Monk- Mr. Monk and the Wrong Man (Episode 85)

Monk is back from hiatus after the US Open, we start with a flashback and see a normal house, a neighbor, Sarah McNally, hears a woman’s scream from across the street and a man walking away. She goes over to see the neighbors and finds the couple brutally murdered and the safe opened. At the Seabrook State Penitentiary, Monk is there to speak to the parole board of Max Barton, the killer. He speaks against Barton being released but a lawyer arrives and announces that the federal count has exonerated Barton due to DNA evidence. Mrs. McNally, also present, tries to speak up but it’s too late: Barton is going free.

A security guard is watching the broadcast clearing Barton on the news and swears. Stottlemeyer is prepared to give a speech and rehearsing with Disher, who is relieved that he wasn’t the one who screwed up. Stottlemeyer is concerned about Monk, who is visiting Dr. Kroger and is obsessed with his failure. Monk wants to quit his job because he thinks since he failed on one case that he must have been wrong on all his cases. Kroger talks him out of quiting. Monk then tries to get Dr. Kroger to apologize to Max for him. Kroger tells him that he is going to have to do it himself. Kroger finally forces Monk to go and see Barton when he’s released. Adrian does so and tries to apologize without much luck, and he resolves to make things right.

Monk and Natalie go to see Barton at the halfway home where he’s staying but Barton refusing to accept his apology. At home, Monk tries to convince Natalie to date Barton but it doesn’t go well. They get word that Barton is at a hair salon freaking out about his ex-wife. Monk and Natalie go in and try to calm him down, but Monk just makes things worse trying to help him finding his wife from a photo. Monk tries to get Barton to surrender and then vows to find the killer. Monk goes to the murder scene with Stottlemeyer and Disher and the current owner, Mr. Gilbertson, reluctantly lets them in to check things out. While his family look on. Monk finds scratches from a dog, which died the day before the murder and buried it outside.

Stottlemeyer determines that the dog was poisoned and orders Disher to run down the leads. Monk goes to see Max, who is working at a company owned by Natalie’s father. It becomes clear that Max is taking advantage of Monk’s generosity. Monk ends up doing Max’s work for him when Natalie arrives with news of his ex-wife Sherry, but there’s a hitch: she’s getting remarried. Monk arrives and makes an impassioned speech to try and get the two back. Max arrives and Monk manages to get them together. McNally arrives and refuses to believe that Max is innocent, affirming what she saw and providing her photographic memory. She mentions Max had his hands in his pockets and Monk realizes that if he wasn’t carrying anything to enter the safe, then Max must have had an accomplice and he’s guilty, but protected under double jeopardy.

Stottlemeyer is investigating Pauly’s murder and confirms he had the DNA they identified at the crime scene, and used his position as security guard at a pharmaceutical company to get the poison that killed the dog... Max made Pauly’s death look like a suicide but Monk spots the belt and realizes they can nail him on the new murder. However, Max and Sherry are getting married. Monk arrives to stop the wedding and the police arrive to take Max into custody. Monk explains that the belt Pauly used to commit suicide was Max’s belt. They can’t prove it’s Max’s belt… but they can prove Max took Pauly’s uniform belt and put it on. Max has no choice but to do it and they arrest him. And Sherry’s fiancé, Justin arrives so they can have a happy wedding.

Later, Stottlemeyer calls in Disher to note that he screwed something up, and insists on making sure that it was his fault: not his fault and not Monk’s. And things are back to normal.