Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure - Recap

Monk is having a session with Dr. Kroger and notices Charles has a new watch. Monk quickly suspects that Harold Krenshaw, his archrival, gave the doctor the gift and Dr. Kroger insists that Monk doesn’t need to give him a gift as well. They’re interrupted when Kroger gets a call from his son’s school, telling him that Troy didn’t show up again. The doctor admits he can’t handle Troy who is becoming more rebellious by the day.

In a parking lot near the school, Troy and his two friends Pez and Ridley are skateboarding when they bump into a nearby car and find a dead man in it. Searching the inside of the car, they find empty money bags from a bank and a map with mysterious markings on it, and figure it’s a map to the buried loot.

Troy and the others go to Monk and Natalie, and tell him that they’ve been given an extra credit assignment by their English teacher to dig up a buried treasure. They’re not very convincing and Natalie is skeptical, but Monk is eager to help out Troy as a “gift” to Kroger. They track the first location on the map, while Ridley hits on Natalie and Pez tries to buy beer using an ID he found on the dead man that says he’s 42 years old. The clerk, who is in Pez’s class, isn’t convinced.

Since a security guard was killed during the bank robbery, Stottlemeyer and Disher are called in to investigate the dead man in the car. Stottlemeyer quickly figures out that there must have been skateboarders nearby who saw the dead man, while Randy is more interested in getting hold of a coupon from the dead man’s car that gives him a lifetime supply of big gulp soda.

The writing on the map indicates they should be looking for a “zoo,” so while Ridley continues to hit on Natalie, Troy discusses his father with Monk and it’s clear the two are having problems, even though Troy wanted to be a psychologist when he was younger. They drive by a bar with 200 types of beer and Monk quickly figures out the map refers to “200,” not “zoo.”

Steve Connelly, the manager of the bank where the robbery went down, is waiting for a call when Stottlemeyer and Disher arrive. He finally calls a number and ends up talking to… Ridley, who took the dead man Tony’s cell phone. Ridley pretends to be Tony but when that doesn’t work, he says that he’s Steve’s new partner and they need to split the money. Steve hangs up and Stottlemeyer asks him if he recognizes a photo of the dead man and he denies knowing the man, while Disher (now drinking constantly from his new bottomless big gulp) notices a photo of Jack Connelly, Steve’s criminal brother. Steve hastily denies any recent knowledge of his brother. Disher has to call the interview short because he has to go to the restroom.

The next clue on the map says “BBQ” but there’s no BBQ nearby. However, Monk spots a truck with the initials of a quarry, BBQ, and they drive to the place. A chain link fence bears their way, but they spot a pile of gravel with a big red wooden cross sticking out of it. Now that they’ve found the treasure, Troy and the others get Monk and Natalie away and decide to come back later for the treasure. As they leave, they’re unaware that Steve is sneaking in with a shovel.

The next day Monk goes to his session and can barely restrain his happiness at secretly helping improve the relationship between the Kroger and his much happier son. Stottlemeyer calls in Monk and Natalie to look at the surveillance tapes of the bank robbery where one of the robbers was injured. The dead man, Tony, died of a heart attack in his car. When Monk hears the man was 42, he connects him to the driver’s license Pez used earlier, and the cell phone Ridley had. He makes some excuses and leaves to confront Tony and his friends. They soon admit they went back and found the money, but Monk convinces Tony that they should go back and rebury the remaining money.

The two go back to the quarry but Monk wonders why someone would have marked the buried money with a big red cross. When Tony mentions that they only found $5,000 even though $2 million was stolen, Monk realizes something is up. They get into the car and prepare to leave but Steve arrives and uses a bulldozer to knock them into a pit then bury them under gravel.

The next morning the air is running out and Monk is panicking. Monk tries to call out on the dead man’s cell phone and realizes he was in contact with the Connelly’s. Here’s what happened: Steve Connelly was the inside man in the bank robbery. Jack was injured in the bank robbery and died a day or two later. Steve worked with Tony and drew a map showing him to hide the body in the quarry. After Tony died and Ridley answered the phone, Steve realized that he had to throw them off the track. He planted a big red cross where Jack’s body was buried, moved the body, and planted $5,000 there. He hoped the boys would find the money and give up.

Natalie has figured out Monk didn’t return home the last night and confronts Ridley and Pez, who tell her Monk and Troy went back to the quarry. She goes out there with Stottlemeyer and Disher but they don’t find anything. Disher has to pee because of all the lifetime big gulps he’s been drinking, and Troy hears the car above. He turns the music on at maximum volume and Disher hears it. They dig up Monk and Troy, saving them from a fate worse then death.

Later Disher is trying to convince Stottlemeyer to leave out the exact nature of his participation in the discovery. Steve Connelly is arrested, and Kroger announces that Troy is prepared to go into psychology. Monk is happy that Kroger is so impressed with his gift… and wants him to tell Harold all about it.

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