Mr. Monk Takes the Stand

When one considers that idiosyncrasies are a daily part of Monk's life, one has to imagine that they have shown up before when he is the most distinctive witness. Here, a fast talking jerk is able to turn him to rubble (like the driveway). He is so quick to quit when things aren't perfect. But on tis show, there is always a second chance.

'Monk' has always been one of my most watched shows when needing comfort, to relax after a hard day, a good laugh or a way to spend a lazy weekend.

Don't agree respectfully that "Mr Monk Takes the Stand" is the worst 'Monk' episode. It's not even the worst of Season 8. A contender for that's "Mr Monk and the UFO", which along with "Mr Monk and the Big Reward" and "Mr Monk Takes a Punch", "Mr Monk and the Rapper" and "Mr Monk and the Really Really Dead Guy" are lesser efforts too, is one of the worst 'Monk' episodes to me. However, it was an episode of great potential that has its moments but comes up short, how it could have easily solved what made the episode lacking was doing more with less material.

There are certainly good things. The courtroom scenes are fun and tense, with a wonderfully arrogant attorney in Harrison Powell that pits off against Monk and his friends in as satisfying a way as the best 'Monk' killers. There are good moments here, such as Monk's poignant feelings in how he was ripped apart on the stand and one of the best supporting character lines in the history of 'Monk' in Powell's reaction to Natalie's "how do you sleep at night?".

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.

As ever, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford and Ted Levine give great support, while Jay Mohr enjoys himself thoroughly as Powell, a different role for him. Former child star Jonathan Lipnicki does fine, and it was refreshing to have a serious Disher subplot that gave the episode heart.

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.

On the other hand, "Mr Monk Takes the Stand" is primarily let down by that it tries to do too much and doesn't do enough with its content. This is especially true in having not one but two cases, both of which could have been more compelling, one of which has an alibi that is in the top 5 flimsiest alibis on the whole of 'Monk', something that even the less observant of people would notice. Neither case are hard to figure out either (likewise with the killer's identity), the second case is very uninspired.

It disappoints too that the latter parts of the episode don't satisfy very much. The episode was crying out for a face off for Monk to get deserved satisfaction and for Powell given a taste of his own medicine, that it doesn't materialise gives an anti-climactic feel, while the conclusion is one of the show's most tacked on and predictable.

Powell mostly is devious and brilliant on top of his arrogance, but he is not without the odd sloppy moment in the writing. Primarily the thing with the gravel (again another thing that even the less observant would pick up as sloppy), someone as brilliant as he would have the common sense to say the complete opposite of what he actually says. The writing has its moments, but not enough. The humour, pathos and quirks come more in spurts than as a consistent whole.

Overall, watchable but unsatisfying. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Monk quickly figures out that a husband, a long-haired sculptor with a surly attitude, killed his wife, but then must face the accused man's lawyer, played by Jay Mohr. The lawyer and Monk have crossed swords before, and the lawyer soon makes mincemeat of Monk's testimony. The killer walks, but as we have seen before, you don't want to cross Mr. Monk. In a subplot, a young man whom Disher once mentored is accused of killing a store clerk. Disher asks for Monk's help, and pretty soon ... well, see the episode for yourself. Mohr and Shalhoub play off each other very well. And wait until you find out what happened to a missing two-ton piece of quartz, which has to do with the surly artist with the dead wife (again, see the episode).

Being a Criminal justice major I have a hard time with many shows about lawyers and specially court room shows, and even though I know they did it for comedy sake, this was HORRIBLE! You want to see a funny comedy about courtrooms watch, "Nightcort", at least they get it (bacially) correct. There was SO Much wrong with this its not even worth my time to mention them all, but lets highlight the worst thing...NO ONE that takes the STAND is allowed to guess or speculate, nor can they testify on 'hunches' 'feeling' or 'beliefs' specially of people other than themselves. No lawyer would allow such questioning without objection and the judge would make sure it was stricken from the record.

Again if other shows had NOT managed to 'set the bar' for courtroom commedy (My Cousin Vinny/Night court) I would let this slide but I just can't.

... especially in some of Monk's wilder cases like that of the astronaut.

Here Monk has accused a sculptor of murdering his wife. The artist had been working on a sculpture that he could not have possibly completed in one night if he had taken the time to drive to his wife's house, committed the murder, and driven back. He has a delivery receipt for the marble from the previous afternoon, thus proving he has not been working on the sculpture before last night. Monk postulates that the artist used his jackhammer to reduce the slab to gravel and spread it in his driveway, and that the statue in his studio is something he completed from some other slab of marble at an earlier point in time.

Normally this would be the end of the episode, but in walks a prominent attorney to defend the artist in court. When Monk takes the stand the attorney has figured out all of his weaknesses and ties him in knots. The artist is acquitted. Is this the end of the story? Watch and find out.

This show is only about 45 minutes in length, so there was never time to see what happened in court or if any of the defendants had attorneys who tried to push back on the theory of the crime as delivered by Monk. In short, to give us Order they had to shortchange on the Law. Here we see the opposite for a change.