The Bottom Line: "Great"
It's lights, camera and action when Monk is being tailed by actor Dave Ruskin who is playing him in an upcoming movie and begins to get a little too involved in Monk's life and his investigation of a double murder.
It's clear from the previous season that the once brilliantly written and intriguing mysteries have faded into very simple cases aimed at acheiving the most laughs from the audience and this season opener welcomes this change by offering a mystery that requires no thought at all to blow open. The real centre of attention is the unusual Monk/Ruskin saga which escalates from a light - hearted affair to a climatic battle the could mean the death of either of them, or at least identity theft.
While it's run is superb for the most part, it stumbles near the end, when the episode takes a stab at explaining Ruskin's psychosis by falling back on a familiar clichι. Tucci's powerhouse performance as well as Shalhoub's great support during the key revelation scene is so good that it almost excuses the weakness of the screenplay at this state of affairs - almost, but not quite. Nevertheless, any weaknesses associated with the final 5 minutes are easily forgiven in light of the 25 or so minutes that precede them.
At first we think Stanley Tucci is just going to cruise on a portrayal of a typical actor but when he starts showing the pathological side of Dave Ruskin who is obsessed with perfecting his depiction of Monk, Tucci is outstanding and his Emmy is the bare minimum of what he deserved. At the beginning i had my doubts about Natalie who just seemed wrong for the role and never clicked with Monk but as the 5th season starts, she has well and truly grown into the role with her and Monk now sharing a bond that we never saw with whats - her - name. Dishermeyer (a combination of Disher and Stottlemeyer) have remained stagnant in the way they amuse and are acted but will not disappoint fans. Tony Shalhoub for once has to compete for the limelight against the scene - stealing Tucci but his performance as Monk is at its understated best and it looks to be more gold on his mantle is he keeps it up even though Baldwin's chances are a tough to get around. Mr Monk and the Actor is a great way to start the season and shows that Monk is still going strong.
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