History Recap / MonkS8E2MrMonkAndTheForeignMan

* DrunkDriver: Kenneth was drunk while driving his van, which led to him hitting Ansara.

* ThrowTheDogABone: After years of being taken advantage of, lied to or forced to cut off new relationships due to his job or his behavior, Monk finally makes a lasting friendship outside of the main cast. He and Samuel have to say goodbye in the end, but they remain close and implicitly promise to remain in touch.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Natalie gives some Samuel some comedy [=CDs=] including one by Creator/BillCosby. When the episode airs on the Hallmark Channel, Cosby's name is muted due to the sexual assault scandal that occurred several years after the episode was made.
* CloseToHome: Monk takes the case of an African man whose wife was killed in a hit-and-run incident because, as a grieving widower himself, he understands the man's pain. As the episode progresses, it becomes clear that he's letting his emotions about Trudy's death get too close to the case (Stottlemeyer even warns him about this).

* SayMyName: A third-person variation. Monk is helping his new Nigerian friend Samuel figure out who killed his wife. In the process, he frequently confuses her with Trudy. When Samuel and Monk apprehend the killer, they proceed to beat the tar out of him. They then shove pictures of their wives in his face and demand, "Say her name!"

* BittersweetEnding: Monk solves the case, giving Samuel closure. But both men (who became good friends to an extent) have to say goodbye shortly thereafter, as Samuel only meant to be in the United States for a short while. Samuel also reassures Adrian that he will also solve Trudy's death and get closure in turn. Monk takes this to heart.
* TheBlindLeadingTheBlind: A main running gag is that Samuel - a foreigner with little experience with American customs - only has Monk - a man with very... particular habits - as his guide on how to act in America. This results in Samuel constantly assuming that Monk's particularities (like washing his clothes every individual hue at a time) are common American behavior.

* NotSoDifferent: A benign example. Monk initially sees Samuel (with his music and incense-burning) to be just a random "hippie" sitting on his street corner and pays him to leave. But once he learns he's in reality mourning for his own recently dead wife, Monk finds he can relate and agrees to take on the case.

* BittersweetEnding: Monk solves the case, giving Samuel closure. But both men (who became good friends to an extent) have to say goodbye shortly thereafter, as Samuel only meant to be in the United States for a short while.

* NotSoDifferent: A benign example. Monk initially sees Samuel (with his music and incense-burning) to be just a random "hippie" sitting on his street corner. But once he learns he's in reality mourning for his own recently dead wife, Monk finds he can relate.

* ThrowTheDogABone: After years of being taken advantage of, lied to or forced to cut off new relationships due to his job or his behavior, Monk finally makes a lasting friendship outside of the main cast. He and Samuel have to say goodbye in the end, but they remain close.

* SuperSpeedReading: While reading a magazine with Natalie, Monk rapidly flips through it and then gets chewed out by Natalie for giving her no time to read the articles. Monk, of course, makes fun of her "slow" reading speed by claiming they'll have a new President in office by the time she's finished. Of course, speed-reading is justified for Monk due to his HyperAwareness.

* BittersweetEnding: Monk solves the case, but he and Samuel (with whom he had become friends to an extent) have to say goodbye shortly thereafter, as Samuel only meant to be in the United States for a short while.