People are being killed and voodoo dolls are showing up. Natalie takes this to heart especially after she receives a voodoo doll with its head cut off. Monk of course is not buying voodoo as the cause of the string of crazy deaths, but nothing he says or does helps allay Natalie's fears. The episode and its resolution are pretty far-fetched, but it is fun to see Meatloaf pop up as a sort of shaman or exorcist who is brought in by Monk to help Natalie. Watch Monk as Meatloaf blows "magic" dust into the air and later as Monk, at Meatloaf's behest, superglues the Natalie's voodoo doll's head back on. That scene is absolutely priceless.
12 Reviews
It's a tv show
hasatchell10 April 2021
Murder, Voodoo and the supernatural
TheLittleSongbird30 September 2017
'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 half of the previous episodes being disappointing (the overstuffed and under-cooked "Mr Monk Takes the Stand" with two uninspired cases and one of the show's flimsiest alibis, "Mr Monk and the Critic" which despite some delightful character moments had a far too obvious mystery and the how the crime was done/opportunity aspect was very weak and particularly the excessively silly "Mr Monk and the UFO"), while not classic 'Monk' Season 8 is back on track with "Mr Monk and the Voodoo Curse". To me, up to this point of Season 8 it's joint second best (the other being "Mr Monk is Someone Else", which made an absurd concept surprisingly work), with the best and only outstanding episode thus far being "Mr Monk and the Foreign Man".
In a way, "Mr Monk and the Voodoo Curse" is one of the weirdest 'Monk' episodes with the incorporation of the voodoo. You'd think understandably that 'Monk' doesn't work when weird, this (unlike "Mr Monk and the UFO" was a case of weird being done well and being intriguing, the weirdness worked because voodoo as well as mysterious is strange so it was appropriate). Occasionally it gets a little too outlandish and one does wish there was more Disher and Stottlemeyer. Also find that the Mitch angle, no matter how important it was to give Natalie some character development, didn't resonate emotionally as much as Monk with Trudy (which has real pathos), due to it not having as much exposure, more of a sense of Monk struggling to come to terms and Monk being a more interesting character than Natalie.
On top of being one of the weirdest, "Mr Monk and the Voodoo Curse" has also been one of the most interesting and most different and suspenseful 'Monk' episodes in quite some while. The voodoo angle and Natalie's predicament has a real mystery and menace and is done very suspensefully, and the mystery is the best in a long time. It is a complex twisty one with nothing being too obvious, too convoluted or silly. The climax is one of 'Monk's' most tension-filled and shocking, finally a solution where nothing is what it seems. As far as Natalie-centric episodes go too, it's one of the better ones, one cares for Natalie here and one loves how caring Monk is towards her and how he cares for her (refreshing after seeing episodes lately where he was uncharacteristically mean).
Tony Shalhoub can always be depended on to be good as Monk, being consistently one of the best things about every episode regardless of what material is thrown at him. 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.
As ever, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford and Ted Levine give great support, while Meatloaf (yes you saw right) is surprisingly effective and gives an amusing quality to a potentially odd character.
Writing is wry, suspenseful and quirky.
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.
Overall, weird but different, very intriguing and very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox
After half of the previous episodes being disappointing (the overstuffed and under-cooked "Mr Monk Takes the Stand" with two uninspired cases and one of the show's flimsiest alibis, "Mr Monk and the Critic" which despite some delightful character moments had a far too obvious mystery and the how the crime was done/opportunity aspect was very weak and particularly the excessively silly "Mr Monk and the UFO"), while not classic 'Monk' Season 8 is back on track with "Mr Monk and the Voodoo Curse". To me, up to this point of Season 8 it's joint second best (the other being "Mr Monk is Someone Else", which made an absurd concept surprisingly work), with the best and only outstanding episode thus far being "Mr Monk and the Foreign Man".
