Sharona's sister Gail gets arrested for supposedly murdering her costar onstage during a performance. Monk and Sharona are suspicious, especially when they find out that Gail's understudy Jenna scheduled a hair appointment months in advance. To get to the bottom of the case, Monk replaces the lead actor.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Accidental Murder: Subverted. The episode makes it look like Gail’s prop knife was switched for a real one so that she would kill her costar for real. However, the co-star was actually killed with an allergic reaction, and the real knife was swapped out by the "doctor" who checked his pulse.
- Accidental Public Confession: A version in which a hero accidentally tips off the culprit that they're on to them and causes a confrontation they had intended to avoid. Sharona's tasked with finding whatever caused Hal's allergic reaction in Jenna's dressing room while Monk has to go on-stage and act to prevent Jenna from thinking something's off. When Sharona finds peanut oil, she then tries to show it to Monk from the wings, but Monk is too distracted trying to perform. Instead, she get's Jenna's attention, leading to Jenna attempting to murder Monk with a knife and Sharona having to charge onstage to stop her.
- Big Sister Instinct: Sharona works to prove Gail's innocence.
- Blatant Lies: After Monk proves that Gail is innocent and that Jenna’s father stabbed Hal after he died from an allergic reaction to peanut oil, Jenna cries that she had nothing to do with it, despite the fact that the peanut oil was in her dressing room, and that she tried to murder Monk in front of an entire audience. Nobody buys it.
- Clear Their Name: Sharona and Monk work to prove Gail is innocent.
- Comically Small Bribe: The doorman at Jenna's apartment building clearly angles for a bribe when Monk and Sharona ask where she went. Monk initially offers him three dollars, upping it to four when he protests. Then when Sharona throws in forty, he tries to get his four back.
- Did Not Die That Way: Hal Duncan didn't die from a stab wound, he died from a peanut allergy.
- Frame-Up: Jenna Ryan planned to frame Gail for Hal's murder to become the star of the play.
- Hidden Depths: Played with. While Monk's eidetic memory is no secret, his ability to memorize a play after one show and play the part of a cruel criminal is nonetheless impressive in the eyes of the play's director.
- Is There a Doctor in the House?: It plays into the actual murder and Sharona tackling Jenna to stop her from stabbing Monk for real onstage when they both see Sharona holding the bottle of peanut oil. The first time, the "doctor" was actually Jenna's father who actually stabbed him and incorrectly diagnosed his pulse. The second time, Jenna's father calls for a doctor on seeing her injured. Monk calls him out for impersonating a doctor.
- Mundane Made Awesome: When Monk tries to act out the part of an abusive partner, he can't bring himself to break anything and moves all the stage furniture with precision. Not exactly a good way to express anger, but the audience is enthralled nonetheless.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: A variation. Jenna and her father conspire to kill the male lead actor and frame Gail so that Jenna can replace her as the female lead.
- Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: Subverted. At first it appeared that Hal Duncan's death was from stabbing by what Gail thought was a prop knife. Turns out it really was a prop, and the death was caused by an allergic reaction.
- Once More, with Clarity: The first flashback simply shows the "doctor" coming up on stage, checking the victim's pulse and claiming he's dead. In Monk's summation, we see that the fake doctor pocketed the fake knife, secretly stabbed the victim with a real knife, and then checked the pulse and claimed the man dead.
- Plot Allergy: In life, Hal Duncan was allergic to several foods, including peanuts. Later, it's revealed that he was convulsing not from being stabbed, but from an allergic reaction to the peanut oil in the apple he ate.
- Speed Dating: Monk has to go through this in order to get in a word with Jenna. What follows is a montage of Monk socially stumbling from one speed date after another.
- Stage Mom: As it turns out, Jenna has a Stage Dad who not only shaped her dangerously ambitious personality, but also aided in murdering the victim by stabbing him. As established during Monk's speed date with Jenna, she quotes how her dad always says "When opportunity comes knocking, don't ask question; just kick down the door."
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Jenna covers the apples Hal bites in his scene with peanut oil to trigger an allergic reaction and kill him.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When Gail expresses surprise that Monk isn't worried about stage fright, he humbly shrugs it off that the rehearsal was easy. She then points out that the rehearsal is always easy because there is no actual audience. Realizing he's going to be performing on a real stage in front of real people, Monk mumbles "That is true..."
- Truth in Television: Any person in the medical field will tell you not to check one's pulse with the thumb because it's not as sensitive as the middle and index finger.
- Weaponized Allergy: Hal gets curtain called for good when he bites into an apple covered in peanut oil, triggering lethal allergies.
