History Monk / TropesFToJ

* GracefulLoser: In a few episodes (e.g. [[Recap/MonkS4E10MrMonkGoesToAFashionShow Mr. Monk Goes to a Fashion Show]], [[Recap/MonkS4E14MrMonkAndTheAstronaut Mr. Monk and the Astronaut]]), the killer behaves surprisingly graciously toward Monk after he catches them, due perhaps to seeing him as a WorthyOpponent. The most tragic example occurs in [[Recap/MonkS1E11MrMonkAndTheRedHeadedStranger]], where the killer ([[spoiler:who had taken revenge on an AssholeVictim]]) actually expresses relief at being caught, [[spoiler:as the fact that the wrong person was being tagged had been weighing on her conscience]]).

* GracefulLoser: In a few episodes (e.g. [[Recap/MonkS4E10MrMonkGoesToAFashionShow Mr. Monk Goes to a Fashion Show]], [[Recap/MonkS4E14MrMonkAndTheAstronaut Mr. Monk and the Astronaut]]), the killer behaves surprisingly graciously toward Monk after he catches them, due perhaps to seeing him as a WorthyOpponent.

-->'''Natalie Teeger:''' ''[smiles]''' But, Mr. Monk, that ''wasn't'' a phone booth!

* GasLighting: This happens to Monk several times throughout the series--he's especially vulnerable given his history of mental illness--but it also happens to Sharona (in "[[Recap/MonkS3E6MrMonkAndTheGirlWhoCriedWolf Mr. Monk and the Girl Who Cried Wolf]]") and to Randy (in [[Recap/MonkS4E15MrMonkGoesToTheDentist Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist]].

* GasLighting
** Sharona is made a victim of this in "[[Recap/MonkS3E6MrMonkAndTheGirlWhoCriedWolf Mr. Monk and the Girl Who Cried Wolf]]", where her writing professor Meredith Preminger tries to discredit her sanity by having her lover, a security guard named Denny Graf, pose as a dying man with a knife in his blood-soaked chest and a screwdriver sticking out of his ear, stating "Douglas is worried about you", and then have him disappear when she tries to show him to Monk: Thrice. Turns out, she is doing this because Sharona has written a mystery paper which was about a woman who kills her husband by feeding him tomato soup laced with a toxin that can emulate a heart attack, which Meredith and her lover have decided will be helpful to use against her husband, and thus cover their tracks in case Sharona gets suspicious.

* HappyFlashback

** In "Mr. Monk's Favorite Show," look at the ballot slips Victor Timlinson looks at during the summation: according to the slip, the actresses being nominated for the Silver Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Made For TV movie are Christine Rapp for ''The Vanishing Girl'', Yasmine Marutyan for ''Give Me Back My Baby'', Tara [=McSherry=] for ''The Boy Who Couldn't Breathe'', Kendra Frank for ''The Jane Austen Story'', and Tyna Hurd for ''Supermarket Superstar''. The Kendra Frank on the ballot is probably not the same person as the roadie's girlfriend played by Tamara Feldman in "Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert".

** In "Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever," Agent Grooms tells Monk, Natalie and Stottlemeyer not to draw any attention to themselves while in public....while wearing a very conspicuous three piece suit. Natalie calls him out for it.
** In "Mr. Monk and the Actor," when Monk is in Dr. Kroger's office, talking about David Ruskin after Ruskin had a mental breakdown during production of a movie adaptation of "Mr. Monk and the Astronaut" (leading to him taking a double murderer/car dealership owner named Jack Leverett hostage in his own showroom), Monk notes that the movie was canceled as Ruskin "said he wanted to play a character who wasn’t so dark and depressing. ''[beat]'' He's in England playing ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''."
** In "Mr. Monk Falls In Love," when forced to admit he likes Leyla Zlatavich, Monk says, "OK, fine, maybe I am a little flustered. You know, I--I am just not used to being around attractive women!"....to Natalie, who is fairly attractive by most standards.

*** In "Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa", Leland recounting his encounter with Frank Prager in the parking lot outside a bar is foreshadowing: Leland says he was out drinking at a bar around 2:00 a.m. on a Tuesday night, and he was toasted, enough that the bartender took his keys, forcing him to walk home. Typically, a married man probably wouldn't go out drinking alone on a weeknight and get so toasted they take his keys and make him walk home, unless he's got a problem." The implication being that Leland had another fight with Karen and he'd gotten drunk in an attempt to calm his nerves afterwards.

** Christine Rapp, who played Cathy Cooper on the show, went on to convince a mail room employee named Victor Timlinson to rig the Silver Globe ballots so that she would win the award. After she published a tell-all book in 2009, Timlinson tried to blackmail her, and she shot him in cold blood.

** Much of the evidence Monk found in Linda Fusco's house in "Mr. Monk and the Bad Girlfriend" would probably be rendered inadmissible seeing how Monk basically broke in and didn't have a search warrant. The evidence found in the back of the rental truck she used for her alibi might still be admissible under the rule of "inevitable discovery" (since it's very likely the contents would have to be inventoried at some point).
** There's no way Roddy Lankman's cheating scheme on the game show ''Treasure Chest'' in "Mr. Monk and the Game Show" would be able to go on for as long as it did. Most game shows generally have people on set who are put there to watch for evidence of rigging and make sure the show is fair to everyone. Not to mention, ever since the quiz show scandals of the 1950s (after several contestants came forward revealing they were being coached the answers to questions), Lankman would be running afoul of federal laws that make it a crime to rig a game show. In fact, Monk's father-in-law would probably be obligated to tell the federal authorities first and then bring Monk in if they couldn't find anything.

