Mr. Monk Gets Hypnotized - Recap

At a mom-and-pop jewelry store on a rainy night, a woman comes in to sell a piece of expensive jewelry. The owners recognize her as actress Sally Larkin, and tell her it's too expensive for them to resell. As she leaves, sally pauses for a moment and says she thought she saw her husband outside, stalking her. She shrugs it off and goes to her car, but a moment later the couple her scream. They run outside and find that someone has apparently abducted her.

The next morning, Stottlemeyer and Disher arrive with a forensics team to go over the crime scene. They pause when they see a double rainbow overhead. Monk and Natalie arrive and Natalie wants to admire the double-rainbow. Monk could care less and a depressed Natalie can't do anything but feel sorry for him. Monk goes over the car and starts to examine the evidence, but is interrupted when Harold Krenshaw jogs by. Harold sees Monk and comes over, and is enthusiastic and happy. Monk thinks he's competing with him again but Harold denies it and says that he's undergoing therapy with a new doctor and hypnotherapist, Climan. He gives Monk Climan's card and jogs off.

Stottlemeyer goes to the Larkin house with Monk, Natalie, and Disher. As they wait to meet with Sally's husband Aaron, Disher offers everyone some blueberry diet gum that he's made at home and plans to sell. It tastes awful and Stottlemeyer spits it out on the floor. While Stottlemeyer talks to Aaron, Monk thinks about Harold's success and considers undergoing hypnosis. However, when Aaron claims he stayed home the previous night, Monk realizes that he's lying when he sees a wet umbrella. A concerned Natalie gets him to promise he'll talk to Dr. Bell before doing anything rash with Climan.

That night, Monk is home alone sweeping. He thinks back over everything that happened and calls Climan's answering service to make an appointment for the next day. He goes to Climan's office and Climan has him relax. Monk (eventually) doe so and Climan tries to regress him through hypnosis to a period of his life when he wasn't afraid. After several attempts, each one going further back in his life, Monk finally relaxes.

Stottlemeyer has his men search the Larkin estate for any signs of Sally. Monk arrives with Natalie but is acting very un-Monk-like: jumping into mud puddles and tickling her chin with a dandelion. He finally finds something important and calls everyone around, only to reveal that it's a frog. Monk names it Hoppy and has Stottlemeyer find a shoebox for him.

They go to see Aaron at his office and give him an update. Stottlemeyer notes that Susan was selling her jewelry and she told the storeowners she was afraid that Aaron was larking her. Aaron says he doesn't have an alibi but Monk notices him drinking from his secretary Emily's water bottle. Despite the fact he's acting like a five-year-old, Monk realizes that Aaron and Emily are having an affair. Aaron admits it's true and then has Emily confirm the alibi he was reluctant to bring up: he was with her the night of Sally's disappearance. Meanwhile, Natalie finally realizes what's wrong and a childish Monk admits that he went to see Climan.

That night, a panicked and haggard Susan runs in front of a car on the road and begs for them to call the police.

Monk is eating pancakes at home when Dr. Bell arrives and determines that Monk has been hypnotically regressed in age. There's nothing he can do for Monk without harming him further, but says that eventually Monk will realize he can't solve his problems and change back to normal. Until then all they can do is put up with Monk's antics. Stottlemeyer gets a report about Susan's reappearance and Bell suggests they take Monk with him and keep him to his normal routine.

They go to Aaron Larkin's hunting cabin: the husband is dead, clubbed to death. Susan is at the station and testified that Aaron abducted her three nights ago and chained her up in his cabin. Finally she managed to get free and had to beat Aaron with a board to get past him. Monk is fascinated with Aaron's exposed butt and spins out his own theory: he was tormenting his wife but his pants fell down and he clubbed himself to death out of embarrassment. Stottlemeyer isn't buying it.

They go to the station and talk to Susan, confirming her story. Monk says she's lying because she couldn't survive without television. He notices a piece of gum on her shoe and takes it off, then bets Disher he'll put it in his mouth. Disher takes him up and Monk sticks the gum in his mouth. Stottlemeyer has finally had enough and tells Monk to leave. Monk chews the gum and says he can prove that Sally is lying, but Stottlemeyer doesn't believe him. Monk throws a temper tantrum and runs away with his frog before Natalie can stop him.

Monk wanders the streets and sees Harold, who has regressed and taken off all of his clothing. The police take Monk's rival away, and the detective goes to a playground to play on the swings. The other children run off, frightened, and a mother berates him. Monk sadly walks by a plaque with a mirrored surface and notices his face, and starts to realize that something is wrong. He decides to go home, but first he'll take his frog back to its home.

Stottlemeyer and Disher drop Susan off at home and tell her that the investigation is all but closed. Once they leave, she pours herself a drink… and sees Monk walk past the window heading for the frog pond.

Stottlemeyer and Disher are driving away when they see something on the road: the frog's shoebox.

Monk takes his frog to the pond and releases it. Susan arrives and asks him if he wants a cookie. Monk smiles and says that he knows how she did it. Maturing as he speaks, Monk explains what happened: she was unhappy with the pre-nuptial agreement and took the only way out. She set up her own disappearance at the jewelry store and then hid out at the hunting cabin for three days, put the chain on her foot, and starved herself. Then she took the cabin's rug to the house, put it on the floor, and ambushed and clubbed Aaron to death when he walked on it. She then wrapped him up on the rug and took him to the hunting cabin.

Monk says she made one mistake: she stepped on the gum that he took off of her shoe. She says it could be any gum, but Monk recognizes it as Disher's homemade gum. Stottlemeyer spit it out the day after she "disappeared," and she stepped on it when she came back to kill Aaron. Susan points out that he's had the gum in his mouth for several hours. Monk spits it out and the two fight over the gum. Fortunately, Stottlemeyer and Disher arrive and arrest her. They're relieved that Monk is back to "normal."

Later, Monk is at home when Natalie notices a bird and its babies in a nest outside the window. She goes to get a camera and Monk tries to find something happy about it… without success.


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