'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.
Am not sure about "Mr Monk and the Really Really Dead Guy" being the worst 'Monk' episode ever, but it is easily for me the weakest episode of Season 5 and one of the show's lesser episodes. It has its moments and good parts, but there were aspects that left a bad taste in my mouth. Starting with the good things, the mystery was a pretty good one this time round and isn't too obvious and not too silly or confusing. It's just right tonally and it was nice for it to not be too secondary to everything else.
Tony Shalhoub as always does a wonderful job as Monk. 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.
He is very well supported by Traylor Howard's sensitive and sassy Natalie (personally do not find her a dull or annoying character and that she has settled in well, do prefer Sharona though), Jason Gray-Stanford's endearingly goofy and never too stupid Disher and particularly Ted Levine as an amusing and here sympathetic Stottlemeyer.
"Mr Monk and the Really Really Dead Guy" does have some nice character moments, the highlights being the squat team being sent to the slumber party and Monk being taught to use a computer (the mouse pad is especially priceless). Stottlemeyer standing up for Monk was similarly a lovely touch and shows Stottlemeyer's loyalty when he feels it's right.
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. Oh and a good job is done with the different opening credits sequence to accommodate the changes made. The episode is made with a lot of slickness and style as always.
However, the two agents are incredibly annoying characters and their treatment of Monk throughout the episode is over-the-top and distasteful. Especially Thorpe, who was little more than a cartoonish bully, with his behaviour fully warranting the sack and just seemed extremely unprofessional for an agent. That he is also wildly overacted doesn't help.
As great Monk is as a character, he seemed out of sorts here. Also had a hard time buying his obliviousness to technology considering his job.
Disher and his one man band came over as a little too silly for my tastes and while the denouement was clever the ending and outcome of the main plot just felt unsatisfying. A good job is done with the comedy and the quirks, but is severely lacking in the drama and the whole involvement of the FBI.
In conclusion, not as awful as said here but for 'Monk' it was underwhelming. 5/10 Bethany Cox
Am not sure about "Mr Monk and the Really Really Dead Guy" being the worst 'Monk' episode ever, but it is easily for me the weakest episode of Season 5 and one of the show's lesser episodes. It has its moments and good parts, but there were aspects that left a bad taste in my mouth. Starting with the good things, the mystery was a pretty good one this time round and isn't too obvious and not too silly or confusing. It's just right tonally and it was nice for it to not be too secondary to everything else.
Tony Shalhoub as always does a wonderful job as Monk. 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.
He is very well supported by Traylor Howard's sensitive and sassy Natalie (personally do not find her a dull or annoying character and that she has settled in well, do prefer Sharona though), Jason Gray-Stanford's endearingly goofy and never too stupid Disher and particularly Ted Levine as an amusing and here sympathetic Stottlemeyer.
"Mr Monk and the Really Really Dead Guy" does have some nice character moments, the highlights being the squat team being sent to the slumber party and Monk being taught to use a computer (the mouse pad is especially priceless). Stottlemeyer standing up for Monk was similarly a lovely touch and shows Stottlemeyer's loyalty when he feels it's right.
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. Oh and a good job is done with the different opening credits sequence to accommodate the changes made. The episode is made with a lot of slickness and style as always.
However, the two agents are incredibly annoying characters and their treatment of Monk throughout the episode is over-the-top and distasteful. Especially Thorpe, who was little more than a cartoonish bully, with his behaviour fully warranting the sack and just seemed extremely unprofessional for an agent. That he is also wildly overacted doesn't help.
As great Monk is as a character, he seemed out of sorts here. Also had a hard time buying his obliviousness to technology considering his job.
Disher and his one man band came over as a little too silly for my tastes and while the denouement was clever the ending and outcome of the main plot just felt unsatisfying. A good job is done with the comedy and the quirks, but is severely lacking in the drama and the whole involvement of the FBI.
In conclusion, not as awful as said here but for 'Monk' it was underwhelming. 5/10 Bethany Cox