Question: I haven't yet seen this episode, but why is it called 'Mr. Monk and his 100th case'? Natalie and Julie gave Monk a hundred trophies at one time for doing 100 cases. Doesn't that break continuity, then if THIS is his 100th case?
Chosen answer: It's his 100th case for the San Francisco Police Department. When Natalie and Julie gave him the trophies, they were for cases overall. The total was actually a few short, but they gave him 100 because it's a nice, even number, which Monk likes.
Actually the total was a few more not less. They said it was 104 and they rounded down to make it an even 100. And Natalie and Julie explain they talked to captain stottlemyer and he let them look at monk's files, insinuating all of his 104 cases were for the San Francisco police dept so it is a continuity error they ignored for the 100th episode.
I'd meant the total number of trophies. Julie and Natalie tell him that it's only been 94 or so, but they got Monk 100 trophies because he'd appreciate the nice, orderly round number over having an accurate amount.
Mr. Monk and the Critic - S8-E6
Question: When they entrap the suspect is that legal?
Answer: It seems like a good lawyer could tear that to shreds. "When I said I'd never seen her before, I meant up close, in the same room. Look, a teenager had just falsely accused me of rape, you can't blame me for panicking a little bit."
Answer: Entrapment in and of itself is not legal. Entrapment entails the police (or agents of the police/government) forcing or tricking an otherwise law-abiding citizen into committing a crime; the person would lack the necessary intent to be convicted. However, merely providing (an already willing) person with the opportunity to commit a crime is not entrapment. Without knowing the specifics of the case you are referring to, it is impossible to know if there was entrapment. At the same time, the police know what does and does not constitute true "entrapment", so are not likely to try entrapping anyone - they would lose the case, defeating their efforts.
Question: How exactly does Monk afford to pay Natalie? Would he still get a pension after being discharged for psychiatric reasons? Is it ever mentioned (in-universe or otherwise) if he's independently wealthy or something? On several occasions Natalie tried to get the department to pay Monk more and tells Monk he can't afford things at times or his check will bounce, like he's broke.
Answer: Like a certain Poirot, he is paid by the case and thus has a lot of cases = lots of income.
Answer: He gets paid by the city on a case by case basis, and she gets paid out of that.
Answer: He would have received a disability check, suffering from a mental illness qualifies you, the same as a physical injury, but would be limited to his therapy and living expenses.
Except he would be limited in what he could earn to receive payments and that wouldn't be enough to pay a full time employee.
Question: I've only seen up to the end of series 4- do Stottelmeyer and his wife get back together?
Answer: She divorces him.
Chosen answer: No.
Mr. Monk Goes to the Asylum - S1-E6
Question: Why did Dr. Lancaster have to dress up as Santa when retrieving the gun he used in the murder four years ago? And what was the purpose of Manny being given the room considering if he told people that he saw Santa everybody would just shrug off his claim?
Answer: Dr. Lancaster gave Manny the room because Manny believed Santa was real. Thus, by dressing as Santa, Manny thinks he's seeing the real Santa and not someone in a costume. If any other patients were given the room, then they would have simply said they saw a man dressed as Santa on the roof. Additionally, Dr. Lancaster had to retrieve the gun from the chimney and dressed as Santa, Manny would naturally think Santa was climbing down their chimney to deliver presents. And then when Manny says he saw Santa climbing down the chimney, everyone would think he's making up a story and that there was nobody on the roof.
Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece - S6-E14
Question: How come Monk's Painting of Natalie isn't shown for the rest of the scene?
Answer: It was apparently embarrassing and ridiculous, enough that Natalie tried to burn it. It's funnier if you let the viewer image what it looked like.
Mr. Monk and the Really, Really Dead Guy - S5-E15
Question: I'm confused. How did Monk typing the girl's address into his computer make the address come up on the screen and hence lead the SWAT team to her house?
Chosen answer: It was Julie's laptop, and when Monk plugged it into the SWAT team's system, Julie's friend's address (where the teen girls were having a slumber party) popped up and fooled the cops into thinking that it was the perp's house. Highly unlikely, true, but the SWAT guys storming into a house full of squealing teenage girls in pink nighties did make for a very funny scene.
Answer: Julies Laptop was using the SFPD's Internet to receive mails from that girls house i.e. the girl throwing the party. So, the FBI thought that the girls house was the perp's house because of the connection from Julie's laptop to the girl's house.
Question: Monk's psychiatrist died of a heart attack - Why didn't Monk investigate the death of his shrink more thoroughly?
Answer: Because there was nothing suspicious about it. These things just happen and Monk is smart enough to know it was just one of those things.
Answer: In addition to the in-universe answer, an out-of universe answer (i.e. real life), since Stanley Kamel died in real life, it wouldn't be possible to film him in flashback scenes, like Monk's "here's what happened" summation. So setting an episode around solving his death, would be somewhat limited or require a stand-in.
Question: I have been trying to figure out how the death in the episode was linked to the suspect. Now I understand that being she was the housekeeper and that identifying the body would identify who she was and make him an likely suspect (he knew her, the secret bank accounts etc.) but how would that be enough to arrest him or even prosecute him for that matter? The body was not located on his property, there was no physical evidence that he killed her, he never made any incriminating statements and so on. The case seems far too circumstantial to be able to arrest him.
Chosen answer: He'd also murdered the wig shop owner, though, and the implication was that SFPD was gathering more evidence there. Monk puts together a pretty impressive batch of circumstantial evidence for both murders, and that's enough for Stottlemeyer to arrest Harley. Many murder cases go to trial with less, and successfully convict despite a lack of absolute proof, which is, sadly, far less abundant in real life than it is on TV. Lacking concrete proof, guilt must then be established "beyond a reasonable doubt."
Question: Is there a reason they chose the last names Monk and/or Teeger?
Answer: I couldn't find any info on the name "Teeger," but Monk got his name because they wanted to come up with a simple, single-syllable name for the protagonist that could easily stick in your head. They eventually settled on "Monk," which seemed to fit the character.
Just learned Bitty Schram's middle name is Natalie. Of course I'm overthinking it, but it's interesting.
Obviously without confirmation from a writer that's where they got the name, you can't be sure. But it is an interesting fact that makes it seem plausible that the writers used her middle name as a tribute when she was let go from the show.
Mr. Monk Goes to Jail - S2-E16
Question: I think this is a mistake, but I'm asking as a question because I don't know enough about the TV in question. In the prison library, the inmates are looking for the remote, which the librarian had hidden. But the TV looks like one where the channels can only be changed by turning the dial. It appears to be a TV with VHF and UHF dials. Can a remote be used with that type of TV?
Answer: Normally no but it could have a cable box that we can't see.
Question: When Jay is about to shoot Monk on the boat, the boat dips in the water (almost the way a car would dip when hitting a pothole). What would cause this? It almost looks like it was done deliberately by a stunt driver. And if it's from hitting a wave or wake, I would think the boat would bounce up first.
Answer: The dip was the bounce.
Answer: In Monk's 100th case episode, they specifically say it's his 100th case as a consultant for the SFPD. When Natalie and Julie give him 100 trophies, Natalie says he's solved 104 murders since the beginning of his career.
Bishop73