When English teacher Beth Landow falls from the clock tower at Trudy's former high school, Monk is called in and quickly disproves the police theory of sleeping. The trail of clues leads to a science teacher but he has an iron-clad alibi. Monk becomes a substitute teacher in the hopes of solving the case.

Episode Viewers and Ratings

Season 2 Episode 1 of Monk resulted in a 0.00 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

Monk Season 2 Episodes...

• s02e01 - Mr. Monk Goes Back to School
• s02e02 - Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico
• s02e03 - Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame
• s02e04 - Mr. Monk Goes to the Circus
• s02e05 - Mr. Monk and the Very, Very Old Man
• s02e06 - Mr. Monk Goes to the Theater
• s02e07 - Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect
• s02e08 - Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy
• s02e09 - Mr. Monk and the 12th Man
• s02e10 - Mr. Monk and the Paperboy
• s02e11 - Mr. Monk and the Three Pies
• s02e12 - Mr. Monk and the T.V. Star
• s02e13 - Mr. Monk and the Missing Granny
• s02e14 - Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife
• s02e15 - Mr. Monk Gets Married
• s02e16 - Mr. Monk Goes to Jail

Monk Show Summary

Former police detective Adrian Monk, whose photographic memory and amazing ability to piece together tiny clues made him a local legend, has suffered from intensified obsessive-compulsive disorder and a variety of phobias since the unsolved cuddle of his wife, Trudy, in 1997. Now on psychiatric leave from the San Francisco Police Department and working as a freelance detective/ consultant on difficult cases, Monk hopes to convince his former boss, Captain Leland Stottlemeyer, to allow him to return to the force. Stottlemeyer, who wavered between admiration for Monk and annoyance at his eccentricities during the first season, is becoming more of a friend to Monk as the series develops, frequently calling him in to help, as much for Monk's benefit as for his own. However, he knows Monk's limitations as well as his strengths and may still harbor doubts about the wisdom of allowing Monk to carry aballoon or subdue a perpetrator. Stottlemeyer's second-in-command, Lieutenant Randall Disher, also seems to be developing both admiration and compassion for the man he once labeled "the defective detective".

Despite flaws and inadequacies all around, the three are becoming an increasingly effective team, with additional help from Monk's personal assistant. From the double-episode pilot through the first half of season three, Monk was aided by his nurse, Sharona Fleming. But in the tenth episode of the third season, Sharona was replaced by a new assistant, Natalie Teeger. Like Sharona, a divorcee with a son named Benjy, Natalie is a single parent, a widow with a daughter named Julie. Unlike Sharona, Natalie is not a nurse but a former bartender with a fresh perspective on "Mr. Monk", as she still addresses her new boss.