With Dr. Kroger's death leaving him off-kilter, Monk makes a very expensive impulse buy — a house whose old owner recently died in an apparent accident. However, as Monk delves deeper into the life of the former householder, he becomes increasingly suspicious that both his death and his house hide their own dark secrets.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Asshole Victim
- It turns out Joseph Moody was involved in a multi-million dollar robbery that killed three guards. Downplayed, as Joseph is suffering from dementia and doesn't fully remember doing it.
- Cassie Drake is this, being willing to push an old man down the stairs over money.
- Book Ends: The episode begins with Monk hearing the girl across the street practicing Chopin and registering a noise complaint. At the end, having found a new therapist and partially come to terms with Dr. Kroger's death, he opens the window to listen to it better.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- One of the rooms having an off-center, revealed later on because of a false wall where the stolen loot is hidden.
- There's a mention of an incident at a depository in 1968. Then in the second half of the episode, the main characters have two murders tied to a bank heist at said depository that year.
- Chekhov's Skill: Natalie, Stottlemeyer and Disher are revealed to be proficient in Morse code. There's even a moment where Stottlemeyer and Disher amuse themselves by tapping messages to each other on the door of Cassie Drake's house, only for Natalie to chastise them, revealing that she knows it as well. This proficient knowledge in Morse code comes in handy when Monk and Natalie are taken hostage by "Honest" Jake Phillips and Natalie sends up smoke signals in Morse code that Stottlemeyer correctly interprets as an "SOS" (but Randy misinterprets them as a soda advertisement).
- Crooked Contractor: "Honest" Jake. To elaborate: Monk runs into him in a hardware store while buying fixtures for a new house he has purchased on a whim, then Monk calls Jake over when he finds an off-centered lamp. Jake comes to take a look at it. The problems he finds and the work necessary to fix them eventually cause his work to deteriorate into house-wide demoliton project so extensive that Monk and Natalie are left cowering on the steps as Jake and his assistant "Honest" Ramone work. Then Jake is revealed to be after a hidden fortune left behind by the last tenant of the house. His accomplice and lover killed that occupant to prevent him from telling the secret to anyone else, though she told Jake about it. Jake stabs and kills her in her house after he sees Monk find evidence linking her to the first crime. When Monk and Natalie find the bloodstained murder weapon on Jake's toolbelt, he takes them hostage by shackling them by their legs to a claw-footed bathtub. After finding the money, he shoots and kills Ramone, before Monk and Natalie knock him out by pushing a wall down on him. They manage to crawl down the hall to send up Morse code smoke signals from the fireplace to Stottlemeyer and Disher, who barely arrive in the nick of time as Jake recovers and prepares to shoot his hostages.
- Fun with Palindromes: Monk has still not found a new therapist by the beginning of the episode. He rejects one recommended by Natalie's brother because the chairs in his waiting room were too low, and rejects another one because he has an eyepatch. Then comes Dr. Neven Bell. His first name is the same forwards as it is backwards, but Monk can't approve because the first N is capitalized, rendering the palindrome imperfect (neveN), even with Dr. Bell doing several small gestures to win his confidence over (beginning the appointment at the exact second it is scheduled, supplying Monk with his favorite bottled water, handwipes during their introductory handshake, and acquiring a painting in his office that came from Dr. Kroger's waiting room).
- My God, What Have I Done?: Jake seems quite remorseful after killing Cassie.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Jake has no problem killing Ramone once the money has been found and Ramone has outlived his usefulness.Ramone: What are you going to do with your share?Jake: Same thing I'm gonna do with your share - spend it! [shoots Ramone]
- Non-Indicative Name: "Honest" Jake Phillips and "Honest" Ramone. Neither of them are very honest.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: We never learn "Honest" Ramone's real name.
- Reset Button: Monk is back in his original apartment, with no mention of what he did with the house, by the final scene (although he does mention having money problems in the following episode).
- Sherlock Scan: Monk mentions that he hasn't been sleeping due to the girl next door who plays Chopin's Prelude in A Major nonstop. Monk mentions that the girl only started playing piano about a year ago, and Dr. Bell correctly guesses, seemingly out of thin air, that it's only been bothering him for five weeks. Monk asks the standard, "How do you know that?" and Dr. Bell explains that Dr. Kroger played Chopin in his waiting room all the time, and the music has only bothered him for five weeks, the time period it has been since Dr. Kroger died, ostensibly meaning that for Monk, the music is invoking painful memories.
- Skewed Priorities: Monk collaborates with Natalie to pull the bathtub Honest Jake chained them to into the hall...so he can pound down a stuck-out nail.
- Staircase Tumble: This is how Cassie kills Joseph Moody.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once Jake and "Honest" Ramone find the money, Jake shoots him to keep the money for himself.
