Mr. Monk Is On The Run (2) - Recap

Captain Stottlemeyer is waiting on the beach and meets with… Monk, who has a bulletproof vest that he used to survive the shooting. Once he fell into the water, Monk simply swam to shore to their agreed-upon rendezvous. Stottlemeyer tells Monk to go into hiding and avoid contact with anyone he knows.

A week or so later, Natalie is preparing photos for Monk’s funeral when Disher arrives. He has flowers from Sharona, who is planning on attending the ceremony with Benjy. Stottlemeyer is outside but Natalie is reluctant to see him, since he shot and killed Mon. She reluctantly lets him in but when he suggests she not take out a loan to pay for Monk’s funeral, she gets angry with him again. Outside, he looks at an unsigned postcard sent from Sparks, Nevada.

Monk is working at a car wash and obsessing over making sure the cars are perfectly clean. After work he goes back to his hotel room and talks to the owner’s daughter, working as a maid. She has her pet dog Eureka with him, which stays at the hotel because of an electronic dog fence. Monk has clippings of crimes and mentions that a man driving a silver SUV killed a highway worker.

Sheriff Rollins checks out a body at the morgue that washed up on the beach, but quickly determines it isn’t Monk. He then calls his mysterious employer, who insists that Monk isn’t dead and that Rollins had better find him. Rollins goes to see Stottlemeyer, noting that the chief didn’t rush to check the body even though he received the report. After the sheriff leaves, Stottlemeyer reveals to Disher that Rollins recently came into a great deal of money.

Monk is working at the car wash with his co-worker Carlos when he spots a repainted silver SUV. He has Carlos check the undercarriage and finds a bit of cloth from an orange highway worker’s uniform.

Natalie is packing up Monk’s belongings when the deliveryman mentions a “Carwash Columbo” in Spark who solved an unsolvable crime and is obsessively fastidious. Realizing something is up, Natalie confronts Stottlemeyer who reveals that they faked Monk’s death, and Rollins is connected to someone in the governor’s office. He gets her to promise she won’t contact Monk, but as soon as she’s outside she heads for Sparks. Rollins is following her, figuring she would eventually go to visit her employer.

Disher is practicing his new song for Monk’s funeral and a desperate Stottlemeyer finally reveals that Monk is dead, just to get him to stop.

Natalie gets to the car wash and greets Monk, kissing him and then providing a wipe. Rollins comes in behind her and orders them to the ground. Monk tries to kick a oil drum at him (very slowly), then switches off the lights, turns on the automated brushes, and runs in with Natalie. Rollins come after them but Natalie sprays him with steam and they take his gun and car keys and go to his car. Once they drive away they go through his papers and find a check. They give the information to Stottlemeyer and Disher, who determine that it belongs to a holding company owned by Monk’s nemesis, Dale “The Whale” Biederbeck.

Natalie goes to see Dale in prison, where he still is receiving special treatment as a handicapped prisoner with lots of money. She interrupts his manicure and notices he has a picture of the California governor, who refused to commute Dale’s sentence. Dale insists that he plans to trade places with Monk so that the detective who put him there will rot in jail. Natalie reveals that they know Rollins worked at the prison and Dale had the six-fingered man, Frank Nunn, brought back from Brazil. Dale denies everything but records a message telling Monk that he plans to make sure Adrian ends up in jail. Monk watches the recording and notices a computer screen in the background with a newspaper article on Riverton, CA. The six-fingered man mentioned Riverton, and Monk remembers that the governor is visiting that town.

Monk and Natalie go to Riverton, which is holding a parade in the governor’s honor. They also spot Rollins and Monk confronts a state trooper in the parade to get him to stop the procession. Monk explains that the Sheriff is working for Dale the Whale and planted a bomb beneath the governor’s car. Dale has bribed the lieutenant governor to pardon him once the governor is killed in the explosion. However, the state trooper is from Riverton’s Italian sister city and doesn’t understand a word Monk’s saying.

Rollins spots Monk and Natalie and sends the local police to arrest him. Monk and Natalie run for it and Monk figures the bomb is on a timer. Noticing a nervous dog, Monk concludes that Rollins is using an electronic dog fence transmitter that will “shock” the collar attached to the bomb when it gets close enough. The dog is reacting to a banner post that the governor’s car is approaching. With time running out, Disher and Stottlemeyer arrive and argue with Rollins and the Riverton police. Natalie tries to climb the pole to get the transmitter but the police grab her and haul her down. With only seconds remaining, and facing the vision of someone else dying in a car explosion like his wife Trudy, Monk manages to get to the governor’s car and stops it just in time. Stottlemeyer removes the bomb from the underside and disarms it, the governor gives his thanks to Monk, and Rollins is taken away.

Monk visits Dale in prison, where all of his amenities have been stripped away. Dale tries to put a game face on it but Monk taunts him until Dale snaps. Monk reveals that they went through Nunn’s letters and found a reference to his employer, “the Judge.” Dale just smirks and refuses to say anything, but notes that now Monk has another crumb to follow. Monk wishes him a good life and Dale yells back that Monk is just as much a prisoner as he is, caged by his personal demons. Monk just walks away… with his friend, Natalie.


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