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

The episode started off with a fairly ominous vision of Trudy. Adrian was awoken by the sight of his beloved wife who told him that they’d soon be seeing one another. To me, this meant that Adrian would soon be dead.

I enjoyed the scene which followed this. It was a flashback scene to twelve years ago, to the last day of Trudy’s life. Adrian joined Captain Stottlemeyer on a case when they received word of the car bomb.

Coincidentally enough, twelve years later the two men found themselves in the same location. Unbeknownst to them, this would lead to an attempt on Adrian’s life. Thankfully, it wasn’t through the use of a firearm, but rather a poison, a ricin poison of some sort.

The fact that Adrian’s death was going to be drawn out over a few days is making this two-part finale all the better. A quick death via gunshot or stabbing wouldn’t have the impact that this is having.

I think the editors went wrong when they showed the person who killed Trudy fairly early in the episode. Sure he was somewhat disguised, but I think it’s fairly easy to figure out that it was the judge who killed Trudy and had another man take out Adrian.

I give credit to Ted Levine and really all of those at Monk for that incredible footchase scene towards the end of the episode. Mixed with some brilliant comedy, that segment of the show was one of my favorite of all time. Police chases these days are always done in police cars. Rarely outside of reality cop shows like Cops do you see good police chases on foot and the one this week on Monk had me really excited, all the way through it.

Next week is set up for one hell of an episode. This is going to be must-see TV for every Monk viewer in my opinion. Even if you stopped watching the series a few years ago, it’s time to tune in. A deathly Adrian is going to finally solve his wife’s murder and put this emotional chapter of his life to an end. While I hope Adrian doesn’t die, I’m okay with it if he does. I’ll expound next week after the finale.

Rating: 9.1

Adrian’s level of excitement was infectious. I couldn’t help but be excited for him. It’s been a long time coming. He’s deserving, that’s for sure. The excitement was dissipated fairly early on when it Adrian and Natalie realized that their working relationship was over. They were going separate ways. I admit it was sad to see them embrace one another like this.

I wasn’t bowled over by Natalie’s new job, assistant to some bigshot concert promoter. While Natalie is fully capable of handing dinner reservations and all that, she just seem to fit the job. It simply didn’t seem like the right job for her and I was pleased that this aspect of the episode’s plot didn’t get a whole lot of attention.

Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk

With Adrian getting back his old job, he inherited his old desk as well. Everything was as it was when he was relieved of his duties as a detective. There were some problems for Adrian, however.

Adrian has been working as a consultant for the last decade and the station has embraced computers, something Adrian has been reluctant to do in his own life. As a condition to his re-instatement, Adrian was assigned to desk duty for a few days. This made for an uncomfortable, but hysterical scene where he was responsible for working the tip line.

Additional problems came about when Adrian suspected a cop of being dirty. When he was a consultant, he could be a little more open about this kind of thing, but as a cop, you should be certain a fellow cop is dirty before voicing those theories. Adrian hasn’t censored himself like this in years. He’s grown accustomed to saying whatever he wanted to say and it nearly got him a whoopin’ in this episode.

I had no problems with the fact that Adrian had enormous problems fitting in with the other officers. It was the right way to go. It fit with the character and I should have expected it. I’m a little disappointed in myself for not thinking about what would actually happen when Adrian received his badge and gun from the city.

Adrian’s eventual leaving the force was the right move. The city of San Francisco is best served with Adrian as a consultant.

We’re down to just two episodes now and I’m looking forward to seeing the way the show ends. I really liked what I saw in the previews.

Rating: 7.6

Adrian didn’t take issue with Leland marrying a woman named Trudy. I can see why Leland was worried about that a few weeks ago, but Adrian’s simple dismissal of the issue made it seemed pretty silly.

With Leland tying the know, Adrian was asked to be the best man. This clearly meant a lot to Adrian, but the first thing that came to mind for me was the lame bachelor’s party Adrian would come up with. This ended up being tamer than even I had anticipated. It was funny, however.

Events picked up pretty quickly when someone began targeting Leland and his bride-to-be, Trudy. They had it all… threatening phone calls, robberies, car fires, etc. They thought of it all to get the point across. I felt a little more effort could have gone into protecting the identity of the guilty party. It was obvious who was behind the acts of violence and why, to some extent.

That being said, the episode as a whole was enjoyavle because of the several lighter moments in the episode. Monk isn’t entirely a drama; there is a fair bit of comedy mixed in to keep things somewhat light.

One of those lighter moments included Randy Disher trying to come up with the wedding music. He went with an interesting choice, but it wasn’t something I’d imagine many people would like. Thankfully the service was brief and the music could be drowned out by the ocean waves to some extent.

I’m glad to see that the supporting characters are getting some attention. Randy, Leland, Sharona, and Natalie are all seeing changes in their lives and I’d say they’re long overdue.

Rating: 6.8

Adrian’s meeting with the police department was really more of a preliminary hearing regarding his re-instatement. Nothing too important happened. It seemed to just let everyone know that those on the force approved and appreciated Adrian’s efforts and set in motion Adrian’s efforts to win over what seemed to be a lone holdout for recommending his re-instatement.

Determined to get his badge back, Adrian decided to help Randy Disher with the “Buddies in Blue” program after learning that the holdout has a son in the program. Adrian figured he could win over the father by making sure the son had a lot of stories about Adrian to tell.

Jason Gray-Stanford as Lt. Randy Disher

This didn’t turn out to be the case. The holdout, Captain Frank Willis, has a problem putting his job before his family, so he and his son aren’t close.

That didn’t necessarily deter Adrian from trying to befriend the captain’s boy. The setting for this wasn’t the greatest for Adrian. He’s never done well in the woods, what with all of the dirt and bugs.

While Adrian was in the woods with Randy, Captain Stottlemeyer was working an armed robbery case which just so happened to involve Monk and Randy. The thieves had to retrieve casings they left during a target practice session near the lake that the “Buddies in Blue” were staying near.

The premise seemed silly to me and then the way they had to involve Adrian and Randy was a joke. The comedy didn’t work. The drama didn’t work. There was very little in this episode to point to as being something remotely good.

With the series wrapping up in just a few weeks, I’m expecting them to bring out the great storylines, but this was a mess. Calling it merely a filler episode would be generous. There are TV-movies that are better than this.

Rating: 2.0

Most of the criminals Adrian Monk helps put away are genuinely bad people. The killer in this case was indeed bad, but at least he didn’t set out to kill his girlfriend. It was an accident initially. However, his actions became criminal when he failed to help his girlfriend. Seeing him do nothing when she was lying on the ground from a head wound was hard to take in.

With just a few episodes left, I’m curious as to when things are going to start to focus on Trudy’s murder investigation and Adrian’s reinstatement. Following Adrian’s fight with his now former nemesis Harold Crenshaw, I suspected we’d see another breakthrough from Adrian as we approached the end of the series’ run. Instead, “Mr. Monk and the Dog” was very much a filler episode, as much as I hate to admit.

I wish Adrian had been able to keep one of the dogs. That would have been a sign of Adrian making progress. Instead, everything was reset to normal. Adrian hasn’t really changed at all. This is one of the aspects that has frustrated me with Monk for these eight years.

Rating: 7.5

Sharona was brought back to town to handle some legal matters when a distant uncle of hers died. A lawsuit was threatened against a local golf course because the manner in which he died was thought to be an accident, one which the golf course could have prevented by replacing a step they knew was broken.

Monk, on the other hand, knew something wasn’t right when he looked at the crime scene photos. He felt something was out of place and this set about a feud that was pretty silly, even though it worked. Sharona and Natalie are two very different assistants. Sharona was a lot more direct, while Natalie has pretty much coddled him like a baby. Sharona was right on with her criticism.

Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, Bitty Schram as Sharona Fleming

Thankfully the criticism didn’t get out of hand in my opinion, but it was a bit much for Adrian to handle and he had to take a trip to his wife’s grave to collect his thoughts. The scene at the grave wasn’t important, but it made for a nice segue for Natalie and Sharona to touch on the subject of Trudy. I enjoyed seeing them make up and compliment one another. Natalie’s comments about Sharona being there right after Trudy died was wonderful. It was very touching.

As for the manner in which Adrian solved the case, it was highly unusual. It was almost slapstick. I couldn’t believe the reckless manner in which Adrian got involved with his illegal search of the guilty party’s desk and office area.

Despite certain things with the case making me feel a little discombobulated, everything worked as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this. Getting Sharona and Randy together was a stretch, however. I knew something would happen, however. Randy was taken aback when Sharona dropped by the station for the first time in some five years. Sharona said she’d be back in a few weeks. I suspect this could be just in time to close out the series. I’m looking forward to the big wrap-up.

Rating: 8.4

We would later find out that the reason Monk has disliked surprise parties was because of a bad birthday party when he was a kid. Cowboy Hank was brought in for the party’s entertainment and as soon as he left, all of Adrian’s “friends” left too. Adrian realized that they were just there to see Cowboy Hank and not him.

Natalie’s reaction to Adrian’s telling of the story was terrific. She didn’t pull any punches when she told him that his story was pathetic. Adrian’s days of being coddled by those around him are certainly over. Adrian has to get over his problems and move on.

Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, Traylor Howard as Natalie Teeger

The case Adrian was asked to help with involved the death of a patent lawyer and a maintenance man. Although I liked the majority of the episode, it got off to a really bad start with the way the maintenance man was killed. It was really poorly done. The man wouldn’t have fallen into the track shredder/compactor in the fashion that he did. The crew used the wrong setup for making this believable.

That being said, the mystery as to who was responsible for the deaths and why they did it was above average, even if it wasn’t much of a surprise. I still think that the highlight of this episode was the extent to which Natalie had to go in order to surprise Adrian for his birthday. The car chase was quite believable. The only real clue that it was staged was the fact that the captain’s voice didn’t sound right over the phone. I was off and I knew something was up. However, I really enjoyed seeing this play out. It no doubt fooled a lot of people.

Although PSYCH is done for a few months, USA is going to finish out Monk through the year. I love this decision, especially with Sharona (Bitty Schram) coming back for an episode. I really miss Sharona. Natalie is wonderful, but the writers have done a poor job of giving Natalie storylines.

Rating: 8.2

The episode started with a bit of a bombshell: Adrian’s HMO was putting a cap on the number of private therapy sessions he is able to attend before they stop paying. With merely one ‘free’ therapy session left, Adrian dropped the news on Dr. Bell and proceeded to freak out. He made a list of several phobias he needed to get over in this one session, putting Dr. Bell in an uncomfortable position. Therapy takes time and there was no way Adrian was going to have a series of major breakthroughs in a single session.

Monk reluctantly agrees to join therapy after finding out how much Dr. Bell would charge him for single sessions. During the session, Adrian meets Rhonda and Augie, but is then disappointed to realize that his nemesis, Harold Crenshaw, is there as well.

Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, Hector Elizondo as Dr. Neven Bell, Tim Bagley as Harold Krenshaw

I love the history between Adrian and Harold. They can both be so petty sometimes! Adrian’s first group meeting doesn’t go so well because of the tension between he and Harold.

As time passes, we find out that Augie and a fourth member of the group wind up dead, Adrian realizes someone is killing off his therapy group. He kind of gets a kick out of that idea because he knows Harold will be dead eventually. This is a sick side of Adrian, but I couldn’t help but laugh at it at the same time.

The person behind the killings wasn’t a surprise. It was obvious that Xavier Danko, one of the therapy group’s former members, was behind the murders. Even though I knew who the guy was and why, I still enjoyed the rest of the episode. This is admittedly rare for me because figuring out ‘who’ and ‘why’ early on, I find myself being disappointed with the whole setup.

Not this time. The writers were very smart when they paired up Adrian and Harold in the end. They were both captured by Xavier and were forced to confront their fears of enclosed spaces. Under diress, Adrian realized he and Harold were looking at this from the wrong point of view. Instead of being afraid, they should be happy because the door (or trunk in this case) is keeping them safe from the other things that scare them… spiders, germs, dirt, etc.

I just loved the pairing up of Adrian and Harold. They can do a lot of good together as friends. I’m hoping Harold will make a few more appearances before the show wraps up later this season.

Rating: 9.3

The episode started off with an overweight kid playing baseball. He wasn’t having any success at bat and when it came down to his last swing, he crushed the ball over the right field fence, killing an elderly woman who was power walking. I’d feel really bad about that if I were the hitter.

The case got really strange when the deceased woman’s kids stopped by to take care of a few things at her home and they found a voodoo doll with the woman’s name on it and a baseball attached to the side of her head. It indicated someone put some sort of curse on her and it worked.

Meat Loaf as Reverend Jorgenson, Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk

Before long three people were dead in related voodoo doll incidents and Natalie was absolutely freaking out the entire time because of an incident when her late husband Mitch was around. She was told by some high priestess who lived nearby that Mitch was in danger. Instead of warning him, Natalie kept the warning to herself and the next day Mitch’s plane was shot down.

I’m glad Mitch got another mention on the show, but one of the things I’d like to see is Natalie move on. Find someone to spend time with. She’s a single mom who deserves to be treated like a woman. I’d like to see the writers find her a boyfriend by the end of the series. They don’t have long to work it out.

Natalie’s fears of the voodoo dolls hit an all-time high when she was the fourth recipient. Her doll showed her literally losing her head. This made for a terrible night of sleep when all she could do is stare at the ceiling fan above her bed in fear of it cutting her head off.

There were some genuinely dramatic moments amongst some of the humorous bits. The identity of the person behind the dolls wasn’t surprising; I just didn’t figure out the why before Monk did.

If there was one big disappointment, it would have to be Meat Loaf’s role as Reverend Jorgenson. He looked much more interesting in the commercials for the episode than in the episode itself.

Rating: 8.3