Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece - Recap

Bennie Wentworth runs a junkyard and his assistant Hector show sup for work. Bennie tells him to make sure all the booby traps are set to protect against intruders. Hector reluctantly does so and Bennie's paranoid pays off: that night an intruder breaks in and sets off a shotgun trap, getting himself killed.

Adrian is meeting with Dr. Kroger and talking about how he's depressed by the fact nothing he does makes a difference. Dr. Kroger suggests that Adrian find a hobby and that he's had good luck with dancing. Adrian backs away, frightened that Kroger is going to ask him to become his dance partner, but Kroger assures him he doesn't need someone to dance with. Adrian then goes to the junkyard with Natalie, where Stottlemeyer and Disher are investigating the death to see if it's a possible homicide. The intruder was wearing a $2,000 suit but doesn't have a car near the crime scene, and Adrian figures that the man had an accomplice who left when he heard the gunshot. Natalie notices an art set, complete with easels, tucked away in a corner and suggests Adrian try painting for his hobby. Adrian agrees, particularly after Natalie buys the set for him.

Adrian starts painting at home, but can't bring himself to mix the paint or get his brush dirty. Natalie gets him to sign up for an art class at a nearby college.

Hector comes into work and finds Bennie dead, skewered on one of his own traps.

Adrian goes to Ms. Benson's art class, but she's less then impressed with the fact he draws simply drawings with perfect lines and circles. He gets called back to the junkyard by Stottlemeyer, and figures out that somebody stabbed Bennie elsewhere in the junkyard then impaled him on his trap to make it look like accident. They find a logbook but the last page is missing, and figure Hector knows what was on it. However, Hector has gone missing, and they figure he fled to avoid being picked up by the INS.

An art dealer, Petya Lovak, comes to visit Adrian saying he saw his paintings at the college. He is incredibly excited about Adrian's paintings and praises him as a master of outsider art. He buys two of Adrian's paintings and promises to buy anything else the detective paints.

Stottlemeyer and Disher go to Hector's home and figure out he's hiding in his room. Once they convince him they're not with the INS, they get him to go with them as they follow Bennie's pick-up route. Meanwhile, Adrian has moved into Natalie's apartment for the extra room and rearranged the entire place. Natalie is less then thrilled. She notices a painting of a pig lady with a mustache, and he reveals it's his portrait of her. Natalie is even less thrilled at that, although she is touched when Adrian gives it to her as a gift. Stottlemeyer and Disher come in and ask him to ride along, but Adrian would rather work on his paintings, insisting he has a new job now. They're all impressed, and puzzled, that someone would pay money for his paintings. Lovak comes in and buys even more of Adrian's paintings. He tries to buy Natalie's portrait but she refuses to give it up since it was a gift.

Adrian comes in for his session with Kroger and tries to pay him with a sketch. Kroger is suspicious of Lovak but Adrian believes that the art dealer is reputable.

Natalie goes to an art display at the college and finds Monk dressing the part, complete with a perfectly straight beret. She hasn't had any luck identifying Lovak on the Internet but Monk still refuses to believe there's anything wrong. Lovak comes in and praises Adrian's paintings while casually dismissing all of the other students' works and even Ms. Benson's. Lovak buys the rest of Adrian's paintings and tries to get Natalie to sell him the portrait, but she turns him down again. Lovak and Adrian take the paintings out to Lovak's van, where Adrian notices all of his other paintings as well as one other one. Lovak drives off and Adrian goes inside.

With Hector's help, Stottlemeyer and Disher find a house where a man Scott Larson died of a heart attack just before Bennie made his pickup. It turns out that Larson was an amateur artist and it was his art supplies and easel that Bennie picked up and then sold to Adrian. Stottlemeyer spots a photo of Larson at work and recognizes him as an employee at a paper company that provides the product for U.S. currency.

Adrian goes back into the art exhibit where Ms. Benson and the other students are now ready to acknowledge him as a great master thanks to Lovak's compliments. Natalie has left with her portrait, but Adrian suddenly remembers something: the painting in the van was at the junkyard. He reassesses his own paintings and realizes how bad they are, and Ms. Benson and the others quickly turn against him. Stottlemeyer arrives to explain that they've determined that Lovak is a Russian mobster who was working with Larson to smuggle paper out of the country so they could use it for a counterfeiting scheme.

Lovak goes to Natalie's apartment and tries to buy the portrait from her, then draws a knife on her when she refuses. However, Adrian arrives outside and calls Lovak out. He threatens to burn all of the paintings, then sets them on fire. Lovak comes running out to put out the fire and Stottlemeyer and Disher subdue him. later, Natalie tries to burn the portrait along with the others, but Disher tries and stops her warning it could be evidence in the case. That doesn't deter her. Meanwhile, Stottlemeyer confirms that the dead man at the junkyard was one of Lovak's goons and Lovak was the accomplice. Adrian is unhappy that he's not a great artist (and the fact he was paid in counterfeit money) but Stottlemeyer assures him that he is a Michaelangelo of detecting.

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