Adrian Monk
Search results
Sep 18, 2009 · Mr. Monk and the Critic: Directed by Jerry Levine. With Tony Shalhoub, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford, Ted Levine. After a critic pans Julie's performance in a play, Natalie tries to convince Monk that he committed a murder during the show.
- (1.2K)
- Comedy, Crime, Drama
- Jerry Levine
- 2009-09-18
- Overview
- Synopsis
- Plot
- Background
- "What are you doing?"
- Quotes
Mr. Monk and the Critic is the sixth episode of the eighth season of Monk.
Natalie is convinced that a noted arts critic who just gave her daughter's performance a bad review is guilty of murder. However, the man has an airtight alibi.
At a luxury hotel, late at night, a man knocks on the door of a hotel room insistently. The occupant, Callie Esterhaus, eventually opens the door. In a scene viewed entirely from the man's point of view, Callie greets him enthusiastically, even though she is surprised he showed up early. She had already ordered room service, and gives him a bite of his favorite treat, a chocolate-covered strawberry. She tells him that she thought he was ashamed of being seen with her in public. At that point he guides her to the balcony, telling her he has something important to tell her. Once outside, he kneels, and offers a ring in a box (strangely, we wonder why the man is wearing gloves). Callie is ecstatic, and promises that she'll make him happy despite all the calls she's been making to him recently. She says it is the best night of her life and she could die right here. He then caps it off by unfortunately making sure that she does just that: He promptly throws her over the balcony railing, and she plummets to her death.
One hour earlier, Adrian Monk and Natalie Teeger are taking their seats at a theater a few blocks from the hotel, at which a group of community players to which Julie belongs is mounting a professional show. When Monk has a call of nature (Needs to use the Water Closet), Natalie refuses to accompany him home, since Julie is about to come on and sing a solo ballad. Monk steels himself to use the public restroom, but is enthralled when he opens the door and meets Gilson, the men's room attendant, whose eye for detail rivals Monk's, and who has made the bathroom into a shining palace.
Before the lights go down for the performance, Natalie glances up toward the mezzanine, and is surprised to see John Hannigan, the arts critic for the San Francisco Dispatch in a box seat. Natalie is a little nervous, noting that the Dispatch usually doesn't review community theater, but she is hopeful that soon her daughter's name will be all over the newspaper. When Julie comes on, Monk and Natalie are both swept away by her singing.
As they are leaving the theater at the end of the show, Natalie catches sight of Hannigan leaving, dropping something in a wastebasket on the way. Curious, Monk looks inside the wastebasket and immediately becomes suspicious: Why did Hannigan just throw out an unopened pack of cigarettes and an unused lighter? Julie, still wearing her old age make-up from her second number, comes out and tells Natalie that she's going to the cast party in her make-up. On their way home, Monk and Natalie see the crime scene at the hotel, and Captain Stottlemeyer at work. Monk asks if he can take a look and Stottlemeyer reveals that he anticipated that Monk might ask to help out.
Stottlemeyer and another officer with them in the hotel room figure that Callie Esterhaus was a jumper. She checked in alone and she died at around 8:35 PM, but Monk examines the room and notices several discrepancies with the suicide theory: For one thing, Callie ordered room service for two, like she was expecting to see someone. She also had a new dress laid out on the bed. Her hair was wet, indicating that she had just showered, and in the bathroom, Monk notices that there is a false eyelash missing from Callie's makeup kit, clues that suggest that her date showed up early. One of the chocolate strawberries on the room service tray has a bite mark on it. The officer in the room figures that the bite marks are Callie's, but Stottlemeyer tells him to not assume anything and just bag the strawberry. While they are doing this, Natalie notices the odor of men's cologne, although Monk, Stottlemeyer and the uniformed cop in the room deny that they are wearing it.
Stottlemeyer goes out to the balcony to take a look. Monk refuses to actually step onto the balcony because of his fear of heights, but from where he is, he spots another clue: based on where Callie landed, it would seem that she was thrown over the left side of the balcony railing, but there are several leaves missing from a bush on the right side of the balcony railing. Monk figures that Callie must have grabbed at the plant as she went over the edge. Stottlemeyer bends down and finds a pink ribbon behind the potted plant and notices that it has the word "Laski" on it. Natalie figures that the ribbon was from a jewelry box. Monk looks at the killer's footprints, and notices that it appears the man was squatting, as if he was proposing to her. He and Stottlemeyer theorize that Callie's date showed up early, popped the question, and he killed her when she refused.
•Though it is not apparent to Natalie (for she had never seen the ring), another clue that Hannigan is the killer is revealed to the audience: in the newspaper office, Diana Phelps is wearing the same engagement ring that Hannigan had shown to Callie Esterhaus before he pushed her over the balcony.
•The opening scenes of the murder are shown from the killer's POV. This was a theme used in earlier murder mystery movies and TV shows but one of the few times the killer's voice is heard.
•The murder of Callie Esterhaus occurs at the Blakemore Hotel. This is the same hotel where Diane Brooks was almost murdered by her husband Kyle in Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion. Since the Blakemore Hotel was just up the street from the theater and the UC Berkeley Campus, this places the theater within two blocks of UC Berkeley.
•Hannigan's arrogance was another fatal mistake. Had he given Julie a good review, Natalie would never have obsessed over it and confronted him and picked up on the clues.
•They could have proven that Hannigan was the killer by testing the strawberry for DNA.
•This is the second time an assistant of Monk's had been arrested for actions relating to an investigation (in Natalie's case, snooping Hannigan's premises), with Sharona Fleming having previously been arrested in Mr. Monk and the Panic Room for her rescuing Darwin, a Chimpanzee that was presumed to have murdered Ian Blackburn, from the Animal Shelter before he could be put down. Coincidentally, in both episodes, the female assistants also were convinced heavily of things their co-workers didn't believe, albeit regarding the exact opposite elements (i.e., Sharona was the only one of them who thought Darwin had been innocent, while Natalie was the only one of them who thought Hannigan was guilty).
In every episode of Monk and the Monk Movie, at least once, some variation of the question, "What are you doing?" is asked.
Natalie: He did it! I don't know how he did it, but he did it.
Randy: (indicates Monk) That's what he always says.
Monk: (answers phone) Hello?
Natalie: Mr. Monk?
Monk: Natalie?
Natalie: I'm sorry to call you so late.
"Monk" Mr. Monk and the Critic (TV Episode 2009) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.
Jan 28, 2024 · Season 8, Episode 6 "Mr. Monk and the Critic": After a critic pans Julie's performance in a play, Natalie tries to convince Monk that he committed a murder during the show.
- 13 min
- 84.4K
- Monk
Natalie becomes convinced a critic (Guest Star Dylan Baker) who panned her daughter Julie's theatrical performance was responsible for a murder at the same time as the show.
Aug 8, 2023 · A musical critic that never attended the musical and instead was in the process of murdering his girlfriend... interesting. Season 8, Episode 6 "Mr. Monk and the Critic": After a critic...
- 6 min
- 150.4K
- Monk
People also ask
What happened in Mr Monk and the critic?
Who plays the attendant in Mr Monk & the critic?
How does Natalie convince Monk he committed a murder?
Who is Mr Monk?
Natalie believes a critic who panned her daughter's performance is responsible for a murder at the same time as the show.