In a way, "Mr Monk and the Voodoo Curse" is one of the weirdest 'Monk' episodes with the incorporation of the voodoo. You'd think understandably that 'Monk' doesn't work when weird, this (unlike "Mr Monk and the UFO" was a case of weird being done well and being intriguing, the weirdness worked because voodoo as well as mysterious is strange so it was appropriate). Occasionally it gets a little too outlandish and one does wish there was more Disher and Stottlemeyer. Also find that the Mitch angle, no matter how important it was to give Natalie some character development, didn't resonate emotionally as much as Monk with Trudy (which has real pathos), due to it not having as much exposure, more of a sense of Monk struggling to come to terms and Monk being a more interesting character than Natalie.
On top of being one of the weirdest, "Mr Monk and the Voodoo Curse" has also been one of the most interesting and most different and suspenseful 'Monk' episodes in quite some while. The voodoo angle and Natalie's predicament has a real mystery and menace and is done very suspensefully, and the mystery is the best in a long time. It is a complex twisty one with nothing being too obvious, too convoluted or silly. The climax is one of 'Monk's' most tension-filled and shocking, finally a solution where nothing is what it seems. As far as Natalie-centric episodes go too, it's one of the better ones, one cares for Natalie here and one loves how caring Monk is towards her and how he cares for her (refreshing after seeing episodes lately where he was uncharacteristically mean).
Tony Shalhoub can always be depended on to be good as Monk, being consistently one of the best things about every episode regardless of what material is thrown at him. 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.
As ever, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford and Ted Levine give great support, while Meatloaf (yes you saw right) is surprisingly effective and gives an amusing quality to a potentially odd character.
Writing is wry, suspenseful and quirky.
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.
Overall, weird but different, very intriguing and very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox
To: sandcrab277: Then STOP WATCHING THIS IF IT IS CRAP!!!!!!!!!!
hamidryazdani17 June 2021
This reviewer sandcrab277, which btw his/her name sound like 'CRAP' has nothing good to say/review about any shows!!! I've read and seen his reviews from shows like Monk, Nash Bridges, to the original MacGyver, ...., to now on Baywatch, and has always made very personal and mean remarks and attacks on these shows, especially on their stars: Tony Shaloub, Don Johnson, Cheech Marin, Daniel Roebuck, Bruce MacGill (of MacGyver), etc, etc...... I've been holding my comments back for a long time but he's got it coming. These actors are playing their characters on these show and doesn't mean they are not talented. I want to tell this reviewer that if you are so smart how come you are not out there becoming famous, star and millionaire, and they are!!! All of his comments/reviews have always been negative. He has not had any positive review about any shows that I've ever seen, and that makes him a biased, unprofessional commentator! He is prejudiced, bigoted, and a true 'MORON'!!!! That's what he has called many of these stars. There I go I said it finally!!! "SANDCRAB277, YOU ARE THE REAL MORON HERE. IF YOU CAN NOT KEEP YOUR REVIEWS PROFESSIONALLY, THEN YOU SHOULD NOT WRITE ANY!!! WE ARE TIRED OF YOUR CRYING. B****!!!
sandcrab277
monkophile18 July 2021
I haven't even reached this ep yet and I'm sure it'll be amazing. Monk is an incredibly wonderful show that anyone here checking out reviews should watch...please don't listen to sandcrab277, I've seen their reviews before.
Clever mystery with surprising killer
rms125a5 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I thought this was a cleverly written and well-done mystery. The deaths of three innocent people (especially a well-liked old lady who was a cancer survivor, as deduced from her relatives' conversation) are handled as professionally and respectfully as possible in good Agatha Christie-style, with a phony supernatural pretense, later revealed to have been a canard (some of the plot mirrors Agatha Christie's "The ABC Murders") but the killer is uncovered in usual Monk style. Meat Loaf, wisely and mercifully underplaying, is hilarious. (His first appearance lampoons the arrival of the priest in "The Exorcist".) All in all, intriguing and amusing.
