Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus

"Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus"
Monk episode
Monk and Captain Stottlemeyer watch as Kenworthy is carried on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 10
Directed by	Randall Zisk
Written by	Dan Schofield
Production code	T-1410
Original air date	December 7, 2007
Guest stars
Larry Miller as Garrett Price Emmy Clarke as Julie Teeger Stanley Kamel as Dr. Charles Kroger Randle Mell as Michael Kenworthy Dorothy Constantine as Alice Dubois Gina Philips as Brandy Barber
Season 6 episodes
July 2007 – February 2008 "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan" "Mr. Monk and the Rapper" "Mr. Monk and the Naked Man" "Mr. Monk and the Bad Girlfriend" "Mr. Monk and the Birds and the Bees" "Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure" "Mr. Monk and the Daredevil" "Mr. Monk and the Wrong Man" "Mr. Monk Is Up All Night" "Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus" "Mr. Monk Joins a Cult" "Mr. Monk Goes to the Bank" "Mr. Monk and the Three Julies" "Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece" "Mr. Monk Is On The Run" (Part One) "Mr. Monk Is On The Run" (Part Two)
Episode chronology
← Previous "Mr. Monk Is Up All Night" Next → "Mr. Monk Joins a Cult"
Monk (season 6) List of Monk episodes

"Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of Monk, and is the 87th episode overall. It is the third annual Christmas special of the series, and was first broadcast in the United States on the USA Network on December 7, 2007, during a hiatus in the middle of the season. It was also the first episode of Monk to be broadcast in HD widescreen.

According to Nielsen ratings, the episode was viewed by over 4.5 million viewers on the original night of broadcast in the United States.^[1]

Plot

Outside the MacMillan Museum in San Francisco, Natalie Teeger is fighting traffic to get Adrian Monk to his appointment with Dr. Kroger, and Monk complains about how much he hates missing his sessions, because it takes him three to four more sessions just to get over the stress. He is also grousing about how much he hates Christmas (as Natalie confides to Julie, Trudy died ten years ago that December, or to be more precise, 10 years and 5 days ago). As they are sitting in traffic, Julie points out the MacMillan Museum, which is housing a diamond, the Star of Bethlehem.

Suddenly, traffic comes to a dead stop when retired parole officer Michael Kenworthy, dressed in a Santa Claus outfit starts showering toys on the street from a roof, shouting "Merry Christmas." Furious that Kenworthy is disrupting traffic, Monk heads up, alone, and a few minutes later, Natalie and Julie are alarmed to hear two gunshots. They run up to the roof and see Monk, holding a gun, standing over Kenworthy, who has been shot twice in his right arm.

As Kenworthy is carried on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher arrest Monk (though more for his own protection than for the shooting). At the police station, Monk give his version of the events to Stottlemeyer, Disher, and Garrett Price, his lawyer.

Monk says that he went up to confront Kenworthy about his disruption of traffic. He was about to give up and head downstairs when all of a sudden, a gun fell out of Kenworthy's pocket. He started asking Kenworthy questions about the weapon (like if he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon). Monk started to pick it up, and that's when Kenworthy went berserk and attacked him. Monk eventually grabbed Kenworthy's gun, and just as Kenworthy was about to swing a pipe at him, Monk shot him twice in the arm, in other words, self-defense.

Randy mentions to Monk that Kenworthy's version of events is different: he said he simply wanted to do something nice for the city, and claims that the gun isn't his, and Monk is the one who attacked him. Even though the gun was in Kenworthy's pocket (per Monk's account), the cops only found Monk's fingerprints on the gun. Currently, as things stand, Kenworthy's version is so convincing that Price urges Monk to claim to the press that Kenworthy had brandished a bomb, to further back up Monk's self-defense story.

In another part of the city, sensationalist news reporter Brandy Barber (Gina Philips) and her cameraman seize on the story, broadcasting Monk as "The Man Who Shot Santa Claus." The perspective of Monk as being a modern Ebenezer Scrooge reaches large numbers of people. Monk quickly figures this out when he and Natalie are suddenly getting harassed everywhere they go. When they go to a store and Monk is fussing over gift wrapping, a crowd surrounds him. Natalie has to grab Monk and they head out via a back way (though Monk ends up knocking over a number of store cardboard cutouts in the process).

Monk decides to "take the offensive," and accept Brandy's offer to go on TV and tell his side of the story. Natalie warns him not to, as Brandy will manipulate his words and he will come out looking worse than ever, but he remains confident that "truth is on his side".

Before the interview, an anonymous caller telephones Brandy and tells her that he saw Monk burying something behind his apartment. Brandy and her cameraman go there late at night to dig it up, and find a piece of ivory, chipped off the handle of the gun that Monk claimed was not his.

