In the two-part series finale, Monk finally figures out the answer to the biggest mystery in his life: the identity of his wife's killer.
Tropes for this episode include:
- All for Nothing: Upon finishing the summation, Monk lividly calls out the Judge on how killing Trudy amounted to nothing because Trudy was able to reveal the truth via the videotape.
- Afraid of Needles: One of Monk's many phobias. It takes every hospital employee to restrain him to draw some blood to test.
- And the Adventure Continues: The episode ends with Monk and Natalie getting called out to a new case.
- Blackmail Backfire: Dr. Nash discovered the record of Trudy's baby and who the father was while digitizing the clinic's file. When he learns Judge Rickover is the father, he tries to blackmail him with that info. Rickover instead hires an assassin to kill him setting this episode's events in motion.
- Book Ends: The entire series began with Monk fretting over whether or not he remembered to turn off the stove before they left, while in the middle of a crime scene. The series finale has (a more functional) Monk casually checking to make sure the stove is off before he and Natalie leave to check a crime scene.
- Call-Back:
- Before they go to the crime scene, Monk double-checks the stove to see if he turned it off. This is a call-back to the pilot where he stopped the investigation short because he was worried about his stove.
- At the beginning of the episode, Trudy lists the things on her agenda, including Ambrose's medication. In "Mr. Monk and the Three Pies", Ambrose says that he feels guilty, believing (incorrectly) that this is the reason she was killed.
- In Mr. Monk vs the Cobra Monk tells his hallucination of Trudy that he wished he'd taken more pictures of her and that they'd had kids. When he meets her daughter Molly Evans, he takes a picture a minute and insists on showing them all to the squad.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Randy having trouble telling Stottlemeyer that he accepted a transfer (and promotion) in New Jersey. When he eventually blabs it out, Stottlemeyer was actually pretty surprised, but then tells him how proud he is of Randy.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Trudy's Christmas present. It ends up leading Monk to her killer, as well as to Trudy's daughter Molly.
- A sundial, shown during the first visit to Rickover's house.
- Connected All Along: Twelve years ago, before the news of Trudy's death hits, Monk and Stottlemeyer are working on the disappearance of a midwife. Which is actually just as important to the whole plot.
- Continuity Snarl: When Stottlemeyer is explaining the situation to his "task force", the bulletin board shows images of Monk, Kazarinski, and Dr. Nash. However, the sticky note by Nash identifies him as "Dr. Nash Thomas" instead of his clearly established name of "Dr. Malcolm Nash".
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Monk sits in Stunned Silence momentarily after he and Natalie finishing watching Trudy's video. Then he says with horror that he had the evidence about her killer all along and could have brought him to justice years ago. Natalie reassures him that he didn't know.
- Clip Show: At the end is a montage of the series' past episodes.
- Disappointed by the Motive: Part of what really digs under Adrian's skin about Trudy's murder is that for all intents and purposes, Judge Rickover murdered a woman and then ordered the murders of two other people, all for the sake of his job.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Or rather, Monk is acting exactly like a father with his newborn baby would when he meets Molly.
- Driven to Suicide: Rickover knows his life is absolutely screwed once Monk figures everything out, so when Monk sets down his gun, Ethan grabs it and shoots himself.
- Driving Question: Who killed Trudy Monk is finally resolved. Judge Ethan Rickover (Craig T. Nelson), so that no one would know about their affair or his murder of Wendy Stroud.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Monk avenges Trudy by exposing the Judge as her killer, as well as someone who murdered the midwife Wendy Stroud. He then finds out that Trudy's daughter is alive and Happily Adopted. Monk reconnects with Molly and offers to give up his detective work to spend all of his time with her. Molly gently tells him he can still spend time with her and solve cases, something that Monk prefers. He keeps solving cases and, as the epilogue implies, becomes more functional.
- Embarrassing Cover Up: Randy, trying to hide the fact he is with Sharona, tells her he loves her over the phone. Stottlemeyer wonders who he is talking to, Randy states it's the junior commissioner, who is male. Randy claims it was a call of "platonic love" and states he loves Stottlemeyer too. He clearly doesn't buy it.
- Evil Is Petty: Monk sees the Judge's actions as this, killing Trudy because he was too plum paranoid about her spilling that he'd been in an affair (although that in turn could have lead to the discovery that he murdered the midwife involved in the birth) so he could keep his job. Once Monk puts it all in perspective for him, Ethan even looks like it's just hit him how petty it all is.
- Fake Shemp: In the opening flashback sequence, Frank Nunn's face is kept in shadows to hide the fact that he is not being played by Courtney Gains.
- Family of Choice: The Judge may have been Molly's biological father, but he never interacted with her beyond keeping tabs on her. (Not to mention he essentially murdered her biological mother Trudy.) But Monk comes into her life and becomes a true father figure to her, even though she's practically grown.
- Famous Last Words: "You take care of her! *BANG!*"
- A Friend in Need: Stottlemeyer organizes a task force to catch the guy who poisoned Monk, telling the officers that since this is unofficially sanctioned, they won't be getting paid for any overtime. One cop replies they're not doing it for the money, if it means saving Monk's life.
