I know that I posted about this a few weeks ago but last night USA's Monk came to an end with an ending that was fitting for the Defective Detective. Now before any of you Monk fans get worried that I am going to spoil the finale, have no fear, in fact this post is barely going to touch the last episode because it is not a review, it's a tribute to the character and the show that was such an important part of my Friday night for the past eight years.

Eight years ago I got into Monk because USA kept showing promos for the show while I was watching the movie Billy Madison. At this point in time Cable shows were kind of a joke at the time unless they were on HBO because shows like Rescue Me and The Shield were not in existence but for whatever reason I watched Monk anyway.




When I first met Adrian Monk through the use of my Television I was uncomfortable with him just like the other characters on the show because I wasn't sure if it was right for me to laugh at his struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. However after I watched my first episode of the show I realized the humor did not come from Monk's struggles but the inability of people around him to be patient with his desire to be clean and free of germs. In fact through the eyes of various villains on the show they felt that Monk was less than a man due to his many phobias but he always would prove them wrong by using his OCD as a gift to solve the murders they committed. This is what caused me to identify with the character of Monk because as a person in a wheelchair I have run into a few people who have doubted my abilities and the fact that Monk deals with same challenges makes me want to root on the character in every episode. At the same time this plays a part in why Captain Stottlemeyer is my favorite character on the show.

When I was first introduced to the Captain I enjoyed the character because his frustration towards Monk's phobias and his dim witted partner Randy made me laugh. However as time went on I began to respect the character tremendously because through out the course of the show the Captain goes from being the one who is most impatient with Monk to being the one who understands him the most. This story arc with the Captain is something that always made the show extremely unique because I feel that it opened the eyes of people who might be inexperienced with people who have disabilities and I don't think this type of character progression will be done for awhile because it was so well pulled off on Monk.

Soon after I started watching Monk, my Dad introduced me to Columbo and I used that show as leverage to convince him to check out Monk. From there on out every Friday night in the Mid-Summer and Winter revolved around watching Monk. However like with any show Monk had it's bad phase which was seasons 4 and 5. The weakness behind these seasons came from the fact that Monk switched assistants which made the show not as funny and in the opinion of an instructor of mine at Columbia it made the writers forget Monk was a Cop Show. The show was turning me off because they brushed the series long story arc of Monk solving his wife's. Then in season 6 Monk's new assistant Natalie began to click with the other characters to the point that I liked her better than his old assistant Sharona by the time we got to the end of the series. Season 6 also ended in a two part story arc that helped hold me over on Monk solving his wife's murder until the final episode.


Although, through the good and the bad, myself along with the rest of the show's audience became so attached to the character of Monk that we looked into the killer of his wife's eyes with the same amount of anger he felt and at the end of the episode we found it hard to say good-bye. On that note I would like to thank the Cast and Crew of Monk for gracing my living room on Friday nights for the past eight years and I'd like them to know that when I see anyone being a little compulsive or obsessive I will think upon Adrian Monk with very fond memories.

Watch the USA stars say good-bye to the man who made their shows possible...



Check out Monk Seasons 1-7 on DVD and click here to find out when you can check out reruns of Monk on USA.