History Recap / MonkS2E1MrMonkGoesBackToSchool

* OutOfCharacterAlert: Monk figures out that the purported suicide note wasn't written by Beth Landowner because of the mistakes that she, es sn English teacher, would never have made.

* FakeAlibi: Derek seemingly couldn't have killed Beth because he was proctoring the SATs at the time Beth fell, on the other side of the school. The trick is that Derek had bashed her over the head, draped her body on the minute hand of the clock, and left her so that when the hand tilted far enough, she would fall off on her own.

* YouCanRunButYouCantHide" While employed as a substitute teacher at Trudy's old high school, Monk becomes the butt of an arrogant student's jokes. Sharona tells the kid off and stomps on his foot. The boy's dad comes after Monk and threatens him, prompting this exchange:

* BlackmailBackfire: The groundskeeper Iverson witnesses Derek placing Beth across the hands of the clock, and tries to squeeze money out of Derek to cover his debts.

* AgonyOfTheFeet: Sharona gives this to the class bully for throwing a chalk eraser at Monk.

** Monk got Derek to trap himself by planting the glasses in the clock tower gear box. Only the murderer would have known to look there.
* LivingLieDetector: Sharona claims she has this ability to tell when a man is lying, given her ex-husband used to lie about not cheating on her.

* BlackmailBackfire: The groundskeeper Iverson witnesses Derek placing Beth across the hands of the clock, and tries to squeeze money out of Derek to cover his debts. The result is...well, see GasLeakCoverUp below.

* WhamLine: Monk tells Derek Philby why she was so deadset on him telling his wife about their affair after learning about a doctor's appointment she had.

-->'''Monk''': Did you know Beth Landow was pregnant when she died?

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Monk got Derek to trap himself by planting the glasses in the clock tower gear box. Only the murderer would have known to look there.

* {{Tuckerization}}: Beth Landow's name comes from Andy Breckman's wife, Beth Land'''au'''.

* ConvictionByContradiction: Monk hones in on Philby for no other reason than he found evidence he hid his wedding ring in his wallet—which meant he was having an affair and lying about it, making him suspect number one in the death of another teacher whom the police assumed (and Monk couldn't prove otherwise) committed suicide. Never mind that a science teacher would be obligated to remove any and all jewelry for safety before carrying out chemistry demonstrations for their classes...

* LivingLieDetector: Sharonna claims she has this ability to tell when a man is lying, given her ex-husband used to lie about not cheating on her.

* SeenItAll: Stottelmeyer points out to Monk that he's seen suicide notes written in so many ways that the discrepancies [[note]] grammatical errors, it being typed instead of written[[/note]] in ''this'' suicide note don't stand out to him.

* SmugSnake: The class bully who believes that because his dad is the school's gym teacher, no teacher would dare touch him or so much as give him a "D".

* MeaningfulEcho: During the investigation, Derek Philby tells Monk he can't prove anything and quotes a Latin phrase to him. After getting Philby to implicate himself, Monk quotes the same Latin phrase back at him.

* SmugSnake: The class bully who believes that because his dad is the school's gym teacher, no teacher would dare touch him or so much as give him a "D".
* TapOnTheHead: It's shown that Beth was actually killed when Derek struck her on the back of the head with a wooden plank.

* BlindWithoutEm: Beth Landau could not see without her glasses. Monk uses the trope phrase to describe her.

* MeaningfulEcho: During the investigation, Derek Philby tells Monk he can't prove anything and quotes a Latin phrase to him. After getting Philby to implicate himself, Monk quotes another Latin phrase at him.

* SmugSnake: The class bully who believes that because his dad is the school's gym teacher, no teacher would dare touch him or so much as give him a "D".

* SeenItAll: Stottelmeyer points out to Monk that he's seen suicide notes written in so many ways that the discrepancies [[note]] grammatical errors, it being typed instead of written[[/note]] in ''this'' suicide note don't stand out to him.

* ReturningToTheScene: Monk gets Derek Philby to implicate himself by making him afraid that the police will search and find Beth's glasses. He returns to retrieve them, unaware that Monk had already found them, had re-planted them, and had set up an ambush.