- Generation Xerox: Coincidentally, Molly winds up working for a newspaper like her birth mother. While Trudy is into journalism, Molly writes movie reviews.
- Hidden in Plain Sight:
- The clue Monk needed to solve Trudy's murder was the final gift she left for him, which has been sitting on his bookshelf at home for years.
- The source of the poison that is slowly killing Monk throughout the episode turns out to be his frequently-used personal sanitation wipes, which he carries everywhere.
- If I Do Not Return: Trudy's last Christmas present was this. She recorded a video, fearing that the Judge would try to do something to her so that her husband would know what happened. As she says, if the meeting had been civil, she would have replaced the video with a watch. The problem was that Monk couldn't bear to open the gift, the last one he would receive from Trudy, for eleven years.
- Irony:
- Germophobic Monk always needed a wipe whenever he uses his hands for something, which becomes awkward when it was revealed that the wipes are laced with poison.
- The judge committed several crimes of murder to keep his job as a judge.
- Loving a Shadow: In her video tape, Trudy lampshades that Monk has put her on a pedestal and idealized her, to the point it has blinded him from the fact she isn't perfect. Unwittingly, she's also right on the money regarding how he's martyred her memory as a saintly woman who could do no wrong.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Monk points out that Judge Rickover murdered three people over the course of twelve years all for the sake of his job, Rickover looks disheartened, as if he's never thought of what he's done in such stark terms before.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Randy finds the murdered body of the train announcer, he talks about how Joey is likely armed and dangerous over his radio, while the announcer's mike is still on, which sends the rest of the crowd into a panic and gives Joey some cover.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Monk was nowhere near close to finding a lead on Trudy's killer. The Judge poisons his wipes for trying to investigate the murders of a midwife and her assassin respectively. This gives Monk the strength to watch Trudy's last gift: a video that reveals the Judge murdered her.
- Now What?: Monk has finally achieved the Series Goal: find out who killed Trudy and bring them to justice. He talks in therapy how it feels like there is now an "unknown" of what to do with his life now that he has avenged Trudy. Finding Molly helps him regain his purpose, and he realizes he can keep helping people by solving mysteries.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Monk confronts the Judge outside, in the pouring rain, preparing to make him dig up his yard at gunpoint to find the midwife's remains. It just shows how Monk has absolutely nothing to lose at this point as his burning desire to avenge Trudy's death has overridden all of his neurotic tendencies.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Subverted. Trudy says that her baby died minutes after birth; at the end of the episode, however, Trudy's daughter turns out to be alive, shortly after the death of the daughter's father.
- Oxymoronic Being: From the very start of the finale, Monk noticed the absurdity of a sundial being installed directly under tree branches, making it effectively useless. With how he's dying in the second half, he takes a gamble on it, coupled with how the Judge refuses to ever move away from his property, being where something truly incriminating is hidden under.
- Pet the Dog: It's revealed that the Judge made sure Molly was adopted by Good Parents who raised her into a capable young women. When the Judge is about to kill himself, he tells Monk to "take care of her". He could've killed himself straight away without Monk ever knowing Trudy's daughter was alive. But because of his clue, it allowed Monk to find Molly and take care of her as a surrogate father figure.
- Railroad Tracks of Doom: Stottlemeyer's pursuit of Joe Kazarinsky across multiple railroad tracks ends inevitably with Kazarinsky being hit by an oncoming train while taking a breather.
- Replacement Goldfish: Defied. Monk knows that Molly isn't Trudy, and instead is the daughter they might have had if Trudy had lived. He spends time with her because he wants to make the most of his life now that Trudy has been avenged.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: As he signs the warrant for Joe Kazarinsky, Judge Rickover mentions it might be the last one he signs, because the governor wants him to join the state Supreme Court. It does end up being the last warrant he signs, but it's because he commits suicide, after Monk exposes him as a killer.
- Slipping a Mickey: a variant, where Monk leaves the hospital without being noticed by putting sleeping pills in the drink of the officer standing guard.
- Suicide by Cop: Played with. Monk may not be a cop like he was years ago. Regardless, when a poisoned Monk is coughing hard enough to put down his gun, the Judge (afraid to face the consequences of losing everything he killed for) takes the gun and shoots himself.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The finale is about Monk coming to terms with his wife's murder. He may have solved the case, but there are still more criminals to catch, and the series ends with Monk and Natalie meeting with Stottlemeyer at a crime scene as usual.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: This is originally believed to be the way that Monk was poisoned. Turns out that he was poisoned by other means.
- Tragic Keepsake: Deconstructed. Monk kept Trudy's last gift because it was the last one he would receive from her. Everyone kept telling him to open it, so that he could process his grief. When he finally does, he realizes that they were right; if he had watched the video, he would have found Trudy's killer ages ago... albeit that they were Right for the Wrong Reasons, as nobody had known that Trudy had someone who wanted her dead, or that she'd foresee her own murder and record evidence just in case.
- Tuckerization: Molly Evans gets her name from creator Andy Breckman's two children.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Shares several story beats with Curtain by Agatha Christie, as it features a dying eccentric detective desperate to solve what appears to be his last case. Unlike Poirot, however, Monk manages to keep his hands clean, and goes on to have a few more supplementary adventures in the novels.
