Mr. Monk VS The Genius | Monk

[@kymbokimbo4016]

I always loved that last dialogue and last line from Monk, "But if you insist, checkmate."

[@Boskov01]

9:20 Monk telling the guy off for constantly using Chess metaphors was honestly such a breath of fresh air. Even though he gets in one of his own at the end. But honestly it's always so annoying whenever the criminals on crime dramas get a gimmick going like this and the main detectives just play along with the gimmicks without telling them off, especially when the crimes are serious. This isn't 1960s Batman where it's supposed to be cheesy. These are (somewhat) rooted in the real world. I wish more crime dramas would have the detectives just lambast these gimmick villains for it.

[@Malrottian]

Always loved Monk's seething rage when he rebukes the villain at the end. Wife murder would be especially heinous to him.

[@swearimnotarobot3746]

What type of perfect plan involves warning the victim??? And why doesn’t she just cancel the life insurance policy??? Why did she stay with him??? This seems like a terrible plan. Also 4:40, admitting it??? This plan just gets worse and worse.

[@DardanielProductions]

Keep in mind that he got away this exact plan years ago. He was so confident his plan was foolproof that he actively told his spouse about it. Also keep mind that this guy is a genius. She would find her wife in a matter of seconds and she knew, as the episode implies. Furthermore he thought of every move, so Im sure he thought of a way to prevent her from cancelling her insurance.

[@sarairina]

All of those are very valid questions. Why did he tell her? Like what was the point?

[@denizthemeniz]

​@@sarairinaIt was stupid but the point was probably to prove how smart he was. His logic was that he was such a genius he could tell his victim about the plan and still get away with it.

[@danielschoch4881]

Worst thing is it is so predictable. No wow effect or twist at the end that maybe it all was different or was trying to make a fraud or so. Just have it heroic for Monk as always to solve a case. He even blamed the husband before he had definitive proof. It could have been that he was innocent and grieving for his wife. Monk has no subtle manners. And a true policeman would not take thing personally.

[@danielschoch4881]

@@DardanielProductions Haha. No this guy underestimating Monk is stupid. Even when Monk breaks into his house, he could have used that against him. And then conveniently not disposing of the first corpse. Some Monk episodes are overrated.

[@williamthomas5215]

Natalie: “Mr. Monk, you can’t blame yourself..” Adrian: “yes, yes I can…”

[@ggr1zz]

Don’t cemetery’s keep a very detailed mapping to where a body is buried? So switching the headstone would get caught when they went to dig up the body.

[@TheAlps36]

Not to mention those things must be really heavy

[@wardenm]

Depends on a number of factors, such as the age of the cemetery, how many owners it's passed through, whether it's at capacity, if bodies have been moved due to land purchase or renovations, what sort of organization runs it, if it's public or private... But either way, yeah, those stones are usually incredibly heavy.

[@jonandra678]

​@@TheAlps36 I don't think he moved the headstones, I was always under the impression he had false covers of some kind on them....idk....

[@BumMcFluff]

Yeah, but in order to get what they want out of a story, things like that sometimes have to be ignored. It's not so bad when it's an obscure fact, but it really annoys me when tv shows ignore common knowledge things because they've otherwise written themselves into a corner, or they just want the hero to have an 'aha' moment that isn't possible. Not specifically Monk, but many other shows do this from time to time.

[@weneedaladder8384]

They're probably supposed to, but I doubt all of them actually do. Quite often the people who are supposed to keep meticulous records are actually very lazy and just make mistakes.

[@junglefury45]

I would say this chess master would have been one of Mr monk most dangerous villains

[@Kayoss13212]

Yeah. To this day, I’ve always felt like Monk was lacking an overarching villain/equal. I could totally see this guy being the James Moriarty to Monks Sherlock.

