Monk: Season 02  (2003)

Theatrical Release Information:
Monk: Season 02

America's favorite super-phobic, obsessive-compulsive detective is back on the job as Monk launches its second season. Still freelancing as a consultant for the SFPD, and ever hoping that he will one day be reinstated on the force as a full detective, the hilariously hypersensitive Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) gingerly picks through clues and braves such "horrors" as dirty sewer water, large crowds, and darkened rooms, aided and abetted by his nurse, Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram). This season's case load begins as Monk visits the school where his late wife, Trudy, was once employed, whereupon he probes into the highly suspect "suicide" of an English teacher. Subsequent episodes find Monk nervously traveling to Mexico to determine how a man could possibly drown in mid-air; developing a symbiotic relationship with a baseball player suspected of killing his wife; doing his best to avoid investigating a murder in which a key piece of evidence is a nude picture of Sharona; calling a truce in his ongoing feud with his brother Ambrose (John Turtorro) to deal with a "life or death" situation involving, of all things, a cherry pie; piecing together enough evidence to trap the host of a popular "true crime" TV series who has committed murder over residuals; offering to locate a kidnapped grandmother, whose abductors have demand a ransom consisting of hot turkey dinners; and coming to the rescue of Sharona's actress sister (Amy Sedaris), accused of killing a fellow actor during a performance. New to the series this season is Glenne Headley in the recurring role of Karen Stottlemeyer, wife of Monk's long-suffering boss Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), who insists upon invading her husband's office to film her air-headed documentaries. The season ends on a cliffhanger, as Monk goes to prison to flush out a nest of neo-Nazis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide