User:Kevinbrogers/Sandbox/Monk articles/Mr. Monk Is the Best Man

"Mr. Monk Is the Best Man" is the thirteenth episode of the eighth season of Monk, and the 122nd episode overall.

Plot summary
While Monk investigates the murder of a man who was shot and then burned, Stottlemeyer tries to save his marriage.

Plot synopsis
Adrian Monk and Natalie Teeger are at the police station picking up Monk's paycheck from Lieutenant Disher. As Monk starts to sign his initials, T.K. Jensen, Stottlemeyer's fiancee, arrives, dressed elegantly for a special dinner, celebrating her and Leland Stottlemeyer's six-month anniversary. Seeing Stottlemeyer pacing his office, talking to himself, trimming his mustache and flossing, Monk swiftly realizes - aloud - that Stottlemeyer is planning to propose marriage to her. Everyone is ecstatic, but tries to hide it as Stottlemeyer comes out. He sees right through them when he realizes that everyone is crying, and glares at Monk, and says he might as well do it then and there. T.K. intercepts him as he starts to kneel, and says she wants to hear the whole speech, as he planned it, when they are alone. He asks, "is that a yes?" Teasingly she says, "you'll just have to wait to find out," but gives him a kiss that is as good as a yes. As soon as they leave, Disher tells Monk and Natalie that it looks like they will be going to a wedding.

The next morning, Disher and several other cops are looking over a grisly, burned corpse found in Colin Park, who was found shot once prior to being burned. A forensic tech tells Disher that they have no fingers to lift usable fingerprints from. Stottlemeyer arrives, singing to himself with happiness, which is ruined the moment he sees the body (he comments that it smells like ribs). Disher speculates that the man was a derelict - an empty liquor bottle was found nearby in addition to a shell casing from a .9 millimeter handgun - who was shot and burned as a lark by some local thugs. They figure that the man was shot before he was burned as he never thrashed around. However, Stottlemeyer notices that the liquor bottle has been wiped of fingerprints, meaning that it was more deliberate. Not wanting his happiness to be ruined, he has Randy call Monk in.

Still on a high, Stottlemeyer calls Monk and Natalie to the station. Disher performs his wedding reception song for Natalie, who merely comments that it sounds a lot like the song "Light My Fire" in the sense of the words and music. As Monk looks at the crime scene photos, Leland asks him to be his best man. Adrian is overwhelmed, and promises to fulfill his duties perfectly. He also approves of TK's first name, saying that everyone should have a Trudy in their life. Amused, Leland tells Monk that his most important job is not to lose the ring. Monk promises that he won't, and indeed, once he clenches his fist over the ring, it remains closed throughout the following days.

T.K. drops by the station. She is aghast when she sees the crime scene photos, and Monk notes that the only piece of identification that they have is a work boot that the victim was wearing. T.K. tells Stottlemeyer that her long-time best friend and maid of honor-to-be, Stephanie Briggs (Teri Polo), has been arrested for speeding. Since this has been her third speeding offense, she has had to spend the night in jail, and her car was also impounded. Leland is a little piqued, but promises to do what he can. Stephanie is released a short time later. As they walk to the impound lot, Leland asks Stephanie to explain why exactly she was driving at 75 mph in a residential neighborhood. Stephanie claims that she had to get to the caterers before they closed, but Leland notes that it's not something to get killed over. He takes the opportunity to retrieve his tuxedo, that Stephanie had just picked up for him when she was pulled over. Stephanie offers to check on his tuxedo but Stottlemeyer says it isn't necessary and she bids them farewell.

At home, Monk goes about his everyday life… holding onto the ring the entire time. Natalie asks about the preparations for the bachelor party and notes that he's very excited. Later that evening, Leland and T.K. go back to his house to spend the evening together, and when they turn on the lights, they find that someone has broken in and ransacked the place. The two spend the night at T.K.'s apartment instead, but Leland confides to Monk that T.K. was shaken by the incident.

A week later, Stephanie and Natalie are going over the seating arrangements with T.K. and she shows them her wedding dress. Natalie looks at her watch and realizes that she has to meet Monk down at the crime lab and T.K. asks her how she can handle the blood and violence. She admits that she's not sure if she can handle being a cop's wife.

At the crime lab, Monk is busy rearranging the mixed flower arrangement when Stottlemeyer calls him over to check out the victim's shoe. Monk is still holding the ring. Disher notes that the only thing they know about the victim is that he was flammable, and Monk tells Randy to be at the bachelor party at 6:00 PM sharp. Monk examines the work boot. From the size of the shoe, he determines that the victim was tall and bowlegged (shoe's soles are not worn down evenly). He finds a neatly cut thorn, and a piece of green Styrofoam in the treads. Monk notices the mixed flower arrangement's vase, and realizes that the green Styrofoam is from a flower display and the victim was a florist.

