User:DReifGalaxyM31/Mr. Monk and the Game Show

"Mr. Monk and the Game Show" is the eighth episode of the third season of the television series Monk, and the 37th episode overall. It is also the only episode where none of the original supporting cast members are featured.

Plot summary
Monk accompanies his father-in-law to Los Angeles to investigate a possible cheating scandal on the game show that he produces. Soon, he finds that the scandal might be related to the death of the host's assistant.

Plot synopsis
In her house in the Hollywood hills, television assistant Lizzie Talvo (Lisa Sheridan) is arguing with her boss, Roddy Lankman (John Michael Higgins), host of the popular game show Treasure Chest. She's discovered proof that he's been helping a contestant to cheat, and threatens to expose him to Dwight Ellison, the show's producer, unless he quits the show. Roddy promises to do so that very evening, and says that he will announce it before the bonus round. But out of her sight, he switches the videocassette she has made as proof with another one, then grabs her car keys and sneaks out to her garage, where he cuts the brake line on her 1990 Audi V8.

That evening, Lizzie watches Treasure Chest on TV in anticipation. Just before the bonus round, where Roddy has promised her that he will make the announcement, he instead says that he's renewed his contract for a further five years, and assures his fans that he's not going anywhere for a while. Furious at the betrayal, Lizzie grabs her "evidence" and jumps into her car. But while navigating the winding road on the hills, she is unable to slow down, as the brakes are malfunctioning. At one sharp turn, she is unable to brake in time to make the curve, and the car crashes through the guardrail and rolls down the hill, flipping over several times.

Up north in San Francisco, Adrian Monk is in the care of his annoying upstairs neighbor Kevin Dorfman because Sharona is out of town visiting her ailing mother. As Monk is forced to deal with Kevin's antics (namely him recalling every egg-salad sandwich that he's ever had in his life), there's a knock on the door. To Monk's astonishment, it's Dwight Ellison, Trudy's father. After settling, Dwight explains that after Trudy's death, he has become the producer of Treasure Chest, but he suspects the possiblity that the current champion is cheating, so he asks Monk to come to Los Angeles to help him figure out what's going on. Monk begs off at first, mentioning that he doesn't go anywhere without Sharona, but Kevin volunteers to take her place. Monk and Dwight head to Los Angeles, with Kevin in tow.

When they arrive in L.A., Dwight takes Monk and Kevin to the studio before the next taping. He introduces Monk to Val Birch, the current champion. A brief conversation is enough to convince Monk that Dwight is correct - Birch is a complete moron: he can't even identify the Golden Gate Bridge when Monk brings it up in conversation.

Just before the show, backstage, Roddy Lankman and Birch have a whispered conference. Lankman warns Birch that people are getting suspicious, but Birch says he doesn't care about that - he points out that he's going to keep on winning until he says they're done, or else, reminding Lankman about Lizzie Talvo's death.

Dwight tells Monk that what confuses him is how Birch is able to cheat: for the last two weeks, he has been personally writing the questions himself. After they are written, they are sealed and placed in confidential envelopes. Absolutely no one gets to see them after that - not even the directors or Roddy get to see the questions beforehand. They remain sealed until they are opened live during the show.

Monk and Kevin sit through one taping, watching from the front row of the audience as Birch wins yet another perfect match. Monk can't understand how Birch is cheating, though he knows that Birch is doing just that. Case in point: when a visual question involving a photo of the Monticello comes up, Birch gets the correct answer without even looking at the photo. Monk becomes convinced that Birch and Roddy are working together, but if Roddy is using some kind of code to slip Birch the answers, Monk can't see it.

Later that night, Monk and Kevin go to the Ellisons' house for dinner. All of his memories of Trudy come flooding back; this is her childhood home, after all. Monk cannot bring himself to enter Trudy's old bedroom - it's just too emotional for him. Over dinner, Monk has a minor flashback to eating with Trudy's family in the same table. Eventually, talk turns back to the cheating scandal. Dwight notes that Roddy Lankman has run into a lot of bad luck recently, which might give him a motive to help a contestant cheat: for one thing, the guy is broke, having filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last January. Also, he's accumulated gambling debts, and of course, just a month ago, his personal assistant Lizzie Talvo was killed in a car accident. Dwight also mentions that even if Birch is being slipped the answers, it's very hidden - he's analyzed every frame of every show where Birch has won, and Roddy never gestures or changes his voice.

