Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan - Plot

Plot

After receiving a tip from Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck in the preceding episode, "Mr. Monk Goes to Jail", Adrian Monk flies to New York City, accompanied by Sharona Fleming, Captain Stottlemeyer, and Lieutenant Disher, all with the same mission – to find Warrick Tennyson, who Dale said was “involved” in the murder of Monk’s wife, Trudy.

Suddenly, while they are checking in at their hotel, the new Latvian ambassador Dmitry Kreslov and his two bodyguards are shot to death in one of the elevators. The shooter runs out of the hotel covering his face, and Monk says he can identify the man – but only by the shape of his left ear. Although Stottlemeyer says they are there to find Tennyson, Captain Walter Cage (Mykelti Williamson) asks for their help in solving the ambassador’s murder, which could have dire political implications. Stottlemeyer encourages Monk, reminding him that it's important to make a good impression for the NYPD.

Monk notices some clues: the ambassador’s coat is damp, but his bodyguards’ are dry. When the Ambassador brushed past Monk a few minutes before the murder, Monk remembers his coat was dry. Monk also heard the ambassador say something that sounded like, "she’s now gone meatless."

The four retrace the ambassador's movements that day; his last stop before arriving at the hotel was at a small bar/restaurant near Central Park. At the bar, Disher reveals that he just got a new Rolex watch that can tell him the times all around the world (When he shows it, it's 5:30 in New York, 3:30 in Denver, 12:17 PM in Los Angeles, and in Paris, time has stopped (proof that the watch is malfunctioning). Stottlemeyer and Disher go back to the precinct to find out where Tennyson is hiding.

Monk and Sharona, meanwhile go to Brooklyn to question Elmer Gratnik, a Latvian exile who might have had a motive. When they find him, he is playing a game of chess against another Latvian player. Gratnik does not know anything about the murder, but his opponent recognizes the ambassador’s words as "Šis nav mans mētelis," which in English translates as “This is not my coat,” in an obscure Latvian dialect (more specifically, the Courland dialect around Ventspils).

Meanwhile, Stottlemeyer is suspicious of Cage’s continued dancing around the subject of Tennyson. He breaks into Cage’s office and examines his records, finding that Tennyson is dying in a hospital and has only a few days left to live. Because he is being questioned in connection with a federal racketeering case, the District Attorney is not letting anyone else see him. Stottlemeyer confronts Cage, who admits the truth, but says the fact remains, the only way to get access to Tennyson is to solve the ambassador’s murder.

While Monk and Sharona are making their way back to the station, Monk reluctantly rides the New York City Subway, despite his terror of crowds, germs, and closed spaces. Sharona says she is proud of him, but when they stop at the Hoyt–Schermerhorn Street station to change lines, Monk reels at the sight of a man casually urinating in a corner. He is so horror-stricken that he stumbles back onto another departing train, leaving Sharona behind.

Lost in New York, Monk gradually goes to pieces, as well as losing $20 in a "find the queen" card game despite winning, as well as the clerk leaving when Monk asks for his gaming license on 49th street. When Sharona, Stottlemeyer, and Disher finally track him down in Times Square, he has been "converted" by one of the street preachers and is "spreading the word," yelling loudly about the impending Apocalypse. Sharona comes up to take hold of him, and is severely embarrassed when Monk calls her a "fornicator" in a loud voice.

However, as Monk regains control of himself, he looks up at one of the big TV screens and sees a man, Steven Leight (Morgan), being interviewed on the news about the recent murder of his wife in an apparent mugging in Central Park. Monk insists that Leight is "the guy," whom he recognizes by his ear.

No one can guess why Leight would kill the Latvian ambassador, but Monk cracks the case when Leight, during his interview, casually eats a mint found in a bar near Central Park, where the ambassador was before returning to the hotel.