#mr. monk's last case

[sherolck]

captain leland stottlemeyer

monk (2002).

[system-of-a-feather]

Man finally got around to watching the "Mr. Monk's Last Case" that I've been meaning to watch since it came out and I always forget just how relatable Monk is to me and how it really just hits home a bit too much how Monk lives and views himself

Like I'm sure a lot of people read the show like its a "haha OCD so funny" gag and I know some people get really mad because "OCD is treated like the butt end of the joke and no one with OCD is actually like that" but it really never felt that way to me as someone who has OCD - particularly because I cope with it the same way.

I totally understand the people that do not relate to it, OCD has a wide way of presentation and an even wider way of coping with it and that is not taking into account co-morbidities, the one in particularly that I think is most important when judging Monk - is C-PTSD and the MAIN one, while not directly mentioned, autism.

Cause the way they DO handle Monk's mental health, both in the original series (which I've watched at least 5 times over in my life) and the newest movie, while silly and haha at times, has always been so realistically done to me that it unironically is the only show or series or movie or game that had nearly made me physically cry because when it DOES get real into Monk's mental health, it gets pretty real, arguably too real.

I think if you are to talk about it as JUST OCD and treat this as "media representation of the average individual with OCD", people are right to say that its not good because I agree, Monk isn't the average individual with OCD and it does play into harmful stereotypes and generalizations of OCD. Monk is advertised as that a lot, so that advertising I disagree with. But if you actually watch the show, the show does little to hide that he has co-morbidity with PTSD / C-PTSD and while they don't outright say it, he is obviously autistic.

And as someone who's dad is has C-PTSD, Autism, and OCD and as someone who ALSO has C-PTSD, Autism, and OCD.... It's really really really fucking accurate and hits home. Something my mom, who lived with THREE people with that matching set of co-morbidities, loves and agrees is super relatable to how it was like living in our house.

And that is where it really gets me when people say "its a bad representation of OCD! OCD doesn't looks like that" cause... yeah it does, for at least three people I know with OCD. Are we a specific minority within the group of OCD? Probably, but we still have OCD.

I dunno man, episodes with Monk's mental health being talked about gets me in ways few things do and I will die on the hill that Monk's shit is very well done and accurate albeit to a specific subset of people with OCD.

And also on the point of it "being the butt of the joke"...

For me, my OCD and literally all my mental health conditions are often used as the butt end of the joke. And I'm not saying that people are wrong for being upset, but chronic mental illness symptoms after you get really used to them and adapt your life to them and just embrace your unique way of living.... it's kind of hard to not find a lot of the quirks in light humor?

Like my fiance always said it about his year with severe Chrons "at a certain point when you are in the hospital having shit come out both ends, you just have to laugh at it cause thats funny shit right there."

I don't think I would have survived recovery with any of my mental health disorders if I didn't take some of the quirks that came out of my adapted life style to be funny and love them anyways.

As long as there is a balance between "this is a serious thing that gets in the way of a persons life" which they DO do very well in Monk, I see very little issue at exploring the kinda funny things living with a chronic mental health condition does.

[therandydisherproject]

Thoughts on the Monk Movie

Spoilers ahead, so be warned if you haven't seen it!!!

First off, I loved it so so so much. It was so fun to see all of those characters that I loved so much from my childhood back again. I really do hope that they make more because I would watch literally anything else that they decided to make.

I was really not expecting it to be as sad as it was, but it worked well. I was so worried for Adrian throughout the whole movie, but I think that it worked well. I think that a lot of people just assume they would 'see the signs' before someone they were close to decided to commit suicide and this really showed that that isn't the case.

This may sound weird but I'm glad that they didn't make him solving the case the thing that got rid of his suicidal thoughts. It's just a movie, but I really hope that he did end up talking to Molly, Natalie, and especially Dr. Bell about where he was mentally and I also hope we get to see him solve some cases from 'the freezer'.

