Greatly refreshing about the 11th, season seven episode of "Monk" is that it has the defective detective solve a crime that involves unusual circumstances, but that bares enough character-developing and comedic fruit to make it work.
Risky is setting up Monk to become extremely happy when he visits a laboratory that grows symmetrically square tomatoes and unrealistically fast-growing other vegetables only to knock him down when he is shot in one leg, causing his two legs to not match. But having the murder motive tie into the super vegetable lab ultimately justifies why the crime later goes down.
Paying off about having Monk shot is how funny Monk can be when he justifiably complains about his leg, forcing the guilt-ridden Natalie to cater to his needs even more than she already does, and how he hops around on one leg when Stottlemeyer forces him out of a car without a crutch, just to name a few scenes that benefit from his pain.
Also in pain in the episode is Natalie, who becomes frustrated with Monk taking advantage of his limited physical condition to act like a pampered brat king. Making Natalie go through this experience is meant both to show how naively nice she is and eventually force her boss to finally appreciate all her tiresome efforts.
A nice touch is the steep hill Natalie has to ascend while at the same time pushing Monk in his umbrella-covered wheelchair that goes with the characteristic no-so-flat landscape of San Francisco.
Worth considerable praise is the creatively novel murder case, which is not as simple to solve as past cases, that starts with Monk trying to find a stolen bicycle, involves a miracle invention and utilizes clues such as recycled shoes with one unique characteristic.
"Nice bolt cutters" is a needless line of dialogue for Natalie, though, unless she is flirting with the bike thief.
As much as the premise of the episode pays off, it also has problems such as that it requires needlessly introducing a garbage man, who is also an amateur detective, and that a person is killed for no apparent other than that his murder scene produces one essential clue. Not to mention the amazing invention of fast-growing vegetables.
One simply has to try very hard to forget that Monk lives in a world in which world hunger will soon be over in order to accept the premise.
Not as easy to accept is what unnecessarily happens to Monk again in the end simply to provide the episode with a sense of everything having come full-circle.
Despite these few quips, "Mr. Monk on Wheels" is a creative risk that ultimately breaks even given the "karma chips" its writers try to cash in with loyal viewers.
Popcorn rating:(4 out of 5 pieces)
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