Leland Stottlemeyer
Encyclopedia
Captain Leland Francis Stottlemeyer is a fictional police officer
played by Ted Levine
on the American
crime drama Monk
. He is Captain
of the San Francisco Police Department
(SFPD)'s Homicide
Detail, and a longtime (even if long-suffering) friend of Adrian Monk
from their days on the force together where he served as Monk's fourth partner and later watch commander. His partner, and source of much strife, is Lieutenant Randy Disher. He, like many of the characters in the show, can be viewed as a parallel to a Sherlock Holmes character (in this case, Inspector Lestrade
).
for almost 30 years.
Stottlemeyer mentions in the season 3 episode "Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever" that he was the youngest officer in the history of the SFPD to make detective, giving him at least a few years of seniority on Monk. As Stottlemeyer mentions in "Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival," when Monk was promoted to detective, he was partnered with Stottlemeyer, and right away, showed his amazing abilities when he proved that a prostitute's apparent suicide was murder.
Somehow, the two men worked well together, even though Stottlemeyer was later promoted past Monk. At the time Trudy was murdered, Stottlemeyer reluctantly suspended Adrian from duty, though he still remained his friend. Stottlemeyer also found Sharona Fleming
and hired her as Monk's practical nurse, which helped Monk to recover from a state of near-catatonia caused by the loss of Trudy.
Monk later calls Stottlemeyer "the best cop I know."
; Stottlemeyer appears only too aware that he is not nearly the detective that Monk is. Sometimes, this has led to some rather large consequences. For instance, in the novel Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop, he starts to feel a little hostile towards Monk after taking a lot of ribbing from Paul Braddock (and at one time, Braddock actually insults Stottlemeyer, accusing him of using Monk as a metaphorical crutch). As a result, later in the story, upon learning that Monk's consultancy contract has been ripped up, an outraged Natalie Teeger
believes that Stottlemeyer is just using the latest round of budget cuts as an excuse to cut Monk (and herself) loose.
Stottlemeyer is also skeptical of Monk's ability to perform as a police officer, aware that Monk's psychological problems are a very serious handicap, given that police work is a very stressful job; in the episode "Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival", he is forced to betray Monk by honestly revealing his misgivings about allowing Monk back into the police department to the panel evaluating Monk's request. Sharona calls him on his jealousy by telling Stottlemeyer he should "at least have the decency to stab him in the front," and noting that Stottlemeyer owes Monk that much since Monk does all the work and he takes all the credit.
Despite these tensions, however, Stottlemeyer also has a great deal of sympathy and respect for Monk; even Stottlemeyer cannot deny Monk's abilities. Once convinced of the validity of one of Monk's theories, Stottlemeyer always proves a staunch ally in apprehending Monk's primary suspects. A turning point for the character came in the second season episode "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife", when Stottlemeyer's own wife Karen is seriously injured in a car accident and put in a coma
. Though she recovers, Stottlemeyer is left with a taste of the kind of pain Monk bears from Trudy and becomes far more sympathetic and respectful to him, if still easily exasperated by Monk's more extreme idiosyncrasies.
In "Mr. Monk Makes a Friend," Monk apparently makes a friend out of Hal Tucker, whom is revealed later to have just been using him, but Stottlemeyer saves him, identifying Monk as his friend when he stops Hal. Another example of Stottlemeyer's loyalty as a friend came in "Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan
", with the captain assisting in Monk's continuing investigation of Trudy's murder. He goes with Monk to New York City
to follow up on a lead, and harshly confronts New York City police captain Walter Cage for concealing information about Warrick Tennyson that is essential to Monk to solving the murder of his "friend's wife," remarking that that was the only thing he cared about at the time. In "Mr. Monk Is On The Run", when Monk is framed for murder by corrupt sheriff John Rollins, Stottlemeyer proves his loyalty to Monk by helping the fugitive fake his own death, risking his own career and freedom. In fact, later in the second part of the two part episode, Rollins tries to arrest Stottlemeyer and Disher on charges of aiding and abetting
and obstruction of justice
for helping Monk fake his death.
