A lot has changed since Adrian Monk took his last bow on USA network on December 4, 2009.
Fourteen years and four days later (Hey, we’re dealing with Mr. Monk here. We have to be precise!), we’re going to join him again for one last case in the aptly titled Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie.
Peacock released the trailer and key art today, and we can rest assured that not much has changed with the seasoned detective.
What has changed, though, are the times we live in.
Can you imagine Adrian Monk during COVID?
It’s literally his worst nightmare, and he likely survived only through those he loves and trusts.
It’s impossible not to wonder about his mental state, but seeing him at work in the trailer gives us a glimmer of hope that he’s taken the entire thing with a grain of salt.
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Was there anyone better prepared to deal with COVID than Mr. Monk?
If there was a hand-washing contest, we’re pretty sure he’d be the defacto winner, with others dropping out well before the challenge ended.
So what could possibly lure him back to work in a world so vastly different than the one he survived, solving cases over a decade earlier?
That’s easy.
Trudy’s daughter, who was introduced late in Monk’s original run, has had a close relationship with her mother’s husband, and she desperately needs his help.
Molly, an attorney, is busy preparing for her wedding when she comes in desperate need of her step-father’s help. Just like he’d walk to the ends of the earth for Trudy, he’d fly to the moon and back for Molly.
Will he get that chance?
James Purefoy joins the Movie’s cast as what must be another in a long line of billionaires racing into space. In the trailer, Monk cleans his capsule window with a squeegee so he might not be called into the void to protect Molly.
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Still, dealing with that kind of arrogance might prove challenging for Monk. In a meta moment calling to the original series, Purefoy’s character that for a while there, he was solving a case every week. Doh!
Monk likes to be the only arrogant and self-involved character in any room, and with his severe reaction to trauma and his keen skills of deduction, he’s earned that right.
That doesn’t mean he won’t need help in solving any case he encounters. Well, he doesn’t, as he notes in the trailer, but it would take him a lot longer to solve the case. Good ol’ Monk.
Apparently, when Monk calls, people answer. Or, perhaps they’re all in town for Molly’s wedding. Only time will tell, but solving the case gets much easier and a lot more fun when his former colleagues get in on the action.
Traylor Howard returns as Mr. Monk’s former assistant, Natalie Teeger.
I’m sure their relationship has changed. Will Mr. Monk fall into old habits? He never treated his assistants very well, although they loved him nonetheless.
Jason Gray-Stanford also returns as Randy Disher. Photos show he’s still got a knack for taking the long and creative way around the case.
The trailer proves that he and Natalie know their former cohort as well as anyone as they run down his list of ailments. It turns out heights is in the top five, but falls below germs, needles, and birds.
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Does Alfred Hitchcock’s classic The Birds fall into Mr. Monk’s most-watched movies? We think not!
Ted Levine has been all over the place since Monk went off the air, but his semi-gruff and often perplexed Captain Leeland Stottlemeyer was such a defining role that the moment he comes on screen, all is right with the world.
These are the people we all want in our corner when something goes down, and since Mr. Monk still has a cabinet full of prescription medication and the same world-weariness that also hones his insights into the smallest details, he’s probably going to need them.
Although he might never admit it.
But will Mr. Monk’s Last Case be as simple as appearing when a loved one needs him the most? Nothing is ever that simple with Adrian Monk, and we expect the movie will reveal much about the man.
He was driven for years by his determination to solve the truth about Trudy’s death. What sustained him in the wake of the truth?
Mr. Adrian Monk was one of the TV’s best detectives, but he was so much more than that. He proved that being different wasn’t a hindrance but could be an advantage.
How will Mr. Monk rise again to inspire us all once more? And is it really his last case? What if others get in a jam? It’s hard to imagine he’d not jump at the opportunity to help everyone he loves anytime they need him, just as they would do in return.
They’re all questions to be solved on December 8, 2023, when Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie drops on Peacock. That’s a Friday, so there aren’t any excuses not to kick up the dust and enjoy the night with an old friend.
Now, get your first look at the long-awaited return of Mr. Adrian Monk!
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Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
