Mr. Monk and the Foreign Man - Recap

Ansara Waingaya, a teacher from Nigeria attending a conference in San Francisco for two weeks, does some late-night shopping at a convenience store. She goes outside and calls her husband Samuel in Nigeria. She gets his answering machine and leaves a message saying that she loves him. As she walks across the street, a blue van runs her over and drives away.

Monk is trying to read a magazine with Natalie looking over his shoulder, but eventually gives up and lets her have it. He smells something burning and goes to the window. Across the street, an African man is burning incense. MacGyver yells down to the man but is interrupted when Natalie tells him they have a case. They go to the expensive home of the Buxtons. The couple returned home from a two-week vacation in Barbados and discovered their housekeeper, Maria, dead from blunt-force trauma to the head. Monk examines the crime scene and notices two clues. First, someone removed Maria’s earring and put it in her pocket. Second, there’s a first aid manual open to the page for head injuries. The book is covered in blood, meaning that someone put the book down before Maria was killed.

That night, the man on the street corner plays a flute, interrupting Monk’s sleep. Monk goes across the street, and the man introduces himself as Samuel Waingaya. He explains that his wife died two weeks ago from a hit-and-run, and Samuel considers it sacred ground. Sympathizing, Monk takes Samuel to his apartment and the Nigerian tells him that he’s talked to the police but they haven’t been able to do anything. Samuel found headlight shards at the scene but doesn’t know what to do next. Monk agrees to help him. When Samuel wonders why, Monk shows him the clippings and photos of Trudy’s death.

At the station, Stottlemeyer shows them footage of the fan taken from a gas station surveillance camera. There’s a poor picture of the van without enough detail to identify it beyond the broken headlight. Samuel refuses to accept Stottlemeyer’s warning that hit-and-run cases are rarely solved. As Natalie takes Samuel outside, Stottlemeyer turns to Monk and says that he’ building up false hope for Samuel. Monk insists on helping Samuel and ignoring Maria’s murder. He goes back to the footage and spots something else on the tape: the van driver turned around and drove back toward the crime scene.

Monk, Samuel, and Natalie go to the police station and Monk tries to get the facts from two local slackers. One of them manages to remember that he caught a glimpse of the driver and the man was using a cell phone. Monk realizes that the man was going toward a tunnel and turned around so he wouldn’t lose his connection. One of the slackers finally remembers that the van had the word “Poison” on it.

Monk shows Samuel how to do laundry at a Laundromat, American-style. When Monk points out that exterminator vans don’t typically have the word “poison” on them, Samuel sees a painting of a fisherman and realizes the word is “poisson.” The van belongs to a French restaurant, since “poisson” is French for “fish.” Samuel is clearly angry and planning vengeance, and Monk agrees to bring the killer to justice. However, he starts to confuse Samuel with himself and says he plans to get justice for both of them.

Monk and Samuel locate the Le Poisson Bleu restaurant and spot a van. Samuel, an auto mechanic, is sure that the headlight was recently replaced with an older one and repainted. Monk finds a piece of embedded rice and Samuel notes that he saw his wife’s grocery receipt and she bought rice on the night of her murder. They spot the restaurant owner, Kenneth Nichols, fire and employee and an angry Samuel is sure that he’s the killer.

Later, Stottlemeyer comes to see Monk as the detective places flowers at the spot where Ansara died. He knows that Monk has been acting erratically, missing his appointments with Dr. Bell and forgetting to eat. He’s also heard from Natalie that Monk and Samuel plan to go undercover at Le Poisson Bleu and find evidence against Nichols. Monk admits it’s true and that he’s learned that Nichols was once arrested for drunk driving. Stottlemeyer warns him that he’s confusing Ansara’s death with Trudy and asks Monk to drop the investigation for now. Monk agrees to think about it.

Once he’s thought about it, Monk gets hired at the restaurant as a dishwasher. Samuel is also hired and Monk starts washing dishes. He’s just finished the first fork when the head chef comes over to complain. Monk notices a kitchen calendar which confirms there was a farmer’s market on the night Ansara was murdered. Monk promises to help kill Nichols if they can prove that he killed Ansara. However, Monk again confuses Trudy with Ansara, talking about how he was married to Ansara.

As he’s talking with Samuel, Monk sees the Buxtons sit down for a meal. He realizes that Maria removed her own earring, so that she could talk on the phone. He disguises himself as a waitress and goes over to talk to the couple. They admit that Nichols is a close personal friend and that he has their phone number. The Buxtons soon recognize him from their house and want to know what’s going on. Monk confirms that John Buxton left his cell phone at home when they left for their vacation. Monk then goes back to the kitchen and tells Samuel that he can prove Nichols killed someone: Maria the housekeeper. As he calls Stottlemeyer to get the phone records for Nichols’ call, Nichols takes both of them prisoner.

Nichols puts them in his van, filled with fish, and drives out into the countryside. Monk is in agony from the smell but manages to explain. Here’s what happened:

Nichols was driving back from the farmer’s market and tries to call Buxton. He got Maria on the phone instead, and she removed her earring to talk to him. Distracted, he hit and killed Ansara, and Maria heard what happened. Nichols faked stopping to help Ansara and asked Maria to look up first aid to treat her. While he kept up the conversation, Nichols drove to the Buxton house and beat Maria to death.

As Nichols pulls over on a country road, Samuel tells Monk that their wives are with them and they have to be strong. Monk admits that he fixated on Ansara and believed she was Trudy’s wife. Samuel has Monk get a cigarette lighter from his pocket and light it, burning through their ropes. Nichols opens the gate and the two men drop boxes of fish on him. Samuel shoves Ansara’s photo in Nichols’ face and demands that he say her name. Monk does the same, even though Nichols has no idea who Trudy is.

Later, Samuel is leaving for the airport. He tells Monk that they’ll meet again and hopes the detective will visit him in Nigeria. Monk doesn’t think it’s likely. He asks Samuel what it feels like to know how one’s wife died. Samuel admits that knowing is everything. He tells Monk that he’ll feel the same day, and gives him his flute as a going away present.

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