As I mentioned in my last review, I’m holed up with COVID at the moment. Just in case you were worrying about where to get future mystery reviews from, I’m out the other side of it now, just trying to decipher the current back to work rules. But it has meant that I’ve read very little the past few days – but I have been watching television.

Before I get on to the subject though, a quick shout out to Season Six of Doctor Who – Matt Smith, Steven Moffatt et al – one of the real high points of the revival, even if the story doesn’t make that much sense and to Extraordinary, a sort-of superhero comedy on Disney+, which is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in ages. Do check that out.

But what we’re here for is Monk, which recently appeared on Netflix, so I thought I’d take a season by season look at the show, starting with, obviously, series 1.

It’s rare that a show appears this fully formed, and it’s to the core cast that this is the case. The relationship between Monk (Tony Shaloub), Sharona (Bitty Schram) and Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) is perfect from the start. There was a comment on my recent review of the novel Mr Monk Goes To The Firehouse that Monk is selfish towards Sharona, and it is interesting to see how Monk’s behaviour isn’t something that can be completely excused by his numerous phobias and psychoses. The primary one here is the fact that he isn’t good at paying Sharona – now that does have a release nice pay-off in a few series time, but it’s questionable if this was something the creator, Andy Breckman, had in mind at this point.

Mr Monk And The Candidate

An actual whodunit, which happens less that you might think, which serves well to introduce the characters, the set-up and give a story that doesn’t drag despite the extended run-time.

Mr Monk And The Psychic

Not a question of who killed the wife of a police officer, but how her body was discovered by a psychic who had a previous success rate of 0%. As can be the case, the clever murderer does fall for a pretty dumb scheme to make him confess…

Mr Monk Meets Dale The Whale

Monk meets his nemesis (if he has one), Dale The Whale, a bed-ridden 800 pound predator (played by Alan Arkin in this episode) who is named as the killer on a 911 call by his victim. One of the most obvious episodes in the series, but a really nice bit concerning Monk and his wife, and the “I think he’s trying to kill me” bit is really funny.

Mr Monk Goes To The Carnival

A dodgy police officer and friend of Stottlemeyer is accused of stabbing an informant on a ferris wheel, because no one else could have done it, surely? A simple but clever enough mystery, which does depend somewhat on a very stupid victim and, based on their behaviour at the end, an even stupider villain who decides to risk their life to try and murder someone in plain sight. A really nice bit with Monk showing what he will do to protect Sharona though, even though it’s pretty ineffective…

Mr Monk Goes To The Asylum

Monk is committed when he walks into Trudy’s old house on their anniversary and, guess what, begins to suspect his psychiatrist of murder. Not much of a mystery here, but some nice character work, especially Sharona not doubting Monk when he insists something is going on.

Mr Monk And The Billionaire Mugger

What caused a tech billionaire to get himself shot dead when he tried to mug an ex-cop? There’s some nice stuff with Sharona being unable to control her curiosity despite quitting, but there’s really only one way this works as a murder mystery, so the truth is hardly a surprise.

Mr Monk And The Other Woman

Probably the only other actual whodunit episode from the first series, as all of the evidence for a murder points to a woman who resembles Trudy who Monk starts to fall for. A nice episode that plays with the expectations.

Mr Monk And The Marathon Man

There’s only a little bit of “how” for the viewer to work out, as we know that somehow a woman was killed by her lover while he was being tracked running a marathon. Weird that the video evidence that he wasn’t in the right place at the right time isn’t enough to convict him…

Mr Monk Takes A Vacation

Is this one a whodunit? Maybe – we know “who” about halfway through, but it’s more about the hunt for the body of a woman who was seen killed by Sharona’s son who only Monk believes. This is a fun one, and Monk’s silent bit at the end is really effective, where he goes from beaten to almost smug from scene to scene. Tony Shaloub is great, isn’t he?

Mr Monk And The Earthquake

Not much of a mystery, another “Sharona picks a wrong ‘un” story. Quite funny in places but the villain is pretty dumb.

Mr Monk And The Red-Headed Stranger

The only witness to a murder is blind, but is adamant that the killer was country music legend Willie Nelson. I was quite surprised at the reveal here – I had remembered a core idea, but not the overall thing, but it does bring into question as to what would have happened if Willie had gone to trial…

Mr Monk And The Airplane

Probably my favourite from the first series, as Monk solves a murder or two while struggling to cope with a middle seat on a short flight. Although the second murder should have nobbled the villains, the detection here is great from Monk. Oh, and as a bonus, the actress playing the steward driven to drink by Monk’s questions is Tony Shaloub’s wife…

Hmm, how to sum up? OK, let’s do a top three and weakest episode for each series:

Top Three (In Order)

1. Mr Monk And The Airplane
2. Mr Monk And The Other Woman
3. Mr Monk Takes A Vacation

Weakest Episode:

1. Mr Monk And The Earthquake

Come back soon, and I’ll get onto series two – although I’ll probably be watching them a bit more slowly as the COVID is clearing up. Might even manage a book review…