[@potsdam28]

@@Kayoss13212he had Dale the whale. Too bad he stopped appearing

[@Boskov01]

@@potsdam28 The writers kinda wrote themselves into a corner with Dale as by making him immobile due to his size, they made it difficult for him to be anything more than a reoccurring villain.

[@Boskov01]

@@Kayoss13212 While I kind of agree, I also disagree as well. Not every great detective needs an overarching villain. And let's not forget, Moriarty only appeared maybe two or three times throughout Holmes lore. The vast majority of Sherlock Holmes canon deals with different villains or criminals and some don't even have a proper villain at all. Of course the villains can take a different form besides the criminals. Like with Perry Mason, he had a rival in the form of Prosecutor Burger. What matters more is the characters' ability to solve the case, not square off against a regular villain.

[@HannahHamilton-vu8eg]

Lol "Mr Monk what are you doing?" Monk he's trying get out of the car while it's still moving" Different lines "He's right, I was thirsty" she spits it out, you didn't tell me it could be poison?"

[@jrewing1512]

You can see how Monk is holding his anger and trying not to strangle this sicko. Monk has nothing but contempt for husbands who killed their wives. Like this genius or the radio guy who made cruel jokes about Trudy.

[@MikeMJPMUNCH]

This one of favourite episodes of Monk

[@grizzwith10zs78]

Checkmate & walks off like a boss

[@FrozeMoments]

Tomorrow Monk history is made. 🎉

[@redeyedbandit1251]

A true Moriarty. Even though Harold Krenshaw is a rival of Monk, I always felt Patrick was Monk's intellectual equal in a way.

[@mtoboekid11mouse88]

I always wished she would've gone and stayed with Monk, or with his cop friends - he offered to get her protection. But I think the point, the reason she didn't run, and why he psychologically tortured her about it as much as he did, was to make her believe that there was nothing she could do. The perfect victim, in other words: one who had already given up and who wouldn't even try to fight back. If she had tried to hide, she believed, she would have at most delayed the inevitable.

[@Winter-The-Masquerade]

I love the implication of Monk's line "But if you insist, Checkmate". He just said that the two women he killed are human beings and deserve to be treated as such. But with Patrick, Monk does use the Chess Metaphor because as far as Monk is concerned Patrick doesn't deserve to be treated as anything but a monster and not a person.

[@HellstreamGames]

If only she had recorded some of his threats, or atleast report that if she dies, her husband did it. But then again, only Monk would have been able to solve it anyway 😅

[@kanikagaral7637]

Around 2.55-2.57 u can see the dead lady breathing. It wouldnt have noticed if the camera wasnt gocussed on monk.

[@paullenoue8173]

It would have been a hoot if the switched headstone body turned out to be a woman who was stabbed to death, shot, or otherwise murdered in such a way that made it obvious it wasn't the first wife but also her death wasn't reported as a murder. They could have had a very interesting two-part story.

[@jwill5892]

I'm sure he intentionally looked for a young woman who also died of natural causes

[@burimfazliu3102]

One of the few times Monk had a good comeback

[@Drtruman]

Without a doubt, the biggest mistake killers in movies make is being super chatty for no reason. Monk aint a cop, why arent you calling the police on him?

[@misanthropos6211]

Perfect plan? His plan seems stupider and stupider the more I think about it. I guess it is hard to write someone who is supposed to be a genius - especially when you have to make sure they are outwitted in the end. I can think, just off the top of my head, a number of easy improvements to the master genius plan...Number 1: DON'T TELL YOUR WIFE AND THEN LET HER GO TO A WORLD CLASS DETECTIVE AHEAD OF TIME!! If there had been no reason to suspect him before she died no one would have even been investigating it as a homicide. He literally set the chain of events in motion that got him caught.

[@333yuichi]

Waiting for the movie😊😊😊

[@jackhussey6334]

3:20 Ah, I see all the geniuses in the room have the same wardrobe. Collared shirt buttoned all the way up, no tie.

