Monk episode review — 8.11 — Mr. Monk and the Dog
Original air date: October 30, 2009

Director: David Breckman

Writer: Beth Armogida

Rating: 8/10

Should Monk get along this well with a dog that he’s forced to adopt due to its owner’s disappearance (which is eventually revealed to be murder)? Almost certainly not. But I appreciate that the show’s not incredibly predictable. And I guess he did come to love that young kid he was stuck with.

The episode does a nice job of showing Monk’s own quirky take on pet ownership. He grooms the dog by vacuuming it, he will only pet it with gloves on, and he tries playing fetch with a brand new baseball in a ziplock bag.

It’s fun stuff, and it’s surprisingly emotional. Okay, maybe this episode just caught me at the right time, but with the pandemic and my visa cancellation, I’m back home, which means I’ve reunied with my dog, who’s now over 16 years old. He’s getting old and he probably doesn’t have too much longer, so a story like this is definitely going to resonate with me now.
['Patrick J Mullen']
['Mystery', 'Television', 'Monk', 'Drama', 'Comedy']