What I’m Watching: Monk (Series Finale Part 1)

Monk: Season 8, Episode 15 “Mr. Monk and the End – Part 1” (A-)

This last season has been making me feel like I’m going to dread the departure of this detective, but the first part of the finale has me more excited than I’ve ever been for the next and final episode of the show. I’ve seen the past four seasons of this show and a few scattered episodes from before then, and this is the most action-packed hour I think I’ve ever seen. It’s always a tremendously smart move to open a series finale, especially a two-part one, with flashbacks to old times because it evokes an effective sense of nostalgia (like the final installments of “Alias” and “Battlestar Galactica”). Seeing Trudy in what we know to be her last moments, and seeing that parking garage scene actually happen, both really signaled that this is the end for Monk, and we’re going to finally find out who killed Trudy. It’s still hard for me to see Melora Hardin as the beloved Trudy since I’m familiar with her mostly as the anything-but-lovely, completely bonkers Jan from “The Office.” Still, the flashback does a great job kicking off the episode, and it’s really fun to see Monk and Leland out on a case together as cops in the old days. Monk getting poisoned is quite unexpected, though the way it happens and the hospital scenes it produces are quite entertaining. Bringing Casper Van Dien back as the definitive man in Natalie’s life, as well as the definitive woman in Natalie’s life, her daughter Julie, signifies the closest thing to family that Monk has left, and the meal, however ultimately fatal it may prove, is somewhat touching in that sense. Monk’s hospital visit is much funnier, even though the subject matter is serious, and the highlights include the entire hospital staff holding Monk down to give him a shot and his continually-repeated preference for death to come before the vomiting. The train station search for the killer was a good intense string of sequences, and Leland demonstrated some impressive fitness skills in his high-speed foot pursuit of the perp. The undeniably best part of this episode was Monk’s decision to open Trudy’s final gift to him, only to find that it was a videotape of her explaining who was after her. Ending this first half of the finale at that point was spectacular, at just the right point to prepare for a big revelation and then holding off a bigger one for the big finish. The fact that Monk had the answer to the mystery of who killed his wife right in front of him for twelve years is pretty incredible, but what’s even more exciting than that is that we too will get to find out next week. I can’t wait.