Stottlemeyer begins to comes to terms with Monk's quirky behavior after the first few episodes, as demonstrated, for example, in "Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month." In one scene, Stottlemeyer asks Monk if he is going to pop all the bubbles on a piece of bubble wrap. When Monk says yes, Stottlemeyer begins to help him, and also has two police officers assist him. When one of them asks whether there is any reason why they are doing this, Stottlemeyer tells them, "just keep popping."
It is mentioned in "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine" that Stottlemeyer was Monk's fourth partner on the force, and this came two weeks after Monk made detective (Monk's first three partners were good guys but they didn't exactly click as well).
Leland and Karen have recurring marital problems and are known to have separated twice. In "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage," Monk describes Karen and Leland as having practically nothing in common (he recalls one weekend when Leland went hunting and Karen stayed behind to organize a rally for stronger gun control
).
In the season 2 episode "Mr. Monk and the Very Very Old Man", Karen has to beg Leland to investigate the murder of Miles Holling, the world's oldest man (115 years of age). Leland promises to her that he will investigate if Monk believes that there has been foul play in Miles Holling's death. Because Leland never watched her documentary Miles Holling: The Human Time Machine
, Karen kicks him out of the house and Leland temporarily moves in with Monk as a roommate.
In the season 2 episode "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife", Karen is badly injured after her van crashes into an out-of-control truck when a sniper shoots the truck driver dead. Leland is left with the same type of pain that Monk has learned to deal with.
In the season 3 episode "Mr. Monk Gets Fired", Karen is seen filming a documentary about life behind-the-scenes in the SFPD, capturing several moments of the new commissioner's anger as well as Leland and Disher arresting Paul Harley for a premeditated murder and an arson.
In the season 4 episode "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage," when Leland is working on the murder of Jimmy "Chicklet" Botsdale, one of the cops on the scene, Sergeant Ryan Sharkey Jr. claims to be having an affair with Karen. Leland punches him in a rage and he decides to ask Karen if she knows Sharkey. Karen suspiciously denies it, but Leland says that it might prove why she's taken to sleeping in the guest room (which she claims is because of his snoring) and her forgetting their anniversary.
Because Leland is taking an anger management
class (which he confides is what really pisses him off, as he only knocked out one of Sharkey's teeth, and it's not like he killed the guy), he has Monk and Natalie
follow Karen that afternoon. They are able to take a picture of Karen meeting someone, but they can't get a good one because a few minutes earlier Monk insisted on making Natalie take three cents from a fountain to make the amount of money in it 'an even 10', so Monk is taking the photos even while being dragged away by mall security.
At the end of the episode, when Leland shows the picture to Karen, she says she is seeing a divorce lawyer named Max Tepperton, as she has decided to end their marriage.
In the season 8 episode "Mr. Monk Is the Best Man," it is mentioned that Karen was Leland's second wife, and he was married once before, but that marriage was annulled after only five days.
), when Linda hires Monk and Natalie to investigate a fender bender involving her purple 2006 Buick Lucerne
. She even sets up Stottlemeyer with an apartment just across the street from her own at the end of the episode.
Despite being acquainted, Stottlemeyer's dates with Linda are usually interrupted or cancelled as a result of his duties. In "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan", Linda goes so far as to pay $600 to buy Leland for six hours of her time. Linda's appearance in "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan" is as a minor character, since the plot primarily revolves around Marci Maven buying Monk for six hours to find out who framed her dead dog. However, their date is interrupted when Leland realizes that Marci's neighbor John Ringel murdered his wife Debbie and framed Marci's dead dog.
Linda and Stottlemeyer continue dating until the season 6 episode "Mr. Monk and the Bad Girlfriend", when Stottlemeyer is planning to propose to her during their shared trip to Hawaii
. However, shortly before they leave, her former business partner Sean Corcoran is shot and killed by a masked assailant bearing a Remington 870
Field shotgun while showing off a house to a couple. Monk and Natalie take the case, and soon uncover a large amount of evidence pointing to Linda as the killer. Unfortunately, they have a hard time convincing anyone else, especially Stottlemeyer, that Linda killed her partner.
To prove Linda guilty, Monk and Natalie carefully set up a sting operation
that exposes how Linda created her airtight alibi for the murder (she talked to Stottlemeyer from a duplicate of her bedroom constructed in the back of a box rental truck that she had rented using her maiden name and previous address). Stottlemeyer reluctantly arrests her, and is left to ask himself whether his relationship with Linda was the real deal, or she just conceived it because she needed a cop to be her alibi for the murder, one question that will never be answered. Taking Disher to accompany him to Hawaii, he secretly throws the engagement ring into the ocean. When Randy asks what he did, Stottlemeyer responds, "That was nothing. That was just a rock," which indicates that he planned to propose to Linda while in Hawaii.
), beginning in the episode "Happy Birthday, Mr. Monk". When Sharona sees T.K.'s picture in Stottlemeyer's office in the season 8 episode "Mr. Monk and Sharona", she says Stottlemeyer must feel like he won the lottery, and he heartily agrees (it's worth noting that when Stottlemeyer won the lottery in the season 7 episode "Mr. Monk Gets Lotto Fever," he was accused of having schemed with Natalie to rig the machine).
In the episode "Mr. Monk Is the Best Man", Leland marries T.K. However, as the days count down until their wedding, someone starts making threats against Leland and T.K. - including ransacking his house, blowing up his car, making threatening phone calls to T.K., and setting off a bomb at the wedding rehearsal. Monk eventually finds out that these acts were the work of T.K.'s friend and maid of honor, Stephanie Briggs (Teri Polo
), who was trying to recover a gun she had used earlier that week to kill fellow ecoterrorist Martin Kettering (Stephanie and Kettering were members of an ecoterrorist group based in Denver called the Earth Avengers).
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
played by Ted Levine
Ted Levine
Frank Theodore "Ted" Levine is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and Captain Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series Monk.-Early life and career:...
on the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
crime drama Monk
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
. He is Captain
Police captain
- France :France uses the rank of capitaine for management duties in both uniformed and plain-clothed policing. The rank comes senior to lieutenant and junior to commandant....
of the San Francisco Police Department
San Francisco Police Department
The San Francisco Police Department, also known as the SFPD and San Francisco Department Of Police, is the police department of the City and County of San Francisco, California...
(SFPD)'s Homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
Detail, and a longtime (even if long-suffering) friend of Adrian Monk
Adrian Monk
Adrian Monk is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Shalhoub and the protagonist of the USA Network television series Monk. He is a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department...
from their days on the force together where he served as Monk's fourth partner and later watch commander. His partner, and source of much strife, is Lieutenant Randy Disher. He, like many of the characters in the show, can be viewed as a parallel to a Sherlock Holmes character (in this case, Inspector Lestrade
Inspector Lestrade
Inspector G. Lestrade is a fictional character, a Scotland Yard detective appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle used the name of a friend from his days at the University of Edinburgh, a Saint Lucian medical student by the name of Joseph Alexandre Lestrade....
).
History
Not much is known of Stottlemeyer's life before he joined the SFPD, though in an interview, Ted Levine stated it was his own belief that Stottlemeyer had served in the military and was later discharged, lived on the east coast and lit out for California as a young man, joining the police force. In the season 5 episode "Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion", there are some incredibly embarrassing photos of him wearing riot gear violently subduing protesters at an anti-nuclear warfare demonstration at UC Berkeley in the 1970s. In the season 7 episode "Mr. Monk Makes the Playoffs", it is mentioned that he hasn't lived in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
for almost 30 years.
Stottlemeyer mentions in the season 3 episode "Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever" that he was the youngest officer in the history of the SFPD to make detective, giving him at least a few years of seniority on Monk. As Stottlemeyer mentions in "Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival," when Monk was promoted to detective, he was partnered with Stottlemeyer, and right away, showed his amazing abilities when he proved that a prostitute's apparent suicide was murder.
Somehow, the two men worked well together, even though Stottlemeyer was later promoted past Monk. At the time Trudy was murdered, Stottlemeyer reluctantly suspended Adrian from duty, though he still remained his friend. Stottlemeyer also found Sharona Fleming
Sharona Fleming
Sharona Fleming is a fictional character in the award-winning series Monk. Sharona is a divorced practical nurse from New Jersey and a single mother with a young son named Benjy. She was played by Bitty Schram. Schram was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.-Biography:Sharona's...
and hired her as Monk's practical nurse, which helped Monk to recover from a state of near-catatonia caused by the loss of Trudy.
Monk later calls Stottlemeyer "the best cop I know."
Adrian Monk
In the early episodes of the show especially, there is a certain degree of tension between Stottlemeyer and Monk. Stottlemeyer is somewhat antagonistic toward Monk, as he resents being forced (frequently by those higher in power than he, such as the Mayor or the commissioner) into calling on Monk's assistance, and is frequently exasperated by Monk's many quirks. Also inherent in this hostility is a certain degree of jealousyJealousy
Jealousy is a second emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions...
; Stottlemeyer appears only too aware that he is not nearly the detective that Monk is. Sometimes, this has led to some rather large consequences. For instance, in the novel Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop, he starts to feel a little hostile towards Monk after taking a lot of ribbing from Paul Braddock (and at one time, Braddock actually insults Stottlemeyer, accusing him of using Monk as a metaphorical crutch). As a result, later in the story, upon learning that Monk's consultancy contract has been ripped up, an outraged Natalie Teeger
Natalie Teeger
Natalie J. Teeger is a fictional character on the American crime drama Monk. She becomes Adrian Monk's personal assistant midway through the third season of the show...
believes that Stottlemeyer is just using the latest round of budget cuts as an excuse to cut Monk (and herself) loose.
Stottlemeyer is also skeptical of Monk's ability to perform as a police officer, aware that Monk's psychological problems are a very serious handicap, given that police work is a very stressful job; in the episode "Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival", he is forced to betray Monk by honestly revealing his misgivings about allowing Monk back into the police department to the panel evaluating Monk's request. Sharona calls him on his jealousy by telling Stottlemeyer he should "at least have the decency to stab him in the front," and noting that Stottlemeyer owes Monk that much since Monk does all the work and he takes all the credit.
Despite these tensions, however, Stottlemeyer also has a great deal of sympathy and respect for Monk; even Stottlemeyer cannot deny Monk's abilities. Once convinced of the validity of one of Monk's theories, Stottlemeyer always proves a staunch ally in apprehending Monk's primary suspects. A turning point for the character came in the second season episode "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife", when Stottlemeyer's own wife Karen is seriously injured in a car accident and put in a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
. Though she recovers, Stottlemeyer is left with a taste of the kind of pain Monk bears from Trudy and becomes far more sympathetic and respectful to him, if still easily exasperated by Monk's more extreme idiosyncrasies.
In "Mr. Monk Makes a Friend," Monk apparently makes a friend out of Hal Tucker, whom is revealed later to have just been using him, but Stottlemeyer saves him, identifying Monk as his friend when he stops Hal. Another example of Stottlemeyer's loyalty as a friend came in "Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan
Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan
"Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan" is the first episode of the third season of Monk, and is the 30th episode overall. It was the third season premiere, and served as another installment in the series' ongoing plotline about the murder of Monk's wife.-Plot:...
", with the captain assisting in Monk's continuing investigation of Trudy's murder. He goes with Monk to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to follow up on a lead, and harshly confronts New York City police captain Walter Cage for concealing information about Warrick Tennyson that is essential to Monk to solving the murder of his "friend's wife," remarking that that was the only thing he cared about at the time. In "Mr. Monk Is On The Run", when Monk is framed for murder by corrupt sheriff John Rollins, Stottlemeyer proves his loyalty to Monk by helping the fugitive fake his own death, risking his own career and freedom. In fact, later in the second part of the two part episode, Rollins tries to arrest Stottlemeyer and Disher on charges of aiding and abetting
Aiding and abetting
Criminal=Aiding and abetting is an additional provision in United States criminal law, for situations where it cannot be shown the party personally carried out the criminal offense, but where another person may have carried out the illegal act as an agent of the charged, working together with or...
and obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice
The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
for helping Monk fake his death.
Stottlemeyer begins to comes to terms with Monk's quirky behavior after the first few episodes, as demonstrated, for example, in "Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month." In one scene, Stottlemeyer asks Monk if he is going to pop all the bubbles on a piece of bubble wrap. When Monk says yes, Stottlemeyer begins to help him, and also has two police officers assist him. When one of them asks whether there is any reason why they are doing this, Stottlemeyer tells them, "just keep popping."
It is mentioned in "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine" that Stottlemeyer was Monk's fourth partner on the force, and this came two weeks after Monk made detective (Monk's first three partners were good guys but they didn't exactly click as well).
Randy Disher
His relationship with Randy Disher borders from amused tolerance to frustration. He puts up with his idiosyncrasies and even barely resists laughing at some of his outlandish theories and quirks. It is such that he sometimes prefers to talk to Monk instead of him (such as in "Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist", when Randy is complaining about a toothache). However, he appreciates Randy's abilities and even harbors some affection for him, especially in dangerous situations. He even goes out to help Randy win his money back in "Mr. Monk Goes to Vegas". In another instance, he offers to pay off Randy's college loans when he thinks he has won the lottery.Karen Stottlemeyer
Leland married Karen in 1985. They were married for twenty years. Leland states that they have known each other since their childhood in "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife". They have two sons, Jared and Max.Leland and Karen have recurring marital problems and are known to have separated twice. In "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage," Monk describes Karen and Leland as having practically nothing in common (he recalls one weekend when Leland went hunting and Karen stayed behind to organize a rally for stronger gun control
Gun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
).
In the season 2 episode "Mr. Monk and the Very Very Old Man", Karen has to beg Leland to investigate the murder of Miles Holling, the world's oldest man (115 years of age). Leland promises to her that he will investigate if Monk believes that there has been foul play in Miles Holling's death. Because Leland never watched her documentary Miles Holling: The Human Time Machine
Time Machine
A time machine is a fictional/hypothetical device used to achieve time travel. The term may also refer to:-Novels and films:* The Time Machine, an 1895 novel by H. G...
, Karen kicks him out of the house and Leland temporarily moves in with Monk as a roommate.
In the season 2 episode "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Wife", Karen is badly injured after her van crashes into an out-of-control truck when a sniper shoots the truck driver dead. Leland is left with the same type of pain that Monk has learned to deal with.
In the season 3 episode "Mr. Monk Gets Fired", Karen is seen filming a documentary about life behind-the-scenes in the SFPD, capturing several moments of the new commissioner's anger as well as Leland and Disher arresting Paul Harley for a premeditated murder and an arson.
In the season 4 episode "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage," when Leland is working on the murder of Jimmy "Chicklet" Botsdale, one of the cops on the scene, Sergeant Ryan Sharkey Jr. claims to be having an affair with Karen. Leland punches him in a rage and he decides to ask Karen if she knows Sharkey. Karen suspiciously denies it, but Leland says that it might prove why she's taken to sleeping in the guest room (which she claims is because of his snoring) and her forgetting their anniversary.
Because Leland is taking an anger management
Anger management
The term anger management commonly refers to a system of psychological therapeutic techniques and exercises by which someone with excessive or uncontrollable anger & aggression can control or reduce the triggers, degrees, and effects of an angered emotional state...
class (which he confides is what really pisses him off, as he only knocked out one of Sharkey's teeth, and it's not like he killed the guy), he has Monk and Natalie
Natalie Teeger
Natalie J. Teeger is a fictional character on the American crime drama Monk. She becomes Adrian Monk's personal assistant midway through the third season of the show...
follow Karen that afternoon. They are able to take a picture of Karen meeting someone, but they can't get a good one because a few minutes earlier Monk insisted on making Natalie take three cents from a fountain to make the amount of money in it 'an even 10', so Monk is taking the photos even while being dragged away by mall security.
At the end of the episode, when Leland shows the picture to Karen, she says she is seeing a divorce lawyer named Max Tepperton, as she has decided to end their marriage.
In the season 8 episode "Mr. Monk Is the Best Man," it is mentioned that Karen was Leland's second wife, and he was married once before, but that marriage was annulled after only five days.
