Mr. Monk’s Last Case Review: A Lighthearted Reunion With Serious Overtones Is Well Worth the Wait

It’s been ten years, however Monk is as entertaining as ever.

Mr. Monk’s Last Case allow us to meet up with our favourite police guide with OCD and his mates. Everyone’s lives have modified, and so they all look older — and it felt to Monk like they’d all left him behind, resulting in a robust story behind the lighthearted thriller.

[Note: If you are sensitive to discussions of suicide and other serious mental health issues, please be aware that this review will talk extensively about them.]

Although Monk was at all times primarily a comedy, Monk’s backstory was tragic. The authentic sequence centered round how he was coping (or not) following his spouse’s homicide, and his OCD signs had gotten uncontrolled after her demise.

In this sense, the film was no totally different. It balanced some extraordinarily critical stuff with the lighthearted moments we’re all used to, and one by no means overshadowed the different.

Monk’s suicidal emotions had been dealt with with sensitivity, respect, and accuracy — three issues that media too usually will get unsuitable about psychological well being.

Throughout the film, Monk stored speaking about how lonely he was and the way a lot he longed to be with Trudy once more, however it did not hit me till after it was over what the problem behind his points was.

I’m sorry, Adrian, it has been ten years. The identify Adrian Monk used to imply one thing.

Beth

Monk resented everybody for shifting on once they first reunited. And that was one in all the huge issues he had problem coping with.

Everyone had moved on to new jobs, relationships, and locations to stay whereas he was nonetheless in the usual place, doing the similar issues he had at all times performed.

And to make issues worse, his writer backed out of his e-book deal and informed him to his face that his story was not related — individuals did not know who he was anymore. He had no assist in anyway moreover Molly, and he or she was quickly to maneuver on along with her personal life.

No surprise the promise of reuniting with Trudy after demise felt so interesting to him.

I additionally appreciated that the film integrated the COVID lockdowns as a brand new set off for Monk’s psychological well being points.

This is one in all the pandemic’s results that is not mentioned a lot. People had been remoted for over two years, not figuring out in the event that they’d ever be capable to see family and friends once more, and even in the present day, life has not gone totally again to regular.

This is tough for lots of people — melancholy and anxiousness charges are nonetheless at all-time highs.

For somebody like Monk, who struggles with a concern of germs and illness at the better of instances and has problem with deviations from his routine, the lockdown and the concern of publicity to illness needed to be inconceivable.

It stunned me that he did not masks up, if not placed on his hazmat go well with, in his day by day life, however he did carry round his personal hand sanitizing station, so I assume he felt that was adequate.

Monk gave off so many indicators of planning to finish his life that I used to be pissed off that nobody picked up on it.

The individuals who beloved him had been fearful about him, however it did not happen to anybody that he may kill himself. Even when he informed Natalie that the canine she needed him to undertake was uninterested in residing and needed to be put to sleep, it did not register.

But sadly, that is the means it usually is in actual life. When somebody efficiently takes their very own life, their family members look again and kick themselves for the apparent indicators they missed, wishing they’d realized in time to save lots of that individual’s life.

I appreciated that Monk’s work on the case did not absolutely remedy his drawback. It was a distraction and gave him a short lived sense of goal in order that he may postpone his plan to finish issues, however a distraction is rarely an actual answer.

While I knew that it wasn’t doubtless the film would finish with Monk reaching his objective of committing suicide, I wasn’t certain. I assumed it is likely to be referred to as Mr. Monk’s Last Case for that cause, and I breathed an enormous sigh of aid when Monk put away all these tablets he deliberate to overdose on.

Who else teared up when Monk had that imaginative and prescient of all these individuals whose instances he’d solved and the one lady who was ready for him to get her justice?

Trudy’s ghostly presence was a artistic means of externalizing Monk’s ambivalence about persevering with to stay. His love for Trudy has enabled him to maintain going ever since her demise, and regardless of this too-close-for-comfort wobble, she saved him once more in the finish.

But not simply her. By realizing how many individuals he had gotten justice for, Monk rediscovered his sense of goal, permitting him to placed on his police cross and return to the station to work on a brand new case.

It was an exquisite second that jogged my memory that telling the tales that have to be informed can really influence others in methods we do not even understand.

Despite the heaviness of Monk’s melancholy, the film did not lose its lightheartedness. There had been just a few cringy comedic moments — Natalie’s failure to make a three-point flip with out crashing into each automotive on the road was ridiculous — however most of the jokes labored.

Monk has at all times been at its finest when it exhibits the lighter facet of OCD in addition to Monk’s struggles, and that is the place the comedy gold was right here, too. Monk’s lack of ability to let something be misplaced at all times will get him in bother, with hilarious results.

That sequence the place he made the lights flash on and off, signaling Rick Eden to return get him as a result of he could not cope with a change being down when the different three had been up, was worthy of Leslie Nielsen’s Naked Gun films.

At least that change solely managed the lights and did not electrify the fence or one thing else equally dire!

The funniest second, although, was when Natalie and Randy had been speaking to the newscaster and argued about the order of Monk’s fears. That newscaster had no thought what he’d gotten into and did not know find out how to get his present again on observe. That nearly made up for Randy’s idea of the case, which was nearly extra ridiculous than standard.

The case was typical Monk fare, although not the most difficult of any case he is ever investigated.

I appreciated that it was a how-done-it relatively than a whodunnit, turning the standard thriller trope on its head. I very almost solved that when Monk found the storage break-in, although.

I figured somebody had damaged into the storage to sabotage Griffin’s bungee preparations, although I assumed they’d swapped out his twine. Leave it to Monk to determine the fact after assembly two weirdos with barely totally different head sizes.

I’m unsure how an identical twins could possibly be non-identical in that respect, however it gave Richard Kind a bit half in addition to offering Monk with the key to the answer, so I’ll go along with it.

There had been one or two disappointments, however these had been minor. I’d have beloved for Sharona to return — I at all times favored her much better than Natalie.

And provided that Monk did not wish to depart his home following the finish of the COVID lockdowns, it will have been a good time for him to reconnect through Zoom together with his agoraphobic brother, Ambrose.

Still, this was an entertaining film with a significant, empowering message, and better of all, it left issues open for future installments. 

I bear in mind once I was a child, and Raymond Burr would do a brand new Perry Mason TV film about as soon as 1 / 4. I’d love for Monk and the remainder of the solid to do the similar.

In the meantime, the complete sequence is accessible on Peacock, so I would revisit it.

What about you, Monk fanatics? Did Mr. Monk’s Last Case stay as much as your expectations?

Hit the huge, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us. For extra on Mr.Monk’s Last Case dialogue, try our article on how Monk paved the means for neurodiverse characters on TV.

Mr. Monk’s Last Case is streaming on Peacock. It premiered on December 8, 2023.

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