Monk (2002)

2 plot holes in season 5 - chronological order

★★★★☆

(50 votes)

Starring: Tony Shalhoub, Ted Levine, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford, Bitty Schram

Genres: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery

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Mr. Monk Meets His Dad - S5-E9

Plot hole: Monk's dad, Jack, drives an 18 wheeler. In the scene where Jack pulls over to the side of the mountain road so they can discuss specifics about the GPS, a brake line is shown breaking and spurting what I assume is meant to be brake fluid. The rig then rolls down the mountain. However, 18 wheelers don't have brake fluid since they don't have hydraulic brakes, they have air brakes. Even if the rig lost its brakes due to loss of air pressure, the brakes are spring loaded to lock up all the wheels in this case and prevent movement. That's how you set the parking brakes, by releasing the air pressure. In other words, if he has air, he can use his application brakes; if he's lost air, he has his parking brakes set. Rigs that lose their brakes going down steep grades do so due to extreme overheating, causing brake fade, an inability of the brake shoes to grab the brake drums. This wouldn't have happened while they were parked.

Mr. Monk and the Really, Really Dead Guy - S5-E15

Plot hole: In this episode, Monk doesn't know to open a cell phone to answer it, but in "Mr. Monk and the Kid", he used a cell phone with the ransom drop with no problems. (00:04:25 - 00:05:05)

Captain Defenestrator

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Mistakes

Mr. Monk Goes to Jail - S2-E16

Factual error: When Monk visits the prison for the first time, he is searched, passed, and has a mini-panic attack because people have touched him. Sharona steps forward to comfort him, and she puts her arms around him. This is a very serious breach of procedure and it is not possible for the guards to miss it, because Sharona has not been searched. It's a common technique for trying to pass contraband called 'a touch through' - a person with an item to be smuggled into the prison (drugs, usually), passes them on to a person who has been searched and is therefore 'clean'. Monk would be taken back to the guard's station to be searched again. He would not be allowed leniency because the guards happen to know or to like him - visitor ingress and egress is always done under CCTV and the guard would know he was being watched - quite possibly by someone who doesn't know who Monk and Sharona are.

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

Suggested correction: Sharona was searched first by the female guard.

In fact Sharona breaks away from the female guard to go to Monk. She has NOT been searched.

The correction is correct. The female guard already finished patting Sharona down before the male guard even had a chance to start his pat down of Monk.

Bishop73

Yeah, the correction is correct. I went back six times through that clip: Sharona and Monk both get searched, and then Sharona touches Monk.

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Quotes

Adrian Monk: Unless I'm wrong, which, you know, I'm not.

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Trivia

Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico - S2-E2

Trivia: According to co-producer Tom Scharpling, the Mexican homicide cops are purposely written as parodies of Stottlemeyer and Disher, right down to their attitudes, their ranks, their suits, and Captain Alameda's mustache. Even the bumbling lieutenant's name is a little joke on Disher. Plato means "dish" in Spanish.

Jean G

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Questions

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 ★

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