Monk

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 Is on the Run (1) - S6-E15

Continuity mistake: When Monk attempts to steal the truck at the gas station and grabs the sleeping driver's keys, he drives the truck in circles and then stops. When he stops, the truck is exactly parallel to the end of the concrete slab where the gas pumps are located. However, when the police arrive, the truck is now at a different angle with the back of the truck now being closer to the end of the concrete slab than the front. The gas station attendant would not have moved the truck himself as the police would have told him not to touch anything at the scene.

Mr. Monk Goes to Jail - S2-E16

Factual error: There are a number of unrealistic situations portrayed inside the prison: 1) An inmate scheduled to be executed in less than an hour would not be left so unattended as to require the trustee to yell for help when he went into distress, or to allow the inmate and trustee to exchange objects. 2) A chronic rule-breaker like Spyder, who had just "put a guy's head through a wall," would not have gotten just one day in solitary confinement with no other loss of privileges. 3) The neo-Nazis would not be allowed to wear swastika lapel pins. 4) Death row inmates are not served their last meal by unescorted fellow prisoners.

Mr. Monk and the Really, Really Dead Guy - S5-E15

Factual error: The FBI agent runs a computer check and prints out a list of all the pet stores in San Francisco selling ferrets. But he shouldn't have been able to generate any list at all. Pet ferrets are illegal in the state of California, and are not sold in pet stores there. (00:15:00)

Jean G

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.

Jon Sandys

Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever - S3-E12

Audio problem: At the start, the car stops at the gas station (weirdly far from the pumps, for a start). Grooms talks to Monk then walks to the back holding the nozzle, stretching the hose taut, despite no filler cap on that side of the car. We cut to Monk, and we hear a clunk of Grooms attaching the nozzle (to what?). Later Grooms is still holding the nozzle, and as Monk goes inside Grooms is just wandering around aimlessly holding it.

Jon Sandys

Mr. Monk and the Very, Very Old Man - S2-E5

Continuity mistake: When his wife visits Stottlemeyer in his office he fills the running waterfall with coffee, but later in that scene when he holds her hand to promise her that he will investigate the the old man's death the waterfall is empty again. (00:04:40 - 00:07:10)

Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike - S5-E2

Factual error: While Monk and Natalie are waiting for the mayor to exit City Hall with his aide, you can see a cable car turning around the corner behind them. San Francisco City Hall is located on Van Ness Avenue between Grove and McAllister Streets, and this is at least six blocks from the nearest cable car line (which would be the turntable at Powell and Market Streets). (00:20:00 - 00:26:05)

dmcreif

Mr. Monk Meets His Dad - S5-E9

Deliberate mistake: In the opening scene, Wood's tie is grabbed by an exposed fan belt located above the side of the engine. However, this belt/pulley assembly doesn't exist in a real truck's engine compartment - the fan belts are all in front of the engine, where the camera can't see them easily. The prop master must have added this dangerous device to the truck to allow the camera to see the strangulation.

nixiebunny

Mr. Monk and the Red Herring - S3-E10

Continuity mistake: When Natalie puts out the fire with the extinguisher, the nozzle is still pushed down when she uses it, but when she puts it on the table, in the next shot the nozzle is fully extended. There are a number of times during the scene, when Monk is trying to figure out how to use it, where the nozzle's position keeps changing between shots.

Lummie

Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect - S2-E7

Deliberate mistake: All the mail bombs are delivered in packages tied with knotted string. The USPO hasn't allowed string-tied packages since the mid-90s (they get caught in automated equipment), but since the knots were crucial to ID-ing the suspect in this episode, that fact had to be ignored.

Jean G

Adrian Monk: I don't know how he did it. But he did it.

More quotes from Monk

Trivia: Brooke Adams, Tony Shalhoub's real-life wife, has appeared on the show 5 times. In S1 as Leigh the flight attendant Monk drives crazy in "Mr. Monk and the Airplane"; in S3 as Mrs. Carlyle in "Mr. Monk and the Kid"; in S5 as Sheriff Butterfield in "Mr. Monk Visits a Farm"; in S7, again, as Leigh the flight attendant in "Mr. Monk's 100th Case"; in S8 as the crazy cat lady in "Mr. Monk and the Badge."

More trivia for Monk

Show generally

Question: If Monk is afraid of germs, then why does he keep touching things that could possibly have germs on them like parking meters or books?

Answer: Notice also that in the opening credits scene when he is touching parking meters her also wipes his hand on his clothes each time he does it.

Answer: That's the thing about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It's not something rational. He just has to touch things like that. It's not something he can rationally think through. However, since part of his disorder includes an obsession with cleanliness, he also has an assistant walk around handing him wipes periodically. It's like when he gets a cold and uses both a humidifier (because that's what you use when you're congested) and a dehumidifier (to counteract the effects of the humidifier). He may spout rationalizations after he does something, but his compulsions exist outside of any rational thought whatever.

Garlonuss

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