Mr. Monk and the Astronaut - S4-E14
Plot hole: There is no drug in the world that could render a healthy adult unconscious for two days with a single dose, but let's go with the dramatic licence and allow that there is. Any such drug would be instantly detectable in any one of a dozen toxin screens carried out during an autopsy, and isn't someone going to wonder how a comatose woman hanged herself?
Mr. Monk Goes to Jail - S2-E16
Plot hole: It is unrealistic that a prison cook who did not punch out would not be missed or found until the next day, especially after a lock-down scenario as portrayed in this episode, where a meal has been poisoned - likely in that very kitchen.
Mr. Monk Meets His Dad - S5-E9
Plot hole: Monk's dad, Jack, drives an 18 wheeler. In the scene where Jack pulls over to the side of the mountain road so they can discuss specifics about the GPS, a brake line is shown breaking and spurting what I assume is meant to be brake fluid. The rig then rolls down the mountain. However, 18 wheelers don't have brake fluid since they don't have hydraulic brakes, they have air brakes. Even if the rig lost its brakes due to loss of air pressure, the brakes are spring loaded to lock up all the wheels in this case and prevent movement. That's how you set the parking brakes, by releasing the air pressure. In other words, if he has air, he can use his application brakes; if he's lost air, he has his parking brakes set. Rigs that lose their brakes going down steep grades do so due to extreme overheating, causing brake fade, an inability of the brake shoes to grab the brake drums. This wouldn't have happened while they were parked.
Mr. Monk and the Astronaut - S4-E14
Plot hole: The whole plot hinges on Steve Wagner knocking the victim out for 2 days, remotely hanging her while he's in space, then removing the hanging machine when he lands. But keeping someone unconscious chemically for 2 DAYS is a hell of a feat. And unpleasant though it is, she'd be voiding her bowels over those 2 days, leaving a serious mess, plus all the chemicals necessary to keep her unconscious would be found in an autopsy.
Mr. Monk Goes to the Asylum - S1-E6
Plot hole: Monk and Manny go on the roof through Manny's window to grab a piece of cloth. Due to the possibility of suicide, it is highly unlikely that an asylum would have a window that goes directly to the roof, unlocked.
Mr. Monk and the Voodoo Curse - S8-E7
Plot hole: The murderer planted the voodoo dolls after the accidents to make them look like victims and cover up her murder of her uncle, but none of that was necessary! She uses an untraceable poison on her elderly uncle to make it look like a heart attack. So if he'd died...they just would have figured it was a heart attack! No suspicion would have fallen on her anyway, the entire voodoo thing was just needlessly complicated and only exists for the episode's plot.
Plot hole: While convenient to the plot, the computer system used by the medical examiner is far too poor to be taken seriously for a high level agency. While Monk is unaware of deleting the files on the computer, why would there be a one button push to delete all the files on working cases? Even to not have some sort of password to delete files is questionable, as most systems in offices and workplaces will only have functions like this for administrators, executives etc. We find out that all the files are backed up and are slowly being recovered. However, these types of systems are primarily for emergency scenarios such as fire, flooding and so forth. With the ease that Monk is able to delete the files by accident, it seems a bit hard to believe how easy it is to do.
Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa - S6-E10
Plot hole: This episode's entire story line takes place in the six days before Christmas (Dec. 19-24). "Bad Santa" is shot in the right shoulder on the 19th, sustaining a wound serious enough to require wearing a sling for the next several days. Yet at the end, a mere few days later, he's recovered enough to have a knock-down-drag-out fistfight with Monk, wielding a knife and throwing powerhouse punches with his wounded arm as though no injury had ever occurred. (00:38:00)
Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival - S1-E5
Plot hole: It makes no sense why the police haven't done the most obvious thing and checked for fingerprints on the murder weapon (the knife). It would not only back up the detective's claim that he did not stab the victim (he never touched the knife) but would have given the police a major clue to finding and prosecuting the murderer.
Mr. Monk and the Naked Man - S6-E3
Plot hole: SPOILER Arlene Boras swaps Peter Magneri's MRI scans for those of a healthy person in order to hide the fact that he has a potentially lethal aortic aneurysm. Clearly visible on the MRI scans she is holding are the dates and times of the examination - and the name of the patient. Swapping the records is pointless.
Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month - S3-E7
Plot hole: Monk wants to take a look at the case that got Christie to leave the force. But given that they are ordinary cops they would not be able to just go and pull internal affairs files.
