Monk – Season Six (Universal DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C+ Episodes: B
One would
think that after six hilarious seasons that Monk would have lost its touch, but oddly enough it has not. The series that follows the crime solving
antics of one of the most OCD men that someone could ever meet returns to DVD
with Monk: Season Six. The series could have long ago fallen victim
to making the hit sitcom creation into a caricature of himself, by making him
too funny or too odd; but instead the writers have done a serendipitous job of
walking the line between crazy, funny crime drama and goofy disaster.
For those
of you who are new to the series, Monk
follows an Obsessive Compulsive detective named Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) as
he solves some of the city’s oddest and toughest crimes. Monk, having previously had a sort of
‘nervous breakdown’ after the murder of his wife, now can only work as a
consultant for the San Francisco Police Department, rather than a full out
detective. The series propels comedy and
mystery wildly in all directions as each episode of the crime drama takes
off. Instead of making the character of
Monk get progressively worse or suddenly better over the seasons, they have
taken his personality flaws and turned them into learning experiences for both
himself and his crew. Whereas he is not
exactly getting better, he is learning to cope with society in his own way in
his own time.
The
series is pure fun, with plenty of mystery to keep any crime drama aficionado
entertained for hours on end. Tony
Shalhoub plays the character masterfully and he has several Emmy’s (2003, 2005,
2006) and a Golden Globe (2003) to prove it.
The detective series will have you obsessed from the very first episode
with its wild sense of comedy, drama, and mystery.
There are
a total of 16 episodes found on this Season
Six release:
- Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan
- Mr. Monk and the Rapper
- Mr. Monk and the Naked Man
- Mr. Monk and the Bad Girlfriend
- Mr. Monk and the Birds and the Bees
- Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure
- A treasure hunt takes Monk down an odd path after he
agrees to help a psychiatrist’s son follow a treasure map to riches.
- Mr. Monk and the Devil
- Mr. Monk and the Wrong Man
- Mr. Monk Stays up All Night
- Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus
- In a hilarious turn of events Monk shoots Santa to
defend himself, but then must venture out to clear his name (now an outcast),
before a bigger Christmas plot unfolds.
- Mr. Monk Joins a Cult
- Mr. Monk Goes to the Bank
- Mr. Monk and the Three Julies
- Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece
- Mr. Monk is on the Run: Part 1
- Mr. Monk is on the Run: Part 2
- In the two part Season Finale Monk gets arrested for a
murder he did not commit, then goes on the run after escaping prison in an
attempt to clear his name and find the true killer
The
technical features on this four disc set are not exactly the cleanest, but nice
nevertheless. The picture is presented
in a solid 1.78 X 1 Anamorphic Widescreen image that is bright, crisp, and
clean; there are clear visible instances, however, of problems with a degree of
compression and distortion that must be addressed still. The sound is adequate at best in its Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo presentation with the clear, clean dialogue always coming
from the front; the series is dialogued based though, so perhaps this is
appropriate? The extras are almost
nonexistent, only offering fans one commentary track on the episode ‘Mr. Monk Stays up All Night’ and seven
other Video Commentary tracks, which this reviewer must say is a nice change up
from just a sound track.
Overall, Monk is a brilliant series that this
reviewer highly recommends. It is not
everyday you have a detective who can clean up the streets so literally and
figuratively.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