Monk also learns something interesting - he remembers that Lankman mentioned how Birch goes fishing up in the Bluestone Valley. He also learns that Lizzie Talvo's "accident" happened in that same location. Monk and Kevin check out the crash site, and find a discarded soda can with the top inside the can, indicating that Val Birch was recently up there. Monk also finds in the brush an envelope containing the incriminating "tapes" that Lizzie was trying to deliver to Dwight when she crashed.

They go by Birch's house at a time when he isn't home. Although the door is unlocked, they decide to avoid entering - rather, Monk holds Kevin's pants as Kevin leans in through the door. While Kevin is leaning through the front door, Birch's answering machine picks up an incoming call about a new car that Birch has purchased. The machine also indicates that there is an old message saved on it. Monk finds a pencil that has been chewed on, and when he compares it to the pencil Kevin received from Lankman before the taping they watched, he realizes Lankman was at the house recently. Also interesting is the message about the new car: Monk realizes that Birch bought it before he even went on the show.

The mystery deepens, and Monk realizes that he has to get closer to Treasure Chest to break the case, primarily because Lankman refuses to talk to him or answer inquiries about Lizzie Talvo or the cheating allegations. With no other choice, Monk does the unthinkable: he asks Dwight to put him on the show... as a contestant!

Once on the set, Monk introduces himself and gives thanks to Sharona on TV. As the first round of the game begins, Monk's OCD comes to the surface, and he tries as hard as possible to fight the urge to wipe a smudge off of his buzzer. But as the game progresses, he starts to study the interaction between Roddy and Birch closely, and cracks the code.

The code
The code, as Monk explains it to Dwight during the commercial break before round 2, is simplicity unto itself: each question is presented as a multiple choice with four possible answers (A, B, C, or D). Depending on which answer is the correct one, Lankman holds the card up by a particular corner.

Dwight prepares to call the police, but then Monk realizes that cheating isn't all these two are guilty of. He asks Dwight if he can make a phone call during the show. Dwight says that, under the rules of the game, Monk can telephone for outside assistance, but only if he makes it to the bonus round.

For round 2, Monk and Birch engage in a neck-and-neck race to answer the questions, often before Roddy finishes asking them, and sometimes even before he can ask the question. At the end, Monk wins round 2, and Birch is sidelined for the first time. For the bonus round, Monk is asked, "Who was the first president to receive a Nobel Peace Prize?" (the answer, though not mentioned, is William McKinley) He asks to make his telephone call and he explains the case.

Here's What Happened
As Monk has suspected, Birch was fishing on the night Lizzie Talvo's car crashed. He saw the accident, and the car landed upright not too far from where he was fishing. He rushed over to check on Lizzie, and started to call 911 on his cell phone, but she said something that incriminated Lankman. Realizing that he could make an easy payday, Birch hung up, and instead, called his answering machine to make a recording of Lizzie's dying words. It was sufficient evidence for Birch to blackmail Roddy, who put him on the show, and helped him win, again and again, for protection money.

To prove his claim, Monk dials Val's house number and presses a few more numbers to instruct the answering machine to play back the saved message: in her dying moments, Lizzie's voice comes over the air, and says that Lankman cut the brake line on her car. She mentions that he is cheating on the show, and she is trying to expose him. As the message ends, security guards enter and inform Roddy and Birch that the police are there to arrest them.

Dwight thanks his son-in-law for his amazing detective work, and Monk responds simply, "Thank you for Trudy."

Back at the Ellisons' house, Monk finally enters Trudy's room. Though he's filled with great sadness, he moves about her room, looking at her belongings, including her diary, in which she says that, no matter what sad memories she might have, she feels she has only good things to look forward to. Adrian can't bring her back, but takes some solace from her words.

Background information and notes

 * Starting in this episode, Trudy is portrayed by Melora Hardin. She was previously portrayed by Stellina Ruisch.
 * Though credited, Bitty Schram, Jason Gray-Stanford, and Ted Levine do not appear. This is because at the time, these three actors were in the middle of contract disputes with the show's producers.
 * "Mr. Monk and the Game Show" was produced after "Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month" and before "Mr. Monk and the Red Herring." It was presumably intended as a stop-gap after Bitty Schram's unexpected departure from the show, as Traylor Howard hadn't yet been casted as Natalie Teeger.
 * This episode marks the second appearance of Kevin Dorfman, after his introduction in the season 2 episode "Mr. Monk and the Paperboy." He talks about how he won the lottery in that episode, and explains the subsequent disappearance of his fortune. This was apparently due to a large number of combining factors, including (but not limited to) bad investments, two gold-digging wives, gambling, and a dishonest accountant.