Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion
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Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion is an episode from the fifth season of the television series Monk. It first aired on August 11, 2006.
[edit] Plot
The episode starts off with an aged woman who is leaving her apartment, getting ready to attend a class reunion at a school for which she was once a nurse. She is planning to take the elevator down, but notices a note on the door that reads "Out of order". Disappointed, she comments about it to a man who is standing by her, and proceeds to the staircase. As she is about to descend, the same man comes up from behind her and asks her if she is the former nurse at UC Berkeley. She replies yes and asks him if they know each other. The killer replies, "No, but you know my wife, unfortunately." To this, the nurse asks, "Why unfortunately?" That's when the man starts to strangle her, succeeding in pushing her down the stairs. He takes out a necklace of fake pearls and breaks it, scattering the beads around the stairs and making it look like the necklace broke off and she slid on the beads to her death. While he is planting the evidence, he accidentally drops the 25th college reunion pin on the woman's body.
Cut to theme
While the crime scene unit is ready to dismiss the case as an accident, Stottlemeyer takes the necklace and puts it around the dead woman's neck, realizing that it is too small to have been worn by her. Randy Disher comments on the reunion pin, saying that he recalls it from somewhere. Stottlemeyer immediately declares the area as closed off, saying that this is now a homicide investigation.
Monk is excited about his 25-year class reunion at UC Berkeley, where he and his late wife, Trudy, first met and fell in love. Natalie is worried about leaving him alone, but Monk tells her that it's no problem. He tells her that Berkeley is like his second home and that his nickname used to be Captain Cool. Natalie is intrigued and asks him why they would call him that. Monk does a "cool" pose and replies, "Why do you think?"
Monk is then standing in the reunion line, waiting to be admitted inside. While in line, he is re-acquainted with one Dianne Brooks, who was once Trudy's roommate. They get to talking, and she realizes that she hasn't filled out her reunion application yet, and the two reminisce about how she always did things at the last minute. She asks to use his back to fill out her paper, and he agrees.
The scene shifts to Natalie Teeger, who is about to get into the car and leave when she realizes that she forgot to give Mr. Monk his keys. She sees a couple getting out of their car and asks the man if he's headed to the reunion. The man replies yes, and she asks him to deliver the keys to Adrian Monk. The man is unfamiliar with the name, and so Natalie tries a hand at "Captain Cool", to which the man replies with a smirk and a yes. The man's wife asks the man who Captain Cool is, and the man explains to her that he was a total loser who used to defrost his refrigerator on the weekends, hence the name Captain Cool. Natalie overhears this.
In one amusing scene Monk discovers a refrigerator in need of defrosting/cleaning. For the task, he says, he requires a spatula, a pan and a Bible.
Meanwhile, back at the reunion, things are not exactly as he expected. No one talks to him and no one knows him. They seem to remember Trudy, but he is a blank face, a loser. He meets an African-American man and engages in a conversation with him. They get to talking about their late wives and the African-American man says that it's hard but you soon move on. Monk replies that you can never move on and goes on to describe the pain in a dark and dreary manner. The man is startled and excuses himself to go to his second wife and their newborn baby. Monk looks at the picture perfect family and is sullen and lonely. Just then, Natalie comes to his side. Monk thanks her.
