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in her life and her daughter's.

Dr. Kroger: Monk's psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Dr. Kroger almost needs Monk as much as Monk needs him. He wants to free Monk of his obsessions and phobias, but most of all would like to get paid occasionally. Kroger is a Monk fan as well, but is in constant fear as Monk is ever trying to find where he lives, and vacations so that he will be at Monk's beck and call.

The criminals: Seem to always be surprised that someone as defective as Adrian Monk could catch them. This is part of what give the character of Monk an edge.

General Impressions:

What a guy this is, he's afraid of everything, in a constant state of grief. The man is convinced he can't go it alone without his assistant and most importantly his psychiatrist. He was a top police detective who lost his ability to function after the death of his wife, and now he's working privately, for the police department.

He seems to be a one step forward and two steps back person trying to untangle himself from his own mental mess by controlling what is around him. Yet, if you have watched since season one you will have noticed that he is now able to shake hands with people without requiring the wipe. He has been a filthy man stacking the garbage of the city. He's tackled suspects on the run, fired a gun in one episode to stop a criminal.

Most recently his assistant Natalie, unlike Sharona, has successfully pushed him to come out of his constant funk and fears. She is less of an enabler.

Monk has twice been completely without his phobias and symptoms on the show. Once because of a new medication which let Tony Shalhoub come out of his shell and show his uninhibited abilities to change character. The other instance was just this past week when he was temporarily healed by the Cult Guru Howie Mandel's character.

No cure can be permitted to last as it would ruin the show.

The character of Adrian Monk can be either offensive to people with mental health issues, or can be a way of helping the public see that people with mental illness are capable and productive and not to be feared.

I prefer to go for the latter. I don't see the character as distasteful and yet he allows us to laugh at the bits of ourselves we see in him.

Learn more about this author, Glenda K. Fralin.
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