User Reviews

The second best MONK. Funny AND a sexy Natalie. Thank you, Daniel Stern. Thank you, Eric Stone street. And uhm thank you, Traylor Howard, for trying to see Monk's navel. Oddly sexy.

Now, if only the desert trek could equal the one Mr. Chevy Chase took in the first VACATION. But not even Stern or Shalhoub could ever equal The Greatest Comic Actor since Buster Keaton.

But how bad does that make it? And who cares how good or so so the mystery was? We watch to see Monk interact with humans. And I don't care if his speech to the Internet People was stolen from SNL. It's still a good speech for the STAR WARS crowd.

'Monk' has always been one of my most watched shows when needing comfort, to relax after a hard day, a good laugh or a way to spend a lazy weekend.

After the decent if lacking season opener "Mr Monk's Favourite Show" and the special previous episode "Mr Monk and the Foreign Man", Season 8 continues with its first misfire, and one of my least favourite 'Monk' episodes, "Mr Monk and the UFO". It has moments and is not unwatchable (no 'Monk' episode falls under that distinction, even the lesser ones), but it just isn't a good representation to me of what makes 'Monk' so good as a show, most of what makes the show work is not in sight here and what there is is not seen enough.

There are things that make it a watch, if mainly to see every episode of the show. Tony Shalhoub gives it everything as Monk and he is a joy to watch. Traylor Howard is down to earth and sympathetic, with a nice loyal rapport between Monk and Natalie that gives the episode a little charm. In fact, the actors overall do a good job with what they're given, Daniel Stern coming off best of the supporting cast.

Visually, the episode is slick and stylish as ever. The music is both understated and quirky. While there is a preference for the theme music for Season 1, Randy Newman's "It's a Jungle Out There" has grown on me overtime, found it annoying at first but appreciate its meaning and what it's trying to say much more now. There is the odd amusing moment here and there and the episode actually starts off well with a promising first 10 minutes.

However, after those first 10 minutes, "Mr Monk and the UFO" goes off the boil. While 'Monk' is a silly show, it is of the endearingly quirky kind usually. Here however, the silliness is replaced by far-fetched stupidity, with the episode getting stupider all the time. People mistaking Monk for an alien and Monk whining in the desert were writing low-points, actually felt embarrassed for Shalhoub with the former.

Very little of the dialogue registers in terms of quality or memorability. And let's not forget Monk and Natalie staying in an all too conveniently clean, new and self-indulgently utilised Sleepy Inn in the middle of nowhere (product placement alert?).

Furthermore, the mystery underwhelms drastically and can be sidelined in favour of Monk being silly and Monk's problems with being social (the latter not being that interesting here). It's far too easy to solve and one of the most far-fetched mysteries of the whole show, the whole stuff with the UFO was not just easily guessable but it also confuses the story and was just idiotic. The killer is one of the show's weakest.

Instead of being one of the arrogant, evil murderers that pit off against Monk so well ("Mr Monk and the Genius", "Mr Monk is on Air", "Mr Monk and the Astronaut" and "Mr Monk Goes to Vegas" for examples) this killer is underused with little personality and something of a bumbling idiot, making chance mistakes that seemed to pad out a too thin mystery.

Monk's deductions and how he solves the case are neither the methodical or baseless conclusion jumping too fast kinds, some of it like with the UFO was heavy on coincidence. 'Monk' is known for balancing humour, quirks/phobias and pathos well, here the second fared strongest and even that was too far and between while the drama/pathos aspects are non-existent (sad because the previous episode executed this aspect brilliantly) and there are far funnier 'Monk' episodes. Really miss Monk, Natalie, Disher (absent) and Stottlemeyer together here.

In summary, see once and then easily skip-able. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I guess if one were to create a prototypical alien, he could use Monk as his model. There is distance, stoicism, cluelessness, mannerisms that make no sense. Monk spots what he thinks is a UFO and when it is verified, every nut comes out of the woodwork. He is continually accosted by people wearing ridiculous costumes and attempting to get him to reveal his tru being. Way too much. At times Tony Shaloub has a bit of a grin.

What happens when you mix sponsorship (Sleep Inn) with a successful TV show in its final season? Nothing good.

A flat lands Mr. Monk and Natalie in a small and dusty town. Of course, the car repair will take days to fix, so relax and enjoy your stay at Sleep Inn. Our friendly Sleep Inn staff will be waiting at the front door ready to]]]-->> sorrry, where was I?

Oh yeah, so Monk does what Monk does and stumbles into yet another of his 200+ murder mysteries. Seriously, if you have a friend, a significant other, a relative, or just happen to know anyone in real life and you happen to see Monk, run! Run as fast as you can, death follows him everywhere!

Run until you get tired and need to take respite within our clean rooms at Sleep Inn. No one ever dies here at Sleep Inn. Our staff are highly trained to recognize potential plot staples such as a man in a poorly fitting wig and sunglasses trying to check in with a tarted-up, gam-blasting, blissfully naïve actress who would best play a corpse.

Sorry, it happened again, I don't know how this keeps happening. Anyway, so Monk does his thing, he says that line-you know the one, the plot device equal to Columbo's "one more thing"-he resolves with a team of loyal Sleep Inn employees flanking behind him in formation ready to serve his every need. Need an extra pillow? No problem. Need some ice after a low day of drifting through the desert? We got your back. Because here at Sleep Inn, you are family. The kind of family you always dreamt of that won't try to murder you for money, because we love you.

Signed, Sleep Inn.

Already 3 episodes into season 8 and they bring on daniel stern as a guest to interact with mr moron about flying saucers and creepy followers ... the whole episode is schlock and garbage ... way way out man.

Monk is one-layered show in my opinion. It's watchable and at times genuinely funny, but I find no depth, credibility whatsoever with the character. Serves as a mixture of Columbo and Murder She Wrote, that's it.

That said, single-layer stories are welcome on TV long as we are entertained. And yes, this episode was entertaining enough, at least on the visual front, with the costumed alien chasers whatnot.

But I find it extremely condescending for the creators of such a show to paint the "community" of UFO chasers the way they have. All are idiots, eh? Really?

I honesly didn't get for what reason Monk refused to believe in the possibility of an actual alien encounter. He didn't have counter-evidence to that. He had nothing, yet he kept his mental distance from these people who were portrayed as tin foil hat crazies.

What people tag as "conspiracy theories" are at times closer to the truth than mainstream acceptances and official declarations. Lack of belief in anything other than "proven facts" contradicts with the mindset of creative writing.

I got the feeling they were smirking at their own audience. A glimpse at the possibility of another, this time an actual alien spaceship could have been nice in the end.