Mr. Monk Takes the Stand - Recap

Monk is at the out-of-town studio of sculptor Evan Gildea, explaining how he killed his wife Nancy using a two-ton piece of rock as an alibi. However, undefeated hotshot lawyer Harrison Powell arrives, immediately takes Gildea on as a client, and tells him not to say anything.



A few months later, Gildea goes to trial and the D.A., Charles Friedken, meets briefly with Monk and Stottlemeyer to tell them to be very careful of what they say on the witness stand. Powell and Gildea arrive and Powell is seemingly friendly. In court, Stottlemeyer testifies they received a report that Nancy Gildea had died at her home, the victim of a thief she surprised in the act. However, Monk checked out the home and realized that the hole the thief supposedly made in the glass door to open the inside handle was too small for anyone to get their hand throw.

Outside, Monk waits with Disher and Natalie. Disher notices that his former Little Brother, Rudy Smith, is seated nearby. He goes over to chat with him and discovers that Rudy has been arrested for murdering an auto-parts clerk during a robbery.



Stottlemeyer testifies that the thief supposedly picked up a piece of sculpture and beat Nancy Gildea to death. However, Monk realized that the thief didn’t pick up the closest piece, one of Gildea’s works, but moved over toward the foyer to grab another artist’s statue. Only Gildea himself would want to avoid destroying one of his own sculptures. However, Powell pushes the matter on cross-examination and forces Stottlemeyer to admit that he wasn’t on the scene when the murder was committed and has no way to confirm that Gildea was present or that the thief didn’t move toward the foyer during the fight.

As Monk waits to testify, Disher explains to his friends that he feels responsible for Rudy because he promised the boy’s grandmother that he’d take care of him. A shell-shocked Stottlemeyer staggers out of the courtroom, covered in sweat, and warns that Powell is tough.



Monk takes the stand and testifies that after examining the Gildea house, he and the others drove up to Santa Barbara where Gildea has his studio. However, Monk is forced to testify that Gildea was working on a nude sculpture and couldn’t bring himself to look at it. Gildea told them that he worked on it all night, and finished the statue that morning. Monk didn’t believe the artist’s claim. However, on the stand he has to testify that he never actually looked at the statue.

Disher meets with Rudy in the lockup and tells the boy to call his grandmother. Rudy admits that he confessed to the robbery, taking the woman's gold chain necklace, but she was alive when he left. Disher brings out their old friendship bracelets and has Rudy put his on. He then asks Rudy again if he killed the clerk, reminding him they promised to always tell each the other the truth. Rudy swears that he left the auto-parts clerk alive.

Monk spends several minutes adjusting the kink in his microphone stand. When he's done, Powell explains that Gildea's alibi is that the two-ton block was delivered the day before the murder, and to complete the sculpture by the next day, Gildea had to have been working on it during the time of the murder. Art experts have confirmed Gildea's claim as to the length of time involved. Monk testifies that when he examined Gildea's studio for clues, he found a half-melted popsicle in the freezer and an electric clock that was twenty minutes slow. From that, Monk deduced that Gildea needed all the power for twenty minutes for a jackhammer, which he used to break the two-ton brick apart and scatter the rock across his gravel driveway. He then substituted a sculpture which he had carved some time prior and claimed he had been working on it overnight.



When Powell starts to harass Monk, Natalie objects and the defense lawyer asks Monk to identify her. He's forced to admit that Natalie works as his assistant and nurse, and Powell gets him to testify that he had a breakdown 10 years ago. Powell has the gravel brought in and challenges Monk to put it back together in the shape of the stone block. Monk starts to lose it and tries putting pieces of gravel together as the jury laughs.



The jury finds Gildea not guilty and dismisses the case. As they sit outside and watch Gildea give a press statement, Monk blames himself for not handling the cross-examination. A smirking Powell stops by to tell them that Gildea can't be charged again because of double jeopardy, and to boast that he's still undefeated. However, as Gildea drives away, Monk notices that one of his taillights is dimmer than the other.

Powell goes on the talk show circuit to promote his new book, Undefeated, while a depressed Monk goes to see Dr. Bell and tell him that he's quitting as a detective, since he can never try to testify again without worrying that Powell will be there. Bell tries to tell him a story about how he found an opposing pitcher's tell during his college softball year, but Monk isn't cheered up.



Monk goes home and starts putting away all of his case files for good. Natalie and Disher arrive and say that he needs to take on a case: Rudy's. Monk refuses, warning them that the person he does peg for the murder could simply hire Powell, but they persist and Monk reluctantly agrees.

They go to the auto-parts store to examine the crime scene. Monk spends most of his time imitating Powell destroying any testimony that he might provide. Despite that, he realizes that the murder took place on the spur-of-the-moment, and that the killer had to be much taller than Rudy to reach up to the security camera and remove the videotape. Without knowing the facts, Monk asks Disher if the clerk was killed at 10 p.m. Surprised, Disher admits that she was. Monk goes outside to find the one piece of evidence e needs to confirm his theory. Searching in the alley along the side of the building he finds a taillight bulb.



Stottlemeyer calls Gildea in while Rudy watches through the one-way mirror, trying to remember if Gildea was at the store. Monk meets with Gildea and tells him what happened. Gildea set up his alibi and then drove to San Francisco to fake the burglary and kill his wife Nancy. However, when he left, he realized that one of his taillights had burned out. Concerned that the police would spot it and pull him over, ruining his alibi, Gildea stopped at the auto-parts store two blocks from his wife's home to get a replacement. He was at the back shelves when Rudy came in, robbed the clerk, grabbed her gold chain necklace, and left. Gildea realized that he had been caught on the security tape, and that the police would see him when they checked the videotape to identify Rudy. Gildea picked up a tire iron and killed the clerk, then took the security tape.

Gildea has already called Powell, who arrives and tells Gildea not to say anything. He is glad to remind Monk of his performance during Gildea's first trial and boast that he'll demolish Monk again for his new outlandish theory. However, as they go out through the squad room, Rudy is there waiting and Gildea sees him. He says that no one will believe a dope-smoking chain-snatching robber. Monk realizes that Gildea has slipped up: the theft of the necklace was never report in the papers. The only person who could have known the chain was stolen was the killer. Stottlemeyer arrest Gildea and takes him away. Powell wonders if Monk wants to take him on but Monk, his confidence restored, starts talking in Bell's softball metaphor and says he knows what his pitching tell is. A confused Powell leaves and Monk loses all of his self-confidence, at least for the moment.



Gildea goes to trial for the new murder and the jury finds him guilty, thanks to Monk's testimony. Powell's perfect record is finally not so perfect, and Disher is in charge of Rudy's community service for the robbery. As Natalie and Monk leave, she congratulates him on how well he handled himself, and how he didn't even adjust the microphone. They go outside... and Monk comes back to adjust the microphone.

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