Stottlemeyer tells them that TK is having second thoughts about the wedding because of the break-in. She has also made a rule that he can't bring the gun in the house. He notes that nothing was taken, but it was probably the work of a junkie looking for Stottlemeyer's piece.

Later, while in the park, T.K. receives an ominous call on her cell phone: an electronically disguised voice tells her that he is the one who broke into Leland's house, and he promises to come back for more, maybe when they're home. Stottlemeyer shows up just as T.K. hangs up, and she asks him if he has to deal with this sort of thing all the time, and he promises her no. She thought that she knew what it meant to be a cop's wife, but finds herself having second thoughts. Stottlemeyer checks T.K.'s phone and determines that the call came from a pay phone.

On the night of Leland's bachelor party, at Monk's apartment, everyone is doing their best to appear like they're having a good time - which is flat-out impossible, since Monk was in charge of planning it. As a result, there is a port-a-potty in the bathroom, and pizza with nothing (not even cheese or sauce) on it. Monk then tries out a joke about Stottlemeyer's previous failed relationships, but it doesn't go well. Monk then breaks out 12 beers, and Stottlemeyer notes that they have a big problem: each beer is 12 oz, so they have 144 fluid ounces, which is enough for each of them to get a little sleepy or for one of them to get very polluted. They appoint Disher to be the Designated Drunk for the night. Monk hands out the selected movie: Bachelor Party (Tagline: "Shocking, Shameful, Sinful, and the party hasn't even begun yet"). Nobody is particularly happy at the choice. Midway through the movie, a drunken Disher comes staggering in and asks them if they know who owns the Ford Crown Victoria police unit parked out front - specifically, the one that is painted a charcoal gray with flames on the roof and on the windshield. They race out and find that someone has firebombed Stottlemeyer's car.

The next day, Stottlemeyer and Disher go over the files. Stottlemeyer mentions that he and T.K. slept at her house because she doesn't feel safe at Stottlemeyer's house, but they ended up sleeping at a motel when a car alarm went off at 2:00 AM, and she ended up crying all night. Disher notes that the lab report on the car has shown that gasoline was the primary accelerant. There are no witnesses to the burning car incident and no usable evidence. Stottlemeyer wonders why his stalker is playing cat-and-mouse games. Disher suggests the brother of a man they put away, but he's deceased. An officer comes in and gives Disher a report on the dead man in the park. It turns out that the police have been checking flower shops to follow up on Monk's deductions, and have found that at one flower shop, Affinity, a florist clerk by the name of Charlie Doyle has been missing since about the same time that the body turned up in the park. Stottlemeyer tells Randy to check it out while he tries to save his coming marriage.

Monk, Natalie, and Disher go to Affinity, where Charlie worked. The owner, Joy, confirms that Charlie Doyle has been missing since the same time that the body turned up. She also confirms that Charlie wore work boots like the victim's. When asked to see the man's records, Joy admits that she employed Charlie "off the books," and didn't ask for anything from him in the way of identification or history. While they are talking, she shares her private belief that everyone has a flower that fits them perfectly. She picks one each for Natalie and Randy, then (after some difficulty) hits on the perfect kind for Monk to wear as a buttonhole - a plastic one. Disher asks for a photo of Charlie, but Joy says that he didn't like having photos taken. Monk notices that they might be able to recover fingerprints from the sheers and items at Charlie's station.

At the wedding rehearsal, Leland is introduced to T.K.'s family and friends, while his own side of the aisle is much smaller, consisting mostly of police colleagues, along with Jared and Max, his two sons. Half-jokingly, Stottlemeyer repeats his own wish for a simple ceremony with just the two of them on the beach. T.K. smiles and says she is indulging her parents' dream. Disher comes in and tells Monk and Natalie that the FBI has run the items they found at the flower shop for fingerprints. It turns out that "Charlie Doyle" is actually a man named Martin Kettering, who has been a "10 Most Wanted" fugitive for the last twelve years. Monk remembers that Kettering was a member of an ecoterrorist group called the Earth Avengers, responsible twelve years ago for some condominium bombings in Denver, Colorado that killed three people. The three other members of the group are still at large. The forensic report on the shoe confirms that the victim is indeed Kettering.

There is a brief delay when Monk has to be talked out of walking down the aisle with T.K.'s father ("We're the exact same height! How often does that happen?"), and instead has to walk down the aisle with Stephanie. Also, Leland is trying to think of a tactful way to veto Randy's notion of playing the wedding march with steel drums. But just as they reach the pulpit, a bomb explodes near the refreshment stand. No one is hurt, but T.K. runs out of the church in terror. Leland calls for her to come back, but she is gone.

At her apartment, Stephanie and Natalie console T.K., who has called off the wedding. She feels that she simply can't face the risk of being a police captain's wife. She confides that Leland even offered to quit the force to be with her, but she refused. She knows too well that being a cop is in his blood, and he'd resent her for the rest of their lives if she made him give up his badge. Stephanie says she feels T.K. made the right decision, but Natalie rises to the occasion: she tells T.K. how she lost Mitch in 1998, but says, even knowing that, she wouldn't have given up the eight years they were married - or even eight minutes. All life is a risk, but it's worth it if you really love someone.