During the interview, which takes place in a dressed up version of Monk's apartment, Natalie begs Brandy to be merciful, but Brandy - in her sweet, saccharine way - smells blood in the water. After a few innocuous questions, she produces the ivory piece and compares it to the photo of the gun. Monk denies burying the gun in the park, but admits that he recognizes the gun he shot Santa with. Then, an exasperated Monk fulfills Brandy's wildest fantasies, looking straight into the camera and saying, "I did not shoot Santa Claus. That man was not Santa Claus... there's no such thing as Santa Claus." On citywide television. With families and hundreds of small children watching.

Acting on the suspicion that Monk might have stumbled upon something more than a simple toy giveaway, Stottlemeyer and Disher go to Kenworthy's apartment to question him. When asked about what he was doing on the roof when Monk shot him, Kenworthy just shrugs and claims that he loves Christmas and wanted to give away some toys. Stottlemeyer, however, is not convinced by this story, and notes that they've checked Kenworthy's phone records, and have discovered that he has been regularly contacted for the past few weeks by several of the ex-cons who were under his charge before he retired. Kenworthy claims that they're good guys, and he likes simply keeping in touch with them, but Stottlemeyer notes that these "good guys" are as hardened a crew of thieves and grifters as have ever been guests of the state (charged with a variety of different crimes like grand theft auto, burglary, attempted murder, etc). Kenworthy says that if they're accusing him of something, they need to prove it, and he kicks them out. With a predatory smile, Stottlemeyer explains what his problem is: either Kenworthy is lying, or Monk is (and being Monk's closest friend, Stottlemeyer is pretty sure that the detective is probably the honest and truthful person in the incident).

That night, Alice Dubois is walking home from work and passes Kenworthy, who is out on the street posing as a sidewalk Santa with a coin deposit box (the sling is a dead giveaway), and ringing a bell. As Dubois is entering her building, Thorne, one of Kenworthy's ex-cons, and carrying a knife, attacks her. She fends off Thorne by attacking him with pepper spray. Kenworthy, seeing his ex-con attacking the victim, walks over. Dubois thanks Kenworthy, but Kenworthy says that he knows that Thorne tried to attack her, and bludgeons the luckless old lady to death with his bell.

The next morning, despite the distractions, Monk and Natalie locate several clues. Stottlemeyer notes that based on the pepper spray they found, the victim did put up a fight with her attackers, and eyewitnesses reported hearing screaming and a clanging noise. Randy mentions that Alice Dubois worked at the MacMillan Museum, and snaps at the gathering crowd. Meanwhile, Monk realizes that the attackers had to have been camped out for a while and weren't there at the wrong time: in the dirt, he finds eight cigarette butts and one match, indicating that the man waiting for her (Thorne) was a chain smoker. Monk notes that it takes approximately six minutes to smoke a cigarette, which means that he was most likely waiting for at least 48 minutes at that spot before he attempted to ambush her. Things take a real turn for the worse when someone pelts Natalie with an egg (with Monk getting hit by shrapnel of the egg). Stottlemeyer lashes out at the crowd, and still fuming, he orders for Monk and Natalie to be taken under the escort of a uniformed officer over to the medical examiner's van.

Speaking with the medical examiner, Monk spots three holes in the dirt that appear to be from a tripod, like the type that a sidewalk Santa uses for his collection box. A closer look finds several candy canes around the tripod's legs. The medical examiner has determined that Alice was bludgeoned eight or nine times with an object that had a flat edge. Monk quickly figures that the murder weapon was a bell. From the pattern of the wounds, Monk is quick to determine that the killer either was left-handed or was right-handed but had his right arm in a sling. He quickly concludes that Kenworthy is probably the killer.

Elsewhere, Kenworthy speaks with his crew of ex-cons, as they exchange details about a revised burglary they plan to execute the following day at the MacMillan Museum. He reassures one con, Carl, that they will make sure his arm is examined when they get to Ecuador. He assures the other crew, including Thorne and another guy, Bobby, that the shooting was a minor setback, and he didn't know that Monk would be on the roof at the time. He assures them that the plan is rock-solid, and informs Carl and Bobby about how he and Thorne have taken care of Alice Dubois, to which Thorne jokingly says Dubois will not be going into work as "she had a death in the family". Carl confirms that he's called his boss at the museum to allow him to work the gift shop from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM, and they'll do the operation at 6:00 PM, after the museum closes. Kenworthy ends the meeting by telling him that he's made an agenda, and Thorne jokingly asks him if he "checked it twice."

