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Mr. Monk and the Leper is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Monk.

Synopsis[]

Monk finds himself in the middle of a shadowy murder plot worthy of a classic Hollywood film noir.

Plot[]

Late at night, Natalie Teeger sits in her car outside a dimly lit bar in a shady neighborhood, where Adrian Monk has been summoned for a meeting. Monk goes to a booth at the far back of the bar, and meets the shadowy man, who refuses to to show himself in the light. He introduces himself as Derek Bronson, the CEO of Bronson Technologies, as Monk remembers. He says that everyone thought he was killed seven years ago in a ballooning accident. But he actually landed on an island west of Guam, lived there for a few years, and then came back. He didn't come back as soon as possible because he got sick. Monk is confused, until Derek moves his face into the light and reveals the truth: he is a leper.

Monk is next seen running out of the bar, flailing his right hand like crazy. Natalie frantically tries to unlock her car, but is confused as to which buttons do which. Desperate, Monk just runs back to his apartment.

The next morning, Monk is huddled over his kitchen sink and scrubbing his right arm with soap like crazy, trying to get all leprosy traces off him, and, to Natalie's exasperation, tries lighting his hand on fire. She finally calms him down and convinces him that shaking Derek's hand is not a bad thing. In fact, she mentions that Derek has upped the amount of money that he wants to pay Monk.

Monk and Natalie pay a visit later that day to Dr. Aaron Polanski, a dermatologist. He explains that leprosy is in fact rare and not contagious (he's only ever seen one other case of it up close), and there is in fact a cure, in spite of Natalie's claims that Bronson is allergic to the antibiotic. While they're visiting, Natalie notices some photos of Randy Disher on the wall and Dr. Polanski confirms that he's seen Randy before.

Although still hesitant, Monk agrees to meet Bronson again in the bar, but takes a seat two booths away. Bronson tells Monk that there will be a probate hearing in a week. He was having an affair, from which there was leftover letters, which would "destroy his wife" and after being declared legally dead, lawyers could go through his files and would find the letters. Bronson finally revealed the job: he wants Monk to break into his house and steal the letters, and return them to him. After giving Monk a map and the security codes, as well as pleading with him, Monk finally accepts.

Natalie and Monk break into the house and make their way up to the home office, after removing the love letters, they are confronted by Bronson's wife, Mandy, who claims she knew about the affair for years, and wants to see Derek.

The two Bronsons meet in a garage where Mandy demands Derek to come home. Derek refuses, saying that no one can see him in his current condition, until it is revealed that his will left all of his money and posessions to his nephews. In order to save his wife from eviction, he needs to prove that he is in fact still alive. Catching Monk eavesdropping, he is able to coerce him in to testifying at the probate hearing. Captain Stottlemeyer seems incredulous when Monk and Natalie tell him the next day about what has happened. Natalie also asks Randy about Dr. Polanski, and Randy reluctantly admits that the photos come from a case where he was working undercover as a teenager with acne.

What none of them know is that the man that they believe is Derek Bronson is in fact a secret lover to Mandy. That night, he is seen playing the piano at her house, and at the end of his piece, she shoots him.

The next day, Monk is brought to the probate hearing to testify. The lawyers to Derek's nephews are quick to point out that Monk's story is somewhat unreliable since his meetings with Bronson happened in dimly lit locations. To test whether or not Monk is honest, the probate judge asks Monk to turn away from him and describe his shirt. Monk not only describes the shirt but also exposes that the judge himself is sleeping with his stenographer. Impressed, the judge makes a ruling based on Monk's word.

Stottlemeyer and Disher, meanwhile, are summoned to an apartment where a pianist named Mr. Steiner has been reported missing by his landlady, who believes that he's been murdered. In searching the apartment, they uncover some interesting evidence that appears to tie the missing pianist to the Bronson case: a gym bag containing a makeup kit and a book on skin diseases, and a note on his calendar that shows that he has been to Mandy Bronson's house.

That night, Natalie goes on a date with Dr. Polanski. While they're making out in his car, Dr. Polanski offhandedly mentions that he himself used to have leprosy. Natalie doesn't take this very well. While that happens, Monk is stuck at Natalie's house babysitting Julie (or, rather, Julie is babysitting Monk). When he looks at the label on a ketchup bottle, he suddenly realizes that he's been duped: the security panel in the Bronson house had a label identifying it as coming from a security company that was founded in 2003. If Derek hasn't been home in seven years, how did he know the code to his own alarm system? Before Monk can ponder this, Natalie comes rushing in and begins washing her mouth out with soap, horrified at learning that she was making out with a leper.

