History Monk / TropesSToZ

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: In ''Mr. Monk and the New Lieutenant'', Amy Devlin resigns and leaves for Boston in the wake of her bungling a SWAT team operation in the previous book ''Mr. Monk is Open For Business''. In her place comes Arnold James Thurman, Jr. When Monk and Natalie first meet him at a crime scene, they immediately suspect that it's his connections (his father is a retired captain) that got him promoted to Lieutenant, considering that they've known A.J. for years and Natalie describes him as "[[{{Jerkass}} a rude loudmouth with no respect for anyone]]".

* SympatheticMurderer: The Willie Nelson episode's culprit was [[spoiler:motivated by desire to take revenge on the drunk driver who killed her parents and blinded her, and carefully planned it so no one else would be involved. Willie was only there by extreme misfortune.]] It's implied part of the culprit's reasoning for being invested in the Willie Nelson case was [[spoiler:subconciously hoping she'd get caught, as she admits to feeling guilty for pinning the blame on Willie]]. When the culprit asks for [[spoiler:a prison cell with a window so she can at least see the world with her partially restored eyesight]], which Stottlemeyer says he'll advocate for.

* SherlockScan: Being that he's an expy of the TropeNamer, Monk exhibits these tendencies. But since Monk is also socially inept, he also doesn't always know that there are some details not to bring up. Just a few pointers: If you know that a woman is lying about her age, it's probably better to not call her out on it. Or if you know that the judge at a hearing is sleeping with his secretary, that maybe is not the best way to prove your credibility to him. And maybe you shouldn't mention that a widow is having a sexual affair if her daughter is also standing there.

* YouKnowWhatYouDid: In "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage", Sgt. [[ChekhovsGunman Ryan Sharkey, Jr.]], who is on the take of money launderer Michael Karpov, kills a drug dealer named Chicklet who was scheduled to testify against Karpov. However, in the fight leading up to the murder, Chicklet slams Sharkey's head against a car, knocking one of the guy's teeth out. In order to explain why his blood and tooth are in the crime scene, he provokes Stottlemeyer into punching him by claiming to be having an affair with Stottlemeyer's wife. Leland is suspicious enough to have Monk and Natalie follow her, despite Karen's protestations of innocence. And then he's surprised when Karen asks for a divorce. But it also works the other way: even if the entire drama relating to the murder case hadn't happened, Karen was still planning to divorce him, and flat-out refuses to explain why when he asks. Given that we saw virtually nothing over the series to back her up, especially not in the 20-some episodes since her previous appearance in "[[Recap/MonkS3E4MrMonkGetsFired Mr. Monk Gets Fired]]", and only maybe some subtle hints throughout a few season 4 episodes, we don't know what led her to decided to divorce him...

** Played with in "Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike", where a sleep-deprived Monk has been driven crazy by the garbage strike and becomes convinced that the crime in question was actually committed by ''Alice Cooper'' because he wanted the victim's antique chair for himself (complete with a cutaway gag, in which [[TheCameo Alice Cooper himself]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments guns down the victim and leers evilly over the chair]] during the summation).

* SympatheticMurderer: Several.
** The Willie Nelson episode's culprit was [[spoiler:motivated by desire to take revenge on the drunk driver who killed her parents and blinded her, and carefully planned it so no one else would be involved. Willie was only there by extreme misfortune.]] It's implied part of the culprit's reasoning for being invested in the Willie Nelson case was [[spoiler:subconciously hoping she'd get caught, as she admits to feeling guilty for pinning the blame on Willie]]. When the culprit asks for [[spoiler:a prison cell with a window so she can at least see the world with her partially restored eyesight]], which Stottlemeyer says he'll advocate for.

*** When a cop is killed, most of the striking cops return to catch the killer. When Monk and Natalie show up at the station after clearing their cases, the detectives who had been on strike are shown being somewhat hostile to Monk's detectives, seeing them as scabs. Even Randy shows disgust with Monk and Natalie for taking up the mayor's offer.

** In "Mr. Monk Takes a Punch," Stottlemeyer informs Monk and Natalie that in light of a recent incident where a private consultant in San Diego had a heart attack during a foot chase (leading to him and the city filing suits against each other), the Governor's office has passed a statewide mandate saying that civilian police consultants must undergo a standardized fitness test or be disqualified from working. This also includes Monk. He shows just how out of shape he is in his first attempt at running in preparation for the test.

