Despite Monk's amazing record as a consultant, one of the reinstatement board, Frank Willis, expresses doubts about giving him back his badge. Desperate to change his mind, Monk decides to join a "Buddies in Blue" camping trip, allowing him to shmooze Mr. Willis' son, Brian, all weekend. However, the unsanitariness of the woods quickly becomes the least of Monk's worries when the case of the week puts him, Randy, and the kids directly in the sights of a pair of cold-blooded killers who will do anything to retrieve the evidence.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Alone with the Psycho: The girlfriend of one of the killers calls them to warn them the cops are on the case, and they return to the place near Spider Lake where they practiced their shooting to "clean up." Eventually, they realize that one of the boys picked up some of the bullet casings. When they can't buy the fish with the hook stuck in it, they begin stalking the group to retrieve the incriminating casing.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- One of the boys, a nature expert, finds a number of bullet casings and makes a sinker for his fishing rod with one of them. The killers of the week follow them to retrieve it.
- Monk freaks out when a bear invades the campsite, and one of the boys tells him that one should talk calmly to a bear rather than screaming when one sees one. Monk remembers this when he and Brian encounter the same bear later on, and manages to calm it by telling it The Summation.
- Ghost Story: Randy, fulfilling the camping tradition of spooky stories around the campfire, begins a yarn about a hook-handed mental patient. Monk ruins it by pointing out all the inaccuracies.
- Parental Neglect: From what the episode shows, Willis always has work to do and seldom spends time with Brian at all, to the point that the boy has long since become cynical about his promises to do anything together. Midway through the trip, he tells Monk that his dad won't change and decide he likes Monk, citing personal experience.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Upon seeing a bear in the camp, Monk lets out a loud, shrill scream.
- Talking Animal: Monk manages to calm a bear down by telling it The Summation, and the bear's reactions indicated that it understood fully well what was going on in the story and reacting accordingly.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Brian clings to the fish he caught with one of the boys' improvised fishing rod, wanting to present it to his dad as it's the first major thing he can show off to him.
- Would Hurt a Child: The perps of the week are looking at the campers through a rifle scope. Luckily, Randy manages to jump one of them and steal his gun, ending the situation before anything happens.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: After spending an entire weekend in the woods to try to sway the lone holdout on the reinstatement committee, Monk wins him over...and the other two express reservations.
