Monk

Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival - S1-E5

Plot hole: It makes no sense why the police haven't done the most obvious thing and checked for fingerprints on the murder weapon (the knife). It would not only back up the detective's claim that he did not stab the victim (he never touched the knife) but would have given the police a major clue to finding and prosecuting the murderer.

Lummie

Mr. Monk and the Other Woman - S1-E8

Plot hole: Monk's led to the killer because he figures out that he "added a file" to the lawyer's filing cabinet, judging by the left/middle/right tabs being off. But this makes no sense on two levels - firstly why would he need to add a file? He was just replacing the real will with a forgery. He just took the old one out and added the new one, he didn't need to mess with the filing system at all. Secondly, he picks that one out because the tabs are offset, but what if the lawyer had just taken on a new client or added other paperwork? Then the tabs would be off too, but that never seems to be considered.

Jon Sandys

Mr. Monk and the Other Woman - S1-E8

Plot hole: Monk says that the two files, both with tab at the middle, were kept together, which led him to discover that the person related to this file is 'the guy'. In an earlier scene, when Monk is searching the file cabinets, he picks up one of these two files and tells Sharona that this file is of 'the guy'. How can he say which one of the two files with middle tabs, which are put together, is related to 'the guy'? Impossible. (00:39:00 - 00:40:00)

SaurabhShivaniSaumya

Mr. Monk and the Psychic - S1-E3

Plot hole: When Monk is looking for the pebble, he immediately makes an announcement through the shop's speaker system and then directly asks the guy wiping the floor where the rest of the garbage is. Given the size of the trash can it is not realistic that the guy wiping could have filled the trashcan, emptied it and have it filled half again in the 2 to 10 minutes that might have passed since the pebble got lost.

Mr. Monk and the Red-Headed Stranger - S1-E12

Plot hole: When Monk explains to Miss. Mass how she had murdered Sonny, a flashback of the crime shows that she isn't wearing gloves when she leaves the note to get him to go to the alley. Had the cops checked the note for prints, they would have shown Miss. Mass' fingerprints on it and knew she was responsible for Sonny's death.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Just because they lifted fingerprints off the note, there wouldn't be a way to identify them as belonging to Ms. Maas if her prints aren't in the system. As a witness (and ruled out as a suspect because they thought she was blind), they wouldn't have fingerprinted her just because the found unknown prints and wanted to rule her out.

Bishop73

What about gun residue on the hands?

Mr. Monk Goes to Jail - S2-E16

Factual error: Death row prisoners cannot donate organs. No doctor participates in an execution and after the lethal injection the medical examiner must wait at least fifteen minutes to test for cardiac activity before pronouncing the prisoner dead. This is enough time for hypoxia to render the heart, lungs and kidneys useless for transplant. Apart from this, organs intended for transplant must be removed within minutes of the death of the donor. Prisoners are not executed in operating theatres.

More mistakes in Monk

Adrian Monk: I don't know how he did it. But he did it.

More quotes from Monk
More trivia for Monk

Show generally

Question: If Monk is afraid of germs, then why does he keep touching things that could possibly have germs on them like parking meters or books?

Answer: Notice also that in the opening credits scene when he is touching parking meters her also wipes his hand on his clothes each time he does it.

Answer: That's the thing about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It's not something rational. He just has to touch things like that. It's not something he can rationally think through. However, since part of his disorder includes an obsession with cleanliness, he also has an assistant walk around handing him wipes periodically. It's like when he gets a cold and uses both a humidifier (because that's what you use when you're congested) and a dehumidifier (to counteract the effects of the humidifier). He may spout rationalizations after he does something, but his compulsions exist outside of any rational thought whatever.

Garlonuss

More questions & answers from Monk

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.