** First is in "Mr. Monk Goes to a Wedding," when Natalie's brother Jonathan is getting married. Natalie, not feeling comfortable seeing her estranged family by herself, ropes Randy into coming along as her "date". However, shortly after they arrive, someone tries to kill Randy by ramming him with a car driven by someone in Natalie's family, but is unsuccessful, although Randy is left with a broken arm and a broken leg. Monk and Stottlemeyer show up to investigate, and Stottlemeyer goes undercover as a wedding photographer by borrowing a CSI tech's camera. Then the body of the original photographer turns up dead in the mudbath, and Monk determines that his death and the attempt on Randy's life are connected. Turns out Jonathan's bride-to-be is a BlackWidow that Randy previously investigated for a murder in Philadelphia.

* SchmuckBait: After ''Mr. Monk Helps Himself'', Natalie opens a PI agency for her and Monk, with Natalie. Stottlemeyer loves to tease Monk about being Natalie's employee. He always takes the bait.

** This is made even greater by the fact that she immediately announces he should "never change his theme song" (a complaint she used against the previous actor she was obsessed with). ''Monk'' had just changed its theme song to one that fans didn't quite like as much and they played the old theme song over the end credits as a TakeThatUs, or self-deprecation.

** In the episode "Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert". Monk, Natalie, and Captain Stottlemeyer go to a music festival in town that week to look for Stottlemeyer's son, and the only reason why Monk goes along is when he discovers that he accidentally took the phrase "rock show" to mean a geology exhibit. While waiting outside, due to being horrified at learning what he actually agreed to go to, Monk is utterly disgusted when a couple starts passionately making out on the hood of Stottlemeyer's car. The trope fades into the background after Monk and Natalie are roped by Stork's girlfriend Kendra Frank into investigating the murder.
** Inverted with the episode "Mr. Monk is the Best Man". Because Stottlemeyer lets Monk plan his bachelor party (which proved to be a very big mistake), it's barely even a party, and most certainly isn't wild: with a port-a-potty within the actual bathroom, pizza with [[ExactWords literally nothing on it]] (not even cheese or sauce), one 12 ounce beer for each partygoer (12 party members, amounting to 144 oz of alcohol total) which requires them to appoint Randy as "Designated Drunk"; a joke about Stottlemeyer's failed relationships that goes cold before Monk even gets to the punch line, and he shows them ''Film/BachelorParty'' as their movie, of which the movie is implied to not be a popular choice among the cops. The closest it ever gets to being a wild teen party is when Randy staggers in asking who owns the police unit out front that's painted a charcoal gray with flames on the side and on the roof and windshield, which causes everyone to run outside and find Stottlemeyer's car on fire.

** The poisoning from "Mr. Monk and the End" bears resemblance to a similar plot from the Series/{{Vegas}} episode "Dan Tanna Is Dead". Like ''Monk'', ''Vega$'' also featured a private investigator.

* SuperOCD: Very. [[http://forums.usanetwork.com/lofiversion/index.php/t403246.html Possibly]] a misdiagnosed autistic savant, instead.

* SmartPeoplePlayChess: "Mr Monk and the Genius"

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Inverted. In the final episode, [[spoiler:Monk finds out that Trudy, some years before they met, had had an affair and a child by her old law professor. Trudy was led to believe that the child died at birth, but after her murder was solved, Monk found out that her daughter, Molly, lived after all and had been adopted. He sought her out and began a friendship with her.]] )

* UpToEleven: Monk's OCD becomes much worse after Trudy's murder.

-->'''Randy Disher:''' Oh, he has some idiosyncrasies.
-->'''James Novak:''' Like what?
-->'''Randy Disher:''' Fear of heights. Fear of germs. Spiders. Milk.
-->'''Natalie Teeger:''' ''[ticking off on her fingers]'' Crowds, elevators, fire.
-->'''Randy Disher:''' Rabbits, tunnels, bridges.
-->'''Natalie Teeger:''' Boats.
-->'''Randy Disher:''' Decaffeinated coffee
-->'''Natalie Teeger:''' Lightning.
-->'''Leland Stottlemeyer:''' The wind. He's afraid of the wind.
-->'''Randy Disher:''' Egg whites.
-->'''Natalie Teeger:''' Bad.
-->'''Randy Disher:''' Naked people. That one is way up there. I think it goes "naked people" and then "death."

