Mr. Monk and the Genius
- Episode aired Jul 25, 2008
- TV-PG
- 44m
Brilliant chess grandmaster Patrick Kloster's wife Linda Kloster goes to Monk saying that her husband is planning to murder her, and she wants him caught posthumously.Brilliant chess grandmaster Patrick Kloster's wife Linda Kloster goes to Monk saying that her husband is planning to murder her, and she wants him caught posthumously.Brilliant chess grandmaster Patrick Kloster's wife Linda Kloster goes to Monk saying that her husband is planning to murder her, and she wants him caught posthumously.
Photos
- 1st Elderly Woman
- (as Donna Hardy)
- Chess Champion
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSusan Shalhoub Larkin, who plays Paulina is the sister of Tony Shalhoub(Monk).
- GoofsIn the beginning of the episode, Linda Kloster states that her husband's IQ is 180, 4 points higher than Albert Einstein's. Although experts estimate Einstein's IQ was somewhere between 160 and 180, he never officially took an IQ test so his actual IQ is unknown.
- Quotes
[Monk needs to enter the chess tournament to confront Kloster]
Julie Teeger: All right, wait here.
[She approaches one of the teenaged contestants and begins talking to him]
Adrian Monk: What's she doing?
Natalie Teeger: She's... flirting.
Adrian Monk: Well, she's good at it...
Natalie Teeger: Shut up.
After a pretty good if flawed opening episode to Season 7 in "Mr Monk Buys a House", "Mr Monk and the Genius" manages to improve upon that episode and nearly is genius, its best moments being among the best of the whole show. It has a couple of debits, like "Mr Monk Buys a House" the mystery is easy to solve very early on and is too simple and obvious, another case of the viewer being there before Monk. The best episodes are the brain-teasers that took slower to unfold, something we saw in the earlier seasons and sporadically later on. The ending also felt a little forced and shows that the killer is not as quite as he appears to be in the rest of the episode, which leaves the viewer a little cheated.
However, Monk is not out of character this time, how he acts works perfectly within the story and more justified. We have one of Monk's best and most cold blooded opponents (as genius a murderer as he is a master chess player), excellently portrayed by David Straithairn, not in a while has there been one that pits off so well against Monk and he is a far more consistently written opponent than the one in the previous episode. We also have a sympathetic victim that we care about, as great a show 'Monk' is this is not something that happens a lot.
Loved the chemistry between her and Monk and she was acted very poignantly, and even more so between Monk and Kloster in a suspenseful cat and mouse and just as suspenseful and entertaining battle of wits. One feels so much satisfaction at the end at how he solves the crime and stands up to the murderer. How the murder was committed and how it was proved was interesting and well done. The other lead characters are underused and have been better developed elsewhere but they're still fun and well acted.
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.
Writing has the usual wry humour, sympathetically treated quirks and tender easy-to-relate-drama. The suspense factor is also high and it's mostly paced well, just wish that the conclusion jumping and the struggle to prove the guilt of the murderer was brought in later than it was.
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 good episode that with a slightly better executed mystery could have been a genius one. 8.5/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Sep 11, 2017
- Permalink
Details
- Runtime44 minutes
- Color