Did anyone else notice the lack of continuity as Monk and Natalie sat on the stairs together. First her legs were crossed, next scene, uncrossed, then crossed, then uncrossed. It was very noticable... but I guess not to the production staff

I saw that but it was the fourth time I watched it. I was mostly listening the first couple times because I was occupied, unfortunately. Yes it's very noticeable.

The legs thing? Here's what's troubling me....Monk wouldn't be sitting in that house with the walls and debris coming down around him....PERIOD. He'd be on the lawn in a biosuit telling Natalie to go inside ever 2 minutes to see what they were doing in there and just for good measure, he'd had a hazmat team on stand-by in the driveway! WHERE DID MONK GO?

I know -- he seemed WAY too comfortable in that house. And when Monk and Natalie were chained together in a bathroom? He seemed too comfortable -- sitting on the bathroom floor, and at one point leaning against the toilet??? This was a man who threw away a toilet seat when he could have used it as a flotation device to save his life. I mean, sure it was technically his bathroom, and the seat was down, but it seems to me there should have been a little more repulsion there.

And welcome mikjr and Jillshere!

I agree. I was wondering where Monk was last night as well. He was sitting on the stairs and floor with all of that dust and debris around him. Monk won't even set on the grass, and has at times found it difficult to sit on park benches. I found it very hard to believe he would sit on the floor or the stairs when they were as dusty as they were. When he nailed in the nail, his sleeve was just filthy. Monk would not have let that happen. He would have had Natalie get all dirty while he stood there. Monk would have also left the house after "Honest Jake" knocked the first hole through the wall. HE would have never stuck around to see his whole house completely demolished like it was. I agree with what someone else said, he would have been outside, or away somewhere and had Natalie go in and check on things. I mean, in Mr. Monk and the Panic Room, he put his apartment up for sale when the Chimp was there and messed everything up. I noticed the bathroom thing as well. Again, NOT our Monk! He would have NEVER been that comfortable in a bathroom, any bathroom. He would have also NEVER propped up against a toilet. No, Never....

I am writing off last night's eppy. The REAL Monk comes back next week.

Monk was not suppose to be himself last night. He was a grief stricken man who lost his best friend. In Panic Room, he just sat there and let the chimp go wild. Why didn`t he go outside then? Everything in the show, last night was to show how badly he was taking the loss of Dr. K.

You people are being so hypercritical! I suppose it's just a temporary anxiety after not seeing all new Monk for so long... Come on, we're dealing with the details like 'Frankenstein's monster' here!
Maybe it was not the best, but still a very good episode. Monk's improving, it's not just this episode (remeber "on the run" episodes?) Besides, under lots of stress, Monk's capable of everything without thinking straight though (I guess that's why he bought a house, right?)

Well, I'm completely happy with this episode myself, I guess that's the most important thing, isn't it?

As far as I can tell, those of us are who felt the eppy wasn't very good is in the minority. We may be critical, but we are not hypocrites. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I feel your comments and those by another ubiquitous poster highlight an interesting dilemma that a past thread touched on which seemed to suggest that many fans do not want Monk to recover for that would mean the end of the series so that ironically he is his own worst emeny at least in respect to getting weller and that behaviour which is seemed as conflicting with past responses is
critized and not viewed as the writers way of elliptically revealing how much he has progressed.

'Chacal', very well put. I was about to say the same thing.
It is normal for any person to act differently in different situations. Monk, for example, in the pilot episode waded through a sewer to save Sharona and pursue a murderer. And then people can change over time. And most important, this is an entertainment TV show; it doesn't bother most viewers to suspend disbelief to enjoy a show, to accept changes/nuances that a particular plot might require. (I thought the episode was mediocre, by the way, sort of disappointment .)

That's very interesting. I feel that MONK can recover, and if the writers/powers that be decide when the last year will be, I think we would see a big difference in the storylines.

Yes, I agree there could be a big difference in the story line but my only fear is the reaction of fans: would they be receptive to a new version?
,

I think it depends on a lot of factors, ie exactly HOW the writers play it out. If it's logical and feels right, I think fans would be very receptive. On the other hand, if it's forced or phoney, maybe not.

I think I could be receptive of the real Monk, as he was with Trudy. We know how he grew up, both he and Ambrose have many problems as a result of their childhood. I want to see Monk as a policeman again, pre Trudy`s death. To make him totaly normal, would not be normal for me.

Yes, I feel a pre-Trudy Monk is what most people want for that would then open up his heart to feelings that have perhaps pertrified with his past tragedy.

I can't remember the last time when Monk returning to the force was even mentioned. There used to be episodes where he ACTIVELY pursued that goal, taking the test, trying to take the test, Stott testifying on his behalf, etc.

Yes, the quest for re-instatement seems to have gone by the boards while the final leg in the quest for closure of Trudy's murder has been put on hold as well. Hopefully the solution of the latter will eventually lead to the former???

It could also be a good sign--if they're pacing these out to further along in the future, it could indicate they realize this series can go longer than just the present season. I have my fingers crossed. It would be short-sighted to see season 7 as possibly the last season when the ongoing storyline, as-yet unexplored plotlines, and the characters are able to successtully sustain the show.

