Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger

Season 1

Episode 7: Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger

A mugger gets more than he bargained for when his victim pulls a gun on him and kills him. Questions are raised when the mugger is revealed to be billionaire computer mogul Sydney Teal. Was Teal having a midlife crisis that went terribly wrong or is there more to this story? And just who is "Fraidy Cop"? Here's another case only Monk can solve.

"He's the Guy": 

Mugging victim Archie Modine is obviously the killer this time out. No one can argue with that but there's more to it than meets the eyes. 

"Here's What Happened": 

Turns out Archie and Sydney knew each other before the mugging. They'd been fraternity brothers in college and Teal got Modine to assist him in a scheme to impress a girl. Back then Archie pretended to be a mugger so Sydney could play the hero. Years later Archie had begun an affair with Sydney's wife and the two plotted to murder Teal. This called for Archie calling in a favour with Sydney and recreating their previous mugging plan this time with the roles reversed. Little did Sydney know that Archie planned to kill him. Modine planned to pass off the mugging as a random event and if his affair with Teal's wife was revealed he'd say Sydney wanted to kill him in a jealous rage. Unfortunately for Modine Teal was a perfectionist who would always go the extra mile and on this occasion he hired an actor to play a patrol cop who would congratulate Archie on foiling the mugging.

In short:

Once again Monk's determination to solve Trudy's murder is a strong aspect of this episode showing just how dedicated Monk is to the memory of his late wife. Sharona also gets to play a big part in solving the case which is a nice bonus. Overall another great episode.