[@adriansepulveda9452]

CHECKMATE! Drop the wipe. 😂

[@hulonthesurvivor5884]

Lawrence’s special guest appearance was pretty good

[@dexter5653]

Albert Einstein NEVER had his iq tested lol

[@hoseinqadam]

Imagine he f'ed up and switched the tombstone with someone that was murdered and had clear signs of it.

[@Padmini1712]

1:13- Didnt he follow her to Monk's place?🤨🤔

[@NathanRW]

Great Borat impression at 4:51!

[@IHeliosI]

Einstein never had his IQ measured via any means so that "4 pOiNtS hIghEr tHaN AlBerT EiNsTeIn" line is pure BS.

[@jakepullman4914]

I'm sure someone out there has estimated it.

[@bongamadala8121]

Best episode by far

[@draconbacon6395]

My theory is that he switched the headstones after he killed his first wife, Its why he didnt have her be cremated and since no one investigated that murder it just stayed like that. He wouldve probably done the same with the new wife too if Monk hadnt gotten involved but since the cops were so close he decided to not take any chances and had her cremated. Monk was right that he switched the headstones but if he had done it recently, he wouldnt have used the phrase "switching is how i get myself out of trouble" Patrick blurts this out because he had more or less forgotten that he had switched the headstones ages ago to cover up that murder.

[@mazdakmina9493]

That makes sense! Great theory!

[@kscar363]

@@mazdakmina9493 Actually it doesn't make sense and is a terrible theory. 9:00 Monk says the guy came back the night before the body was exhumed and switched headstones and the guy acknowledges Monk is right...

[@RiderofGary]

I feel like, compounding with the guys suppossed genius, is the wifes idiocy, like she says because he's a chess grandmaster he'd find her in 2 minutes if she ever tried to escape, and if he's ALWAYS talking about it around the same times, including the plan....record it and take it to the police, theres obviously times when he's not around cos she had the time to go visit monk. I think i remember a quote that kinda describes why this episode is so weird "the problem with writing a genius character, is because the writers aren't geniuses" like monk himself is a pretty genius detective, but its not because hes some IQ chart topping guy its because of his quirks, keen eyes, and good memory, it's easier to write around those for him seeing things people wouldnt normally see and piecing things together, but when writing a character like the chess grandmaster whos meant to be smarter than smart, intellectually infallable, it tends to lead to characters being dumbed down to an extreme level to try and show off that intelligence, or, leads to scenarios that just arent accurate to any type of behaviour or real life scenario, Monk isn't always the most accurate show, but id say its always tried its best even with the weirdest scenarios theres been some grounding in reality, but as some commenters have pointed out, cemetaries keep logs of who is buried in which plot, factors can change old records, but it would also be logged if a body had to be moved due to say, the cemetary having to sell some land, so switching headstones just wouldnt line up with the documents, which they had in their hands. Someone also pointed out that for deaths under investigation, like this was, you apparently cant get the body cremated, not officially atleast.

[@jakepullman4914]

Even if she had the recording, without physical evidence of murder I doubt they could convict him of anything beyond terroristic threatening, which isn't even illegal in all states.

[@raajanyagupta0907]

Hello there! How can I reach you as I have a video of Monk which i have edited, its about tommy and him. I really want to share it with your channel, I mean you can have a look at it and tell me whether its good or not.

[@sdsdfdu4437]

I don't think poison stays in the body long enough that you can detect it years after someone's been buried.

[@eliza8222]

The judge is Lawrence O’Donnell from MSNBC 😮

[@DamnMyNickIsTaken]

2:51 - False alarm guys, she's breathing. 😄

[@sharmilax8663]

You're the real genius here! Hat's off to you! 😉

[@TnT_F0X]

Ah yes... Because a Chess Genius applies to real life flawlessly. I'm sure if she changed her name and moved to Regina Canada he'd be waiting there talking with Jimmy.

