Monk: 6.15 ‘Mr. Monk Is on the Run, Part 1’ Recap

Original Air Date: February 15, 2008

As MONK and NATALIE walk down the street and discuss a TV show, Natalie tries to convince her boss that she knows one he’ll love. But, since it’s on Channel 11 and not Channel 10, the only channel he watches, Monk doesn’t seem too convinced he’ll like the program.

The pair approach an electronics store, where CAPTAIN STOTTLEMEYER and RANDY are waiting for them outside. The captain informs Monk that he just got off the phone with DR. KROGER, who’s concerned about something the police found inside the business that might upset his patient.

No one was murdered; it’s a straightforward robbery. Yet, there’s a cryptic note with the words written in a column like a list. It says “to force heaven mars shall have a new angel” in all uppercase letters.

Only a few odd items were taken: a couple of cellphones, a flashlight bulb, waterproof sealant, braided copper wire, and ten 20-volt magnesium batteries. Monk immediately realizes that someone is making a bomb with a remote, and the captain notes he’s only seen a bomb like this once before — it’s the same type that was used to murder Monk’s beloved wife TRUDY (Guest Star Melora Hardin).

The final suspicious discovery on the scene is a crowbar used to pry open the door. It has six fingerprints on it, indicating a person with six fingers, which is also reminiscent of a clue left in Trudy’s unsolved murder.

Monk and Natalie are at his apartment one morning soon after. Natalie has written the words from the note on a chalkboard in Monk’s living room, and she studies them while Monk prepares himself a glass of orange juice in the kitchen. When the detective picks up the juice container in the refrigerator and notices it’s lighter, he says aloud that someone has removed about four ounces of the beverage.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Natalie struggles to decipher the words from the message. Monk comes over to give it a try, and after a brief observation, he grows agitated. Natalie thinks he has solved the puzzle, but Monk puts his head in his hands as if he’s frustrated. He then goes into his bedroom to get dressed and removes his handgun from a box in the closet.

That night, Monk takes a bus to a stone fountain business on Marshall Avenue in Angel, California, called Angel Pawn Statues. The place is closed, but Monk goes inside to case it anyway. While he’s cautiously walking around, a redheaded man emerges from the shadows across the room. After he asks Monk if he has the money, he tells the detective he just got out of Riverton and everything’s set up and good to go.

Monk responds by raising the cryptic robbery note and telling the man he dropped it at the electronics store earlier. The man seems confused, and he holds his right hand out, warning Monk to stay back and stop approaching him. The hand has six fingers.

Monk continues advancing, and soon the men are fighting and struggling. Shockingly, normally timid Monk succeeds in getting the upper hand, and following a succession of kicks and punches, the two men stand facing each other once again. Monk asks the man why, and the man replies that he didn’t know Trudy. He was hired by someone else, but he’s too scared for his life to reveal who.

When Monk still doesn’t shoot him, the man begins to taunt the detective, insinuating that Monk doesn’t have the courage to go ahead and pull the trigger. As the tension mounts, a shot suddenly fires into the man’s chest, and he falls to the ground, dead.

While Monk hovers over the body in disbelief at what just happened, Angel County’s SHERIFF ROLLINS (Guest Star Scott Glenn) suddenly walks out of the shadows, gun drawn, to apprehend Monk. He takes the detective to the station to book him, where he reveals the victim was a criminal named FRANK NUNN (Guest Star Courtney Gains) who had just returned to the United States after eight years in Brazil. Monk repeatedly insists he didn’t fire his gun, which nobody believes.

In court, Monk’s attorney informs the judge that the detective isn’t an escape threat because in addition to being a former San Francisco cop with a good record and the trust of his colleagues, he’s afraid of most forms of transportation. The prosecutor counters that even so, Monk traveled almost 100 miles by bus to Angel County, plus the evidence proves the bullet that killed Nunn came from Monk’s gun while Monk was in the immediate vicinity of the shooting.

The captain, Randy, and Natalie are in court, and to their surprise, the judge sets bail at $900,000, which Monk requests be changed to an even million. To get released, he would need 10 percent of the total, but even his colleagues would have difficulty coming up with that amount if they pooled their financial resources.

So, Monk props open the lock on the door of the van that Sheriff Rollins and DEPUTY BELL (Guest Star C.S. Lee) drive to transport him to jail, and he escapes into the woods when the vehicle slows down for a yellow light. The law can’t catch up with him, either, despite a couple of run-ins Monk has with the public. He stops at a deserted campsite for some needle and thread to sew a pocket on his orange jumpsuit that ripped on a tree branch when he was fleeing. That night, he also attempts to steal a truck outside of a gas station, but the vehicle only drives in circles because the steering wheel is locked with a club.

Monk eventually turns up at a shocked Natalie’s house, where he continues to insist he’s innocent. He’s figured out that someone set him up, leaving the cryptic note as bait to lure him to Angel County. He now wants to return there to get to the bottom of the situation.

After time wasted deflecting Randy’s attention from Monk’s presence — the cop is sent to keep an eye on Natalie in case her boss shows up — a reluctant Natalie helps Monk get out of his handcuffs. She then gives him her deceased husband Mitch’s old military uniform to wear, and Monk heads back to the fountain business in Angel County. On his second visit, Monk finds the tab from a juice container, and the discovery helps him figure out who set him up.

At the police station, the search for Monk is on full speed. Aggressive Sheriff Rollins decides he should put a wiretap on Dr. Kroger’s phone, and he also has his team intercept Natalie’s mail. Stottlemeyer and Randy both object to such privacy-violating tactics, but Rollins justifies his actions with his opinion that Monk is a “one-man psych ward” since he visits his psychiatrist four times a week.

As Stottlemeyer tries not to blow his stack, he receives a call from Monk, who’s still at the fountain business. Monk informs the captain that he knows who set him up, although he doesn’t know why yet, and he explains how it happened.

• Sheriff Rollins is the culprit.
• The sheriff broke into Monk’s apartment the day before the shooting and drank juice out of the container in the refrigerator. The lawman is always talking about his fondness for juice, which he thinks helps keep him healthy.
• Rollins then tampered with Monk’s gun, a Lane & Westing that allows interchangeable barrels. The sheriff removed Monk’s customary barrel and replaced it with another one.
• The sheriff then stood behind nearby shelving when Monk arrived at the fountain business the next night.
• Rollins shot Nunn from behind Monk, who had no idea the sheriff was there.
• He then came into the open and ordered Monk to kiss the ground, which caused the detective’s gun to slide away from him as he followed the order.
• While Monk was facedown on the floor, the sheriff switched the barrels on Monk’s gun again, returning Monk’s original barrel and removing the barrel that contained the fatal bullet.

After his conversation with Monk, Stottlemeyer goes back to the squad room and tells everyone that Monk just called and asked the captain to meet with him alone that night to bring him some food. Of course, Rollins insists on tagging along with a tactical team.

At the meeting on a dark bridge, Monk suddenly draws a gun and begins complaining that he can’t go to prison. Stottlemeyer orders Monk to drop the gun as the detective backs away. When Monk doesn’t follow his command, Stottlemeyer seemingly shoots several bullets into Monk’s chest, and the detective falls backwards over the rail into the water below.

To Be Continued…

RESOURCES

• Monk Episode Guide
• Monk Website