"Monk" is known for having its share of theme episodes, but "Mr. Monk and the Magician" is one creative rabbit that was needlessly pulled from wherever the idea for the 15th, season seven episode originated.
Too much is required to accept in order to enjoy the mediocre story.
Essential is the first scene in which a magician known as The Great Torini (Steve Valentine) makes a deal with heroine dealers because it establishes a strong homicide motive and that he likes to play around with danger. It could have done without the continuous magic puns that are probably left in to serve as winks to families watching that the episode is more frivolous than serious, though.
Particularly entertaining about this more than 40-minute-long episode is the clumsily neurotic Kevin Dorfman (Jarrad Paul), Tony Shalhoub's Monk's recurring friend who hilariously tries his hand at magic until he metaphorically dies on stage and then literally in a backstage dressing room. His horrible act only serves to make Torini's later magic tricks all the more amazingly bedeviling.
Any charlatan can pull a rabbit out of a hat, after all, and even the slightly compassionate nature of Torini's female assistant Tanya (Peyton List) is developed to make him seem more licentious.
What is less engaging is how callously the writers have begun taking creative liberties with the series' hallmarks for no apparent reason other than that "Monk" will soon be over and no longer need the Kevin Dorfman character.
This is really a needless death that they would be hard-pressed to justify making into another random case for Monk to solve.
At least Kevin, who was always portrayed as a lonely person without many friends, is shown to have made many while alive with his sweet, albeit eccentric, personality at the wake. In the end, this painstakingly charming attribute is the cleverly ironic reason why he is murdered.
Torini, who was never truly Kevin's friend, is a great villain for Monk on paper, but ends up being no more formidable than his ability to misdirect viewers from the more simple circumstances of the homicide he commits. He is simply a convenient storytelling tool with which to keep anyone from guessing how the magician did it before Monk solves the case.
Therein lies one of the magic-themed episode's saving graces in that nothing is at first as it appears, particularly the custodian in the hallway.
Then again, it diminishes the importance of Kevin's death in that more time is not invested in developing the Torini character for viewers to care that he is meant to be one of Monk's greatest adversaries.
Monk, who seemingly disliked Kevin before his untimely death, shows his true colors in confronting claustrophobia to learn how Torini was able to murder his friend from 300 miles away. But even this exploration of the character comes about in a breezy manner.
Not helping the episode's fast pace is the questionable and not so obvious reason why Monk does not want kiss the noticeably attractive Tanya when she tries to help him escape from Torini's clutches. One can only assume it is out his loyalty to Trudy, some phobia, or his utter dislike for her as a human being.
Investing too much into what could have been a great case, "Mr. Monk and the Magician" is at best worth watching because it features an entertaining magical theme that astounds the eyes, but ultimately falls short to amaze viewers' sense of a worthwhile story.
Popcorn rating:(3 out of 5 pieces)
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