The television series Monk perfectly combines police procedural and film noir. The ex-San Francisco Police Department detective-turned-private-investigator Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) uses his superior deductive abilities to help the SFPD solve complex cases. After his wife Trudy (Stellina Rusich/Melora Hardin) dies in a car bombing incident, which may be linked to her work as a journalist, Monk's obsessive-compulsive disorder takes a turn for the worse, resulting in a long period of time when he is unable to leave his house.

With the help of his nurse and assistant, Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram) and later Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard), Monk finds support to begin working again. There were many incredible episodes of Monk. In fact, the Monk series finale set a record when it premiered in 2009 as the most-watched episode of an hour-long drama series in basic cable history. But the most touching and arguably the best episode came two years earlier in Season 6, titled "Mr. Monk Is Up All Night."

Monk

TV-PG

Comedy

Crime

Drama

Mystery

The series follows Adrian Monk, a brilliant former San Francisco detective, who now consults the police as a private consultant whilst battling with an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Release Date

July 12, 2002

Creator

Andy Breckman

Cast

Tony Shalhoub , Ted Levine , Jason Gray-Stanford , Traylor Howard

Main Genre

Comedy

Seasons

8

What Is "Mr. Monk Is Up All Night" About?

Trudy's murder is an overarching mystery on Monk that Adrian Monk is always trying to solve. Monk offers a glimpse into the details of her life throughout the series, but "Mr. Monk Is Up All Night" depicts the depth of Monk and Trudy's love in a truly unique way. At the heart of this episode is the story of a grieving husband who, for a moment, gets to see his beloved once more. "Mr. Monk Is Up All Night" starts with Monk leaving his regular haircut appointment. As he worries about the length of his sideburns, he passes a woman on the street who looks strangely familiar. He does not know why she looks familiar, as he is very confident he has never seen her before, but something about her draws his attention. In an attempt to unravel the mystery, he runs after her, but he loses her in the crowd. Days later, as he talks with his psychiatrist, Dr. Charles Kroger (Stanley Kamel), he explains the situation and that he has not slept since the incident, which was three days prior. Finding himself sleep-deprived but unable to find relief, he goes for a late-night walk to clear his mind.

As Monk walks the streets of San Francisco, he sees the mystery woman again when she calls out to him from her taxi to see if he needs a ride. He says no, but as he looks up, he realizes she is the woman he has been looking for. Having turned down the ride, she takes off, leaving Monk to try to flag her down. Once again, Monk is left without answers about this woman's identity. In an attempt to catch up to her, Monk runs through an alley, where he happens upon a drug deal in progress. The deal is going down in the kitchen of a restaurant, and Monk peers through the window when he hears voices. He watches as an undercover police officer is shot, and the accomplices run out the door and into a vehicle. Monk calls his police department friends, Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Lieutenant Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford). Still, they find no evidence of a crime when they investigate the scene. Chalking it up to Monk's lack of sleep, the officers head home, and Stottlemeyer suggests that Monk, who doesn't drink, relax with a single malt Scotch at his favorite bar.

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Monk can't stop thinking about the mystery woman as well as the strange goings-on that he witnessed. He sees the undercover cop at the train station and discovers in the trash that the man disposed of special wrapping that is used to protect rare coins, leading him and the police to a coin shop in the city. Monk recognizes the owner of the shop as the man who was part of the drug deal, though he denies it. When Monk returns to the train station, the undercover cop is dead (for real this time) and he realizes that he wasn't a cop but a con man, and that the owner of the coin shop was the target of an elaborate scheme to rob him of his valuable coins. The coin shop owner figures out he had been played and takes murderous vengeance on the con artist. In the end, Monk and his police buddies solve the case, and everything gets wrapped up neatly.

Monk Meets His Mystery Woman in "Mr. Monk Is Up All Night"

The real story in this episode of Monk is that of Adrian Monk's mystery woman. He can't sleep because he is trying to figure out who she is and why she is familiar. He stumbles upon the drug deal while he is trying to chase her down. All of these events lead to one moment. As the police officers are making their arrests, a taxi driver emerges looking to be paid her fare after dropping off Captain Stottlemeyer at the scene. As fate would have it, she turns out to be Monk's mystery woman, Maria Cordova (Terri Hoyos).

As they talk, Monk notices the tattoo on Maria's arm is the same date as his wife, Trudy's, death. He mentions this, and she explains that on that date, she was given new life in the form of a cornea transplant that kept her from going blind. They discover that the transplant she received was from Monk's wife, Trudy. Tears well up in Maria's eyes, and Monk puts his hand up to touch them, which Maria allows. He looks into Trudy's eyes again and wipes away her tears. The whole moment is incredibly moving. After uncovering the mystery woman's identity, Monk finally gets to sleep.

This episode of Monk is genuinely heartfelt and emotional for not just Monk, but Maria as well. Here she is, face to face with the husband of the woman who made her sight possible. Knowing that his wife lost her life, but part of her lives on in someone else, is incredibly affecting. Many episodes of Monk are magnificent for various reasons, including the epic two-part series finale, but the beautiful moment when Monk looks into his wife's eyes again makes this episode stand out in the series.

Monk is newly available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

Watch on Netflix