Suggested correction: I'm not sure what you mean by "ordinary" cops. Captain Stottlemeyer is the one pulling the file. Plus, we don't see what they had to do to request access the files. There's no indication they just went in and randomly pulled the file with no authorization.
Mr. Monk Is on the Run (1) - S6-E15
Plot hole: *Spoilers* Monk and Stottlemeyer cook up an ingenious plan to make Monk appear dead, but how the fugitive Monk acquires his regular clothes (in place of Mitch's uniform), the bullet-proof vest and the gun is not addressed. The police are watching Monk's apartment, Disher is watching Natalie and Julie, and Sheriff Rollins is watching Stottlemeyer, leaving us to wonder just how they managed all this right under their fellow cops' noses. (00:43:00)
Suggested correction: Stottlemeyer is a police captain. The sheriff can't watch his every move, and there are still plenty of cops who are loyal enough to Stottlemeyer for him to get one of them to deliver them to Monk or leave the items somewhere for him to retrieve.
Nice theory, but there's absolutely no hint of it in the episode. The lack of any explanation creates a bit of a plot hole because it leaves us wondering.
Mr. Monk and the Astronaut - S4-E14
Plot hole: The murderer mails a garage door opener with the button taped down to his victim and kills her by remote. But A) With the switch continuously in the "on" position, the battery would die long before the package arrived, and B) Door openers use special frequency tones that are set much like a safe combination. The likelihood of one control opening 3 different doors in the same area, as it does here, is virtually nil. (00:33:30)
Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect - S2-E7
Plot hole: Technically, Brian Babbage's plan would never have worked due to the fact that all outbound mail goes to a main post office from the local post office and then placed through scanners to determine the contents, which would have inevitably exposed the bomb inside.
Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan - S6-E1
Plot hole: It's out of character for Monk, a chronic stickler for details, not to correct an error, especially one relating to his own life. Marcy's diorama for "Mr. Monk & the Three Pies" includes Natalie, who wasn't around yet when "Three Pies" occurred. The doll should be of Sharona, but since that would ruin the ensuing joke, Monk is allowed to overlook it. He's aware of Marcy's unreasoning obsessions, but Monk's OCD would simply not permit him to keep quiet about a mistake that glaring.
Mr. Monk Falls In Love - S7-E6
Plot hole: It is not realistic that Miss Zladovic is confronted with the murder weapon for the first time in her flat after she had been arrested and interrogated about the same exact murder days before. It is also impossible that the police did not show her a picture of the murder victim as it is police standard to ask any suspects for connections/relations to "their" victim.
Plot hole: Monk and Natalie temporarily incapacitate Jake before crawling all the way down the hall from the bathroom to the living room while pulling a heavy claw-footed bathtub. Exactly why didn't Monk or Natalie think to consider a more permanent solution to preventing Jake from attempting to kill them again, like grabbing his gun and using it to detain him until the police could arrive to arrest him? (00:30:00 - 00:39:05)
Suggested correction: It's tricky to make that determination. First off they were panicked and possibly facing death. Not to mention he was a large and powerful guy. Maybe they grab the gun and maybe they detain him. You can't fault characters for making rash decisions. He was only incapicated for a short time so it may have been risky to take that option.
Mr. Monk and the End - Part I - S8-E15
Plot hole: When Randy tells Captain Stottlemeyer that the killer shot the train station announcer and took his jacket and ID, the microphone in the room is still active and everyone in the station hears Randy's conversation. If that's the case, then why didn't everyone in the station hear the gunshot? Even if the killer used a silencer, he would have made noise taking the announcer's jacket and changing his disguise, which would sound like a struggle over the open mic anyway, and it would make no sense to turn it on after killing the man. (00:29:00 - 00:30:00)
Mr. Monk and the Genius - S7-E2
Plot hole: Kloster's plan of switching the headstones wouldn't have worked because cemeteries keep records of who's buried in which plot. Before exhuming the body, the records would have been checked and someone would have noticed that the name on the headstone and the name in the records didn't match. (He might have broken into the office and changed the records, but it's never brought up, so he likely didn't.)
Mr. Monk and the Other Woman - S1-E8
Plot hole: Monk says that the two files, both with tab at the middle, were kept together, which led him to discover that the person related to this file is 'the guy'. In an earlier scene, when Monk is searching the file cabinets, he picks up one of these two files and tells Sharona that this file is of 'the guy'. How can he say which one of the two files with middle tabs, which are put together, is related to 'the guy'? Impossible. (00:39:00 - 00:40:00)
