Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man
- Episode aired Sep 13, 2002
- TV-PG
- 44m
A woman is murdered during the San Francisco marathon and Monk suspects her married lover. But he was running the race, and his tracking chip says he never left.A woman is murdered during the San Francisco marathon and Monk suspects her married lover. But he was running the race, and his tracking chip says he never left.A woman is murdered during the San Francisco marathon and Monk suspects her married lover. But he was running the race, and his tracking chip says he never left.
- Gwen
- (as Brandi Marie Ward)
- Young Monk
- (uncredited)
- Annoyed Woman
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFinal acting role of Zakes Mokae.
- GoofsMonk refers to competing in a 1500-meter race when he was in high school in May 1974. At that time, American track and field was not using the metric system; changing to metric distances did not start until 1978. The 1974 race would most likely have been a mile.
- Quotes
Tonday Mawwaka: Sorry to keep you waiting. Tonday Mawwaka.
Adrian Monk: Adrian Monk.
Tonday Mawwaka: Ah, Adrian! How nice to meet you.
Adrian Monk: Sir, I-I have admired you ever since I was a very strong child...
Sharona Fleming: Young child.
Adrian Monk: Young child. This is Sharona, my-my-something.
Sharona Fleming: I'm his assistant. It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Mawwaka.
Tonday Mawwaka: Just call me Tonday. Please, come on. Let's sit. Make yourselves comfortable.
Adrian Monk: Sir, I saw you run in Los Angeles in 1973.
[Tonday laughs]
Tonday Mawwaka: The big comeback.
Adrian Monk: Yeah.
Tonday Mawwaka: I still don't know how I did it.
Adrian Monk: Well, it changed my life.
- ConnectionsReferences Marathon Man (1976)
"Mr Monk and the Marathon Man" is not one of the classic Season 1 episodes like, up to this point, "Mr Monk and the Candidate", "Mr Monk and the Psychic", "Mr Monk Goes to the Asylum" or "Mr Monk and the Other Woman" or the near-classic that is "Mr Monk Meets Dale the Whale". It is still a very good episode from a solid season, in a rare case of a show that feels well-established when many shows don't settle straight away.
The identity of the killer and the motive are no surprises at all and maybe some of the story is a bit formulaic.
On the other hand, One of the best things about 'Monk' has always been the acting of Tony Shalhoub in the title role, it was essential for him to work and be the glue of the show, and Shalhoub not only is that but also at his very best he IS the show. Have always loved the balance of the humour, which is often hilarious, and pathos, which is sincere and touching. It is remarkable here that right from the first episode to when the show ended that one likes him straight away, even with his quirks and deficiencies that could easily have been overplayed, and also that he is better developed than most titular characters of other shows at this particular stage. Who can't help love Monk's brilliant mind too?
He is very well supported by a sharp and no-nonsense but also sympathetic Bitty Schram, whose Sharona makes for a worthy and entertaining partner for Monk's sleuthing and somebody with a maternal side. There is always a debate at who's better between Sharona and Natalie, personally like both in their own way and consider them both attractive though as of now leaning towards Natalie as the better acted and more attentive of the two.
Also by a very amusing, and sometimes even funnier than that, Ted Levine, what a difference from his Buffalo Bill in 'The Silence of the Lambs', while Jason Gray-Stanford is almost up there with the other three leads though his material isn't always as inspired in general.
It's not just the cast though. Another star is the writing, which is also essential to whether the show would be successful or not and succeed it does here. The mix of hilarious wry humour, lovable quirkiness and tender easy-to-relate-to drama is delicately done but extremely deft. Agreed that the words of wisdom bit at the end was heart-warming, and the exchanges between Monk and Sharona were incredibly entertaining.
Story may be formulaic and there are less obvious final solutions, though how Monk figures it all out and how the murderer managed to do the impossible was very clever.
Visually, the episode is shot in a slick and stylish way, and the music is both understated and quirky. Much prefer the jazzy Season 1 theme tune to the later "It's a Jungle Out There", which always struck me before as one of my least favourite assets of 'Monk' but has since grown on me, which should have been kept. It's all very capably directed.
Overall, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jul 10, 2017
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Intersection of Columbus & Kearny, North Beach, San Francisco, California, USA([4: 12]Still shot right after opening credits.)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime44 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 16 : 9