User:Kevinbrogers/Sandbox/Monk articles/Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door

"Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door" is the 12th episode of the seventh season of Monk, and the 105th episode overall. It guest stars Gena Rowlands as Marge Johnson, the titular "lady next door."

Plot
At the Guinness World Book Museum, a security guard is patrolling the museum after hours, when all of a sudden, he hears a noise. He turns his flashlight, which shines onto John Keyes (Marcus Giamatti), who is towing a wagon. He admits that he's been casing this joint every night for a whole week and that the guard should be asleep by now, and shoves him into a control panel, activating the museum exhibits. After a short struggle, Keyes throws the luckless security guard over a railing, impaling him on a swordfish exhibit.

The next morning, Adrian Monk is with Natalie Teeger waiting to cross the street, and wondering why she complimented him. He wonders what she's up to and she revokes her compliments. When a broken light doesn't change, Monk insists on staying but she crosses the street anyway and leaves him while she gets their checks at the police station. An older woman, Marge Johnson (Gena Rowlands), comes by and notes that this walk light is always broken. She insists on crossing and tells Monk to be a pirate. Marge takes his arm and walks him across, and he reluctantly gives in. He offers to carry her bags and they go to meet Natalie at the police station.

Of course, to Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher, Marge is no stranger at all, because she comes in to complain about John Keyes, who happens to be her next door neighbor, who plays his drums rather loudly at night. The police can't do anything further until his court date. Monk overhears and comes to Marge's defense, telling her to have the dispatcher forward her call to him so he can take care of it. She touches him repeatedly, and offers him candy.

The police are called to the museum to investigate the night guard's murder. The museum curator, Miles Franklin (Marc Vann), wants them to leave the corpse on the swordfish for their exhibit. No money was stolen but Disher notices that Togo Kamala, the egg eating robot, has been stolen. They find hydraulic fluid indicating the robot was dripping, and evidence seems to suggest that he was taken out by a wagon, proof that there was only one thief. The curator explains that a jealous egg eater by the name of Winston Kasinsky broke in two months earlier and vandalized the display in front of the Togo exhibit. They're interrupted when Marge calls Monk for help: Keyes is at it again. What no one knows is that Keyes is also the person who stole Togo the egg eating robot.

Monk visits Keyes and asks him to stop drumming, but Keyes is less than impressed. However, he agrees to take a break. Marge thanks Monk for his help and invites him inside so she can make him lunch. Monk notices she wrote a cook book and Marge talks about her sister who said she couldn't do it. Then she discusses her dead husband, and the song she only plays once a year on his birthday. Monk notices that she had a son and Marge explains that he died when he was three years old and would be about Monk's age now. As they sit down to eat, Monk realizes he hasn't washed his hands. As they eat, Marge offers to write a letter asking for Monk's reinstatement and notices he's separating his mixed vegetables. She mixes them back together and he eats them, and then talks about the museum case.

Stottlemeyer and Disher go to see the egg-eating professional, Winston Kasinsky (Joe Hursley). He denies breaking into the museum and his equally obsessed wife Gloria supports him. Winston claims to have an alibi and when Stottlemeyer proves skeptical, Winston insists on demonstrating by eating 80 eggs.

That night, a masked thief breaks into a jewelry store and David Elliot, the owner, recognizes him as John Keyes despite the mask. Although he promises not to tell anyone, Keyes is not convinced, and proceeds to pull out a gun and shoot the luckless owner.

Marge visits Monk at his apartment and starts redecorating, and gives him a scarf as a gift. Natalie arrives and is surprised that Marge has been able to get Monk to redecorate. She soon discovers that Marge has already helped Monk with his shopping and cooking. When Marge discovers that Julie is sick, she tells Natalie to go home and Monk agrees. A happy Natalie cautiously makes for the door but Monk insists she go. Once she's gone, Marge shows Monk a newspaper clipping with his name and offers to make a scrapbook for him. Stottlemeyer and Disher arrive to talk to Marge. They've learned that Keyes worked at the jewelry store before he was fired, and he has a criminal record as a thief. However, Keyes also has an airtight alibi: Marge called to complain about the noise he was making at the same time the robbery took place. Stottlemeyer believes her and leaves.

Monk meets with Dr. Bell who explains he has a transformative relationship. Dr. Bell notices he refers to his real mother as his "other mother" and Monk insists Marge is a better mother than his real mother. However, Monk begins to wonder if Marge has an ulterior motive. Dr. Bell says he has to trust people but Monk insists there's always a catch.

Monk goes to the jewelry store and brings Marge along, but starts to snap at Marge. They figure the killer was an inside man and Marge recognizes a piece of jewelry similar to one her husband gave her. She shows him a photo of her husband with the jewelry and Monk notices that her son has a birthmark. He concludes that Keyes is her son and mother and son worked together. Monk explains that Keyes needed an alibi so they set up the whole noisy neighbor report, and Marge involved Monk to support her claim. Marge denies Keyes is her son but Monk angrily insists his theory is true.

At the station, Monk interrogates Marge and demands to know where the jewels are. He throws down the scarf and says he knew she was pretending, but Marge insists that Keyes isn't her dead son. Natalie arrives to inform them that Keyes made bail thanks to his real mother. Marge takes her scarf and leaves. Disher confirms that Marge's son Paulie died, and Monk and Natalie go to Marge's house to apologize. Marge says that she has no son… again. Monk wonders what Marge could possible think of him.

Here's What Happened
As they walk by Keyes's house, Monk notices some hydraulic fluid on the pavement and Natalie calls Stottlemeyer. Monk points out the fluid and the three of them go inside Keyes's garage. They find Togo, the egg-eating robot, dressed in Keyes's clothing and holding drumsticks. Monk explains what happened:

A few weeks ago, when Keyes started playing drums, he wanted his neighbors to complain, so he could have an unbreakable alibi. He stole the Togo robot from the museum, and fitted drumsticks into its hands. The night he robbed the jewelry store, he programmed the machine on a timer, and at exactly 10:30 PM, during the robbery, the timer was activated, causing Togo to start performing his egg eating motion, which caused its sticks to hit the drums. Adding in a boombox, the music was loud enough that Marge would call and complain, and because of the limited view, she thought that what was actually a robot was Keyes practicing.

Keyes arrives and holds them up at gunpoint. He prepares to shoot them but Disher arrives with the warrant. He thinks the robot is the killer but Stottlemeyer and Monk take advantage of the distraction to take down Keyes. Disher's always feared that the robot has a mind of its own, and sure enough, it drops its jaw as if to emit a scream without warning.

Some time later, Monk visits Marge, who is preparing to move to Seattle to stay with her sister. They both apologize to each other and Marge gives him his scarf back, telling him to stay warm. They hug and she tells him to remember he's a pirate.

Additional facts

 * Gena Rowlands was nominated for an Emmy for her performance as Marge Johnson.
 * Tony Shalhoub and Gena Rowlands had both worked in the 1998 film Paulie. In fact, Marge says her son was named Paulie, an obvious reference to the movie.
 * Winston Kasinsky is considered a suspect in the theft of Togo Kamala because he believes he should be credited for the egg eating record, not Togo the egg-eating robot. Eating and drinking records were listed under human achievement, obviously disqualifying a robot. Also, the keeping of such records was discontinued in 1991 over fears of possible litigation.