Meat Loaf Aday makes a special appearance
safenoe22 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Meat Loaf makes a special appearance. He's billed as Meat Loaf Aday, and I have no idea why this rock legend didn't get "Special Guest Star" status in the credits. He should have. Fortuitously by virtue of his surname (Aday, not Loaf) his name appeared at the beginning of the supporting cast. Anyway, this is a very intriguing episode and I was kept guessing until the very end. Top notch writing.
The final scene is a piercing commentary of Monk's OC and parking meters, and his railing against voodoo being unrational.
The final scene is a piercing commentary of Monk's OC and parking meters, and his railing against voodoo being unrational.
Really Reaching
Hitchcoc19 April 2020
Bringing Voodoo into the act goes beyond my normal acceptance of just about anything. There are so many weird events, from a rather rotund boy killing an old lady with a baseball he has hit, to the appearance of Meatloaf, who runs a voodoo shop. It's sill and somewhat engaging. One issue. Why would Natalie even consider drinking that concoction?
Lots of fun
hilary_mae-912-8056124 July 2022
Anything meatloaf was in, was fun. Put him and Monk together and it's a great pairing. The only downside is that Natalie's antics tainted it. Can't stand the character; she's neurotic, illogical, doesn't like being held accountable, oh so annoying and it really shows in this episode. She only has basic intelligence and is impetuous and when Sharona came back for a visit when her uncle died, Natalie was rude, nasty and truly awful. Her character was awful so I suspect it had a lot to do with the show's cancellation.
Drama portion really weak here
FlushingCaps2 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
We open with a little league baseball practice where a kid is depicted being a poor hitter, who luckily clobbers one over the fence despite swinging with his eyes closed. But as another kid goes beyond the fence to retrieve the baseball, he discovers that the ball clobbered an old lady who was walking in the head, killing her. Her relatives are shown going into her house to put her affairs in order and finding a box with a voodoo doll depicting the victim with a tiny baseball attached to the side of her head.
We hear about a similar victim who was struck by lightning while out golfing, then meet a woman whose uncle had a heart attack and died on opening a package with a voodoo doll sent to him. She tells Monk her uncle was very superstitious and must have just been scared to death on seeing the doll.
Monk & Co. are dumbfounded at how these things could happen because they can find no connection at all between the victims. Then Natalie receives a voodoo doll with its head cut off and is scared for her life. She has been troubled since the start, and later reveals that she had visited a neighboring voodoo priestess in South Carolina, where she was living with husband and daughter, who predicted something bad for Mitch just one day before he was shot down.
We get a rather comical scene where the "Reverend Hadley Jorgensen" (who Stottlemeyer and Disher met running a voodoo shop, the one where the dolls were purchased) comes to Natalie's to perform an anti-curse ceremony. But the ceremony is spoiled because Natalie shocked everyone by drinking this hideous concoction he prepared. He had never suggested anyone was to drink it, but she was too scared to let him do his thing.
Here we enter spoiler territory. Because she was feeling sickly, an ambulance was called and one of the attendants was the same woman, Angeline, whose uncle had been victim number three. Amazingly, she tells Monk he can't ride with Natalie to the hospital because there isn't enough room. Really? Wives/Husbands or other loved ones normally ride with the patient in ambulances-there is plenty of room for three.
So Monk is riding along with Jorgensen (played by singer Meat Loaf) when he finally figures out the mystery. Angeline is the killer, she planted the dolls in the first two victims homes AFTER they died by accident then killed her uncle for a nice inheritance. Not knowing the police had no clue she was involved, she thought it would keep them from her by scaring Monk's assistant. And of course, she just happened to be the one called to the scene when Natalie needed help. After all, San Francisco is a small town. It's only natural that this woman would be in the ambulance called to each of these three death scenes. Sure.
