Customer Reviews

Monk - Season Four

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Season four of Monk is one of the best seasons so far. The episodes are:

Mr. Monk and the other Detective. In this one Monk is outshined by another detective but like Monk says he is probably cheating.

Mr. Monk goes home again. In this one it is Halloween and someone is stealing candy from kids who went to Monk's brother's house. Could this tye into the murder of a security guard?

Mr. Monk Stays in bed. In this one Monk is sick for the first time but he still manages to solve the case of the murdered judge and the pizza boy.

Mr. Monk goes to the office. In this one Monk goes under cover at an office to solve the murder of a security guard and who broke the hand of a millionaire.

Mr. Monk gets drunk. In this one Monk gets drunk (from one sip of wine) and he remembers talking to a man no one can seem to remember. Is he going insane or is everybody trying to hide something.

Mr. Monk and Mrs. Monk. In this one Monk is getting better with his O.C.D. but that just happens to be the time when people start seeing his departed wife.

Mr. Monk goes to a wedding. In this one Natalie's brother is getting married and Monk thinks the bride is up to no good.

Mr. Monk and little Monk. In this one Monk runs into his old middle school flame and this brings back flashbacks to when he was a kid.

Mr. Monk and the secret santa. In this one a police officer is poisoned after drinking a bottle of wine he got for Christmas. Can Monk solve the case?

Mr. Monk goes to a fashion show. In this one Monk's favorite shirt inspector is upset. Monk learns her son is behind bars for a crime he could not have committed.

Mr. Monk bumps his head. In this one Monk gets a false lead about the murderer of his wife. When confronting the con artist Monk gets hit in the head, put on back of the truck, and sent to a far off town. Even with amnesia Monk is able to solve the murder of a waitress he met.

Mr. Monk and the captain's marriage. In this one Captain Stottlemeyer hits a cop who said he was sleeping with his wife. Monk agrees to shadow his wife and try to solve a murder at the same time.

Mr. Monk and the big reward. In this one Monk is trying to find a stolen diamond with a $1,000,000 rewars.

Mr. Monk and the astronaut. In this one Monk is trying to solve the murder of a woman. There is only one problem though, his key suspect was in outer space when it happened

Mr. Monk goes to the dentist. In this one Lt. Disher claims to have witnessed a murder while under sleeping gas at the dentist's office. Monk believes him but when the dentist kidnapps him he undergoes what the dentist calls Marathon Man.

Mr. Monk gets jury duty. This is the season finale where Monk sees if he can solve the case he is there for and stop a drug king pin who is trying to escape in the same courthouse.

Monk is one of my favorite shows and I look forward to June 27th when I can complete my collection.

Season Four of Monk was the best season yet. Tony Shaloub proved that he is funny in any situation (as Monk). The season also dealt with the other main characters in a more in depth way, giving Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford, a chance to show us more about their characters lives. The Captain's Marriage, and Mr. Monk Goes To The Dentist, gave us a different view or aspect, if you will, of both of them. I especially liked Jason Gray-Stanford's debut as a so called rock singer (very funny). My whole family has been watching Monk from the beginning, and we love this show!!!

Everyone's favorite obsessive-compulsive phobic detective is back! Police consultant Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) has sixteen more cases to solve. They're sure to leave him terrified and us helpless with laughter.

In this batch of episodes, Monk is faced with a brand new set of puzzles. Who shot the pizza delivery guy? Why did a masked man break a stock analyst's right hand? Did Monk's late wife fake her death? Who tried to run over Lieutenant Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford)? And how could an astronaut commit murder when he was in space? While working on answering these puzzles, he must face the challenge of dealing with the dentist, the flu, a cubical, a hangover, and amnesia.

Once again, the plots here are a little on the thin side. Heck, Monk usually tells us 15 minutes into the show who done it. The problem is figuring out how the person did it. I usually can't put all the pieces together until Monk explains it at the end, and then I feel foolish for missing it.

Of course, the heart of the show is the humor. The writers go out of their way to put Monk into situation that make him uncomfortable to show him over reacting to things. Yet they keep him human, making us care for him. This is best shown in "Mr. Monk and the Astronaut." In one scene, we're laughing at his reaction to the laser pointers, the next we're feeling sorry for him as the suspect in the case belittles him. Yet by the end we're proud as always of the way Monk overcomes his fears to save the day. Overall, this keeps Monk human.

Of course, the show works because the acting is so good. The actors take the material and make it shine. The cast is lead by Tony Shalhoub who brings Monk to life expertly. This is the first full season with Traylor Howard as Monk's new assistant Natalie. I may be in the minority, but she continues to grow on me each time I see her. There is an innocence and sweetness that compliments Monk so well. And Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford continue their great work as the police who constantly have to call on Monk to solve their hardest cases.

Unfortunately, this season does have a couple of negatives. While Monk's wife's murder is mentioned a few times, that storyline seems to have been dropped. I like the few clues we were given each season to advance that story. And this season has the single worst episode of the show yet. "Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist" misses the comedy mark and becomes really dark really fast. While I liked the fact they made Lt. Disher smart for a change, the rest of the episode just didn't work for me.

Those who have been buying the previous seasons know what to expect here. All sixteen episodes are presented in widescreen and Dolby sound on four discs. The set is light on extras, this time giving us only two both on the last disc. The first is a fifteen-minute look at the process the writing staff goes through to create an episode, looking specifically at "Mr. Monk and the Big Reward." Despite what the box says, the actual second bonus feature is a brief profile of Jon Perkins, the detective who consults on the show to help add a bit of realize to it.

On the whole, this is another fine season of a great dramedy. This is the perfect way to preserve the show to watch over and over again.