* HollywoodPersonalityDisorders: The way the show portrays OCD is incredibly inaccurate. Although the writers seem to realize this, and therefore Monk is explicitly identified as having OCD maybe only once across the entire series, with characters opting to call him simply "weird" or "persnickety" when explaining his disorder to others. It's heavily toted as OCD in promotional material, however.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1357422173004460100

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** In "Mr. Monk's Favorite Show," Monk sees a mirror on the ceiling in Christine Rapp's bedroom. He doesn't quite get the idea. The same thing happened earlier in "Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy" when Monk was in Dexter Larsen's bedroom.[[note]]In case you didn't get it, the idea is that wealthy people like to install such a mirror so they can look at themselves while they have sex[[/note]]
** Those swinger couples in ''Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii'' that Monk and Natalie pass while talking to their suspects, who claim to "investigate" people. Natalie tells Monk what the term really means.
** The mention of the MileHighClub trope comes up in ''Mr. Monk Goes to Germany''.
** In "Mr. Monk and the Miracle", Monk tells Natalie that her getting gravy for their small party wouldn't have been necessary as the bums, their guests, make their own gravy. When Natalie asks how they do it, Monk simply responds with "You don't want to know..."

** It is heavily implied that, although Trudy's death didn't cause Monk's issues, it certainly made it a lot worse than before, suffering a mental breakdown that forced him into early retirement from the force before the start of the series, and necessitated therapy as well as [[spoiler:finding Trudy's killer, not to mention learning that the car bomb was intended for Trudy all along and not a backfired assassination attempt on him]] that he ever gets better. He also has relatively minor episodes within the main HeroicBSOD, namely pertained to whether he can get his old job back or not (such as when he was not only removed from the case, but also had his detective's license revoked by the commissioner simply because he accidentally deleted a few years worth of forensic files while attempting to eliminate crumbs from the keyboard, or when a four-year hiring freeze threatened his chances of reinstatement).]]

* {{Flopsy}}: In "[[Recap/MonkS8E10MrMonkAndSharona Mr. Monk and Sharona]]", Monk discovers that Sharona's late uncle Howard Fleming was a con artist: he apparently has had a history of suspicious falls and accidents with monetary compensation settled out of court, and apparently he had been forced into such a lifestyle because he was deep in debt.

** After Dr. Kroger passed away (due to Stanley Kamel's death in 2008), Monk has difficulty finding a new one by "Mr. Monk Buys a House." 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)..

* GirlfriendInCanada: Subverted in "Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month"; Randy's girlfriend appears to be one of these -- the picture he shows Sharona is the one that came with his wallet ("She's a wallet model!") and he gives what appears to be a LineOfSightName -- except that at the end of the episode, we actually see her waving to him from a taxi.

*** It's more likely that as DINKs (Double Income No Kids) Adrian and Trudy were living in San Francisco okay financially. Trudy must have had life insurance and Adrian is on disability (read no income tax). He also has his psychiatrist sessions covered by police union benefits (police union contracts are very generous given the nature of the work). Trump is notoriously frugal and likely he wants to ensure that his money lasts longer than him.

* HannibalLecture: Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck, the extra-large [[TheSilenceOfTheLambs Mason Verger]] expy does this to unnerve people, especially Monk.

** InUniverse, in "Mr. Monk and the Rapper", Murderuss approaches Monk because he knows the police are going to call him the primary suspect in his rival Extra Large's murder, in part because he wrote a song called ''Car Bomb'' (lyrics like "Ch, Ch, Ch, I put the bomb in your limo, that's what the surprise is / under your seat like [[Creator/OprahWinfrey Oprah]] giving prizes!") which just happens to describe how Extra Large really died.

** From "Mr. Monk Joins a Cult":

* {{Flopsy}}: In "Mr. Monk and Sharona", Monk discovers that Sharona's late uncle Howard Fleming was a con artist: he apparently has had a history of suspicious falls and accidents with monetary compensation settled out of court, and apparently he had been forced into such a lifestyle because he was deep in debt.

*** "Mr. Monk Gets Jury Duty" is another noticeable case: Stottlemeyer and Disher personally capture Miguel Escobar, a notorious wanted fugitive (who sounds like he is on the FBI Top Ten Most Wanted list). A few weeks later, conflict arises between the SFPD and FBI when their Special Agent Lapides shows up in Stottlemeyer's office with a letter from the U.S. Attorney General demanding Stottlemeyer hand custody of Escobar over to the Feds. Stottlemeyer doesn't want to, as he wants to have Escobar tried for a local homicide in San Francisco, but the Feds want him tried for trafficking drugs into seven different states (and possibly several other homicides that are linked to it).

** Natalie's mother Peggy Davenport in "Mr. Monk Goes to a Wedding". Natalie describes her to Randy as having two things: "tennis and making me feel like dirt. She's a champion at both." Among other things: