Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale

Season 1

Episode 4: Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale

A judge is murdered whilst making a 911 call identifying her killer just before she dies. But there's a problem the man she's named as her murderer is 800lb reclusive tycoon Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck who is completely incapable of leaving his apartment. How can Monk solve this case?

"He's the Guy":

Dale The Whale is the mastermind with a little help from his doctor Christian Vezza.

"Here's What Happened":

How did the morbidly obese Dale the Whale manage to commit the murder? Well the answer is he didn't. Instead he blackmailed his physician Doctor Vezza to do it. But there were witnesses and the victim identified Dale as her killer how do you explain away such damning evidence? It was all a clever scheme planned out by  the devious pair. Donning a fat suit and using his expert impersonation skills Vazza put on a show that left everyone believing that the plump Dale the Whale had carried out the perfect murder.

In short:

This is the first of several appearances of Dale the Whale and he's always good value. Adam Arkin is the first of three actors to portray the tubby tyrant and he really "fleshes" the part out nyuk nyuk. Monk is on fine form once again and it's really quite satisfying to see him catch Dale after his cruel taunts about Trudy. Sharona gets to do some investigating of her own and we get the first taste of the real Randy as he makes the first of his many ridiculous hypothesises on how a crime was committed. Liposuction followed by reverse liposuction is pretty out there as crazy theories go. Over all another strong episode.