“Mr. Monk and the UFO” is the third entry in the eighth season of USA Network’s cornerstone series Monk. Since it is the final season it appears that Monk will be allowed to demonstrate a little personal growth. Tony Shalhoub discussed that aspect of the character in a recent interview: “I feel like Monk has become a little more open to others and embraces, to the degree that he can, other people’s points of view.”

This episode addresses that point directly. It’s about Monk making a conscious effort to be more of a “people person”. He’s out of his element in a number of ways, but ultimately we see Monk at his best and brightest as a result.

The credited writer of this one, Michael Angeli, wrote the excellent Edgar Award nominated episode “Mr. Monk and the 12th Man” from season two. He also wrote for Touching Evil, the short-lived USA series starring Burn Notice’s Jeffrey Donovan and he currently produces and writes for USA's In Plain Sight.

As the easy going Sheriff of Vintonville in “Mr. Monk and the UFO” he is a very trustworthy and affable ally for Monk. Daniel Stern makes the character very easy to like.

They tried to sneak a guest actor past me, but I spotted him anyway. Barry Livingston plays one of the UFO fanatics. He's credited as Geiger Counter Enthusiast. ("Enthusiasts", by the way was a very kind way to characterize the "internet people".) Although he's been working steadily in TV, film and theater for fifty years Barry is still known best for his nine year stint on "My Three Sons" from 1963 to 1972. Barry played Ernie Douglas. (Except he didn't become a Douglas until 1965 when the character was adpoted. Before that he was just a neighbor kid, except in real life his TV adpoted brother was his real brother.... It's complicated.) Sure, the Brady boys were groovy, Keith Partridge had the hair and the Mod Squad was um... mod, but Ernie was the prototype nerd and he was the one I had the crush on. In more recent years Barry's had roles in HBO's Big Love, Everybody Hates Chris, Eli Stone, Mad Men as well as films including Zodiac and You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

Geiger Counter Guy

Ernie Douglas

The episode features a large and ridiculously diverse supporting cast (with a lot of inspired perfomances from the "enthusiasts"), which may be the reason that Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Lt. Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) are given short shrift. Stottlemeyer appears in only one scene and Disher is no where to be found.

This is one of those rare episodes which takes place outside of the fictional San Francisco where Monk lives and, since Vintonville has its own law enforcement, the SFPD gets a few days off. The killer also gets less than the usual share of screen time (only one scene) and although the murder and the UFO get tied together in a neat little bow, it’s not as important as Monk’s actual and metaphorical journey through the desert to gain a little enlightenment.

“You’re mad at me. I’m a detective. I can tell.”

Natalie and Monk are on the road late at night, somewhere in Nevada, and she’s giving him the silent treatment… but not for long. She scolds him for his anti-social behavior with her friends who they’ve just been to visit. “Couldn’t you have at least tried?” she asks. He tells her he’s just not a “people person”.

Vinton Street is, of course, a running joke in Monkland. There is a real Vinton Street in San Francisco, but it's only an alleyway half a block long with no businesses on it. Nonetheless, it pops up in an astounding number of Monk episodes. Apparently even when they’re away from the fictional San Francisco “Vinton” follows them around. It's actually a street in head writer Andy Breckman's neighborhood in New Jersey. I guess it must be a really great street or they wouldn't mention it so often.

Meanwhile Monk goes to the local sheriff’s office to report what he’s seen. Sheriff Fletcher is busy with a woman, Dolly (Tammy Dahlstrom), who is suggesting that something may have happened to her missing friend and neighbor, Marge. Monk waits while the sheriff tells her there’s no reason to worry yet and no sign of foul play.

I gotta think that this woman being named "Dolly" is not just a coincidence. Remember the psychic in "Mr. Monk and the Psychic"? Her name was also Dolly and the plot twist in that one, the killer needed someone else to discover the body so he could inherit money from the deceased, is the same plot twist used in this episode.

During this scene we get an excellent example of what Tony Shalhoub called a "matching problem". That's when there are two takes of a scene and when they're put together later it's obvious (or sometimes not so obvious) that something is different. In this case it's the blinds in the sheriff's office. Monk lowers the blind so that it's even, but when the sheriff escorts Dolly out it's uneven again and when he turns to talk to Monk it's even.

