TV-Reviewed

Awesome. That’s the one word I’d use to describe the series finale. Awesome. I’m frequently disappointed by the way shows end, but Monk’s final two episodes were terrific.

Last week’s “Part 1″ ended with a cliffhanger, promising more details about what really happened to Trudy and when tonight’s episode began, we started right back at that moment, with Trudy’s confession. I have to admit it was quite a confession. Before she and Adrian met, she had an affair with a professor, who turned out to be the big-shot judge.

While it was clear that the judge was the guy last week, this pretty much cemented the case. Things only ended up getting better when Monk discovered more information. The biggest revelation was that Trudy had a child with the judge and that the judge lied about its survival. Trudy was told her daughter died nine minutes after being born.

I loved how the midwife played into the story. Some time after the birth of the girl, the midwife threatened to tell everyone about the judge’s fathering of a child out of wedlock and he put an end to that as it would have ruined his career advancement.

Regarding the poison used to try to kill Adrian, I wasn’t surprised by the way it was introduced: through his wipes. I suspected this after watching last week’s episode. He strangely carried wipes more often than usual.

If Adrian had died in the series finale, I would have been okay with it because he would have been able to be with Trudy again. However, after seeing how the writers did the finale, I’m glad he lived. Connecting with the daughter of Trudy was quite touching to see. Molly isn’t Adrian’s daughter, but she might as well be. He’s treating her like one and I absolutely love it.

The fact that Randy was moving on from San Francisco wasn’t much of a surprise, but his new position was. Police Chief. While I’m sure Randy can handle it, I have to admit he’s a little goofy to be getting such a high ranking position if you ask me. It wasn’t the job I assumed he’d get.

There was only one disappointing aspect of this episode: there weren’t enough guest stars. I appreciated the highlights of some of the characters like Sharona and Julie, I would have preferred to have seen them in the episode, in addition to the highlight package.

Monk has been a real treat to watch over these eight seasons. Not all of them were great, but I have a lot of fond memories. It was one of the shows which got USA to where it is now as a channel known for great characters. We may not have gotten the likes of PSYCH, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, and In Plain Sight if it weren’t for the success of Monk.

Tony Shalhoub deserves to take home another Best Actor award for his work. He’s one of the best actors on all of television or in film.

Rating: 10