The major complaint here is that the killer would almost surely have gotten away with it had she just stopped. She had accomplished her goal and the police were stumped. Had there been no further voodoo dolls attached to dead people, they would have had to drop the open case and move on. Nobody was suspicious of her at all. Only the pointless scaring of Natalie, then showing up attempting to kill her caused her downfall. Lesser complaints include the fact that while she claimed her uncle was highly superstitious to help the story that the doll scared him to death, and Monk noticed as we all did that a horseshoe hung on the wall was upside down-supposedly meaning bad luck, did nothing to make Monk suspicious of the EMT attendant.
The kid baseball player was wearing a helmet with no earflaps, something not seen in youth baseball for over half a century. Totally unrealistic.
The voodoo un-cursing scene was rather funny and was surely the highlight of this episode. I enjoyed Randy's explanation of why he doesn't believe in voodoo to Natalie: "I'm a Pisces. We're not superstitious."
Maybe this series has had too many episodes where someone commits more than one murder (or in this case made it appear that voodoo killed three people) when all but one victim was killed/used just to throw suspicion away from the one victim that mattered. But it seemed obvious from the start, since there was no connection between the dead people, that two were likely just used to throw suspicion away from the real victim of murder.
Now we initially had some reason to think maybe the old woman wasn't actually killed by the baseball, but someone murdered her and made it look that way. But nothing about the scene made that seem possible. When we got to the lightning and the golfer, there was no more thought about the person not dying in what seemed like the obvious manner. The heart attack person led to no discussion by detectives on the show about any sort of tests proving or disproving it was a natural heart attack and nothing more-we were totally into the voodoo angle, ignoring science here.
I also didn't buy into Natalie's belief in voodoo based on what she told Monk about Mitch. Her husband was in the Air Force in the Gulf War and just happened to be shot down shortly after some woman he never met predicted some vague disaster for him, and that convinced Natalie that voodoo was real. The woman could hardly have gotten Natalie's attention by predicting her young daughter would only have two cavities on her next dentist appointment. Predicting something bad for the husband in a war would seem like an easy prediction for her to make.
The dramatic part was far too obvious even to me. I give this one a 4 for the comedy it provided, but that's as high as I can go.
We hear about a similar victim who was struck by lightning while out golfing, then meet a woman whose uncle had a heart attack and died on opening a package with a voodoo doll sent to him. She tells Monk her uncle was very superstitious and must have just been scared to death on seeing the doll.
Monk & Co. are dumbfounded at how these things could happen because they can find no connection at all between the victims. Then Natalie receives a voodoo doll with its head cut off and is scared for her life. She has been troubled since the start, and later reveals that she had visited a neighboring voodoo priestess in South Carolina, where she was living with husband and daughter, who predicted something bad for Mitch just one day before he was shot down.
We get a rather comical scene where the "Reverend Hadley Jorgensen" (who Stottlemeyer and Disher met running a voodoo shop, the one where the dolls were purchased) comes to Natalie's to perform an anti-curse ceremony. But the ceremony is spoiled because Natalie shocked everyone by drinking this hideous concoction he prepared. He had never suggested anyone was to drink it, but she was too scared to let him do his thing.
Here we enter spoiler territory. Because she was feeling sickly, an ambulance was called and one of the attendants was the same woman, Angeline, whose uncle had been victim number three. Amazingly, she tells Monk he can't ride with Natalie to the hospital because there isn't enough room. Really? Wives/Husbands or other loved ones normally ride with the patient in ambulances-there is plenty of room for three.
So Monk is riding along with Jorgensen (played by singer Meat Loaf) when he finally figures out the mystery. Angeline is the killer, she planted the dolls in the first two victims homes AFTER they died by accident then killed her uncle for a nice inheritance. Not knowing the police had no clue she was involved, she thought it would keep them from her by scaring Monk's assistant. And of course, she just happened to be the one called to the scene when Natalie needed help. After all, San Francisco is a small town. It's only natural that this woman would be in the ambulance called to each of these three death scenes. Sure.