Once she’s gone Monk reports what he has seen, but struggles not to call it a UFO. The sheriff gently suggests it might have been dry lightning, but Monk is sure of what he saw even if he’s not willing to label it. The sheriff believes him if only because a close encounter might relieve the boredom of small town law enforcement. He’s only got two cases: a rabid raccoon and kids knocking over mail boxes. “This is a busy week for me,” the sheriff tells Monk facetiously. The poor guy has no idea how busy it’s about to become. Monk is the Jessica Fletcher of the West Coast. Everywhere he goes someone winds up murdered. So you just know Dolly’s friend Marge doesn’t stand a chance.

In this next scene the Sleep Inn gets its first, but by no means last, mention in the episode. Sleep Inn is the sponsor of the new Little Monk web series and in wanton celebration of that fact the Sleep Inn logo is seen more often in this episode than hookers are seen at a brothel.

Monk: Or...

Goggle Enthusiast: Or what?

Monk: Or anything.

In fact, Sagan didn't believe that aliens had arrived.

He supported Monk's "or anything" theory. Sagan said, "There are no cases - despite well over a million UFO reports since 1947 - in which something so strange that it could only be an extraterrestrial spacecraft is reported so reliably that misapprehension, hoax or hallucination can be reliably excluded."

When Natalie gives Monk a wipe and explains Monk’s "thing" about germs, they become suspicious. One of them notes that “he’s not sweating” and although Monk attributes this to a “glandular thing” it’s enough evidence for the fanatics to question his planet of origin. His refusal to expose his belly button is proof enough for them that Monk is in fact an alien.

The hostility of the UFO people is nothing compared to Boom Boom’s particularly after Monk lamely attempts to apologize. "I'm sorry I said you were stupid... out loud."

He tells them the repairs will take at least another day. Meanwhile the fanatics are still searching around the “landing site” and discover the body of Dolly’s missing neighbor Marge.

Despite Monk’s pessimism it’s decided, primarily by Natalie, that he should go for help while she stays to help the injured sheriff. In the next scene we see Monk beneath the blazing desert sun, dust swirling around his feet, carrying a canteen. He falls to his knees exhausted… only thirty feet away from Natalie and the sheriff and the jeep. Once he’s really underway, Monk unbuttons his top button, a big deal for him, but quickly buttons up again, despite the heat. A very disoriented Monk stumbles across evidence on the desert floor. He talks to himself. “It’s evidence. Let’s take it with us.” It's a good thing Kyle later confesses, because it seems like in his delerium Monk may have contaminated the evidence.

By this point Monk has not just one, but two buttons undone on his shirt… and he’s out of water… and he’s sweating… and he’s covered in dirt. “You win, dirt,” he shouts. “Congratulations, dirt. Well played.”

Monk also says, “Natalie, you were right. You called it. I ’m dying alone.”

Did I miss a scene? I don't recall Natalie ever telling Monk he would die alone, much less telling him that in this episode. It seems like an inordinately cruel thing for Natalie to say. Not her style.

Monk now regrets not being a “people person” and he longs to see people again. He’s reached the bargaining stage, promising to be good, nice and empathetic. “I’ll be the empathetic detective” he says, but when he walks over a ridge and sees the UFO fanatics gathered below, his new found empathy is put to the test: “Not these people,” he whines.

He collapses in the dirt.

“He knew the internet people would come. They believe anything.”

After a break for a Little Monk sneak peek, Monk awakens in what I’m sure is a very comfortable Sleep Inn bed, asking for floss. Natalie, the sheriff and the coroner are waiting for the here’s-what-happened. He explains that Marge’s brother Kyle, killed her for her money and then dumped her in the desert to make it look like a hiking accident. When the coyotes dragged her away he was afraid the body might never be found and consequently he wouldn’t be able to get her money. He had built a remote controlled UFO model (which is only about three feet wide, but miraculously appears to be much larger) to lure the fanatics there, hoping they would find the body.

In an effort to fulfill his people person promise, Monk gently tries to explain to the internet people that the UFO wasn’t real. He encourages them to “Live life, you know, find employment.”

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