-->'''Adrian Monk:''' One in a million, maybe one in a trillion!\\
'''Natalie Teeger:''' ''[exasperated]'' Mr. Monk, forget about the dog!\\
'''Adrian Monk:''' How could the same person have two dogs, 25 years apart, happened to be named Tangerine? "Tangerine"? And this Tangerine is black!\\
'''Natalie Teeger:''' ''Why'' would anybody lie about a dog's name? \\
'''Adrian Monk:''' I don't know, but...there is something weird about that guy [Kyle Brooks]. Dianne said that he couldn't wait to meet me, but he didn't even know I was a detective!\\
'''Natalie Teeger:''' Mr. Monk, come on! Let's have some fun! ''[snaps her fingers]'' You said you were gonna show me your dorm room!\\
'''Adrian Monk:''' Well, it's right here.\\
'''Natalie Teeger:''' ''[grins]'' Ooh!\\
'''Adrian Monk:''' This is it, old #303. Uh-oh! Tie on the doorknob! ''[The camera pans to show a necktie wrapped around the doorknob. Natalie laughs]'' My roommate and I did the same thing, it's a code.\\

* SassyBlackWoman: "[[Recap/MonkS3E6MrMonkAndTheGirlWhoCriedWolf Mr. Monk and the Girl Who Cried Wolf]]" introduces Varla Davis, a friend from Sharona's writing class, who is sassy to the point of being cruel; her EstablishingCharacterMoment features her ripping a fellow student apart for his geeky fantasy writing.

* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Monk. [[spoiler:Because of a bear. A [[BearsAreBadNews big damn bear]]]]. Interestingly, though, the trailers for this scene had Creator/TonyShalhoub screaming in his own voice. They dubbed it over because [[RuleOfFunny that makes it more humorous]].

'''Adrian Monk:''' I don't know, but... there is something weird about that guy [Kyle Brooks]. Dianne said that he couldn't wait to meet me, but he didn't even know I was a detective!\\

'''Dianne Brooks:''' Ahh... Oh, so you two aren't [dating]... ''[she points between Monk and Natalie. Natalie grins]''\\

-->'''Lt. Randall Disher:''' Well, here's what happened with me: I was on my way to a doctor, and uh... I got nothing. Let's go find Jared. ''[takes one last sip of his beer before setting it down and walking away with Stottlemeyer]''

* ShowDontTell: In the entirety of the show's run, Monk was explicitly described as having OCD ''maybe'' twice, not counting promos. This is made especially jarring on the multiple occasions where Monk gets in trouble for grossly inappropriate behavior and Natalie or Sharona tries to explain to an authority figure that Monk suffers from a condition; the best she's ever able to come up with is "he's... persnickety".

-->'''Adrian Monk:''' Okay, fine. His name is doctor... ''(glances at elevator doors)'' Door.

* StockSoundEffects: In "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing," the buzzer that goes off at Fire Company 53 shortly after Monk arrives is a noise you may recognize as the distinct call alarm sound from the television show ''Series/{{Emergency}}''

** Played with in "Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike", where a sleep-deprived Monk has been driven crazy by the garbage strike and becomes convinced that the crime in question was actually committed by ''Alice Cooper'' because he wanted the victim's antique chair for himself (complete with a cutaway gag, in which [[{{Cameo}} Alice Cooper himself]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments guns down the victim and leers evilly over the chair]] during the summation).

** Played for laughs in "Mr. Monk and Sharona", when Sharona impatiently forces herself, Monk, and Natalie into Perry Walsh's closet to give the summation. [[OhCrap Unfortunately, Walsh hears every word.]] Right before Monk can give the summation properly, Sharona tells Monk to quickly explain everything, and Monk does literally just that: he speaks incredibly fast and we are rushed through the summation at triple speed, with Monk being literally unintelligible as a result.

-->'''Adrian Monk:''' Never formally introduced. Sort of.... ''[Natalie makes "footsteps" with her fingers]'' We've been following him.

* TaxidermyIsCreepy: Oh my... one guy stuffed [[spoiler:his mother]] in "Mr. Monk and the Three Julies." And he wasn't even the killer. It's clever as a shoutout ''Film/{{Psycho}}''.

** "Mr. Monk and the Other Detective" referenced the San Bruno train station, which on screen was next to a hilly wooded area where they found a body. It'd be a bit of a stretch trying to hide a body near the real San Bruno train station, since there's a densely built neighborhood about 50 feet away from the tracks... on flat ground... with no ''palm trees''.

** In ''Mr. Monk Is On Board'', one of the subplots is that plastic surgeon Darby [=McGinnis=] is an unrepentant drunk with a taste for Jack Daniel’s. Darby performed cosmetic procedures on four friends. Impressed by his work they convinced their fifth friend to get work as well. Sadly she died due to complications as Darby was operating on her while intoxicated. A year later, upon finding out that he would be on the ''Golden Sun'' cruise the four met and set up a series of accidents, meant to kill him, before finally attempting to throw him overboard. Monk and Natalie convince them to let him live and they leave him on the deck. Upon waking up and realizing that he almost drunkenly stumbled overboard for the second time, Darby decides it is time to make a change… by sticking to beer for a while.

-->'''Adrian Monk:''' I don't know, but... there is ''something'' weird about that guy. Dianne said that "he couldn't wait to meet me," but he didn't even know I was a detective!

** And of course the numerous tribute to SherlockHolmes.