[@Santouryu3]

7:46 Strat 101, never exploit your opponent with your backup plan. >_>

[@Dharmon1]

Good grief, I hated Patrick Kloster.

[@Boskov01]

Then the writers and actors did their job well.

[@l.a.3479]

David Strathairn (I think I've misspelled his last name) is the great actor playing him. He was in "Good Night and Good Luck," "Lincoln," some of the Jason Bourne movies, "Where the Crawdads Sing" and a memorable patient who guest-starred on "House," among other roles.

[@changes6679]

I hate Natalie

[@jjryan1352]

Noel Vosen?

[@globalheartwarming]

​@@l.a.3479You got it right.

[@TheFiown]

She knows her husband is going to kill her and then she goes back home. I mean this is almost a Darwin Award !

[@jakepullman4914]

As she said, where could she go? He has convinced her that anything she does, he'll anticipate, so she does nothing.

[@robertbotelho9702]

Oh, boy, was this a clumsy solve. No serious chess player, let alone a chess grandmaster, would ever describe castling that way. The king and the rook do not “switch places”. They both end up on completely new squares. But he needs to phrase it that way to get Monk thinking about switching the headstones. I also am tired of the common trope that equates an elite chess-playing ability with a genius-level intelligence, because I’ve seen many examples to the contrary.

[@freshtapcoke]

Excellent point. They should’ve said switch sides at least.

[@lightyagami1752]

Doesn't the cemetery have a plot plan? And didn't Monk or the cops think to put surveillance on the cemetery overnight to catch this guy in the act?

[@markwright6496]

One thing the criminal would not have moved the bodies overnight without anyone knowing it .

[@alextrill1746]

He moved headpieces, not bodies. Heavy, but doable.

[@l.a.3479]

Still, the act of exhuming even a part of a body is a noisy, time-consuming process involving tools and multiple people. The dark of night can only hide that for a limited time.

[@triplejmom7826]

It’s tv. Hollywood is rarely realistic

[@mcgannahanskyjellyfetti6854]

He had help from Sonny Chow...

[@pushingdasies1]

The odds that the tomb next to you is a woman, being the same age, and that the grave doesnt appear disturbed are all unlikely.

[@jackharle1251]

As unlikely as young people having heart attacks after a jab

[@jking7817]

How did he switch headstones over night? They must be heavy.

[@Levyathyn]

This was a pretty good episode, but the whole IQ bit is nonsense. It's a decent measure of some forms of intelligence, or more often just knowing things, and no genius level of IQ gives a murderer foolproof plans or the ability to find for example their wife who is being hidden by professionals. If he was a super genius capable of the things she said, he would have never been caught because he wouldn't have told her, she never would have found out. If he was that good at chess, logic, plans, and murder, the last thing he would have done is turn him murdering his wife into a game of chess... the most certain winning move in chess, more than anything else, is to come to the table alone. I'm someone who's tested pretty highly in IQ at various times in my life, on various different tests, with different results depending, and the one thing it's told me more than anything else is that IQ is only great at measuring someone's ability to take tests. It can demonstrate logic, awareness, a certain pattern of thought--a way of thinking--but depending on the test it can grossly vary between sharp intelligence, or prior book learning. I do not think it should be or could be used as an overall measure of anyone's intelligence.

[@s.jentsch3486]

Thank you for this clear words about intelligence tests. I am gonna make a screen shot .... Nikki, Germany.

[@lycanthropickle]

he didnt kill her. shes clearly breathing. terrible detectives!!

[@h.a.9880]

It's a very good epidose, the only thing that could be improved is if at the end, Monk had turned out to be one step ahead. The way it is, it's a fairly usual episode where Monk puts together clues to catch the murderer, in this particular episode, it would have been cool if there had been a different kind of reveal. Like Monk and Stottlemeyer catching the murderer as he was trying to switch out headstones after Monk laid out a trap. Monk always outsmarts the bad guys, but it would have been really cool to see Monk lay a trap in this case, just to show that he's able to match and even surpass the genius of a Chess grandmaster.

