History Recap / MonkS1E1MrMonkAndTheCandidate

* ActionPolitician: Downplayed; Warren St. Claire is a very personable politician who is patient with Monk's quirks and gives Gavin Lloyd another chance despite his past embezzlement allegations. Though he never takes physical action, he never lets the apparent threat to his life dissuade him, even before Monk figures out that he wasn't the actual target.
* AbsenceOfEvidence:
** Monk realizes that Nicole's killer used her computer because the keyboard doesn't have any fingerprints on it, not even Nicole's, indicating someone wiped them off.
** Monk realizes that Sykes is lying about being paralyzed after seeing his and Stottlemeyer's shoes. They're both scuffed; if Sykes were paralyzed, his shoes wouldn't be used and would look like new.
* ActOfTrueLove: Sharona manages to force Deputy Mayor Sheldon Burger into promising her that he will give her anything she asks -- and she does mean ''anything'' -- when she turns up on his doorstep to ask for it. She uses it by the end of the episode, not on anything for herself, but rather to ensure that Monk gets a chance to prove himself after having messed up in letting Sykes past him.

-->'''Warren St. Claire''': And you called yourself my Moses.\\
'''Adrian Monk''': And like the real Moses, he won't be joining you in the Promised Land.
* BrickJoke: When explaining why she likes her (very stressful) job, Sharona tells her date that she feels like [[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois Lane]]. Later, after she puts herself in danger by trailing Sykes, Stottlemeyer asks who Sharona thinks she is. Monk answers with the same name.

-->'''Sharona''': What if you missed? You could have missed!\\
'''Monk''': Oh, right! How could I have missed? The guy's King Kong!\\
'''Sharona''': What if it ricocheted?!\\
'''Monk''': ...Oh, that-that's true. I didn't think of that.

-->'''Miranda St. Claire''': Is-is this a joke? Someone tries to kill my husband, and you send in [[Film/RainMan Rain Man]]?\\
'''Stottlemeyer''': Mrs. St. Claire, I can assure you, Monk's presence is proof of just how seriously we take this investigation.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Miranda St. Claire is pouring Scotch at 10:00 a.m. in the morning. When Jesse asks her if it's necessary, she replies that someone just tried to shoot her husband, so yes, it is.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Gavin Lloyd knew which window Sykes was shooting from. Monk eventually realizes that the only way he could have known this was if he was involved with the shooting.

-->'''Stottlemeyer''': Let it go! ''(leaves)''\\
'''Sharona''': Are we gonna let it go?\\
'''Monk''': [[TheDeterminator Hell, no.]]\\
'''Sharona''': So what do we do now?\\
'''Monk''': We're gonna FollowTheMoney. ''[shudders]'' Mmm, aah! I've always wanted to say that!

-->'''Sharona''': [I]t's a form of anxiety disorder. Cases like this are usually caused by a single traumatic event.\\
'''Miranda St. Claire''': Someone hit him over the head with a shovel?\\
'''Sharona''': His wife was murdered four years ago. By a car bomb.\\

-->'''Monk''': So you were in Hell, surrounded by honest people.

** Monk deduces the chief is having troubles with his wife since she normally notices if he cut himself shaving and she ties his necktie a different way than its current style.
** He further deduces that Sykes is lying about being wheelchair-bound because his shoes are scuffed like Stottlemeyer's, an indication that he's been walking around in them.

* WorkingTheSameCase: Monk [[CassandraTruth turns out to be right]] when he insists that the murder of Nicole Vasquez in Santa Clarita is connected to the attempted assassination on St. Claire in San Francisco, despite Stottlemeyer's skepticism. She worked on his campaign and figured out something the campaign manager didn't like.

-->'''Stottlemeyer''': How does he do it? I have two eyes, I see everything that he sees, but... I don't ''see'' what he sees.\\
'''Randy''': Sir, if I may... what Monk does, it's a parlor trick. I mean, can he do all this? Can you organize a city-wide investigation? Inspire the troops? Motivate people? Adrian Monk isn't half the cop, or a third of the man, that you are, sir.

