The WORST episodes of Monk

Every episode of Monk ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Monk!

An ex-cop suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder solves crimes with various (and usually exasperated) sidekicks. The 'defective detective' may have an abundance of phobias (heights, crowds, and even milk), but also razor-sharp deductive skills, which he uses to help the San Francisco police with especially baffling cases.

Last Updated: 9/4/2024Network: USA NetworkStatus: Ended
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Mr. Monk and the Actor
star
7.14
673 votes

#1 - Mr. Monk and the Actor

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/7/2006

While working on a double murder, Monk finds that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery when he finds that an obsessive method actor has been cast to play...Adrian Monk in a new movie.

Directors: Randy Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the Missing Granny
star
7.19
631 votes

#2 - Mr. Monk and the Missing Granny

Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/6/2004

A law student (Rachel Dratch) offers to get Monk reinstated to the police force in exchange for his help in finding the kidnappers of her beloved grandmother.

Directors: Tony Bill
Writer: Joe Toplyn
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the Naked Man
star
7.23
577 votes

#3 - Mr. Monk and the Naked Man

Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/27/2007

Monk must confront his prejudice against nudists when he's called to investigate a murder on a nude beach.

Directors: Randy Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus
star
7.34
556 votes

#4 - Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus

Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/7/2007

Monk becomes a social pariah when he shoots a man dressed as Santa Claus. Then he must clear his name and foil a larger criminal plot, all in time for Christmas.

Directors: Randy Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Gets Hypnotized
star
7.34
655 votes

#5 - Mr. Monk Gets Hypnotized

Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 9/12/2008

Monk agrees to undergo hypnotic therapy as treatment for his OCD and reverts to a different persona.

Directors: Michael Watkins
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the Blackout
star
7.34
670 votes

#6 - Mr. Monk and the Blackout

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/9/2004

Three deaths during a city-wide blackout result in a joint investigation by Stottlemeyer, Monk, Sharona, and Disher, with the unprecedented cooperation of the FBI and the help of power company spokeswoman Michelle Rivas, an attractive brunette who is inexplicably attracted to Monk. While Sharona and Dr. Kroger pressure Monk to call Michelle, Disher follows up on Monk's suggestion that the power outage is connected to a '90s radical named Winston Brenner. Everything fits--the handwriting in the note, the phrasing, even a pair of photographs. Everything except one small detail at the end of the report--Brenner died in 1995. When the FBI acknowledges the possibility that Brenner may have faked his own death to avoid a trial, Captain Stottlemeyer presents a tree-hugging former friend of Brenner's with the evidence that Brenner is still alive and reminds him that this particular power outage is also a homicide. When the tree-hugger is murdered, it becomes clear that the killer is indeed Bre

Directors: Michael Zinberg
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Is at Your Service
star
7.35
608 votes

#7 - Mr. Monk Is at Your Service

Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/26/2007

When Natalie suspects foul play in the deaths of her parents' wealthy neighbors, Monk goes undercover as a butler to investigate.

Directors: Anton Cropper
Writer: Rob LaZebnik
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the Game Show
star
7.37
679 votes

#8 - Mr. Monk and the Game Show

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 8/13/2004

With Sharona in New Jersey to visit her ailing mother, Monk is left in the very incompetent hands of his annoying upstairs neighbor, Kevin Dorfman, but the prospect of a week with Kevin is eased somewhat by a visit from Trudy's father, Dwight Ellison. Dwight invites Monk (and Kevin) to spend the week with him and his wife, Marcia – and at the same time investigate gameshow host Roddy Lankman, who appears to be involved in a conspiracy to allow one of his contestants, Val Birch, to win every game. Despite the memories of Trudy aroused by spending time with her parents in her former home and the questionable help of Kevin, Monk discovers evidence that Lankman visited Birch's house – and that Birch visited the site of the accident that killed Lankman's assistant, Lizzie Talvo. To discover exactly how Lankman and his crooked contestant are communicating – and possibly prove that they're involved in something much worse than cheating – Monk becomes a contestant on the game show. His knowledge o

Directors: Randy Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert
star
7.37
501 votes

#9 - Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert

Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 8/25/2006

Monk goes to a rock concert to look for Captain Stottlemeyer's son and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation.

Directors: Randy Zisk
Writer: Blair Singer
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the Miracle
star
7.37
639 votes

#10 - Mr. Monk and the Miracle

Season 7 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/28/2008

When three homeless men seek Monk's services at the holidays, Natalie convinces him to investigate their friend's death; Stottlemeyer's faith is reawakened after a visit to a monastery fountain rids him of crippling pain.

Directors: Andrei Belgrader
Writer: Peter Wolk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the Rapper
star
7.39
506 votes

#11 - Mr. Monk and the Rapper

Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/20/2007

Monk is hired to clear the name of a famous rap star who is accused of murder.

Directors: Paris Barclay
Writer: Dan Dratch
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife
star
7.39
596 votes

#12 - Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife

Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/13/2004

A tow truck driver is shot dead by a roadside sniper. His truck then careens off the road and crashes into Karen Stottlemeyer's (Glenne Headly) oncoming van, leaving her in a coma. Monk, most interested by the fact that the shooter and the driver were barefoot, must find out what really happened and keep Leland from doing something that could cost him his badge.