"Monk" is one of those intelligent cult shows that usually dies a quick and painful death -- and this is one of the few that has lasted more than a few weeks. The obsessive compulsive detective returns on DVD with his fourth season of bizarre, seemingly unsolvable crimes, from homicidal dentists to amnesia.

As the season opens, Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) encounters a nasty new obstacle -- an inept private eye, Marty Eels (Jason Alexander), has suddenly become better than him. Everyone thinks Mart is a genius -- but Monk knows better. And when Eels' case explodes in his face, he calls on Monk and Natalie (Traylor Howard) to bail him out.

As the series goes on, Adrian deals with all sorts of weird cases -- murderous dentists, black widows, a case of amnesia that has him thinking he's married to the town weirdo, a wine tasting, a stolen diamond with a million-dollar reward, deals with his boss's marital problems, fashion models, and a Christmas party that turns deadly. Worst of all, he's called on to do jury duty, and has to solve two crimes without leaving the room.

And on the personal front, Monk reunites with his even-more-neurotic brother Ambrose for a Halloween mystery. But when Adrian shows signs of overcoming his disorder, Natalie sees what seems to be his dead wife Trudy walking around San Francisco -- and she's implicated in a murder.

"Monk" just wrapped its fifth season (which wasn't quite as good as this one), which is something of a record for any semi-intelligent TV show. And for the fourth season of a detective series, it has aged quite well -- the stories are still unusual and cleverly written.

The writing is still quite solid, albeit with one or two lesser episodes ("Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage" just feels incredibly awkward). But the comedy and unique crimes continue, to the point where Monk can even solve crimes without leaving his bed. And the series continues to chronicle Monk's struggles against his OCD, while reminding us that he could be worse.

The characters continue to be well-fleshed out: We get some flashbacks to Monk's school years. And though more time has passed, he's still in love with his late wife -- one of the most charming scenes of the season has him slowly turning in the snow, thinking of Trudy.

For the supporting characters: Stottlemeyer's marital problems continue with shocking results, and Randy Disher's secret rock'n'roll dreams get revealed when he quits the police force. And we get to see more of Natalie's background -- she comes from a moneyed socialite family, complete with a snotty mom.

The fourth season of "Monk" is still solid and enjoyable, with the lovable obsessive-compulsive detective. Solid work.

This is one the entire family can watch. There is no nudity or "bedroom" scenes, the murders are not "blow them away-blood all over the place" type scenes, but there is some mild language. I wish they had closed captioning so my TV guardian would take it out. In a previous season there is a beach scene & I just knew we'd have to send the kids out or FF it-but if you can believe it-the scene was decent!!! You will laugh out loud, and yell "Pause it", if you have to leave the room. The way Monk is devoted to his wife's memory is so touching. Monk is intelligent & believeable, very well written! It's the type of show you can watch over and over & never tire of. We are addicted-can't wait for season 5!

I really enjoy this series because it's so different compared to the other 'mystery' series out there. It usually has it's moments that you just can't stop giggling. Monk's problems are totally understandable (for I have some OCD as well) and I liked how they set it up to where they're careful to not to make 'fun' of the disease.
The ONLY problem I have is not from the series per say, it's WHY IN THE WORLD ARE THE SEASONS SO SHORT??? It's on about 2 months and that's it. Then we have to wait months to even see new eps. Other than that, it's worth the time and money to buy the DVD's set.

As in the previous seasons, Monk kept me guessing about whodunnit each episode. An exceptionally frustrating experience occurred when I watched the 4th disk and it froze up in the first episode. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to work. I put it in my DVD player, my computer, tried three different software programs and I couldn't get it to work.

Suffering from Monk withdrawals, I contacted Amazon customer service. What followed would cause anyone to rate 5 stars, I believe. Consider: I'm in the Army in Afghanistan, calling customer service by internet phone. I explained the problem to the representative and how, because of low bandwidth, I was having problems completing the return process online. The representative was very helpful, and sent a replacement season 4 out to me. He also sent a prepaid label for me to return the defective season back, since I couldn't print one here. Imagine how surprised I was when I had the replacement within a week. This in a place that often takes 3 weeks for a letter or package to be delivered. I'm hard to please, and even I can't ask for better than this.

I love this TV series, perfect for people who love detective shows but tired of the blood and drama. It's lighthearted and relates to thousands of people out there with OCD, although I've yet to meet one who is as bad as Adrian Monk.

My wife and I have been following MONK for years. When I received this as a Christmas gift I was elated, although the next few nights were filled with MONK and his antics as a phobia-ridden, ousted detective, solving case after case, yet never quite able to get back into the police department. It's more than a commedy. It has action for you guys who, like me, need their dose of adrenaline. It has touching romantic sequences about him and his wife, the one murder Monk has been unable to solve. It is, however, filled with comedy. Sometimes this comedy takes you to the edge. One scene has Monk filling in for an English teacher. No problem, right? Wrong. He believes he must write his name on the blackboard so that the class knows who he is. What follows is excrutiating. Every letter, every line in every letter must be perfect. Tony Shaloub has made his mark upon the world with this character. Although he's played many other parts, this part is taylor made for him and he portrays it to perfection. I can hardly wait to get the next season.

Quirky fun with an awkward, phobic Detective about sums up this show in one sentence. Monk's phobia's are what draw you into this show laughing all the way and his quirky solve it ways bring you into full fledge hysteria.

When Monk goes undercover with his sidekick to solve the latest who done it crime, you think there is no way he can do this. His personal problems will get in the way; still he stumbles onto the solutions using his brains and his phobias along the way. Don't miss this season; even though his wife is gone, there is still much laughter to be had.