Mr. Monk and the Kid

A foster mother is looking for her charge, two year old Tommy, who is lost in the park. When he reappears he seems to be fine, but he's carrying a dismembered finger. Stottlemeyer, Disher, Monk, and Natalie assemble at the scene. At first they think that the finger probably belongs to a murder victim, and that maybe the rest of him is in a dismembered state, but only Tommy could tell them where he found the finger and he can't talk yet. So Monk takes him by the hand and lets Tommy lead him through the park.

Monk with a - by definition - unsanitary toddler? I'd think he'd have a terrible reaction, but no. You see them walking along with Monk talking to the child and obviously getting attached. Later, when Tommy is removed from his foster home because of the dismembered finger incident, Monk offers to take him until a more permanent home can be found for him. Oddly enough, the caseworker agrees and the two become roomies.

Great episodes of Monk generally fall into two categories. Either the mystery is particularly compelling or it has good character development. This one falls into the latter group. At the end Monk is rolling around on the ground with the child, indicating that when Monk has love - Trudy or in this case this child - his compulsions melt away just a bit.

Funny bits include a panicked Monk calling 911 over Tommy's first soiled diaper and the unfazed attitude of the operator, who gives him a few basic tips and then tells him he's on his own.

Despite the interesting plot involving the kidnapping of a violin prodigy, what every viewer will remember most is the sensitively portrayed relationship of the dysfunctional Monk and a 2 year old boy. The most memorable part of the episode is near the end when Monk reads a story to the little boy, some of the most original writing in any television series ever.

When the two-year-old boy Tommy Grazer disappears in a park, he is found holding a little finger in his hand. Stottlemeyer calls Monk to help the police to search the body in the park, and Monk fells connected to Tommy. The social assistant Theresa Crane takes Tommy from his foster mother Janet Novak, since she neglected with the boy, and Monk decides to temporarily adopt him. Meanwhile, in the morgue, Monk notes that the little finger belongs to a violinist, and the coroner says that his age is about twenty-five years old. Monk, Natalie, Stottlemeyr and Randy visits people with this profile in San Francisco and Monk finds that the violinist is Daniel Carlyle was kidnapped. Now Monk helps his mother Abigail and his brother Jacob to rescue Daniel.

"Mr. Monk and the Kid" is a touching episode of "Monk" that shows Monk's humanity. His connection with the cute Tommy Grazer is very sweet and shows that Monks has chance to recover in the future. When Monk decides to definitely adopt Tommy, Dr. Kroger and Natalie warn him about the responsibility of having a child. In the last scene, he concludes that he had a dysfunctional childhood. There are some silly scenes along the show, but there are viewers that like them. Last but not the least, Brooke Adams is the wife of Tony Shalhoub in the real life, and they have two adopted children. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Monk e o Garoto" ("Mr. Monk and the Kid")

This was a beautiful storyline, that shows Monk as a father figure to a 2 year old boy, named Tommy. For once, the show didn't focus on Monk's OCD, in fact I don't think he asked for a wipe once, and it showed that love could help him, not overcome, but certainly help with his OCD and other phobias. It is also probably why Trudy was such a big help to him, and he became helpless when she died.

I enjoyed this episode because it showed us a side to Monk that hasn't been shown before and it was beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. One of my favourite episodes of the series and certainly memorable.

As endearing as this episode is, it doesn't follow the logic of Monk's OCD. He touches things he could never touch before & never uses a wipe. He rolls around on the grass, while in other episodes he couldn't even sit on a bench because he had seen a bird on it. I love seeing the joy & happiness shared between Tommy & Monk, but he could not simply give up his very specific routines with no notice or preparation.