Julie's big night at a community theatre coincides with yet another murder case, and this time, Natalie thinks she has the answer to who did it. However, Natalie's case has a hitch. Her suspect, John Hannigan, wrote a nasty review about Julie's performance, and she's going to have to work like crazy to convince anyone his guilt exists outside her own mind.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Natalie borrows Monk's habitual remark that Hannigan did it, even though she doesn't know how. Randy points out that it's usually Monk who says that.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: This ends up biting Hannigan in the end; he spitefully lambasts Julie's performance because Natalie tried to plug her daughter within his earshot and because he is a jerk. Here is the thing: because he never saw the performance, he never saw Julie out of her wig and makeup. This means that when Monk gets an idea to prove Hannigan never saw Julie, Hannigan immediately reveals that he wasn't in the theater when claiming "I never saw this girl in my life!".
- Cassandra Truth: Natalie fairly quickly deduces theater critic John Hannigan killed his girlfriend, but no one believes her, assuming she's just upset because the eponymous critic gave Julie's performance a bad review.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Natalie sees the person sitting in the balcony checking his wristwatch. When Hannigan comes to the police station later after Natalie is arrested for trespassing, his watch is a pocket watch, not a wristwatch.
- Natalie smells men's cologne in the Victim of the Week's hotel room. When she confronts Hannigan at his office later, she smells the same cologne on him, proving that he was at the hotel room.
- The bathroom attendant's watch. Monk, when he sees it after the man turns up comatose, realizes that Hannigan did commit the murders; Hannigan has a pocket-watch, not a glow-in-the-dark wristwatch as they saw the "critic" use during the show.
- Chekhov's Skill: Julie's acting. At first, Natalie claims that Hannigan is the murderer because he called Julie's solo "forgettable" when it was anything but forgettable; then Julie is able to put on a convincing performance when the police claim that she has a rape accusation against Hannigan. He buys it hook, line and sinker and gives himself away.
- A Deadly Affair: Callie was murdered so John could keep what was important in his life; his career at the paper and the money his marriage provides. Oh, yeah, and probably his fiancée too. That'd be a good bonus.
- Disgusting Public Toilet: Monk expects the men's room at the theater to be like this, but instead it's incredibly clean and even has a bathroom attendant offering a variety of scented soaps. Monk tells Natalie he may begin frequenting the theatre just so he can use their restroom.
- Disney Villain Death: Callie Esterhaus receives her curtain call via being shoved from a balcony.
- Everyone Has Standards: Hannigan's coworkers look angry when it seems he drugged and assaulted an underage girl the night before. When they find out he actually murdered a woman, their expressions become downright stony and Monk confirms they are witnesses.
- Fake Alibi: Hannigan claims he couldn't have committed the murder because he was watching a play at the same time. In actuality, he snuck out and had someone else take his place.
- False Rape Accusation: By Julie against Hannigan, but only to prove he never saw her - even at the play he supposedly critiqued. Also doubled as a demonstration of her very real acting abilities, which he didn't see.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Thanks to work from Monk and Natalie, the police suspect theater critic John Hannigan killed his girlfriend Callie Esterhaus, but they don't have any evidence to prove it. So Monk, Natalie, Stottlemeyer and Disher confront Hannigan at his office to question him about drugging and raping an underaged girl - and bring in the supposed victim, played by Julie, who tells her story. Hannigan, exasperated, denies the accusation, claiming he was at home writing. Stottlemeyer produces a business card that Hannigan supposedly gave Julie. Baffled and scared, Hannigan swears positively that he has never seen Julie before in his life...and gives himself away. Julie performed in the play Hannigan was using as his alibi for the murder. In his office, Julie had her hair, makeup, and clothes done up exactly like they were during her solo in the first act, a performance Hannigan wrote a scathing review of, calling it "forgettable". Hannigan's testimony that he doesn't recognize Julie proves he was not in the theater at the time of the murder. Goodbye, alibi.
- Gold Digger: John Hannigan is engaged to the daughter of the newspaper editor, meaning that if his affair with Callie got out, he would lose out on that money and kiss his career goodbye. Thus, his motive.
- Graceful Loser: Unlike her mother, Julie takes Hannigan's unfair critique without much fuss. She indulges Natalie's Mama Bear stance because, well, it's her mother.
- "Hell, Yes!" Moment: In the climax, Julie can't help but smile smugly when Hannigan refutes his own alibi. He was exposed as a killer, and invalidated his unfair critique of her. Natalie can't help rubbing it in by saying that Julie is "not so forgettable now".
- Earlier, after Monk delivers The Summation, Natalie cannot resist dancing around the hallway, poking the detectives and crowing, "I knew it, I knew it!"
- Hidden Depths: Julie turns out to be a rising actress on the stage. Her singing has reached operatic levels.
- Hollywood Law: This episode probably has the most strained “proof” in the series. The police don’t have any real evidence of Hannigan’s involvement, so they browbeat him into a confession by showing up at his office, with all of his colleagues present, and having Julie loudly and falsely proclaim that he raped her in a parking lot. When a flustered Hannigan says he doesn’t recognize her he’s arrested for a different crime because this conflicts with his alibi. Not only would this not be enough to convict, it would probably result in a lawsuit against the SFPD.
- Ivy League for Everyone: A variant; Julie is accepted into Berkley for the performing arts. Natalie is highly thrilled.
- Jerkass: After sneaking out and returning to the show, Hannigan—who could have written anything—writes an exceptionally nasty review about the parts he missed, largely Julie's performance. While he could not have known it would come back to haunt him, the sheer pettiness of this makes it easier for Natalie to accuse him.
