Adrian Monk

From Monk Wiki

Adrian Monk is a legendary former homicide detective in the SFPD, his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), severely intensified by the death of his wife, interfered with his job, resulting in a still-current suspension from the department.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early Life 2 Family 3 Monk's phobias 4 Background Information and Notes 5 References

[edit] History

[edit] Early Life

Monk is believed to be born in either 1958 or 1959. His family grew up the suburbs of San Francisco, where he attended local public schools.^[1]

He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1981. While at Berkeley, he acquired the nickname "Captain Cool" because he would often spend nights alone defrosting the dorm's refrigerator. It was there that he also met the love of his life, Trudy. He met her at the library when another student asked her for her phone number and Adrian let her write her number down on piece of paper using his back. Due to his "very sensitive skin," he was able to figure out her phone number. It took him over a week to call her, which he later said was the bravest thing he ever did.^[2]

However, in the episode he was in 8th grade in April of 1972. This would suggest he was born around 1959.

Adrian and Trudy were married for seven years before her death. A car bomb exploded while she was in a parking garage. Trudy was not killed outright, but lingered long enough to speak a few last words to the EMT: "bread and butter," the words she would always say when she and Adrian would be separated on the streets.^[3]

Devastated at her loss and his inability to solve her murder, Adrian's phobias and compulsive behaviors reached a new extreme. He received a psychological discharge from the police department, which only furthered his depression. For three years, he was virtually catatonic, never leaving his apartment. Eventually, his former colleague, Leland Stottlemeyer, hired a private nurse, Sharona Fleming, to try and coax him back into his life.^[4]

For some time following Trudy's death, Adrian would read a collection of poetry by Ralph Emerson every night.

Monk is still mourning his wife Trudy, who was killed by a car bomb in 1997. He has not yet fully solved the case, although he has discovered that the car bomb was built by Warrick Tennyson for a six-fingered male. Monk has devoted the last nine years of his life to finding the man who killed his wife, and to consulting with San Francisco police detectives on various cases. Viewers are led to believe that she faked her own death in one episode, but this was actually a con set up to gain access to a storage locker in her co-worker's possession. At the end of that episode, the impostor Trudy is caught in between a gunfight and mortally wounded. The impostor dies in Monk's arms. He has several phobias, including germs, heights, crowds, milk, and glaciers. Besides dealing with his OCD, Monk's assistants also appear to have a hands-on role in organizing his consultancy work.

His former assistant, Sharona Fleming, quit after several years of loyal service to her boss to go back to New Jersey and remarry her ex-husband. He suffered depression following her departure, but rebounded upon the arrival of her replacement, Natalie Teeger.

While his obsessive attention to minute detail cripples him socially, it makes him a gifted detective and profiler; he has an uncanny ability to reconstruct entire crimes based on little more than scraps of detail that seem unimportant (if noticed at all) by his colleagues. Although he may appear defenseless, he has on more than one occasion been able to physically stand up for himself against his enemies, when provoked into a fight.

Though it is stated in the pilot that his obsessive compulsive disorder is a result of his wife's murder, he still shows signs of it in flashbacks where he is with Trudy or before he met her, even as a child. It is strongly hinted that his parents were very strict and over-protective, which may also have contributed to his disorder. It appears that Monk had his symptoms mostly under control for much of his life, but lost control of his OCD after Trudy's death.

[edit] Family

Monk has a brother, Ambrose, who has only left his house twice in his life due to his extreme agoraphobia. Their father, Jack Monk (originally from New Hope, Pennsylvania), abandoned the family when they were children, which had a profound impact on their respective illnesses; the chaos and emotional instability brought about by their father's sudden absence created in them a pathological need for order and self-control. While Ambrose still believes in their father's return (to the point of setting an extra plate at the dinner table in case he comes back), Adrian has refused to forgive him.

Monk's mother died in 1994, though it is unknown why. His father disappeared when Monk was eight years old. Adrian and Ambrose never hear from him until the episode "Mr. Monk Goes Home Again", where he leaves a note on Ambrose's door, saying he is proud of Ambrose for leaving the house.

In Mr. Monk's Other Brother, it is revealed that Monk's second brother, Jack Jr., is an escapee from prison.

