Mr. Monk and the Earthquake
| "Mr. Monk and the Earthquake" |
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"Mr. Monk and the Earthquake" was an episode of the TV series Monk.
Plot Synopsis
A wealthy man is killed at the time of an earthquake and the question is was it an accident or murder. If it was murder how was it done? His wife Christine may have murdered Henry Rutherford, but how and why?
Plot
The episode begins with an earthquake that causes a lot of damage to the city. Christine Rutherford takes advantage of the earthquake, kills her extremely wealthy and very much older husband, Henry Rutherford, by crowning him with a broken ceramic bust. She pushes over a large bookshelf which crushes her husband to make it seem like an accident. In the mean time Shiarona checks up on Mr. Monk and is horrified to discover that he has started is speaking fluently in gibberish because of the stress in which he has a enormous emotional disassociative reaction according to his erstwhile psychiatrist. Amazingly, Monk seems to be unconcerned by the fact that his apartment has been damaged. In his apartment everything is in disarray. Thus his lack of concern about his apartment seems atypical in view of the obsessive compulsive personality of Mr. Monk.
Sharona had previously been working with Mr. Rutherford on a charity, so when she finds out about his death, she decides to go with Monk to provide solace to his wife. While there Monk notices scuff marks on the wall where the shelf was, and that pictures along the same wall seemed not to be affected by the earthquake. At this point Monk cannot speak English. Later after recovering his speech faculty Monk conveys his doubts to Stottlemeyer, but Stottlemeyer is too busy with the earthquake and cannot help Monk with his case.
Sharona falls for a charismatic Australian reporter named Darryl Wright while displaced from her home which has suffered earthquake damage. Sharona crashes with her competitive sister, Gail, as does Darryl. The two sisters manifest sibling rivaly in very amusing adolescent exchanges of put downs and verbal attacks. Monk quickly grows suspicious of Darryl, noticing lies that Darryl told and suspects that Darryl knows Christine. Later Darryl tries to break into an apartment in the neighborhood of Shirona's home and when an electrician tries to stop him Darryl stabs him. An after shock sends Monk back into talking gibberish in another disassociative reaction just as he solves the case. Monk hypothesizes that Darryl and Christine have been having an affair. The fact is that Henry Rutherford was leaving a phone message for Sharona when the earthquake struck. Then he was leaving another message just as he was being attacked by Christine. Only after murdering her husband did Christine realize that the murder had been recorded on the open phone line. Since then Darryl has been trying to get into Shirona's home by seducing Sharona pretending to be an innocent reporter who is going to do a story on her and her son. Later. Darryl and Christine take Sharona to her apartment at knife-point but Monk arrives and he, Shirona, and Captain Stottlemeyer heroically save the day.
See also
Trivia
- In this episode Sharona's sister Gail is shown for the first time.
- In this episode it is also revealed Sharona is a Catholic and attends St. Claire's Church.