Monk: Season Seven

Seven seasons of Blu-ray reviews in, at this point, you’re either a fan of Monk or it’s just not your thing. If this classic detective series happens to satisfy your entertainment sweet tooth, Season Seven is another overall very good run of sixteen episodes. We get some of the series’ best episodes and some that could have been, but fumble the finish. I enjoyed Season Seven quite a bit but when an episode whiffs, they miss wide. 

Here are a couple of highlight episodes for what I mean. The season opens with the hilarious Mr. Monk Buys A House. Monk invests in real estate to avoid the persistent sounds of someone practicing the piano only to stumble into a murder mystery. Brad Garret proves to be a great guest star as a handyman, with Hector Elizondo entering the fold as Monk’s new therapist Dr. Bell after the unfortunate death of actor Stanley Kamel between seasons. It’s a nice episode with some big heart, a few good twists and some great laughs. 

Then we get what should have been a great episode with Mr. Monk and the Genius. It features a terrific guest star with David Strathairin as a chess guru suspected of killing his wife, but the resolution is a flub. I’m not a chess master by any stretch but the solution is an easy one to spot early. Strathairin is great as our guest villain but the episode somehow only feels halfway complete. 

Episodes like Mr. Monk is Underwater, Mr. Monk Falls in Love, and Mr. Monk’s 100th Case are all very fun episodes. A little predictable in a couple of cases but they’re all solid. Mr. Monk is Underwater is a particularly fun episode with Monk trapped in a submarine trying to solve the murder of a crewman, but because of his severe claustrophobia, he hallucinates Dr. Bell to help him crack the case. Later in the season, we get such charmers as Mr. Monk’s Other Brother and Mr. Monk Makes the Playoffs. However, we also get some potentially great episodes like Mr. Monk and the Miracle and Mr. Monk and the Magician that start off well enough, but again, the solution is easily called long before the conclusion. 

While I didn’t love all of the episodes, I’ll admit that even the weakest episodes were still fun. When the mystery doesn’t make the episode, the cast does their jobs. Tony Shalhoub again is in peak form with Ted Levine, Traylor Howard, and Jason Gray-Standford keeping their game rolling nicely. This season features some highlight guest appearances Joanna Pacula, Dina Meyer, Robert Loggia, William Atherton, Casper Van Dien, Tracy Walter, Steve Zahn, Titus Wlliver, and Bob Costas.

At the end of the day, I don’t think there’s actually a “bad” season of Monk, some were just better than others. As the series moved along it became harder to match the highs of the early days, but that happens to any show. Even then, few shows are able to last eight seasons and still hold together and close out with a great final episode - but we’ll have to wait until the next season Blu-ray set to talk about that. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 
KLSC continues to crack the case of the missing Monk season on Blu-ray with another four-disc effort for Season Seven. This penultimate set again features all sixteen episodes spread between four Region A BD-50 discs. All discs are housed in a multi-disc case with individual trays and has identical slipcover artwork. The inside of the case insert lists each episode and the guest starts. Each disc loads to a static image main menu with a standard navigation system while the Randy Newman theme plays out.

It’s getting to be a bit of a broken record here, but KLSC continues to deliver excellent 1080p transfers for the series sourced from new 4K restorations. To keep up with these reviews I’ve been streaming episodes in advance before looking at their disc counterparts, and I must say this is a very clear case where the streaming edition continues to lack. I’ve noticed as the series went on, streaming quality on Peacock has just gotten worse with chunky film grain and really uneven black levels. Contrast that to these discs and they’re practically flawless. Film grain is cleaner and more organic and black levels and shadows allow for some nice image depth without crush. Now for episodes like Mr. Munk is Underwater visual effects to make it look like they’re on a real submarine docked do look more than a bit obvious. That green screen backdrop couldn’t be more than a few feet away from our cast. But that’s just some fun visual flavor.

As with previous season Blu-ray sets, each episode comes with a great DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio track. As a dialog-driven show, the soundscapes aren’t that flashy or expansive. We’re really here for the conversation exchanges, but when it counts the mixes are lively and engaging. Again episodes like Mr. Monk Makes the Playoffs and Mr. Monk is Underwater are sonic highlights given their unusual locations. Music cues are on point without issue. Clean, clear, and easy to hear. 

As the series has moved along, the seasons picked up some nice bonus features. Season Seven offers up another run of fun archival extras including video commentaries, little Monk websodes, and a pretty cool featurette for one of the bigger episodes of the season. The Little Monk webisodes, albeit short, are fun early adventures for the world’s greatest detective. The Monk P.I. ad is a hoot. 

Disc One

• Mr. Monk Buys A House Video Commentary featuring Andry Brekcman
• Mr. Monk Gets Lotto Fever Video Commentary featuring Hy Conrad

Disc Two

• Mr. Monk is Underwater Video Commentary featuring Jack Bernstein
• Mr. Monk Falls In Love Video Commentary featuring Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan
• Mr. Monk’s 100th Case Video Commentary featuring Tom Scharpling
• Mr. Monk Gets Hypnotized Video Commentary featuring Tom Gammill and Max Pross

Disc Three

• Little Monk and the Geography Bee Webisode (SD 4:00)
• Little Monk and the Saturday Rehearsal Webisode (SD 4:22)
• Little Monk and the Balloon Webisode (SD 3:46)
• Little Monk and the Talent Show Webisode (SD 3:39)
• Little Monk and the Little Trophy Webisode (SD 4:40)

Disc Four

• Anatomy of an Episode Featurette (SD 9:02)
• Monk P.I. Promotional Ad (SD 00:33)

We’re almost to the end. As the penultimate season, Monk: Season Seven is pretty damn good. I’d argue it’s better overall than Season Six, but it still has some weak spots. The worst thing I can say about this run of episodes is that the solutions for some key episodes were too damn easy to spot. But at the same time, when an episode is good, it’s really good. Plus this season features half the key cast of Starship Troopers in guest spots, so that’s got to be worth something, right? If you’re a fan and have been keeping up with these Blu-ray releases - Recommended