Monk's long-missing father Jack turns up after 20 years and against his wishes, Monk finds himself on a father-son road trip as he and Jack deliver toys on a weirdly zig-zagging route across the US.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Artistic License – Cars: Trucks like the one Jack drives have a brake system based in air, not hydraulic fluid. Therefore, Jack could have just hit the emergency brake button. Of course, considering how Ben was cheaping out on parts, who's to say if the emergency brake works either...
- Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: Monk ends up being talked into joining his father on a cross-country road trip to give the relationship a second chance. Initially, it doesn't go well, as Jack's boss forces them to follow a time-wasting route delivering "presents" that are completely unsuitable for the recipients and Monk (understandably) still carries a lot of resentment for his father running out on the family. (Jack doesn't help this.) However, midway through the trip, they give it another shot and end up making some genuinely positive memories.
- Benevolent Boss: Glazer and Woods' last argument occurred because Glazer had been buying subpar parts and embezzling the money, and Woods didn't want his truckers out on the road with suspect equipment. He was also nice enough to not only accept the tacky tie from Jack as a Christmas present, but also opted against firing him despite Glazer's suggestion.
- Call-Back: As the truck is driving out of control and Jack admits his other son is a good for nothing stoner, he makes a comment similar to one Stottlemeyer made in Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect.Jack Monk, Sr: (on his son, Jack Monk, Jr.) He's a putz! Actually, he's not even a putz! He dreams one day of becoming a putz!
Stottlemeyer: (on suspect Brian Babbage, who is in a coma) Monk, he's a vegetable. He's not even a vegetable. He hopes one day to be a vegetable. - Cassandra Truth: When Monk keeps insisting to Jack that Glazer's "charity" is not out of good will, and he is trying to set Jack on a wild goose chase. Jack chalks it up to Adrian being neurotic and/or trying to get him to lose his job. Later, when he stops at a diner that explains a certain road isn't under construction (despite Glazer's claims), he realizes Adrian was right.
- Casting Gag: It's not the first time Dan Hedaya plays a lousy father with a broken family (or, in this episode's case, two).
- Comforting Comforter: One scene on the trip montage shows Jack pulling the covers over Monk when he throws them off while trying to get to sleep in the back of the truck.
- Convenience Store Gift Shopping: A large part of Ben Glazer's plot deals with this trope: all the items in Jack Monk, Sr.'s truck that he is supposed to deliver to orphanages are rubbish junk, even causing one girl to state angrily that she hates Christmas, Santa, and the elves for that. Adrian is suspicious when he finds there are only six packages in the truck, a very tiny load for an 18 wheeler with a large trailer, and furthermore, they are forced into taking out-of-the-way routes instead of direct roads. Turns out the entire delivery route was a wild goose chase so the truck's GPS device would reset itself after driving 5,000 miles to erase evidence of the fact that Glazer took this rig unit when he killed his partner Kenneth Woods.
- Cutting Corners: The crime that ultimately started this saga was Ben Glazer spending money on cheap used parts instead of fresh parts for the trucks in his fleet and pocketing the leftover money. This not only means he's stealing from the company, but risking his truckers' necks just for money.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Downplayed. Jack has a reason for leaving Monk and his family, but it's a rather flimsy reason. According to Jack, he really did get Chinese food for them on the day he left, but a fortune cookie convinced him to think about himself for once.
- Good-Times Montage: After reconciling over dinner, there is a montage of Jack and Adrian getting along and enjoying the roadtrip.
- GPS Evidence: Quite literally in this case. The entire point of sending Jack on the long cumbersome route for this "present project" was so that the truck's GPS system would reset, erasing the data showing that Ben Glazer not only drove the truck he signed out to Kenneth Woods' house, but the spot where Kenneth's body was dumped.
- Heel Realization: Jack Sr. finds himself confessing that not only was he indeed a bad father for leaving Monk, but he also wasn't a good enough father to raise Jack Jr. to be anything but a "putz" who lives in his father's basement.
- Kick the Dog: After feeling fed up by Adrian's insistence that Glazer is sending him on a wild goose chase, Jack snaps and claims he's glad he abandoned Monk, Ambrose and their mother.
- Killer Outfit: Ben Glazer starts to cut Kenneth Woods' tie loose when it gets caught in a running semi engine, then stops. (The two were co-owners of the same trucking company, and had just found evidence that Ben was defrauding the company by buying used parts and pocketing the difference.) Ben ultimately kicks Kenneth's feet out from under him, just to be on the safe side. It really ends up biting Ben in his ass, as the Monks notice a rattling sound coming from the engine, and find out it's the piece of tie still left in the engine.note This of course gives Ben the fun of trying to explain what a piece of Kenneth's tie was doing in a truck Ben himself had checked out the day of Kenneth's death.
- Misfortune Cookie: Jack Sr. leaves his family because he got a fortune cookie which stated "stand by your man". Jack interpreted "your man" as being himself.
- Murder by Inaction: Kenneth gets his tie caught in an engine belt during an argument with Ben Glazer, his crooked partner. Initially Glazer reaches for a knife to cut him loose. However, then he realizes this could easily solve his problem. He leaves Kenneth stuck and even kicks his feet away from the tire so he's left hanging.
- Rebuilt Pedestal: In the end, Monk reconciles with his estranged father.
- Revealing Cover Up: Glazer would probably have been better off just reporting Woods' death as an accident he was unable to prevent. At worst, the ensuing investigation might have resulted in the discovery of his fraud and negligence, but that would have been it. Instead, thanks to his cover-up giving Monk all the clues he needs to work out how Woods met his demise, the best case is that Glazer ends up with a charge of voluntary manslaughter on top of those crimes; worst case is that he gets convicted of murder and ends up on death row.
- Riches to Rags: Last time Monk knew him, Jack Sr. wrote schoolbooks. In this episode, he was a truck driver and a 68 year old afraid of losing his job (because no one would hire him due to his old age) were he to follow Monk's suspicions, to the point he accused Monk of sabotaging him.
- Secret Other Family: Monk finds out that Jack has another family and another son, Jack Jr., who he's always bragging about. By contrast, his coworkers don't even know who Monk is. Apparently, however, the second family didn't work out any better than the first, as Jack left his second wife as well and Jack Jr. turns out to be a Basement-Dweller and a mooch rather than a renowned orthopedic surgeon.
- So Proud of You: Strongly implied. While the truck is speeding out of control, Jack Sr. confesses that Jack Jr. is an unemployed mooch and tells Adrian he lied about having a successful doctor for a son because he wanted a son he could be proud of. He didn't realize he had one such son
waiting for him back in San Francisco. - Stealing from the Till: The reason for the killing this week. Ben Glazer was buying cheap parts for the trucks in the fleet, labeling them as having cost more, and pocketing the difference. Suffice to say, Kenneth was not thrilled when he found this out.
- Super-Speed Reading: Monk's talent for reading very fast apparently comes from his dad, as Jack Monk, Sr.'s first on-screen appearance is of him in a holding cell speed-reading a book, on the excuse of "I'm old!"
- Tranquil Fury: When a fed-up Jack Sr. angrily declares he's glad he abandoned his wife and kids, Monk doesn't take it well, possibly because his brother Ambrose has always idolized him all their lives. To this, he lets out a quietly seething "What did you say?"
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: After the climax, Monk is distraught that he and Jack Sr. lost what appeared to be the only remaining evidence. But Jack doesn't care about that, as Monk just called him "Dad", something his begrudging son hasn't called him since their reunion.
