MONK: MR. MONK GOES BACK TO SCHOOL {SECOND SEASON PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The second season premiere in this series about Sherlockian detective Adrian Monk, a man who develops an obsessive-compulsive disorder after his wife's murder. In this episode, high school chemistry teacher Derek Philby promises his colleague and secret mistress, English teacher Beth Landow, that he will finally leave his wife – but on the following day, Beth falls to her death from the clock tower of their school, Ashton Prep, while Derek is nearby proctoring the SAT. Monk receives a call from Vice-Principal Arleen Cassady and tells Sharona that Ashton was Trudy's alma mater, and he agrees to look into the mysterious death. Stottlemeyer and Fisher, already at the scene, believe it to be a straightforward suicide, though Monk immediately notices discrepancies, including grammatical mistakes in Beth's so-called note and the fact that Derek's car, on which she landed, was unlocked and yet had the alarm on. Though Derek denies any knowledge of his co-worker's death, Monk noticed his odd comments and obvious cheater behavior, and he immediately deems him to be a suspect. Arleen reveals that Derek has taken a job elsewhere and was unlikely to cheat on his wife, and Monk awkwardly agrees to take over Beth's class for a few days, though the students, particularly troublemaker Kyle Patterson, are bewildered by his oddball behavior. The kids from Derek's SAT test room explain that he appeared to have no reaction when Beth landed on his car, setting off the loud alarm, while elsewhere the school groundskeeper attempts to blackmail Derek for $10,000, suggesting that he saw something incriminating on the morning of Beth's demise. Kyle's father, who turns out to be the athletics coach, angrily confronts Monk for hassling his son, and Derek sneaks into the groundskeeper's house and sets an ingenious scientific trap – which causes a fatal explosion. Monk quickly deems it to be murder, not a mere gas line accident, and Stottlemeyer, agreeing that the two deaths cannot be coincidental, agrees to let Monk continue his investigation.
Monk finds Trudy's favorite tree and again hides from the mean coach, though Benjy later gives him some wise advice about confronting bullies. Sharona's inside contacts soon reveal that Beth was pregnant when she died, solidifying Monk's belief that Derek murdered her, though Derek smugly points out that he has an unbreakable alibi. Monk returns to the clock tower roof, determined to figure out how Derek committed the crime – and Sharona's discovery of Beth's glasses and another run-in with Coach Patterson finally give him the epiphany he needs. When Derek returns to the clock tower to retrieve the glasses, he is caught by the police, and Monk explains that he killed Beth earlier in the morning and then positioned her body on the clock's giant horizontal minute hand at precisely 8:15 – not knowing he was seen by the groundskeeper – giving him time to get to the classroom and start the SAT promptly at 8:20, as required, before Beth slid off the hand at 8:25 and fell onto his carefully parked car. When Derek challenges him to prove it, Monk points out that only the killer would've known the location of her glasses. Later, Sharona asks Arleen about her friend Trudy as Monk spends a moment alone at "her" tree. Includes commercials and promos.
Details
- NETWORK: USA
- DATE: January 17, 2004 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:40
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:80201
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Drama, police/private detective; Drama, mystery/suspense
- SERIES RUN: USA - TV series, 2002-2009
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - "Open Range" home video
- TV - Commercials - Alka-Seltzer Plus cold medicine
- TV - Commercials - Burger King restaurants
- TV - Commercials - Carnival cruise lines
- TV - Commercials - Celebrex arthritis medication
- TV - Commercials - Cingular wireless networks
- TV - Commercials - Ford automobiles
- TV - Commercials - H&R Block tax services
- TV - Commercials - Hanes underwear
- TV - Commercials - Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing
- TV - Commercials - Hillshire Farm Deli Select meats
- TV - Commercials - Pizza Hut restaurants
- TV - Commercials - Quilted Northern toilet paper
- TV - Commercials - Ragú Rich and Meaty tomato sauce
- TV - Commercials - Sprint wireless networks
- TV - Commercials - Tylenol Sinus Severe Congestion pain reliever
- TV - PSA - United Negro College Fund
- TV - Promos - "10-8: Officers On Duty"
- TV - Promos - "ABC Monday Night Movie: Meet the Parents"
- TV - Promos - "According to Jim"
- TV - Promos - "Alias"
- TV - Promos - "Celebrity Mole: Yucatan"
- TV - Promos - "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
- TV - Promos - "Good Morning America"
- TV - Promos - "InStyle Magazine: Celebrity Weddings"
- TV - Promos - "It's All Relative"
- TV - Promos - "Monk" upcoming episode
- TV - Promos - "My Wife and Kids"
- TV - Promos - "Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital"
- TV - Promos - "The Bachelorette"
- TV - Promos - "The Practice"
CREDITS
- David Hoberman … Executive Producer
- Tony Shalhoub … Executive Producer
- Andy Breckman … Executive Producer, Created by
- Randy Zisk … Co-Executive Producer, Director
- Fern Field … Supervising Producer
- Phillip M. Goldfarb … Producer
- Tom Scharpling … Co-Producer
- Scott Collins … Associate Producer
- David Breckman … Writer
- Rick Kronberg … Writer
- Jeff Beal … Music by
- Randy Newman … Theme Music by
- Tony Shalhoub … Cast, Adrian Monk
- Bitty Schram … Cast, Sharona Fleming
- Jason Gray-Stanford … Cast, Lt. Randall Fisher
- Ted Levine … Cast, Capt. Leland Stottlemeyer
- Andrew McCarthy … Cast, Derek Philby
- David Rasche … Cast, Coach Patterson
- Rosalind Chao … Cast, Arleen Cassady
- Kane Ritchotte … Cast, Benjy Fleming
- Jamie McShane … Cast, Iverson
- Erica Yoder … Cast, Beth Landow
- Bob Brewer … Cast, Kyle Patterson
- Chane'T Johnson … Cast, First Teacher
- Michael Reisz … Cast, Second Teacher
- Roz Witt … Cast, Lunch Lady
- James Martin Kelly … Cast, Fire Marshall
- Richard Alan Brown … Cast, First Kid
- Kristin Bryant … Cast, Second Kid
- Jennifer Record … Cast, Girl Scout