Mr. Monk and the Three Pies
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| “Mr. Monk and the Three Pies” | |||||||
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| Monk episode | |||||||
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 11 |
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| Written by | |||||||
| Production no. | T-1412 | ||||||
| Original airdate | January 23, 2004 | ||||||
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| List of Monk episodes | |||||||
Mr. Monk and the Three Pies is an episode of the TV-series Monk.
[edit] Plot synopsis
An elderly woman wins a cherry pie at a town raffle, but is killed by a man who demanded she give him the pie. While the police dismiss the homicide as a case of carjacking, Monk remains suspicious.
He receives a call from his estranged brother, Ambrose (John Turturro). Ambrose, an agoraphobe who never leaves his home, suspects his neighbor of murdering his wife. Monk and Sharona drive to his house, where Monk shows how angry he is at Ambrose. Here it is revealed that Ambrose is obsessed with the idea that his father is coming back, and that he writes manuals for appliances. There are various clues how dysfuntional the family is around the house.
Ambrose then declares his suspicion of murder. He had heard VanRanken and Rita, his wife, fighting, then four shots were fired. The husband drove off and was gone all night. When Ambrose asked, the husband claimed that his wife is in Argentina and calls Ambrose a lunatic. Sharona asks if Ambrose called the police, to which replies that he uses the 911 code too often, so the police no longer respond. When they leave, Sharona actually hugs Monk, thanking him for making her family seem normal.
Monk does not plan to look into the case, but notices that the dead spot on the neighbors grass does not match up with the car, causing him to go and investigate. Monk notices a parking permit on the car and a single shoe in the trash. They leave, and begin to observe Mr. VanRanken. Monk points out that the floor has been bleached in the kitchen. Ambrose shows an incredible knowledge of the area by locating the exact spot where VanRanken was, using the acorns. He shows an obvious disdain for "this detective stuff".
They then notice the husband leaving, but Ambrose refuses to leave the house, making Sharona realize how important she is for Monk. VanRanken leads them to a carnival, joins the potato sack race, and works desperately to get second place, for which the prize is a cherry pie. He then travels to a park and begins searching through the pie. Monk, at this point, has no idea.
Back at Ambrose's house, Ambrose remembers a cherry pie in the newspaper a few days ago. The three call Captain Stottlemeyer to the house, but he leaves due to a lack of concrete evidence. Sharona sees a list of prizes for the next races. The pie is given away at bingo the next day. Despite his purchase of twelve tickets, Monk loses the pie to VanRanken. The captain is called to the scene, where the pie is searched as Monk does his black-and-white recap-as the wife put the pies on the counter, VanRanken came in, and there was a fight. He shot her four times, and one of the shell cases must have landed in the pie. However, the pie does not contain the shell, causing Captain Stottlemeyer to leave in disgust.
Monk returns to Ambrose, where Ambrose reveals that he feels responsible for Trudy's murder, because he asked her to go get some cough medicine for him when a bomb exploded. Later, both VanRanken and Monk perform simultaneous experiments to find the shell, both concluding that it fell, not in the pie, but in the sack of flour that Ambrose lent to VanRanken's wife.
As Monk and Sharona drive over to the house, VanRanken attempts to get the flour sack back from Ambrose. He says that he needs the flour, because he's making chili. Ambrose points out that chili doesn't call for flour. When Ambrose won't give him the flour, VanRanken tries to remove the evidence by setting Ambrose's house on fire. Fighting between agoraphobia and the threat of smoke inhalation, Ambrose remains in the burning house, until Monk breaks in to rescue him. Stottlemeyer and Disher return to arrest VanRankin. They found his wife's remains in the forest.
Later Ambrose and Adrian go to Trudy's grave to pay final respects.
