Monk - Season Six
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 Monk is the best I bought all the seasons and I can't wait for the season 6 to come out! A MUST buy! Classic Monk Season Six went back to the formula that made the show one of the highest rated cable shows ever. Adrian's character went through a few new wrinkles (as it did every season) but the show was classic Monk. It works because the show offers a crime, puts Monk in uncomfortable situation which, whether the viewer has OCD or not, can relate to. We have all been frustrated by situations where we feel uncomfortable but there is really nothing we can do about it. Several of the episodes have quickly become fan favorites. Mr. Monk and the Rapper (not one of my favorites) is off the charts on the USA/Monk website as one of their favorites of all time. Mr. Monk and the Bad Girlfriend gave the relationship between Monk and Captain Stottlemeyer a great deal of tension before it was resolved. Fascinating plot lines were developed in Naked Man, Birds and the Bees, Daredevil, Goes to the Bank, Three Julies, and Joins a Cult. In the end, Season Six was one of the best because there were no weak episodes and it was capped off with a real barnburner in the two-part finale, Mr. Monk is on the Run. I'm hungry for Season Seven. Still the best show on TV. I didn't see any "rough patches" in Season 5, which overall was terrific. If anything, Season 6 was a bit rocky, with some episodes that never really take off (the Birds and the Bees episode, for example). But after six seasons Monk is still the best show on TV, superior, in fact, to the first two-and-a-half seasons with the obnoxious Sharona -- and the episode with the rapper is one of the most fun in the entire series. It's still a 5-star program, flaws notwithstanding. Nothing more need be said.  I just solved the case It must be admitted that the fifth season of "Monk" had some rough patches, where Monk's OCD was overwritten and the plots got a bit limp. But the obsessive compulsive detective is still going, and fortunately "Monk" is still one of the best shows on television. And the sixth season continues "Monk's" grand tradition -- solidly-written mystifying stories, quirky detecting, and some excellent acting from Tony Shalhoub. Even better, the two-part finale really shows "Monk" off at its absolute best. As the season opens, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) finds that his obsessed groupie Marcy Maven (Sarah Silverman) needs to hire him, despite a restraining order. So she "buys" him at a bachelor auction and makes him work on a bizarre case -- her dog is being accused of killing someone, but the dog died before the murder took place. Needless to say, there's more than meets the eye. Among the other cases the OCD detective has to deal with: a framed rapper, murder on a nudist beach, an investigation overlapping with Julie's love life, stolen safety-deposit boxes, treasure maps, a daredevil who might be his archnemesis, insomnia, going undercover in a cult, a newfound painting hobby, and a shot Santa. He even has to investigate Stottlemeyer's (Ted Levine) girlfriend. But the story takes a darker turn toward the end of the season. Monk finds a lead for the "six-fingered man" who killed Trudy, and confronts him... and after a struggle, the six-fingered man is dead. A rural sheriff arrests Monk, but Monk insists that he's innocent -- and he's determined to find out who is framing him. But with the police after him and a conspiracy in motion, can he solve the murder before he's caught? "Monk" had a bit of a rough patch in the fifth season -- some of the episodes simply didn't gel, and Monk's OCD was written strangely. Fortunately "Monk - Season Six" goes back to what makes the series more enjoyable -- a couple of episodes don't work, like the rapper and the creepy little cult, but these are overshadowed by the better mysteries. Nope, most of the sixth season is a string of solid murder mysteries -- lots of baffling crimes, obscure clues, and new eccentricities for Monk. Despite all the murder and bittersweet moments, the episodes are peppered with some comedy as well, such as the slow demolition of Stottlemeyer's brand-new car. And there's still plenty of bittersweet ("I'm going to be buried next to Trudy. I can't wait") and/or hilarious dialogue ("She had the oldest profession." "Stonemason, huh?"). And the last two episodes of the sixth season are among the best the series has ever produced. A seemingly straightforward crime story blossoms into a heartrending, suspenseful, dramatic, and genuinely unpredictable story, and gives us a few more clues about Trudy's death. Tony Shalhoub is lovably oddballish as Adrian Monk, never turning his tragicomic character into a cartoon -- you just want to hug Monk and give him some perfectly symmetrical cookies. Traylor Howard does a solid job as Monk's assistant, and Levine gets to show Stottlemeyer's warmer, laid-back sides, while Jason Gray-Stanford is consistently fun as the puppy-eager Randy Disher -- even getting to sing a Johnny-Cash-style song about Monk's apparent demise. The sixth season of "Monk" has a couple rough patches, but soars up to brilliant heights near the end. And the obsessive-compulsive detective still seems to have quite a bit of work ahead... | |||||||||||||