In session with Dr. Kroger, Monk talks about how Christmas has always been one of the most miserable times of his life, the exception being his years with Trudy. She loved Christmas, and always made Monk see the happy side of it, whereas his childhood Christmases were, without exception, bleak. When Dr. Kroger picks a random year from Monk's childhood (1964), Monk relates: their mother was sick, Ambrose locked himself in the basement until the holiday was over, and his father gave him a single walkie-talkie as a gift - saying that Adrian only needed one, since he had no friends he needed to talk to. But mulling over this morose detail leads Adrian to remember something about the shooting, and he solves the case. He heads out of the office via the front door despite Dr. Kroger's warning not to do so, to be mobbed by the crowd again.

Here's What Happened

Monk and Natalie return to the roof where the shooting took place. Monk explains that when he was remembering the single walkie-talkie, he suddenly remembered that when Lieutenant Disher was running an inventory of the items in Kenworthy's toy bag after the shooting, he logged in a single walkie-talkie. Natalie initially thinks it may have been a lookout, but Monk notes that lookouts are generally more subtle:

Kenworthy had planned a robbery of the MacMillan Museum, which is exhibiting the priceless Star of Bethlehem diamond. He contacted his ex-cons to form a gang to carry out the heist, with Kenworthy acting as the diversion, dropping toys in order to stop traffic and block the police from reaching the museum. When Natalie asks Monk about why she never heard about any robbery happening, Monk explains that the robbery almost succeeded, but when Kenworthy was shot, the plan was totally ruined. One of Kenworthy's accomplices, Carl, works in the museuem's gift shop. The original heist had been planned for that time because that was the time when he was on duty. After the shooting, the plan had to change. Carl must have realized that his hours wouldn't be able to correspond with a good time to carry out the heist (near closing time). Kenworthy and Thorne hence took care of Alice Dubois, so that Carl could fill in for her today (on the grounds that she had a death in the family).

Hearing car horns blaring madly, Natalie looks down sees a Belham Brothers Quarry truck stopped in the intersection, apparently having broken down. When she also sees Bobby, another one of Kenworthy's henchmen, talking to someone on a walkie-talkie, and also sees Kenworthy back out with his Santa suit for camouflage, they realize that the second heist is in progress. Monk races downstairs, instructing Natalie to call the police for help.

Down below, Carl disables the alarms to let the rest of the robbery crew in. They don their masks, break open the case containing the diamond, and steal it. One of them passes the diamond over to Kenworthy. He is about to leave, but when he notices Monk running towards him, he takes off. Brandy, who happens to be covering the diamond's last day in the museum, sees Monk chasing Santa (Kenworthy) and also gives chase with her cameraman.

Monk pursues Kenworthy through the streets, finally tackling him at a holiday display where a group of schoolchildren are singing "Noel." As an entire crowd watches, the kids keep singing, and Brandy and her cameraman film the whole thing, Kenworthy viciously punches Monk, then draws a wicked-looking knife, which he prepares to kill Monk with. But Monk gets the better of him, and knocks him unconscious with an oversized candy cane. Kenworthy and his accomplices are arrested, and the diamond is recovered. Brandy immediately goes on television, praising Monk as "The Man Who Saved Christmas." Natalie and Julie spend Christmas Eve at his apartment, and coax him to smile for a group photograph with them.

Critical reception

IGN was "excited to see the show return" for a Christmas special but was disappointed in the underutilization of Larry Miller's character, and the lack of any further clues to the mystery surrounding the death of Adrian Monk's wife, Trudy, despite several mentions of the event during the episode.^[2]

Michael Storey of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette called the episode "a hoot and well worth your time."^[3]

Ted Cox of the Chicago-area Daily Herald said that the episode was "not even as good as last year's Christmas special," ("Mr. Monk Meets His Dad"), and also laments mention of Trudy's unsolved murder without the "element of lost love" that "made the early 'Monks' great".^[4]

Kelly West of Cinemablend.com didn't think the episode had enough of the "touchy-feely stuff" expected in a holiday-themed episode and that it wasn't "really all that different from any other episode in terms of the story", but felt it was "full of laughs and definitely worth watching, if only to see Monk throw down with Santa."^[5]

References

1. ^ "Top Cable Dec 3-9, MNF and the Family Channel", TVbytheNumbers.com, December 11, 2007
2. ^ "Monk: 'Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa' Review", IGN, December 10, 2007
3. ^ "TV Column: Monk faces grim Christmas after he shoots Santa Claus", Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 6, 2007
4. ^ "Christmas fruitcakes: 'Monk', 'Psych' deliver top-notch holiday specials", Daily Herald, December 7, 2007
5. ^ "Monk - 'Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa'", CinemaBlend.com, December 1, 2007

External links

• "Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa" on the USA Network website
• "Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus" at TV.com
• "'Monk' Returns Tonight for a Holiday-Themed Episode", BuddyTV, December 7, 2007