Linda Fusco
In the fifth season episode, "Mr. Monk, Private Eye," Stottlemeyer meets and falls for a local city realtor, Linda Fusco (Sharon LawrenceSharon Lawrence
Sharon Elizabeth Lawrence is an American television actress. She is best known for the role of Sylvia Costas Sipowicz in the Television series NYPD Blue...
), when Linda hires Monk and Natalie to investigate a fender bender involving her purple 2006 Buick Lucerne
Buick Lucerne
The Buick Lucerne is a full-size car sold by the Buick division of General Motors. Introduced at the 2005 Chicago Auto Show, the Lucerne replaced both the Park Avenue and the LeSabre for the 2006 model year, and was sold through the 2011 model year...
. She even sets up Stottlemeyer with an apartment just across the street from her own at the end of the episode.
Despite being acquainted, Stottlemeyer's dates with Linda are usually interrupted or cancelled as a result of his duties. In "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan", Linda goes so far as to pay $600 to buy Leland for six hours of her time. Linda's appearance in "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan" is as a minor character, since the plot primarily revolves around Marci Maven buying Monk for six hours to find out who framed her dead dog. However, their date is interrupted when Leland realizes that Marci's neighbor John Ringel murdered his wife Debbie and framed Marci's dead dog.
Linda and Stottlemeyer continue dating until the season 6 episode "Mr. Monk and the Bad Girlfriend", when Stottlemeyer is planning to propose to her during their shared trip to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. However, shortly before they leave, her former business partner Sean Corcoran is shot and killed by a masked assailant bearing a Remington 870
Remington 870
The Remington Model 870 is a U.S.-made pump-action shotgun manufactured by Remington Arms Company, Inc. It is widely used by the public for sport shooting, hunting, and self-defense. It is also commonly used by law enforcement and military organizations worldwide.-Development:The Remington 870 was...
Field shotgun while showing off a house to a couple. Monk and Natalie take the case, and soon uncover a large amount of evidence pointing to Linda as the killer. Unfortunately, they have a hard time convincing anyone else, especially Stottlemeyer, that Linda killed her partner.
To prove Linda guilty, Monk and Natalie carefully set up a sting operation
Sting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
that exposes how Linda created her airtight alibi for the murder (she talked to Stottlemeyer from a duplicate of her bedroom constructed in the back of a box rental truck that she had rented using her maiden name and previous address). Stottlemeyer reluctantly arrests her, and is left to ask himself whether his relationship with Linda was the real deal, or she just conceived it because she needed a cop to be her alibi for the murder, one question that will never be answered. Taking Disher to accompany him to Hawaii, he secretly throws the engagement ring into the ocean. When Randy asks what he did, Stottlemeyer responds, "That was nothing. That was just a rock," which indicates that he planned to propose to Linda while in Hawaii.
Trudy "T.K." Jensen
In the eighth and final season, Stottlemeyer meets and starts dating journalist Trudy "T.K." Jensen (Virginia MadsenVirginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
), beginning in the episode "Happy Birthday, Mr. Monk". When Sharona sees T.K.'s picture in Stottlemeyer's office in the season 8 episode "Mr. Monk and Sharona", she says Stottlemeyer must feel like he won the lottery, and he heartily agrees (it's worth noting that when Stottlemeyer won the lottery in the season 7 episode "Mr. Monk Gets Lotto Fever," he was accused of having schemed with Natalie to rig the machine).
In the episode "Mr. Monk Is the Best Man", Leland marries T.K. However, as the days count down until their wedding, someone starts making threats against Leland and T.K. - including ransacking his house, blowing up his car, making threatening phone calls to T.K., and setting off a bomb at the wedding rehearsal. Monk eventually finds out that these acts were the work of T.K.'s friend and maid of honor, Stephanie Briggs (Teri Polo
Teri Polo
Theresa Elizabeth "Teri" Polo is an American actress known for her role of Pam Focker in the movie Meet the Parents and its two sequels, Meet the Fockers and Little Fockers...
), who was trying to recover a gun she had used earlier that week to kill fellow ecoterrorist Martin Kettering (Stephanie and Kettering were members of an ecoterrorist group based in Denver called the Earth Avengers).