The major complaint here is that the killer would almost surely have gotten away with it had she just stopped. She had accomplished her goal and the police were stumped. Had there been no further voodoo dolls attached to dead people, they would have had to drop the open case and move on. Nobody was suspicious of her at all. Only the pointless scaring of Natalie, then showing up attempting to kill her caused her downfall. Lesser complaints include the fact that while she claimed her uncle was highly superstitious to help the story that the doll scared him to death, and Monk noticed as we all did that a horseshoe hung on the wall was upside down-supposedly meaning bad luck, did nothing to make Monk suspicious of the EMT attendant.
The kid baseball player was wearing a helmet with no earflaps, something not seen in youth baseball for over half a century. Totally unrealistic.
The voodoo un-cursing scene was rather funny and was surely the highlight of this episode. I enjoyed Randy's explanation of why he doesn't believe in voodoo to Natalie: "I'm a Pisces. We're not superstitious."
Maybe this series has had too many episodes where someone commits more than one murder (or in this case made it appear that voodoo killed three people) when all but one victim was killed/used just to throw suspicion away from the one victim that mattered. But it seemed obvious from the start, since there was no connection between the dead people, that two were likely just used to throw suspicion away from the real victim of murder.
Now we initially had some reason to think maybe the old woman wasn't actually killed by the baseball, but someone murdered her and made it look that way. But nothing about the scene made that seem possible. When we got to the lightning and the golfer, there was no more thought about the person not dying in what seemed like the obvious manner. The heart attack person led to no discussion by detectives on the show about any sort of tests proving or disproving it was a natural heart attack and nothing more-we were totally into the voodoo angle, ignoring science here.
I also didn't buy into Natalie's belief in voodoo based on what she told Monk about Mitch. Her husband was in the Air Force in the Gulf War and just happened to be shot down shortly after some woman he never met predicted some vague disaster for him, and that convinced Natalie that voodoo was real. The woman could hardly have gotten Natalie's attention by predicting her young daughter would only have two cavities on her next dentist appointment. Predicting something bad for the husband in a war would seem like an easy prediction for her to make.
The dramatic part was far too obvious even to me. I give this one a 4 for the comedy it provided, but that's as high as I can go.
Monk is one of those shows that I binge watch
jpapanone19 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I go to Amazon Prime and just let it roll. There are very few episodes that are so bad that I will skip them.
I'm not sure if this is one of those episodes...but season 8 definitely have some that would fit that bill.
I like Natalie...Traylor Howard...is that her name? But...her acting like she's afraid of voodoo is really really really weak. Kind of ruins the whole episode.
I wish I liked Meatloaf's music more. I like when he pops up here and there in things.
So...I'm not gonna rate this now...and not sure how I would. 7's are my easily rewatchable.
6's are fine enough.
I haven't decided if this is a 6 or a 5 yet. It's not good...but not sire it is "bad enough" to warrant a 5.
I'm not sure if this is one of those episodes...but season 8 definitely have some that would fit that bill.
I like Natalie...Traylor Howard...is that her name? But...her acting like she's afraid of voodoo is really really really weak. Kind of ruins the whole episode.
I wish I liked Meatloaf's music more. I like when he pops up here and there in things.
So...I'm not gonna rate this now...and not sure how I would. 7's are my easily rewatchable.
6's are fine enough.
I haven't decided if this is a 6 or a 5 yet. It's not good...but not sire it is "bad enough" to warrant a 5.
he couldn't detect ?
sandcrab2772 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I find this entire series as voodoo...this moron can't tie his shoes, impossible to get along with people yet solve a murder...even the lowly peons on this earth have considerably better social skills and could solve mysteries by logic instead of waving their hands in space like a typical moron...i'm really surprised that natalie hasn't murdered the cheap defective...moving a waste basket to possibly near where it may have been years ago is the type of ploy the writers use to shift your focus from logical conclusions...these guys write horse manure in large piles to make the moron appear to be something he is not and that is a qualified detective...sick of his sham....hire some writers with imagination.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
