Monk Monk - Season Four Tony Shalhoub (Actor), Ted Levine (Actor)

Monk Monk - Season Four  Tony Shalhoub (Actor), Ted Levine (Actor) 

 

 

 

Everyone's favorite obsessive-compulsive phobic detective is back! Police consultant Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) has sixteen more cases to solve. They're sure to leave him terrified and us helpless with laughter.

In this batch of episodes, Monk is faced with a brand new set of puzzles. Who shot the pizza delivery guy? Why did a masked man break a stock analyst's right hand? Did Monk's late wife fake her death? Who tried to run over Lieutenant Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford)? And how could an astronaut commit murder when he was in space? While working on answering these puzzles, he must face the challenge of dealing with the dentist, the flu, a cubical, a hangover, and amnesia.

Once again, the plots here are a little on the thin side. Heck, Monk usually tells us 15 minutes into the show who done it. The problem is figuring out how the person did it. I usually can't put all the pieces together until Monk explains it at the end, and then I feel foolish for missing it.

Of course, the heart of the show is the humor. The writers go out of their way to put Monk into situation that make him uncomfortable to show him over reacting to things. Yet they keep him human, making us care for him. This is best shown in "Mr. Monk and the Astronaut." In one scene, we're laughing at his reaction to the laser pointers, the next we're feeling sorry for him as the suspect in the case belittles him. Yet by the end we're proud as always of the way Monk overcomes his fears to save the day. Overall, this keeps Monk human.

Of course, the show works because the acting is so good. The actors take the material and make it shine. The cast is lead by Tony Shalhoub who brings Monk to life expertly.Read more