Happy Birthday, Mr. Monk - S8-E9
Question: At his birthday party, Monk realises that Pressman is the murderer and when he looks at his ice cubes, he sees that they are square while everybody else's is round. He then realises that the poison was in the ice cubes and now his ice cubes were filled with poison. Why would Pressman try to kill Monk? He never did anything that gave Pressman the indication that he was on to him. All Monk did was want his self-cleaning vacuum fixed.
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.
Answer: When Natalie and Monk took the vacuum cleaner to Pressman, Pressman asks about the cases they're working on, and after Pressman mentions the janitor cases, Natalie says that Mr. Monk always says "it's a work in progress" when he's close to solving the case. Pressman was afraid Monk would figure out the connection of the two cases soon.
Bishop73