The only things that kind of took me out of it were Molly being played by someone else and Sharona not being present, (although I should've expected that since we had never seen any pictures of her on set.) Also, the actress who played Molly did an amazing job and I really loved her character. It broke my heart that she lost her fiance :(

The second I saw the Billionaire I was like 'He did it. And if we get to the end and he's not in handcuffs I'm fighting everyone here.'

[beatrixacs]

Damn, the Monk movie broke me... 😭😭😭

[notmoreflippingelves]

Just wanted to warn anyone who is thinking of watching the new Monk made-for-streaming movie "Mr. Monk's Last Case" that there is a MASSIVE trigger warning for su*cidal ideation.

I hadn't seen any such warnings in advance so it really threw me for a massive, devastating loop. I wasn't personally triggered but I was disturbed and I can see just how easily other people might have been. (Specific details beneath the cut).

There is an official content warning, but it only comes at the end of the movie and by that point, we've already watched the (canonically neurodivergent) main character actively contemplate and make clear plans to take his own life for around 90% of the run time. And nobody except his therapist and his hallucination of his dead wife seem to have any indication of what he's planning and try to stop him. And while Monk does end the movie in a better mental state, things do end without a definitive resolution that he actively wants to keep living ( it's more that he feels like he "has to"/"should" because he's needed).

[gorgeoussimplehousecat]

i wish they'd actually gotten victims from monk's previous cases for that last scene! i guess everyone would've been a lot older which wouldn't work for ghosts

[whenthegoldrays]

Well I didn’t expect Mr. Monk’s Last Case to floor me like that with its ending.

[jasonsutekh]

Monk (2002-9) and Mr. Monk’s Last Case (2023)

A former detective solves homicides using his own mental health struggles to his advantage.

The main genre is crime but there’s also a great deal of comedy which does the narrative more of a service than harming the drama. Much of the humour is based on Monk’s reaction to germs or disorder but it’s not done entirely unsympathetically and sometimes there are actual ramifications to those actions like being missed by an assassin or finding a vital clue. Quite a bit is also managed by the reactions of the other characters which is nicely subtle.

Not all of the mysteries are unpredictable, in fact there are a few where there is only one new cast member for the episode so it has to have been them. The structure is mixed up sometimes by showing us who did it right from the beginning and having the mystery be how it was done rather than whom.

A lot of the acting is pretty good even though it’s mostly humorous as there are scenes now and then with poignant emotion or heavier subject matter that helps express the characters. A few celebrity guest stars are seen thoughout the series as well as many gimmick episodes that get a little bizarre but are still enjoyable. This also allows for the opportunity to explain some pretty interesting facts about a wide range of subjects.

Due to the series structure being mainly self-contained episodes, it makes each one feel as though it’s beginning from scratch, especially since Monk can’t actually recover without the show being over. This is remedied at times by recurring characters or references to past episodes. This is done nicely in the movie as there’s some continuity, mostly consistent actors including the main few, and the movie explains Monk’s relapse well while including real world information like the pandemic.

Monk: 8/10 -It’s certainly worthy of very high praise!-

Mr. Monk’s Last Case: 8/10 -It’s certainly worthy of very high praise!-

-A police officer dies in a season 4 episode by drinking poisoned port. He later reappears alive in a season 7 episodes where he gives away tickets to the playoffs.

-The actor playing Natalie was pregnant for the filming of season 5.

-The editor Beth from near the start is played by the wife of the main actor, Tony Shalhoub.

[warningsine]

"When Covid hit, I was in bad shape."

We know, king.

I kept joking that "We are all Mr. Monk now!" back in 2020.

[capncarrot]

First Look - Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie

[klearilist]

im literally crying

[mndvx]

MR. MONK’S LAST CASE: A MONK MOVIE (2023) dir. Randy Zisk

[fuckyeahtonyshalhoub]

Tony Shalhoub at the Deadline Contenders Television panel for Mr. Monk’s Last Case on April 13, 2024, pictured along with Monk creator Andy Breckman and actor Bill Pullman

[mrmonkandtheblog]