Monk has an avid fan, Marci Maven, that he has a restraining order against, she is that nuts about him. Separately, her neighbor is mauled by a dog and it's determined that Marci's dog was the culprit when the police match bite marks on the woman with the dog. The extenuating factor is that the dog was dead by the time the police arrive at Marci's home and they had to dig him up to do the test. The police postulate that she found out what her dog did and had him euthanized after the fact to produce an alibi. She says the dog died of natural causes three days before the neighbor's death.
Marci can't get near Monk because he simply won't answer the door to her because of her goofy obsession and clinginess. When the San Francisco police put on an auction of male officers to raise money for charity, Natalie encourages Monk to be part of it. He reluctantly agrees. However, Marci bids 800 dollars to get six hours with Monk because she's obsessed, but also because she wants him to find out how the neighbor actually died, since she swears her dog was dead at the time and could not have done this. Wouldn't it be obvious a dog has been dead three days rather than a few hours? But I digress.
I've never been a fan of Sarah Silverman, but this was a fun departure from the normal flow of things. It's fun to see Marci treating Natalie like some high school girl rival in regard to how close Natalie is to Monk as his assistant. Also, there is a great in-joke about the names Marci gives to Monk's past cases which are the same names that the writers of the show gave to the individual episodes, with Monk asking "Where do you get these names?"