- Lying to the Perp: The police lie to Hannigan that Julie made a False Rape Accusation against him...so that they could prove that he didn't recognize her, despite having supposedly watching a play in which she had a major role.
- Mama Bear: Natalie's anger at John Hannigan's scathing review culminates in her trying to punch him, and Monk and Stottlemeyer having to restrain her. She also gets busted for snooping around his property, thinking that he only wrote the bad review because he was actually murdering his girlfriend Callie Esterhaus during the performance. Of course, he is guilty of the murder, but they convict him by his failure to recognize Julie in costume.
- Mugging the Monster: Of all the parents to be a complete jerk to, Hannigan had to provoke the one who's working for San Francisco's greatest detective. Natalie ends up leading Monk down the right path to the murderer.
- Murderer P.O.V.: The opening scene is shot as though looking through Hannigan's eyes.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: While it's possible Monk would have found him out eventually, Hannigan sped up the investigation considerably by insulting Julie's performance. If he had just said she was wonderful like everyone else, Natalie wouldn't have come to his office to confront him and smelled the same cologne from Callie's hotel room. She also wouldn't have figured out his motive or had so strong a motive to find evidence against him.
- Not Helping Your Case:
- While Natalie does have some evidence for her claim, the fact that she can't remain calm about the review or Hannigan causes the others to dismiss her for half the episode.
- Likewise, Hannigan could have clammed upon realizing that the girl he denied drugging and assaulting was the same one he lambasted in a review, and swore that "I never saw this girl before in my life!" Instead, he shouts that she wasn't in the curtain call. Hannigan realizes he fudged it when Monk and Natalie reveal she was in a wig and costume for the curtain call but had her hair down for a solo in the first act. All he can do is meekly ask to call his lawyer.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Hannigan never reviews community theater. That he does this time turns out to be an important clue - he did it to create his alibi. Similarly, Hannigan normally sits in the orchestra section, but on the night of the murder, he requested a box seat, which Monk realizes is because he needed to have an easy means to slip out to commit the murder.
- Oh, Crap!: Hannigan claims that he'd never seen Julie in his life when she accuses him of assaulting her the night before. Then she asks Natalie, "Mom, can we go home now?" Hannigan's face falls as he says "Mom?!" Stottlemeyer smugly reveals that he's looking at the very Julie Teeger that he lambasted in his review. She looked exactly like what she looks like now (hair, makeup, costume) for the performance Hannigan claimed as his alibi, and by failing to recognize her, he just proved that he didn't actually see the performance in question.
- The Oner: We see the murder through Hannigan's POV, resulting in one very long shot.
- Papa Wolf: When they manage to prove that Hannigan was the killer, Monk and Stottlemeyer look satisfied that they vindicated Julie.
- Punk in the Trunk: Hannigan loads Gilson into the trunk of his car after knocking him out.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Subverted. We know that Hannigan killed Callie because his voice doesn't change from when he murders her, but Natalie claims that she knows he murdered Callie because no critic would have called Julie's performance "forgettable" (though she later finds a few other clues pointing to him). It turns out Natalie was completely right; Hannigan did murder Callie and did the bad review because he had no idea what Julie looked like and did it out of spite, but Natalie has a hard time convincing others that she is right because they think she's only sore about his review.
- Running Gag: Natalie bringing up Hannigan's comment about Julie being "forgettable."
- Shamed by a Mob: Hannigan's coworkers come to listen with interest when Julie claims that he drugged and sexually assaulted her, and Stottlemeyer loudly yells at him to shut up, in order to draw attention. They nod when Monk asks if they can say Hannigan claimed he never saw "this girl" in his life, with some packing a Death Glare. When Hannigan is busted for murdering his girlfriend, their expressions change, and they look both shocked and disappointed. Hannigan doesn't dare turn to face them as Randy arrests him.
- She Is All Grown Up: Exploited. Julie is now in her late teens, college-ready and acting. It also means that she can put on a plausible show when accusing Hannigan of drugging and raping her, to take him down.
- Shout-Out: It's an episode involving musical theater, and the villain's name is Hannigan. A descendant of Agatha, perhaps?
- Tempting Fate: Callie is so excited she says she could die after Hannigan proposes. He then pushes her off the balcony.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Julie gets accepted into UCLA for Performing Arts at the end of the episode.
- Tranquil Fury: Julie gives a calm smile of suppressed disgust when Monk reveals she was the girl that Hannigan roasted in his review, and he just confirmed he didn't see her onstage. She knows he's going down.
- Villainous Breakdown: Hannigan doesn't react well when he realizes that he destroyed his own alibi. Logically speaking, he ought to have recognized Julie after lambasting her in a review. He tries to defend himself by saying that she wasn't in the curtain call. Monk and Natalie refute this by revealing that she was wearing a wig and makeup for act two, but in act one she looked exactly as she looked like in his office with her hair down.
- We Need to Get Proof: After Monk realizes that Hannigan was the murderer, Stottlemeyer points out that the watch isn't enough because Hannigan could lawyer up. They have take more drastic measures to destroy his alibi.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out if Gilson awakens from his coma.
- The X of Y: Monk compliments Gilson as "The Michelangelo of Lavatories".
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Hannigan proposes to Callie, making her blissfully happy. Then he murders her.
- You Monster!: Natalie calls Hannigan a monster after he makes a series of nasty comments to her.
- Your Favorite: According to Callie, John Hannigan likes chocolate-covered strawberries.
