Recap
A record producer named Ian Blackburn and his pet chimp named Darwin are relaxing in their mansion. This ends when the mansion's alarm goes off and Blackburn leads Darwin into his panic room. The police rush to his mansion and when they open the panic room, they find Blackburn shot and killed. Darwin is alive but is immediately a prime suspect when he's seen holding a gun; the gun that killed his owner. Monk, Sharona, Disher, and Stottlemeyer rush to the mansion to look for evidence. while there, Sharona forms a close bond to Darwin and tells her teammates that Darwin didn't do it.
Sharona's theory isn't going very well. Stottlemeyer says that there is a lot of evidence against him. Then, Darwin goes berserk when a bald animal control officer, tries to put the chimp inside a cage! Back in the station, Stottlemeyer tries to interrogate the monkey by making noises to see if it would go insane again and try to shoot Stottlemeyer with an "unloaded" gun. However, Monk, Sharona, and Disher realize that Stottlemeyer accidentally bring a gun with ammo in it! The three rush to the interrogation room to inform Stottlemeyer but the stubborn captain says he doesn't need any help. Then, Darwin shoots the gun, which Stottlemeyer and Disher think is enough evidence to charge Darwin with murder! Sharona then asks what they'll do to the chimp. Unfortunately, Stottlemeyer says that they will have to execute Darwin. It is now up to Monk and Sharona to save Darwin from being executed.
In order to find the person that's framing Darwin, Monk and Sharona go to a security clerk named Kurt Wolff, who installed Blackburn's panic room. After finding no evidence that will clear the chimp's name, Monk and Sharona talk to Blackburn's widow named Chloe and again, can't find any evidence. After no luck finding more clues proving Darwin's innocence, Sharona breaks into the animal shelter and kidnaps Darwin, leaving the chimp in Monk's apartment. Monk, who hates animals , is not comfortable with Darwin in his apartment. Monk's landlord walks inside his apartment, questioning Monk on why he has a chimp in his no pets apartment. When the landlord takes off the hat he's wearing, it shows his bald head and Darwin goes crazy. When the landlord puts his hat back on, Darwin is calm again. Monk then takes the landlord's hat off again and Darwin goes crazy, but when he puts it back on, Darwin is calm. Monk has solved the case.
Monk informs Stottlemeyer, Disher, and Sharona and the four do a stakeout. During the stakeout, Monk says that Chloe and the panic room installer, Kurt Wolff had an affair. They installed the panic room so they can kill Blackburn. When Wolff entered the panic room, Darwin noticed he had a bald head, which explains why Darwin was afraid of bald people, his owner's killer was bald! Wolff shot Blackburn in the head and gave the gun to Darwin so people will think the chimp did it! The four eventually find Wolff and arrest him. After arresting Wolff, Monk and Sharona go to the animal shelter to say good-bye to Darwin...
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