(S05E03) I think I may have made this comparison before, but Monk reminds me a lot of Scooby-Doo. It's not so much because both shows are about solving crimes, but because both follow essentially the same basic formula for every episode. Despite this, however, I still love the show.

In this episode, Julie's basketball coach is killed when a towel is left on the floor drain of the girl's locker room and a hairdryer is also left on the floor, causing the coach to become electrocuted when she steps into the water. This is yet another of those rather convoluted James Bond-style murders that always open an episode of Monk. Seriously, had she looked down at the floor before stepping out of the shower she would have seen the hair dryer, but lucky enough for the killer, she just happens to not be paying attention. Also, how many high school coaches actually use the showers in the locker room? Wouldn't they just go home for that sort of thing?

No matter. This is Monk, and part of enjoying the show is not getting caught up in little things like that. As it turns out, it was actually her brother who killed her because he was worried that an accidental brush fire she started would result in DNA evidence that would lead to a murder he committed years previously. Monk is never really about the crime, though, because you already know he's going to figure out. The fun comes from watching him interact with other people as he investigates. Since Julie's coach is dead, Natalie (Julie's mom and Monk's assistant) takes over as coach, and Monk becomes assistant coach. Monk is finally able to sample the kind of high school life he never had, and when he gets his own whistle he can't stop playing with it, even when he's investigating the brush fire.

Favorite moment: Monk recalling a time when he was disqualified from a game of musical chairs by his own mother for moving counterclockwise.