Yes, that is the positive and preferred way to look at it. The postponement of a conclusion is not due to procrastination or lack of will to finish but by design as a means of allowing the series to continue which is something we all what.

Actually, the only ones, to my knowledge, to raise the possibility that this might be the last season was the head of USA Network, when he said it might be too "prohibitive" to continue the series.

I think they like Lost not say they are ending but have plan that by the end of Season 10 (which we hope will happen) we will see Trudy's murder solved and his return to the force. Also I would like to see him see less of his therapist than see more that's a road to a cure. Like the recent showing of Mr.Monk and The Game Show where you get to see Monk and Trudy. We we stop watching it if this happens?

Was that in an article? I woul like to read it.

Yes, it was in an article, several in fact, when they announced that Monk would come back for a seventh go-round (which was never really in doubt). It may be here in the archives section, or if you Google.

Another possible continuity error: Monk finds a scrape along the stairwell wall and a piece of the wallpaper in the wheel of the wheelchair. Problem is, the nurse lines up the wheelchair initially at a distance from the wall. As she's pulling Joseph up the stairs, there's a head-on shot, and she's a good 8 to 10 inches from that wall. You never hear her scrape the wall as she's pulling him up. When did the wheelchair hit the wall? How did a piece of wallpaper end up in the wheel?

Do they do the lack of continuity thing on purpose on this show??? Cuz, ya know, its annoying. Especially when its real obvious it becomes distracting. Sometimes its like playing the "hidden picture" game in Highlights

Yes, I caught that the second time I watched. I tried to watch him fall all the way down, too -- thinking the same thing. I didn't see anywhere the wheelchair could have hit.

You have a sharper eye than me then, because I didn't see it until about the 10th viewing. lol. I considered that it could have happened on the way down, except that the wheelchair didn't follow him down the stairs and that sliver of wallpaper was found in the wheel. When the shot was just on the nurse, I was looking for signs the chair was stuck on something, or see her backing it down one step to try to get unhooked. I remember all the times I got hung up on something while trying to dolly a refrigerator up a set of stairs to a second floor apartment. Didn't see that either. It appears she just goes up one stair at a time, straining against only the weight of Joseph and the chair--she never seems to get hung up on anything. Maybe someone else sees something I don't here?

I caught that too. I thought maybe, just maybe, since we didn't see the nurse pull the chair all the way up the stairs and the marks were only on the three steps Adrian pointed out that it may have happened while she was dragging the chair up the stairs. I know when I was wheeling my mom around the chair would zig when I didn't want it to. Then I just shook the whole scene off and enjoyed the rest of the story...I still say the writers add those little things so us mystery buffs can be baffled...well, that and then they come here to read the threads to see if we caught the little things.

Yeah, it's a fun kind of trivia thing to catch stuff like that. It's like finding "easter eggs" in software programs. For a brief moment in time, you can fancy yourself as being clever. lol. Bloopers and trying to find little continuity errors like this are two of my funnest things. Wish they'd put bloopers on the DVDs. I only have season 5 so far. Does anyone know if any of the other seasons have bloopers on them?

Ha!

So why am I smiling? Because I know something that you do not know! I am not left-handed!

No, that wasn't it... Oh, yes...

Did you know that Natalie Teeger was the third fastest leg-crosser/uncrosser in her college class? And, while working as a bartender in Vermont, she won the all-Vermont speed-leg-crossing championship, beating out an Irish Dance group?

So clearly Monk remained in the house during the destruction because he couldn't stand not to be there. And since honest Jake was a builder, Monk couldn't deny having a bathroom, or claim to be mad at the architect.

Hey, it was like the lost year of Dallas! Monk gets out of the shower and what do you know, Sue Ellen is in his bed! Or something like that.

Someone mentioned the plot about rejoining the force hasn't been mentioned lately, on the blurb for "Mr.Monk Takes A Punch" it says he's worried about being unable to rejoin the force and gets inspired to get in shape or not give up something like that. I think he gets inspired by an older boxer who's going for it!!! Sounds like a good one to me, plus I have always loved Robert Loggia.(Hey, I think Rocky could inspire anyone!!) Also, unfortunately, there are no bloopers on any of the DVD's so far. However, I was so excited a couple of weeks ago because we had on one of those "funniest videos shows" and I don't have a clue which one it was but it showed a MONK BLOOPER!!! It showed it twice!!! Monk and Natalie were walking down the hall and turned and they were supposed to enter the elevator but the doors were closed or closing and they walked right into them!!!! It was a quick clip and it was real funny!! I can't remember which one said something like, Oh, my leg or foot or whatever!! They crashed together !! It's the first and only Monk blooper I've ever seen!! Before I bought Season 6, I read somewhere that it was going to have some blooper extras on it
but it doesn't!! Maybe on season 7 DVD!

Along the same lines as being reinstated to the force, someone mentioned they hadn't had a Trudy Clue in awhile, but I thought that was what brought Monk to the 6-fingered man in 'On the Run.' If that wasn't chasing down a Trudy clue I must have been watching a different episode then everyone else.

I hope so--bloopers are hilarious. I liked it when they started showing show bloopers at the end of Fresh Prince. I'd buy a DVD of just Monk bloopers. One of those production people with this show has a huge blooper reel somewhere, and he needs to share it!

I'd buy one too. Monk bloopers would be awesome.