Barnes & Noble

In the best tradition of such classic small-screen whodunits as Murder, She Wrote and Diagnosis: Murder, Monk offers complex murder mysteries in which solutions rely on perceptive analyses of seemingly unimportant clues, as well as the protagonist's command of arcane information. Season 1 introduced viewers to Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub), a brilliant detective afflicted with obsessive-compulsive disorder in the wake of his wife's still-unsolved murder. Bounced from the police force on medical grounds, he has become a private investigator who relies heavily on his assistant, Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram), in order to limit his dealings with the outside world. Monk's cases generally bring him back into contact with an old nemesis, Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), who has little patience for Monk's neurotic behavior but great respect for his deductive abilities. The 16 episodes of Season 2 (2003-4) continue Monk's string of cleverly formulated and well-written episodes, though relying somewhat more on "stunt" casting to lend novelty to the formula. Andrew McCarthy is the chief suspect in the season opener, "Mr. Monk Goes Back to School," in which the eccentric investigator determines that an English teacher's apparent suicide is actually a murder, based on grammatical errors in the note she purportedly left behind. Lolita Davidovich plays a glamorous trapeze artist in "Mr. Monk Goes to the Circus," another outstanding episode. One of the season's highlights, "Mr. Monk and the Very, Very Old Man," introduces Glenne Headly as Stottlemeyer's wife, a documentary filmmaker convinced that one of her subjects has been murdered. Former child star Danny Bonaduce portrays himself in "Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy," which finds the detective matching wits with the publisher of a men's magazine. And John Turturro won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his debut as Monk's agoraphobic older brother, Ambrose, in "Mr. Monk and the Three Pies," another season standout. Obviously challenged to sustain Monk's quirks without letting them get overly familiar, the show's writers maintain a very high standard in Season 2, and armchair detectives will find themselves hard-pressed to keep pace with the compulsive crime-solver. Ed Hulse

Product Details

• UPC: 025192523328
• Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Alternate Wide Screen (1.78:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Español, Français
• Time: 11:11:00
• Sales Rank: 152

This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:

• Monk: Mr. Monk Goes Back to School
• Monk: Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico
• Monk: Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame
• Monk: Mr. Monk Goes to the Circus
• Monk: Mr. Monk and the Very, Very Old Man
• Monk: Mr. Monk Goes to the Theater
• Monk: Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect
• Monk: Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy
• Monk: Mr. Monk and the 12th Man
• Monk: Mr. Monk and the Paperboy
• Monk: Mr. Monk and the Three Pies
• Monk: Mr. Monk and the TV Star
• Monk: Mr. Monk and the Missing Granny
• Monk: Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife
• Monk: Mr. Monk Gets Married
• Monk: Mr. Monk Goes to Jail

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