Written by David Breckman
Directed by Randy Zisk
Adrian Monk can't sleep after seeing a woman he's never seen before. Dr. Kroger speculates that Monk is sexually attracted to the woman. Upon Natalie's suggestion, Monk goes out for a walk, and discovers the woman is a taxicab driver, Maria Cordova (Terri Hoyos).
Monk also witnesses a drug bust gone wrong, but when he calls Stottlemeyer and Disher in, and they find no evidence of what Monk described, they assume that what Monk saw was a waking dream. However, it turns out that what Monk saw was a staged murder for the purpose of shaking down a gullible coin dealer for some valuably rare coins.
Tropes
- 555: Tuning in to a shopping channel, Monk calls 1-800-555-0183. Not because he wants to buy anything, but because he wants the hosts to straighten the display items.
- Con Man:
- Gully manages to swipe Monk’s wallet when he’s at the bar and Monk doesn’t realize it until he’s trying to pay for a taxi. Justified as he’s been awake for three days and has been preoccupied with other things. Gully also replaced Monk's wallet with an object of similar weight and size (a deck of cards).
- Monk realizes what he saw in the restaurant’s kitchen was a set up done by a con group. They staged it to look like a drug deal gone wrong and convinced the coin dealer to give them his coins to keep him out of trouble. Once he finds out what happened through Monk and Stottlemeyer, he kills the “cop” that was supposedly shot and he tries to kill the other two.
- Driving Question: Who killed Trudy Monk? She died on December 14, 1997. Maria has a tattoo of that date (as "12-14-97") because that's the date she got a cornea transplant from Trudy. So, in a sense, Maria has Trudy's eyes. This brings Adrian and Maria a shared moment of catharsis, but the driving question remains unsettled.
- Exact Words: Con Man Gully bets Monk $50 that he can guess where Monk got his shoes, and wins by saying, "You got 'em on your feet." Genuinely amused by the clever wordplay, Monk honors the wager.
- Foreshadowing: If one listens carefully to the music, when Monk runs into Maria, you can hear a riff of Trudy's theme. Later, we learn that the reason Monk can't stop thinking about his first glance at Maria is because she got a cornea transplant from Trudy.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Jacob Posner was just an average coin dealer who went to what he thought was a drug deal only to watch what he thought was a cop being murdered, and he shelled out a bunch of merchandise to cover up that he was there. Nothing about the guy gives an indication he'd ever done anything violent (except possibly in self-defense) in his life. When he gets told by Monk and Stottlemeyer that the "dead" cop was at the train station, he kills that guy for real and is planning to bump off the other two con artists before Monk shows up.
- GPS Evidence: Stottlemeyer gets some distinct purple napkins from the restaurant. Later, when they visit Jacob Posner, Posner gives him another purple napkin for a tissue. It's only later at the bar that Stottlemeyer realizes they're the same type of napkin.
- He Will Not Cry, so I Cry for Him: When Monk realizes that Maria received the cornea transplant from the deceased Trudy, Maria cries in his place.
- Insomnia Episode: Although Adrian Monk has suffered insomnia before (see "Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike"), this episode is clearly the insomnia episode of the series.
- It Was Here, I Swear!: Monk thinks he witnessed a drug deal gone wrong and calls the police. When they examine the crime scene, it’s been cleaned up and they assume Monk saw it in his sleepless state.
- Mandatory Line: Aside from her suggestion to Adrian on the phone to go for a walk, Natalie is almost completely absent from this episode. To make up for it, she gets a little scene tacked on at the end, in which she goes to Adrian's apartment and finds him sound asleep.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: An accidental case with Monk and company. They inform the antique coin dealer the cop that was supposedly shot was actually alive. This gets him to realize he was conned and he goes to kill the people involved.
- Right Place, Right Time, Wrong Reason: Monk is fortunate enough to stumble onto the crime scene because he happens to be the area. He was originally outside to clear his head and then he chased after Maria’s taxi because he’s spent the last few days thinking about her.
- Running Gag: Inspired by Randy's Captain America pajamas, Stottlemeyer proceeds to quote several superhero facts...all of which are wrong.