Here's What Happened[]

The next day, Monk and Natalie sneak back to the Bronson estate looking for evidence, with Monk slightly unsettled to see that Natalie is now drinking a bottle of mouthwash. Monk has figured out what happened: Derek Bronson has been dead since 1999, when Mandy murdered him for his money and disposed of the body. She was aware that after seven years, Derek would be legally declared deceased and Mandy would be left penniless. In order to keep this from happening, Mandy seduced a pianist who had performed at her house and convinced him to impersonate Derek. Furthermore, the two picked Monk as their patsy because they knew that he was an honest man, and they decided to have Derek be a "leper" so that Monk would be hesitant to look at the guy and not get a good enough look at his face to see that it was an imposter.

While they're snooping around, they suddenly hear a loud hissing noise. Monk and Natalie follow the noise out back, where they find Mandy inflating a hot air balloon. She temporarily departs to take a phone call. Monk and Natalie approach the balloon and find the imposter's body in the basket, loaded down with weights. Monk guesses that Mandy plans to use the balloon to dump the body in the ocean, like she probably did to the real Derek seven years ago.

Meanwhile, Randy visits Dr. Polanski to remove the embarrassing acne pictures of him from the wall (a process that also involves ripping out part of the wall the photo was attached to). When Randy offhandedly mentions Natalie in conversation, Dr. Polanski's face falls, as he's been doing some digging himself and come to the same conclusion that Monk and Natalie have been dealing with an imposter: apparently, the leper colony Derek supposedly was living at since 1999 closed down two years ago. Randy suddenly remembers that the missing pianist had a book on skin diseases and a makeup kit in his apartment. He puts two and two together and the two immediately depart for the Bronson estate.

Mandy returns to the hot air balloon, and Monk and Natalie try to make an escape in the balloon. She opens fire with a pistol, sending up several bullets that puncture the balloon, causing it to leak air and gradually plummet towards Earth. She continues firing until Randy and Dr. Polanski arrive. While Randy arrests Mandy, the balloon basket hits the ground, throwing Natalie and the imposter's body out. Monk hangs on to the balloon until it hits a cliff and plummets into the sea, leaving Monk dangling precariously from a cliff ledge until Dr. Polanski arrives to help him to safety.

At the end, Natalie prepares to go on a date with Dr. Polanski, although she is obviously still nervous about knowing he once had leprosy, with Monk obviously avoiding him. Julie comes out and introduces herself and pleasantly shakes hands with Dr. Polanski, despite being aware of his condition. Monk is left looking at his hands, wondering if he overreacted.

Background[]

  • Mandy would have had to agree to a prenuptial agreement clearing stating that she consents to being left out of her husband’s will. A will alone is not enough in California law to exclude a person’s spouse from receiving any of their deceased spouse’s assets.
  • When looking around the apartment, Disher plays a slower, simplified version of the original Monk theme on the piano calling it "background music."
  • The episode was originally broadcast in color and black-and-white. Two introductions were shot: one hosted by Tony Shalhoub for the black-and-white version; and one hosted by Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford for the color version. Both versions appear on the DVD boxset for season 5, while only the color version appears on Peacock.
  • There is used an obvious stunt man for Tony Shalhoub in the scene when is Monk trapped in the balloon.
  • The hole Randy leaves on the wall after tearing his photo off is missing from the next shot, and all but the first picture have returned to the wall after they were clearly shown falling. The reason for this is that Randy was supposed to simply swipe the photo off the wall. However, the set designer ended up gluing the picture to the wall instead, so Jason Gray-Stanford improvised Randy's confused reactions and further futile attempts to get it off. The footage in the finished episode is assembled from a few different takes of this sequence.
  • Natalie's cars: This is the first episode in which Natalie switches from the Jeep Grand Cherokee to the Buick Lucerne.

"What are you doing?"[]

In every episode of Monk and the Monk Movie, at least once, some variation of the question, "What are you doing?" is asked.

Time Quote From To RE
0:03 What are you doing? Monk Natalie Natalie accidentally locking the car.
0:25 What are you doing? Stottlemeyer Disher Disher playing on a possible victim's piano.
0:27 What are you doing? Monk Julie Julie making a snack.
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