It’s still a jungle out there!

Returning the crime scene for his viewers after 14 years, Adrian Monk shows that once a detective, always a detective

KARACHI:

Ever since Adrian Monk decided to hang his boots in 2009, crime fighting hasn’t been the same on TV. After all, no one could make a deduction, find a clue, and remember a detail the way he does, while battling every kind of phobia out there. He was a phenomenon and he proves that a phenomenon like him never gets old; his recent return for Mr Monk’s Final Case is a testament to that where despite a personal tragedy, he does his magic and solves a case, just like the old days.

The best thing about this reunion movie is that it doesn’t look forced or dated; in fact, it fits perfectly in the new world and even makes the viewers realise that whatever Mr Monk was doing before the pandemic was right. It explores the post-pandemic life of the obsessive-compulsive detective who isn’t happy now that everyone else is doing what was his 'thing'.

The Plot

Mr Monk's Last Case begins with Adrian Monk losing a book contract (and the money) after which he contemplates suicide, before being rescued by the ghost of her dead wife Trudy (Melora Hardin). However, he is back into the game after Trudy’s daughter Molly (Caitlin McGee) loses her well-respected journalist fiancé Griffin (Austin Scott) on the eve of their wedding. Unable to accept that Griffin’s death was an accident, Molly asks Monk to investigate who is helped by his trusted companions Natalie (Traylor Howard), and Randy (Jason Gray-Stanford) in the process.

Despite Leland Stottlemyer (Ted Levine) being under the employment of the extremely rich entrepreneur Rick Eden (James Purefoy) whom Monk suspects to be guilty of the crime, the ‘defective detective’ uses his magic as if he never left, and succeeds. But not before surviving an attempted murder, posing as a moustached bartender, and overcoming his fear of heights for the love of his adopted daughter.

The Good

Back in 2002, when the first episode of Monk was aired on TV, he came out as someone different from all the detectives in the world. TV shows like Psych, The Mentalist, The Good Doctor, and others followed Monk so the greatest of ‘em all needed to make a comeback, and that’s exactly what he does. Tony Shalhoub carries on from where he left 14 years ago and still uses his hands to visualise the murder and has a smile that signals that he knows how the murder was committed.

With the return of Jason Gray-Stanford’s Randy Disher, Ted Levine’s Leland Stottlemyer, and Traylor Howard’s Natalie Teeger, the movie comes out as a perfect reunion, where Monk still has his phobias and fears to accompany him. He still hates heights, is afraid of germs, and so on, but that all has eased because Mr Monk survived COVID-19 by being just himself, and now doesn’t stand out as odd in a post-pandemic world where everything has changed.

To bring Monk back, the writers had to have a mystery as solid as Trudy’s death and they couldn’t have come up with a better one than Griffin’s accidental death. The episode follows the whodunnit format which is what most of the current TV shows follow, making it easy for the newer generation to accept Monk’s return.

The makers must be commended for using both the themes — the instrumental one by Jeff Beal and "It's a Jungle Out There" by Randy Newman — during the end credits, even if for a short duration. On using “It's a Jungle Out There” for the series theme song to "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" in the film, creator, writer, and executive producer Andy Breckman agreed that Randy Newman’s music captured the essence of Monk and had to be included. “Newman was the “voice” of the original series. His music—troubled and somber—perfectly embodied Monk’s character. I was determined to include him somehow in the film.”

Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Tony Shalhoub also spoke about returning as Mr Monk, why he chose to go dark, and why he thinks the timing was perfect for the reunion.

"When Andy first pitched the idea, I thought, ‘Wow, that's not something I would've anticipated. But it didn't take long for it to lock in.’ But then I thought, 'You know what? This is right because we want it to be different.' Why do this at all? Why revisit these characters unless we're treading on new ground? It's very real. The biggest challenge in my mind was, 'Can we pull this off and do it justice while balancing the comedic elements?'"

"We want to go dark," he continues. "But we don't want the darkness to undercut the comedy we need in there. We've always done a balancing act. We've always walked the tightrope. This was a higher rope, and it's a lot thinner, and there's a volcano beneath us."

The Bad

This reunion would have been the perfect way to celebrate the bringing back of all the major characters from the original series but Natalie’s daughter Julie (Emmy Clarke), Sharona Fleming, and her son Benjy (Bitty Schram and Kane Ritchotte) were missed dearly in the movie. The same could be said about the character of Dr Neven Bell (Héctor Elizondo) who doesn’t get the kind of attention he deserves considering he was Monk’s rock in the original series and saved him from doing the wrong thing on numerous occasions.

While Monk’s relationship with his stepdaughter was shown to be ideal considering his insecurities, it could have been explored in a better manner. Also, James Purefoy’s Rick Eden seemed somehow based on either Lex Luthor or Elon Musk but he wouldn’t be able to find a place for himself in the great Monk villains club where the best adversaries Monk ever faced are placed in.

On being asked whether sending Monk against a tech billionaire who was obsessed with going to space hinted at someone we know, Andy Breckman said that they did so only to raise the stakes high. “Of course, you want a big threat if you want the stakes to be high. This is the formula that I stole from Columbo years ago. Columbo would go up against very, very powerful people, men and women who feel they can be reckless and get away with anything, and they just underestimate this little detective named Adrian Monk. So, the more powerful the villain, the more fun it is for Monk to be bugging him and needling him and getting closer and closer to uncovering the crime.”

The Verdict

If you are a fan of the original series, then Mr Monk’s Last Case is exactly what the doctor ordered for you. It has the perfect blend of comedy, tragedy, and mystery that would brighten your day and includes moments that would make you pump your fist in the air as well as wipe the tears out of your eyes. The way he is still able to get his hands on clues that others would conveniently miss or how he overcomes his fear of nearly everything is a gift for his fans, even if he considers it a curse.

He does look a little old in the movie but that never slowed him down before when he was constantly accompanied by a nurse to a crime scene or somewhere related to the crime. Add to that the fact that he now has another kind of companion who looks like he pushes the idea of a revival ahead.

Talking to GQ, creator, writer, and executive producer Andy Breckman said that the matter of reviving the series isn’t up to him but he is glad the reunion movie came out. “I'm so grateful it happened when it did. Timing is everything. And we got very, very lucky.”

Yes, there are a lot of things that should or shouldn’t have happened in the 97-minute reunion movie but the fact that we now live in Monk’s world than he living in ours is a testament to his forward thinking. Those who used to make fun of his ‘wiping his hands’ and ‘covering his mouth’ back in the 2000s are thanking him now, just as he predicted.

Omair Alavi is a freelance contributor who writes about film, television, and popular culture

All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer