User:DReifGalaxyM31/Mr. Monk, Private Eye

"Mr. Monk, Private Eye" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of Monk, and the 66th episode overall. It marks the introduction of Sharon Lawrence as Linda Fusco, Captain Stottlemeyer's girlfriend.

Plot
Dr. Jay Bennett (Fred Weller) is out on the bay, on a moonlight cruise with his mistress, married schoolteacher Anna Pollard. She tells him that she's breaking off their affair, and she has decided to try and reconcile with her husband, openly admitting that she didn't want to tell Bennett earlier as she wouldn't want to ruin his birthday. Bennett objects angrily, and she promises that she won't tell anyone else. Bennett doesn't believe Anna. He kills his luckless mistress by bludgeoning her with a beer bottle, loads her body into a trunk, and dumps the trunk overboard.

Elsewhere, Natalie Teeger approaches her boss, Adrian Monk, with a bold proposal: that he go into business for himself as a private eye. She points out that there are numerous detectives with only a fraction of his skill are earning huge amounts of money. And there are people who would pay Monk a fortune. For inspiration, Natalie points to her grandfather, Neville Davenport. He was a humble chemist in England who, when he was about Monk's age, made a big decision: he quit his job, started his own business, and founded what became the Davenport Toothpaste empire. It's now the third largest company in the world after Colgate and Crest.

Monk says that "risk" is near the top of his list of fears, but Natalie has already taken the first step: using a bonus from their latest case, she has leased out an office space and taken out ads in the newspaper, the phone books, and on the Web. With her cajoling, Monk agrees to occupy the office (which contains decor straight out of an old Hollywood detective film) for a few days.

Meanwhile, Captain Stottlemeyer is on the Make-a-Date.net looking for the best dates, for the first time since he divorced. His search is very unsuccessful, and is interuppted when Lieutenant Disher walks in with an update on the Anna Pollard case, which for now is a missing persons case. Stottlemeyer has to use his jacket to conceal his computer screen (claiming it's "confidential work"), although Randy sees through the lie, remarking that his nephew saw Stottlemeyer's profile on the site.

After two days, the phone has not rung once at Monk's new office, and Monk is about to say to Natalie, "I told you so," but then their first client walks in: realtor Linda Fusco. She's the #1 realtor in Northern California, and she wants Monk to find out who hit her trademark car, a purple 2006 Buick Lucerne, while it was parked at the marina. Monk couldn't be more humiliated, taking a fender-bender case, but Natalie pushes him to accept, saying it will lead to better things.

The only clue to the driver's identity is a hastily-scribbled, unsigned note left on Linda's windshield that says "go to hell". Looking around the marina, Monk's observations lead them to question Captain Bill Gibbard, a charter boat captain who keeps late hours. When questioned, Gibbard denies seeing anything, and Monk begins to see how the absence of both Randy and the Captain is impacting him: without police backup, he has no ability to make anyone talk.

Stottlemeyer and Disher drop by Monk's new office, asking for his take on the disappearance of Anna Pollard. Among other clues, her husband has now admitted that he thinks she was having an affair, though he doesn't know with whom. To Monk's embarrassment, Linda drops by with the bill for the damage to her car (about $900), revealing the nature of the "big case" Natalie has been excitedly talking up to the Captain. Sparks instantly fly between Stottlemeyer and Linda, and, recognizing him as a recent divorcé, she coquettishly invites him to look at a few vacant apartments she has listed. He happily accepts, leaving Randy behind. Catching sight of the note from the windshield, he recognizes the torn-off lettering on the other side as being from a bar he frequents.

Going to the bar, Monk questions the owner, who puts him off, and, when Monk refuses to stop asking questions, punches him in the gut and ejects him from the bar, another graphic illustration of Monk's disadvantages as a private eye. But as Natalie is helping him out, a sympathetic waitress follows them outside and identifies the handwriting as belonging to Jay Bennett, who happens to be a regular patron.

That night, Bennett goes back to the marina to meet Gibbard. Gibbard is alerted to Bennett's presence by the fact that his dog Peggy starts barking madly. Apparently, Bennett has bribed Gibbard to stay silent for some matter relating to the murder. Gibbard claims that what he's being paid to keep quiet is just not enough, especially after some private investigators came snooping around. He hands Bennett the business card that Monk gave him when they came around. Gibbard informs Bennett that he didn't tell Monk about the fact that on Tuesday night, Bennett left the marina with a nice young lady (Anna Pollard) and when he came back the next morning, he was alone. He demands more money if he's not going to talk to private eyes or even the cops. Bennett reluctantly pays Gibbard half of his fee, and then when Gibbard turns his back, Bennett kills the luckless fishing captain and drowns him.