[@dianalee3662]

Cancel the policy? Divorce him? There were a lot of things she could have done to avoid this.

[@jakepullman4914]

Yes, a dozen people have said that, and in each case the answer is given in the video: It's not her policy. Her husband took it out. She can't cancel it. And even if they got divorced he would still be able to claim the policy when she died.

[@TahoeJones]

Cemeteries keep records of who is buried where. Suspicious deaths cannot arbitrarily be cremated. Poor writing at best.

[@LaineMann]

The cemetery does not dig up all of there graves go make sure the right people are buried there. He make it look like an accident.

[@AAAIS111AAA]

Well said! Monk writers have been doing a crappy job for years.

[@Padmini1712]

No Post mortem? Whats wrong with Script writer & director.Incredible

[@madewithrealdiamonds]

this actress is hilarious. while she's supposed to be dead, she breathes heavily xD

[@doorkum]

The title is suggestive of Monk not being a genius.

[@GathKingLeppbertI]

Yay Mr. Monk

[@mr.s2005]

for a a genius, the guy was pretty stupid not have had his first wife cremated....they said he like to like several steps ahead like a typical chess master, so you think he would have realized there was always that chance of police digging up the first.

[@edschelchang6123]

I feel like this guy really isn't that much a genius, the astronaut had a better plan

[@pushingdasies1]

Don't couples have to co-consent to life insurance? Their are a lot of holes to this story.

[@davidalexander3320]

Not always. Usually only need consent if the insurance company requires blood work or other medical testing. But with a $10m policy i dont see how they wouldn't require something

[@TonttuTorvinen]

At least if she knows she could do something about it. If she goes to the police maybe they can't convict him but at least they can void the insurance. And he can hardly murder her if she has told the police that he plans to do it.

[@Oscirus]

why did the chess master literally tell monk what he did? I know monk had to solve the crime, but they couldnt do it better?

[@jakepullman4914]

Because it's a game to him. And a game without an opponent is just boring.

[@henrimatisse7481]

if under threat go homeless. Can't find you when your're nowhere

[@oatmiser3110]

or don't be a murderer

[@danteghazizadeh1656]

@@oatmiser3110they were talking about Patrick’s wife

[@ksspqf9]

Why exactly would his nurse be allowed in crime scenes? He's not even a licensed detective

[@jakepullman4914]

Because he's friends with the police, and the police say it's ok. That's really all you need, who's going to disagree with the police chief?

[@Lost_AtSea]

She knows she's gonna die, why did she return to the house?

[@jkii1105]

Be nice if tv shows actually were truthful, Einstein's IQ was 160, not 176..

[@alex_lomov]

keep saying it is all happening in 'SF'... while it is in LA....

[@carliushardin4229]

Dude couldn't have been a chess master. They meant amateur

[@daggaboom]

The headstone he switched, Angela Stanton or A Stanton. Good idea, bad name switch and an ugly execution.

[@mcgannahanskyjellyfetti6854]

...and next to it is a grave marked _Unknown!_ 😅

[@OmranSalem-pw7kb]

♥️♥️

[@tk24life]

Why *didn't* he have his first wife cremated?

[@dinagillette1625]

Lawrence O'Donnell

[@Mama-eu1ss]

Yeap. Wasn't he also the father that beat his son on the show "The West Wing "?

[@arminrichard1836]

Clas Ashford

[@quiiwouidraski6186]

2:46 It looks like she is breathing...🤨

[@Tintintanabulation]

A really stupid premise 😂 castviron pans do exist you know 😂

[@robertdevino4109]

I want to see a show with Monk, Patrick Jane and the guy from Pshyc in it!

[@adam_meek]

weak.

[@ronmccombs9133]

I didn't know that one actor became a loser news host.