User Reviews

'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 one of those people who generally likes Season 5, though can definitely see why some will not, with more emphasis on the humour and the mysteries being more obvious and in some cases playing second fiddle. "Mr Monk Gets a New Shrink" and "Mr Monk and the Leper" are particularly outstanding. "Mr Monk is on the Air" is another great episode with not much that's wrong. Would have liked to have seen more of Disher and Stottlemeyer and personally disliked the tasteless scene with Max mocking Trudy's death, that was bang out of order and incredibly mean-spirited.

Otherwise, "Mr Monk is on the Air" is terrific. Loved the exchanges between Monk and Natalie and even more so the interaction between Monk and Max, the radio scenes are hysterically funny. Those jokes are purposefully awful but are still hilarious. "Mr Monk is on the Air" delivers too on the emotional elements, especially the bittersweet but mostly very touching ending. Oh and the summation was immensely satisfying, Monk's delivery when standing up to one of his meanest adversaries was more than well deserved and one is cheering him on. The killer is not a surprise at all, but how the murder is done is a stroke of genius.

As said many times, 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.

Natalie is down to earth, sympathetic and sassy, also being sensitive to Monk's needs and quirks which Traylor Howard does well bringing out. Jason Gray-Stanford and Ted Levine are good as usual as Disher and Stottlemeyer despite not being used well. Steven Weber does a great job here, making Max suitably loathsome and Jarrod Paul's Kevin is not as annoying as in his previous episodes.

It's not just the cast though. Another star is the writing, which is also essential to whether the show would be successful or not and succeed it does here. The mix of wry humour, lovable quirkiness and tender easy-to-relate-to drama is delicately done, particularly the last one. The quirks are sympathetically done and never exploited or overdone.

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.

In conclusion, great episode. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The attraction of this show is the horrible bad guy, a shock jock who feast on people's weakness. He also has no moral sense. When his wife dies, the sister enlists Monk to look into the case. Monk innocently walks into the radio studio and the guy makes him a laughing stock. He eventually goes too far when he makes fun of Trudy's death. That's all great. The problem is the solution to the murder, which couldn't happen in a million years. Too bad. Could have been a complete episode.