The next day, Monk and Natalie question Bennett in the parking lot of his office, where Monk notices his car has a broken headlight. At first, Bennett thinks that they've caught him, but he soon realizes that Monk only knows about the fender bender and knows nothing about his involvement with Anna Pollard. He tears out, leaving them in the dust.

Linda shows Stottlemeyer her pick for his new apartment. He comments that it feels a little cramped, but she says the benefits include friendly neighbors - not to mention a balcony with a view to her own apartment.

Natalie and Monk return to the marina to examine Bennett's cabin cruiser. Monk is terrified of boats, but Natalie pushes him to sneak aboard and search, promising to keep watch for Bennett. However, only a few minutes after Monk is aboard, Natalie notices Gibbard's dog barking, and goes to comfort him. Out of her eyesight, Bennett boards his boat.

Just as Natalie spots Gibbard's body floating under the pier and realizes they've stumbled onto something that is more than a simple fender-bender, the boat starts up and pulls away from the dock. She calls Stottlemeyer in a panic, while he is occupied signing his new lease with Linda.

Aboard the boat, Monk has found a flip-flop, matching the one that Anna Pollard's husband said she was wearing on the night she disappeared. But before he can escape the boat, it leaves the dock.

Stottlemeyer and Linda meet Randy at the pier and Natalie fills them in. Stottlemeyer recognizes Bennett's name: he just showed up in Anna Pollard's phone records, and he solves the case: Pollard was Bennett's mistress, and he killed her and dumped her body in the bay the same night he hit Linda's car in the parking lot. He left the note to try to discourage her from investigating any further, but couldn't leave his name on the note, and admit that he'd been at the marina. When the Coast Guard says it will take too long to get a cutter on the scene, Linda offers the use of her own boat.

Aboard his boat, Bennett orders Monk to the stern at the point of a spear gun. He prepares to kill Monk, but the boat hits a wave, knocking them both to the deck. Monk crawls around the edge of the boat, then quickly consults a "swimming fundamentals" card he keeps in his wallet, before jumping overboard. He floats in the Bay for a few agonizing minutes, before Linda's boat and the other party catches sight of him. Bennett, meanwhile, is intercepted by a Coast Guard boat elsewhere.

Shivering and wrapped in a blanket, Monk mumbles a crucial clue to Stottlemeyer: he noticed kelp wrapped around both Jay Bennett's and Bill Gibbard's anchors, indicating the part of the Bay where he dumped Anna's body. Disher calls for a team of divers, while Natalie apologizes repeatedly to Monk for the fiasco that her little business idea turned out to be. For all his brilliance as a detective, Monk just isn't cut out to be a private investigator.

A few days later, Stottlemeyer moves his things into his new apartment. When he drops some plates which break, the phone rings, and he finds Linda on the other end, telling him where the broom is. He looks out and sees her giving him a flirtatious wave from her own balcony across the street.

Additional facts

 * First appearance of Linda Fusco.
 * Stottlemeyer's first date since his divorce in "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage."
 * The episode was directed by Peter Weller, who had a brief cameo appearance in the season 5 premiere "Mr. Monk and the Actor." He is also the cousin of Fred Weller, who plays Jay Bennett.
 * Fred Weller is the third "guy" from Monk to later land a starring role on another USA Network series, after Paul Ben Victor (Al Nicoletto from "Mr. Monk Gets Drunk"), who went on to star with Weller on In Plain Sight, and Jeffrey Donovan (Steve Wagner from "Mr. Monk and the Astronaut"), who went on to star on Burn Notice.
 * The title is a parody of the title for the short-lived television series Philip Marlowe, Private Eye
 * Linda is one of two people in Monk to regularly drive a Buick Lucerne. Natalie drives the same model of car (although silver) starting in the episode "Mr. Monk and the Leper."
 * When Monk falls backward (as Bennett speeds up), you can clearly tell that he's actually a stunt double.
 * In the scene where Stottlemeyer and Disher first visit Monk’s new office the clock reads 2:18 PM. The clock is seen again about 3 minutes later before Monk and Natalie leave and it still has the same time.