Directors: Jerry Levine
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Goes to Jail
star
7.39
585 votes

#13 - Mr. Monk Goes to Jail

Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/5/2004

When a death row inmate is poisoned to death 45 minutes before his scheduled execution, Monk is brought in to find out why and runs into his nemesis, Dale the Whale (Tim Curry), who will offer Monk information about Trudy if he finds who killed the inmate. The suspects, however, are endless, including the prison librarian (Kathy Baker), another inmate (Danny Trejo), and even neo-Nazis.

Directors: Jerry Levine
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the Big Reward
star
7.41
701 votes

#14 - Mr. Monk and the Big Reward

Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/3/2006

Low on cash because they haven't had a homicide to investigate in three weeks, Monk and Natalie search for the stolen Alexander Diamond, hoping to win the million-dollar reward. Unfortunately, they have competition in the form of a retired Scotland Yard investigator, a bounty hunter, and a gadget-loving private detective, all of whom want the reward money for themselves. Monk quickly figures out that the heist was an inside job and that one of the robbers was under five feet tall, short enough to hide inside a roll-top desk. He also discovers a clue linking a perpetrator to a transcendental meditation retreat. With their competitors close behind them, Monk and Natalie head for the retreat, where they find the thief, who is unfortunately dead. Meanwhile, Disher is having to interrogate a strange young woman who keeps turning herself in for such "crimes" as stealing pens or murdering a hamster. Monk tells Natalie that he's solved the case and they race to the police station with the other detectives following. The only thing left is to find the diamond before their competitors do.

Directors: Randy Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale
star
7.42
854 votes

#15 - Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 7/26/2002

When a local judge is found murdered, all the evidence points to one man: an 800 lb (360 kg) reclusive tycoon named Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck (Adam Arkin). However, due to his extreme obesity, he is unable to leave his bed.

Directors: Rob Thompson
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the T.V. Star
star
7.43
631 votes

#16 - Mr. Monk and the T.V. Star

Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/30/2004

Monk suspects the star (Billy Burke) of a popular CSI-based TV crime show of killing his ex-wife so that he doesn't have to share his enormous paychecks with her.

Directors: Randy Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and Little Monk
star
7.43
592 votes

#17 - Mr. Monk and Little Monk

Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 8/26/2005

Monk flashes back to his early teenage years.

Directors: Randy Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and Mrs. Monk
star
7.44
659 votes

#18 - Mr. Monk and Mrs. Monk

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 8/12/2005

Is Monk hallucinating or is he really seeing Trudy?

Directors: Randy Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Gets Married
star
7.44
624 votes

#19 - Mr. Monk Gets Married

Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/27/2004

When Randy's mother gets married to an antiques store dealer (Nestor Carbonell), Randy becomes suspicious of his new stepfather and asks Monk and Sharona to look into him.

Directors: Craig Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa
star
7.44
591 votes

#20 - Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa

Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/2/2005

When an officer dies after drinking poisoned wine sent to Captain Stottlemeyer as a Christmas gift, the captain suspects Frank Prager, who tried to shoot him outside a bar several months earlier. Searching the crime scene for clues, Monk notes that the bullet holes seem to form a pattern, but neither he nor Stottlemeyer can figure out the message they're intended to convey. After trying unsuccessfully to talk with Prager's young daughter, Monk goes under cover as Santa Claus. This time he learns that Prager is hiding in a church with "three ladies" in front of it. But when Prager is caught and interrogated, it's clear that he had nothing to do with the poisoned wine. With the other suspects on Disher's list also eliminated, Monk and the captain are back to square one. But when Monk opens the card accompanying his gift from the Christmas party, he finds the clue that solves the case.

Directors: Jerry Levine
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Goes to Vegas
star
7.44
645 votes

#21 - Mr. Monk Goes to Vegas

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/18/2005

In the middle of the night, Monk receives a phone call from a drunken Stottlemeyer, who has gone to Las Vegas with Disher for a fellow officer's bachelor party. Stottlemeyer believes that a wealthy casino owner has murdered his wife, but he needs Monk's help to prove that the death wasn't an accident. Unfortunately, when Monk arrives in Vegas with Natalie the next morning, Stottlemeyer can't remember anything that happened the previous night – including how his pants happened to be thrown out the window. As Monk and Natalie explore the elevator where the woman died, interrogate witnesses, and reenact the death scene (with Monk in the role of victim), Stottlemeyer tries to retrace his steps and deal with Disher, who has become addicted to blackjack and fallen hopelessly deep into debt. When Monk, at Stottlemeyer's insistence, takes Disher's place at the blackjack table to win back his money, he figures out how the murder occurred as he simultaneously places winning bets, but the casino o...

Directors: Randy Zisk
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Gets Lotto Fever
star
7.44
658 votes

#22 - Mr. Monk Gets Lotto Fever

Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 8/1/2008

Monk has to help out Natalie when she becomes involved in a lotto scandal.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
Writer: Hy Conrad
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Is Someone Else
star
7.44
813 votes

#23 - Mr. Monk Is Someone Else

Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 8/28/2009

Monk assumes a dead hitman's identity in order to foil an assassination plot.

Directors: Mary Lou Belli
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Takes a Punch
star
7.45
683 votes

#24 - Mr. Monk Takes a Punch

Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 8/8/2008

Monk finds a new lease on life after giving up his hope of reinstatement to the SFPD.

Directors: Barnet Kellman
Writer: Sal Savo
Watch Now:Apple TV
Mr. Monk Is on the Air
star
7.46
569 votes

#25 - Mr. Monk Is on the Air

Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/2/2007

Monk goes toe to toe with a popular radio shock jock who is suspected of killing his wife.

Directors: Mike Listo
Watch Now:Apple TV