While Monk is immobilized by the presence of dog poo at a crime scene, slovenly private eye Marty Eels steps in, using the dog poo (and the dog) as clues in the cuddle of a security guard, the robbery of a jewelry store, and the disappearance of the store owner, Harold Gumbal. With Monk tailing helplessly behind, muttering "He's cheating" and "That's impossible," Eels locates robbers' ski masks, Gumbal's car, and Gumbal's body. Using the dead man's watch as a clue, he determines the identity of one of the huggers, who is then arrested and interrogated. Just as Eels is becoming a local celebrity, with Monk as "yesterday's news," Monk figures out Eels' secret and confronts him. Eels challenges him to prove it, but moments later, he runs after Monk begging for his help: the hugger who's still at large wants the jewels back and is holding Eels' mother hostage. The shoe is on the other foot, and Monk must figure out where Mrs. Eels is and why she must be rescued before 8:20.

Episode Viewers and Ratings

Season 4 Episode 1 of Monk resulted in a 0.00 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

Monk Season 4 Episodes...

• s04e01 - Mr. Monk and the Other Detective
• s04e02 - Mr. Monk Goes Home Again
• s04e03 - Mr. Monk Stays in Bed
• s04e04 - Mr. Monk Goes to the Office
• s04e05 - Mr. Monk Gets Drunk
• s04e06 - Mr. Monk and Mrs. Monk
• s04e07 - Mr. Monk Goes to a Wedding
• s04e08 - Mr. Monk and Little Monk
• s04e09 - Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa
• s04e10 - Mr. Monk Goes to a Fashion Show
• s04e11 - Mr. Monk Bumps His Head
• s04e12 - Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage
• s04e13 - Mr. Monk and the Big Reward
• s04e14 - Mr. Monk and the Astronaut
• s04e15 - Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist
• s04e16 - Mr. Monk Gets Jury Duty

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.