Monk's father returned to San Francisco in 2006, where he was arrested for running a red light and resisting arrest. He was bailed out by Adrian, who did not forgive him for leaving at first, but after solving a murder involving Jack's boss, they bonded again.

[edit] Monk's phobias

According to Monk in the second season episode "Mr. Monk and the Very Very Old Man", his fears in order of priority are:

1. Germs
2. Needles
3. Milk
4. Death -- according to his reaction in "Mr. Monk and the End" Death should follow #57 Vomiting
5. Snakes
6. Mushrooms
7. Heights
8. Crowds
9. Elevators
10. Disorder
11. Dark
12. Enclosed spaces
13. Dirt
14. Spiders
15. Driving
16. Bullies
17. Fire
18. Puppets
19. Tap Water
20. Noises
21. Touching
22. Feet
23. Flying
24. Beautiful women
25. Imperfection
26. Dogs
27. Cats
28. Rabbits
29. Monkeys
30. Bridges
31. Public Speaking - Despite this, he has been seen to talk in public, such as during the episode Mr. Monk Goes to a Wedding
32. Flies
33. Slime
34. Tetracycline (not actually a phobia, but a severe allergy, as revealed in Mr. Monk Goes to the Hospital)
35. Rivers
36. Tunnels
37. Rodeos
38. Caves
39. Ladders
40. Nude people
41. Bees
42. Underwear
43. Rats
44. Laser light
45. Kissing
46. Dust
47. Glaciers
48. Wind
49. Hailstones
50. Frogs
51. Soccer Riots
52. Possums
53. Dryer Lint
54. Lady Bug
55. Harmonica
56. Blankets
57. Vomiting
58. Dirty Hands
59. Clowns
60. HAROLD KRENSHAW- (not really a phobia- only to Monk)

[edit] Background Information and Notes

• Monk's deductive genius was inspired by Sherlock Holmes, and his obsession with neatness and order may have been inspired by Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot.

• In the episode "Mr. Monk Meets his Dad", Monk is 47 years old

• According to the episode "Mr. Monk and the Big Game", Monk has solved 105 murders since the start of his career. This is every case he has ever worked on, barring his wife's.

• Monk was nicknamed "Captain Cool" in college, for defrosting the dorm refrigerator all the time according to the episode. "Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion"

• Monk refuses to drink tap water, or any bottled water except the 'Sierra Springs' brand; in the episode "Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico," he nearly dehydrates because he does not have access to this brand in Mexico (Monk stated in the episode that he had had nothing to drink for 36 hours). Starting from season 6, Adrian only drinks Summit Creek water (as confirmed by Marci)

• Monk plays the clarinet.

• The name "Adrian Monk" has 10 letters, which is Monk's favorite number.

• In the Season 3 episode "Mr. Monk and the Kid", Monk bonded with a toddler named Tommy, and was about to adopt him (the child previously having lived with a woman who was arrested for murder), but Monk realized he couldn't adopt the child as his mental health issues prevent(ed) him from providing the attention and care a child needs. In the Season 3 episode, "Mr. Monk vs. the Cobra", Monk experiences a hallucinatory vision of Trudy that they should have had children during their time together, before his degeneration which began with Trudy's death.

• It has been said by Monk that he does not drink alcohol, though he did have a sip of wine in "Mr. Monk Gets Drunk" on his and Trudy's anniversary. This is probably because it was Trudy's favorite wine and he was on location of their honeymoon. He was able to get 'buzzed' after one sip, complete with a hangover the next morning.

• Monk's OCD is almost never described on-air as such (the exception being in Mr. Monk and the Other Woman), even when a direct question is asked. He has been described as 'very particular' and 'very persnickety', among other things such as 'near sighted' in Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan when he closely examines a suspect's ear. It is named in promotional materials such as commercials, however.

• Monk takes 3 showers a day with a star-shaped nozzle, uses a 5 watt nightlight and sleeps only on dark pillowcases.

• The only TV Channel that Monk watches is Channel 10.

• Monk is one of two characters that has appeared in all the episodes.

[edit] References

1. ↑ "Mr. Monk and Little Monk"]]
2. ↑ "Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion"
3. ↑ Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale
4. ↑ "Mr. Monk and the Candidate"