artfiore1
david&maddie4ever,
From Day One, Captain Stottlemeyer has been jealous of the way Monk always solves the cases which he, Stottlemeyer, and the rest of the force cannot. He's also always been annoyed by Monk's little quirks. I think that, deep down, however, the captain has also always had an *enormous* amount of respect for Monk's powers of observation and deductive abilities, and he actually likes him. I'm not sure if Stottlemeyer even realized, himself, that he had any affection for Monk until that time when he was erroneously informed of Monk's death in Mexico. They've been through a lot over the years -- dating back even to when Monk was a cop on the force -- kind of like an Oscar Madison/Felix Unger friendship: love beneath, and in spite of, all the aggravation.

Then, I think a key step in the evolution of the Stottlemeyer/Monk relationship occurred last season when the captain was put in a situation which gave him a firsthand understanding of some of what Monk went through when he lost Trudy (the aforementioned "Mr. Monk And The Captain's Wife"). There were some great and well-acted scenes in that show, too.

Now, they are more like buddies.

That's a great analysis of the Monk/Stottlemeyer relationship. I especially agree with the fact that now that Stottlemeyer has an understanding of what Monk is going through ("Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife"), he relates to him better.

I had the exact opposite reaction to the "Jackhammer Scene." I was laughing the whole time. Just when I thought it would end ... it didn't. No it didn't have anything to do with the plot, but the show is a comedy and that was a little comedy bit in the episode.

In fact, I went into the episode, not expecting much (the idea of Monk in New York, really didn't sound good to me). But it's got to be one of my favorites. However, right now my favorite episode is "Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month."

As for Mykelti Williamson, I'm a fan of "The Fugitive". So I always see him as Gerard.