Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa

This is a good Christmas episode. For one it establishes the Christmas present Monk never opened from Trudy which would become prominent in the series finale, and it's has such great acting and character development.

The stuff with Alice Westergren is good, although personally if I wanted to really go for it, I would've made the revaluation that the reason she poisoned and killed Detective Robbins was because he left her when she revealed that she was pregnant. It would've been a much more deeper and honest reason why she did it, plus it would've been a great parallel between Settelmeyer being officer who does care about the people he's affected, as oppose to detective Robbins who left a woman pregnant and alone and didn't care about her. It would've been a great parallel if the had done something like that. But the episode as is, it's still great, the comedy works, the dialogue is nice, and it's just a sweet reminder of how good people can be around the holidays, even in troubled times.

'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.

Christmas is my favourite time of year, so as well as being a fan of 'Monk' expectations were high for "Mr Monk and the Secret Santa". This is another example of expectations being met but not quite surpassed, they almost are but it's not the special episode that it could have been. It's not the brightest bauble, for 'Monk' and in general, but is a long way from a piece of coal in your stocking at the same time. Although the mystery is fun and interesting, it is also rather too easy to solve, guessed it exactly pretty early on even with the greetings card clue being a very clever touch.

Stottlemeyer's encounter with the nun did feel very forced. It was lovely to see a good deal of both Stottlemeyer and Disher, and they are very amusing, but they've been in fairly stereotyped roles personality wise for some time at this point and it would be nice to see the writers to extend their characters beyond that.

However, there is never a dull moment, there is the right amount of Christmas cheer without being too sentimental (that it didn't focus too much on drama was a good thing) and never being mean-spirited, and there are some delightful character moments. The highlight is indeed Monk dressed up as Santa at the mall, which is both hilarious and heart-warming, though Stottlemeyer and Disher's duet was also a riot. The ending was touching.

Natalie is down to earth, sympathetic and sassy, also being sensitive to Monk's needs and quirks which Traylor Howard does well bringing out. Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford are very good, can never get enough of Levine as Stottlemeyer and will always love his entertainingly seesaw relationship with Monk (one of 'Monk's' best elements to me).

As said many times, one of the best things about 'Monk' has always been the acting of Tony Shalhoub in the title role. 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.

It's not just the cast or story though. Another star is the writing, which is also essential to whether the show would be successful or not and succeed it does here. The mix of wry humour, lovable quirkiness and tender easy-to-relate-to drama is delicately done, particularly the last one. The quirks are sympathetically done and never exploited or overdone.

Visually, the episode is shot in a slick and stylish way, and 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. Oh and a good job is done with the different opening credits sequence to accommodate the changes made.

All in all, will make one feel cheerful and warm as well as entertained. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This was a nice - and funny - Christmas episode with some nice messages.

It opens with a Christmas party at the police station. Capt. Stottlemeyer receives a bottle of port wine as his gift from his "secret Santa" but isn't interested in it. He can't find the gift he supposed to give to someone so he gives that instead. It's poisoned and the cop who drinks it dies. I won't say anymore because this has a few twists to it that are interesting.

The funniest part of the show was when Monk went undercover as a Santa in the mall. That was only a short scene, but it was very good.

There are some warm, sentimental moments in here, too, for most of the cast members and a few others. This is an episode that leaves you with a good feeling....almost perfect for the Christmas season.

It's Christmas and there is a big office party. At the party, a man is poisoned by a bottle of port, laced with strychnine. The wine was supposed to be for Stottlemeyer, but he doesn't drink port. So this involves a manhunt, searching for the person who committed the crime. There is a Christmas theme here, but when the crime is solved it seems that it took an awful lot of coincidence.