Monk

Monk (2002)

17 factual errors in season 7 - chronological order

(50 votes)

Mr. Monk Is Underwater - S7-E5

Factual error: Commander Whitaker tries to drown Monk and Natalie by trapping them in the ballast tank of the submarine. The ballast tanks on a submarine are inaccessible from the interior, and wouldn't have dramatic lighting in them either.

dmcreif

Mr. Monk Is Underwater - S7-E5

Factual error: Monk borrows Lt. Albright's sidearm to prove a point. All weapons on a submarine are locked in a small arms locker until needed, not carried around by officers. Further, medics are traditionally not issued firearms.

Grumpy Scot

Mr. Monk Is Underwater - S7-E5

Factual error: The clip of a submarine surfacing near the end of the episode does not show a normal surfacing; it shows a submarine that has blown its ballast tanks using high-pressure air, which is an emergency procedure that is practised only occasionally. The reason it is not done routinely is because the submarine comes up like a cork with very little control.

mdwalker

Mr. Monk Is Underwater - S7-E5

Factual error: One of the most common firearm tropes on TV and in movies is that using a suppressor (aka, "silencer") reduces a gunshot to a whisper. In reality, a suppressor (either commercial or homemade) only reduces the sound of a gunshot from as loud as a jet taking off to "merely" as loud as a jackhammer.

mdwalker

Mr. Monk Is Underwater - S7-E5

Factual error: Officers do not wear their summer whites on board a submarine. Although navy working uniforms have changed since this episode of Monk was made, at the time, all personnel on submarines, both officer and enlisted, wore the same type of dark blue coveralls when on board. Rank was distinguished by pin-on devices on the collars.

mdwalker

Mr. Monk Is Underwater - S7-E5

Factual error: Nuclear submarines do not get underway on the spur of the moment. It takes hours to make preparations for getting underway. Also, the submarine would not get underway until a new executive officer had been assigned.

mdwalker

Mr. Monk Is Underwater - S7-E5

Factual error: Attack submarines, like the one in the episode, do not have a medical officer on board. They have only what is called an Independent Duty Corpsman (IDC), who is a senior enlisted Hospital Corpsman and has had an additional year of special training to care for the medical needs of the crew, both routine and emergency.

mdwalker

Mr. Monk Is Underwater - S7-E5

Factual error: One does not simply walk onto a nuclear submarine. Security is very tight, access is strictly controlled, and visitors are escorted at all times and are restricted from seeing certain areas. In this episode, whenever the exterior of the submarine is shown, there is no sign of an Officer of the Deck or a Petty Officer of the Watch, much less any security personnel nearby.

mdwalker

Mr. Monk's Other Brother - S7-E10

Factual error: In the scene where Monk is making pancakes in his kitchen, he is using a stainless steel spatula on a teflon-coated griddle pan. Mr. Monk has OCD and would never risk scratching his pan with a metal utensil.

Mr. Monk and the End - Part I - S8-E15

Continuity mistake: In 3-7 "Employee of the Month", Joe Christie says he was with Monk when he got the news of Trudy's death. He said Monk had been laughing, and that he never heard him laugh again. In this episode Monk and Stottlemeyer get called to the scene of a crime, a women's clinic. In this episode there is a flashback to the exact same location years earlier and to Stottlemeyer getting the phone call about Trudy's death. He and Monk were working a case that day and Joe Christie was not present.

More mistakes in Monk
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

More questions & answers from Monk