** Gavin Lloyd pointed at the buildings, yelling about the shooter, after the "assassination attempt" happened. Monk later realizes Lloyd was in on the plot because given the echoing effect from the buildings, he wouldn't have known the shots' origins otherwise.

'''Monk''': We're gonna follow the money. ''[shudders]'' Mmm, aah! I've always wanted to say that!

* ActionPolitician: Warren St. Claire is a very personable guy who doesn't let Monk's quirks bother him too much, and he hired Gavin Lloyd onto his campaign despite being aware of his history regarding embezzlement allegations. While he is revealed to never have been the true target of assassination, he never lets the implication that he was dissuade him.

* ActOfTrueLove: Sharona manages to force Deputy Mayor Sheldon Burger into promising her that he will give her anything she asks when she turns up on his doorstep to ask for it. She uses it by the end of the episode, not on anything for herself, but rather to ensure that Monk gets a chance to prove himself after having messed up in letting Sykes past him.
* AnalogyBackfire: Monk reveals that mayoral candidate Warren St. Claire's campaign manager Gavin Lloyd was embezzling from the campaign and hired hitman Ian Sykes to kill bookkeeper Nicole Vasques (for discovering the embezzling) and bodyguard Jason Ronstadt (for turning down Lloyd's offer to kill Vasques). St. Claire confronts his traitorous campaign manager, who earlier in the episode had said "I am your Moses, and I am gonna take you to the Promised Land":

* CatchPhrase: "Unless I'm wrong, which, you know... I'm not..."

** Gavin Lloyd pointed at the buildings after the "assassination attempt" happened. Monk later realizes Lloyd was in on the plot because given the echoing effect from the buildings, he wouldn't have known the shots' origins otherwise.

* DesecratingTheDead: PlayedForLaughs. When Warren Sinclair salutes Jason Ronstadt in his coffin, Jason's hand appears to flop up in response - Monk was trying to "fish" his dropped keys out of the coffin from the balcony and accidentally hooked Jason's sleeve. Monk gets an earful about it afterwards from Sharona, Stottlemeyer, and Miranda St. Claire.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Miranda St. Claire is pouring Scotch at 10:00 a.m. in the morning. When Jesse asks her if it's necessary, she replies that someone just tried to shoot her husband, so yes it is.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Stottlemeyer vehemently chews Monk out for letting a suspect escape due to his fear of heights. While seen as overly harsh by Sharona, Stottlemeyer makes a good point about how Monk can't be expected to protect the city, let alone rejoin the force, if he freezes up over minor fears.

* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Miranda St. Claire disparaging Monk's abilities;

* SmokescreenCrime: The pilot episode has ''two'' Smokescreen Crimes: the robbery-turned-homicide of a woman named Nicole Vasquez and the killing of Jason Ronstadt, the bodyguard of mayoral candidate Warren St. Claire. Not only do these two deaths have more to them than meets the eye, but it turns out that they are connected and were orchestrated by the same person. Nicole had discovered that Gavin Lloyd, Warren's campaign manager was embezzling money from the campaign; to silence her, Lloyd hired an assassin to kill Nicole and make it look like a burglary that turned violent. However, Lloyd had initially gone to Jason Ronstadt to bribe him into killing Nicole, which Jason had refused. Fearing that Jason would expose him, Lloyd had Jason killed by the same assassin. The shooting being public made it look like it was an attempt on Warren's life and the bodyguard was just collateral damage.
* TragicKeepsake: Monk accidentally drops his keys into Jason Ronstadt's coffin, and insists on fishing them out with a paper clip on a line of string, because the keychain was a gift from Trudy.
* WorkingTheSameCase: Monk [[CassandraTruth turns out to be right]] when he insists that the murder of Nicole Vasquez in Santa Clarita turns out to be connected to the attempted assassination on St. Claire in San Francisco, despite Stottlemeyer's skepticism.