A straying toddler in foster care finds a finger in the park. Due to Tommy being too little to tell the police where he found it, Monk has to step in to find the clues. He finds himself drawn to Tommy, and wants to adopt him. The case, and Monk's condition, provide complications to that plan.
Tropes
- Art Shift:
- Monk's usual "Here's what happened" summation is told to Tommy like as a bedtime story; as it happens, rather than the usual black-and-white Noir-style summations it's instead presented as an animated scene that looks like it came straight from a children's storybook.
- The theme at the end of the episode is a more somber version of the original jazz theme rather than the instrumental of "It's A Jungle Out There". Likely to match the somber ending of the episode (See: Bittersweet Ending).
- Bittersweet Ending: Daniel Carlyle is rescued thanks to Monk's deduction, but he's missing a finger, so his violin career is probably taking a nosedive. Monk realizes that he has to give up Tommy, who we can hope ends up with better guardians than Janet Novak.
- Bound and Gagged: Daniel is found that way, and blindfolded to boot.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Monk adopting Tommy, and, as Dr. Kroger and Natalie later point out, he was way in over his head.
- During the police sting at the end, one of the kidnappers tries to escape the police by jumping a fence...to his house's front lawn. Stottlemeyer and Disher catch him instantly.
- Everybody Lives: While Daniel does lose a finger he's saved before anything else happens, and there are no deaths at all in the episode.
- Fingore: Tommy is found wandering in the park and carrying one of Daniel's fingers. Later, one of the kidnappers threatens to cut off another finger if the ransom isn't paid.
- Foster Kid: Tommy is one, part of a group home. He's relocated to Monk, and then to new foster parents.
- Generation Xerox: It was only a few days, yet Tommy immediately adopted Monk's own mannerisms and quirks, like his obsession with cleanliness and symmetry.
- I Have Your Wife: Daniel Carlyle is being held for ransom, and if the family goes to the police he will be killed.
- Heartwarming Orphan: Tommy endeared himself to just almost everyone he meets, including Monk.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Monk solves the case of who the kidnappers are when he recalls that Janet Novak so clearly said the finger her foster son found was the pinky when that information had not been disclosed.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: This is the second guest appearance by Tony Shalhoub's wife, Brooke Adams. She had previously appeared in "Mr. Monk and the Airplane."
- Lack of Empathy: Tommy’s first foster mom is unusually calm over the boy finding a severed pinky finger and seems to think the social service woman taking Tommy from her is overreacting. This, coupled by the fact she acknowledges a pinky was found, is an early clue of her involvement with the central crime.
- Missing Child: Tommy wanders off in the park. When the police find him, he's holding a severed finger. That's enough to get him pulled out of Janet Novak's care.
- Oh, the Humanity!: Monk name-checks the trope when calling 911...because Tommy soiled his diaper.
- Overly Long Gag: At the start of the episode, Stottlemeyer is briefing Monk and Natalie, only for Randy to repeatedly correct him about the facts of the case. Even when Stottlemeyer gets fed up, tells Randy to zip it and go somewhere else, did Randy correct him again on another detail.
- Saying Too Much: Janet Novak gives herself away when she says that Tommy only found a pinky. Monk figures it out later, remembering that the police never went public with that detail.
- Status Quo Is God: Monk doesn't adopt Tommy, realizing that he's not going to be a good parent to him well.
- Sticky Fingers: Tommy has a habit of taking things out of women's purses. Monk realizes it when Tommy is holding Natalie's lipstick; the finger came from Janet Novak's purse.
- Verbal Backpedaling: In a variation of someone telling Monk something doesn't have to be perfect, a social worker has Monk sign the papers that will make him Tommy's foster parent for the time being. As usual, Monk stresses over the perfection of his signature. She tries to assure him it doesn't have to be perfect. But at realizing it could be a red flag of Monk's neurotic tendencies, she then rescinds what she said, understanding that a perfect signature could lend her the paper trail she needs in case this goes badly.