At the station, Monk is trying to comfort a broken Leland, who is swearing to hunt down the stalker that has ruined his life. Monk refuses to give up, or release the ring from his hand (because he fears his hand has clamped shut). He tells Leland that he won't lose T.K. - they belong together; she is "his answer." Stottlemeyer realizes that Monk is right, and asks him where he heard those words. Monk says, from Trudy - his Trudy, he clarifies. Stephanie drops by, offering what words of comfort she can, and uncomfortably admitting that she's canceling all the arrangements she made for the wedding, which includes taking back the garment bag with Leland's tuxedo, hanging in his office.

As soon as Stephanie is gone, Stottlemeyer swears to Monk that he plans on tracking down the guy that scared T.K. off and having a good long conversation with him that involves a lot of punching. Just then, Monk puts together a large number of coincidences: Stottlemeyer's flower bouquet is from Affinity, the flower shop where Martin Kettering worked before he was killed; he also remembers that T.K. has said that she and Stephanie have known each other for twelve years, but Stephanie has never mentioned anything about her life before that; and Stephanie was pulled over on the same night that Martin Kettering was killed; and if that weren't strange enough, she was pulled over less than a mile from where the body was found.

Monk and Stottlemeyer rush outside to stop Stephanie as she is leaving. Stephanie pretends ignorance when Stottlemeyer asks her about Martin Kettering and the Earth Avengers. When Stottlemeyer tells her that they're going back into the station, she draws a Kahr K9 pistol from inside the garment bag and jams it against Monk's ribs. She forces Stottlemeyer to toss his gun into a nearby trash can, then hands the bag to him and marches the two men towards her car at gunpoint.

Stottlemeyer tells Monk that he's betting the gun that Stephanie is holding to Monk's back is the murder weapon, and Monk tells him that the sabotage of his wedding all had to do with the gun. Despite Stephanie trying to get Monk to keep quiet, Stottlemeyer insists on having her let Monk give his summation.

Here's What Happened
Stephanie Briggs is one of the three fugitives of the Earth Avengers to still be at large. After escaping the F.B.I. twelve years ago, she changed her name and made a success of her new life. She felt that she was safe. However, a few weeks ago, when Stephanie went to Affinity to purchase flowers for T.K.'s wedding, she saw Martin Kettering there, and her past caught up with her. Stephanie panicked - she had everything to lose. As Kettering had a go-nowhere job, he must have tried to blackmail her. It didn't work, and Stephanie didn't want to be discovered.

The night of the murder, Stephanie pretended to agree to help Kettering. She lured him up to the park, and paid him some money. However, Kettering had no idea that he had been set up and his life was in danger until it was too late. As soon as the money was in Kettering's hands, Stephanie pulled out her gun, and shot him once in the chest, killing him instantly. She then poured liquor over the body, and dropped a lit match to burn Kettering's body and make him unrecognizable.

Stephanie wasn't trying to get to the caterers when she was pulled over for speeding - she was actually trying to distance herself from the crime scene. Because she hadn't made it too far, she hadn't had a chance to ditch the gun, which was still in plain sight. With just a few seconds to hide the gun, Stephanie panicked, and hid the gun inside the garment bag just as the cop stepped up to the car. Unfortunately, Stephanie ran into even more bad luck: this turned out be her third speeding offense, so the cops arrested her and impounded her car, and Leland took the bag up to his office. Stephanie, after being released, became desparate. She feared that if Leland opened the bag, he'd find the gun, and she would have had to explain how it got there. This explains the reason why she ransacked his house, firebombed his car, and made a threatening phone call to T.K. - she was trying to scare T.K. into calling off the wedding so that Leland would never open the bag.

Just as they reach Stephanie's car, T.K. comes running up, telling Leland that she does love him and doesn't care about the risk. Then, Stephanie reveals the gun and orders T.K. not to move. Stottlemeyer says to T.K. that there's no need to worry - the gun isn't loaded. Stephanie responds, "Oh, it's not?" and fires a live round into the air. She fails to notice the pistol lock empty, and Stottlemeyer proudly holds up the gun's magazine, which fell out into the bag. Stottlemeyer smugly informs Stephanie that she just spent the one bullet that was in the chamber. Now unarmed, she is quickly arrested.

In the end, Stottlemeyer has his way: a simple ceremony on the beach, with just him and T.K., Monk as best man, Natalie as maid of honor, T.K.'s parents and Jared and Max as witnesses, and Randy providing soft musical accompaniment on his guitar. The two exchange rings (by this time, Monk's hand has cramped shut, and his fingers have to be pried open). But before the priest prounounces them man and wife, T.K. calls a halt, removes Leland's badge from his wallet, and proudly pins it on his breast pocket. The two kiss passionately, and lead the procession off the beach, Randy playing softly as they go.