History Recap / MonkS4E1MrMonkAndTheOtherDetective

* ActorAllusion: Eels is not the [[WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}} first private detective]] Creator/JasonAlexander has played.

* BatDeduction: Eels's general detecting style. Unlike Monk, Eels doesn't bother waiting until he has more information to make inferences about any evidence he finds (his biggest example being his claim that a car seat was adjusted for someone 5'11"). It's one of the reasons Monk thinks he's cheating.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Eels smells a dog's mouth, eats dirt, and uses a divining rod during the investigation, but he also appears to get results (and he's ''still'' not as quirky as [[DefectiveDetective Monk]]), so everybody lets it slide. This gets subverted when it turns out he faked solving the case.
* ChekhovsGun: Eels's mother's job as a quality control operator turns out to be how she had access to information he needed to solve the case.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Monk figures out Eels' secret when he's put on hold while calling a car rental service and the quality control operator happens to confess to him that she can hear him talking with Natalie.
* EpicFail: Marty was hired by a man to tail his wife and photograph her in bed with her lover. When Marty took the photos barging into the room, the woman was in bed with a man... who was in fact her husband. ''His client''. It ends up providing Marty an alibi for the jewel store job, as he was being checked for a possible concussion from the client hitting him.

* GPSEvidence: Eels is able to figure out where the body was dumped by identifying the species of mosquito and realising it's only present in a certain area. Though considering his whole act turns out to be a sham, it's questionable how reliable this is.
* IHaveYourWife: Subverted. The beginning of the episode shows a jewelry store manager being blackmailed by armed men who threaten to kill Peggy if he doesn't do as he's told. Peggy turns out to be his dog. Later played straight with Eels' mother.
* {{Jerkass}}: Eels acts like a jerk towards Monk and Natalie, bragging that he's the better detective.
* KarmaHoudini: Eels and his mother are guilty of multiple crimes—including fraud, obstruction of justice, and destruction of evidence—and yet not only are they not charged with anything, but Eels even gets himself a cushy job at a community college after the fact. That said, they at least sufferer a TraumaCongaLine when Mrs. Eels was abducted and nearly drowned for interfering with the criminals' plan, so they don't escape ''completely'' unscathed.
* LivingLieDetector: Eels. Randy even calls him a human lie detector, despite Monk trying to point out (correctly, as it turns out) that what he's doing is impossible without an actual polygraph machine.
* MyBelovedSmother: Eels's mother is the controlling type. She nags her son, insults his abilities, and forces him to use information she overheard at her job to pretend to solve the case and become famous.

** Monk lets Eels take credit for finding his mother at the end of the episode—at least while in front of her.

* EpicFail: Marty was hired by a man to tail his wife and photograph her in bed with her lover. When Marty took the photos barging into the room, the woman was in bed with a man... who was in fact her husband. ''His client''. It ends up providing Marty an alibi for the jewel store job.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Eels smells a dog's mouth, eats dirt, and uses a divining rod during the investigation, but he also appears to get results (and he's ''still'' not as quirky as [[DefectiveDetective Monk]]), so everybody lets it slide.

* IHaveYourWife: Subverted. The beginning of the episode shows a jewellery store manager being blackmailed by armed men who threaten to kill Peggy if he doesn't do as he's told. Peggy turns out to be his dog. Later played straight with Eels' mother.
* {{Jerkass}}:
** Eels acts like a jerk towards Monk and Natalie, bragging that he's the better detective.
** Stottlemeyer is weirdly quick to drop Monk when Eels seems to be solving the case.
* KarmaHoudini: Eels and his mother are guilty of multiple crimes—including fraud, obstruction of justice, and destruction of evidence—and yet not only are they not charged with anything, but Eels even gets himself a cushy job at a community college after the fact. That said, they at least sufferred a TraumaCongaLine when Mrs. Eels was abducted and nearly drowned for interfering with the criminals' plan, so they don't escape ''completely'' unscathed.

* EpicFail: Marty was hired by a man to tail his wife and photograph her in bed with her lover. When Marty took the photos barging into the room, the woman was in bed with a man...her husband. ''His client''. It ends up providing Marty an alibi for the jewel store job.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Monk figures out Eels's secret when he's put on hold while calling a car rental service and the quality control operator happens to confess to him that she can hear him talking with Natalie.

** Monk lets Eels take credit for finding his mother at the end of the episode—at least, in front of her.

** Monk lets Eels take credit for finding his mother at the end of the episode.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Marty Eels, the new golden boy private detective, seems to find clues faster than Monk, can see clues from yards away and acts as a human lie detector. Dr. Kroger [[DiscussedTrope even claims this is part of the human condition]]. It turns out he's faking and using information his mom overheard to "solve" the case.
* BatDeduction: Eels' general detecting style. Unlike Monk, Eels doesn't bother waiting until he has more information to made inferences about any evidence he finds (his biggest example being his claim that a car seat was adjusted for someone 5'11"). It's one of the reasons Monk thinks he's cheating.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Eels smells a dog's mouth, eats dirt and uses a divining rod during the investigation but he also appears to get results (and he's ''still'' not as quirky as [[DefectiveDetective Monk]]) so everybody lets it slide.
* ChekhovsGun: Eels' mother's job as a quality control operator turns out to be how she fed him the information he needed to solve the case.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Monk figures out Eels' secret when he's put on a hold while calling a car rental service and the quality control operator happens to confess to him that she can hear him talking with Natalie.
* FakeUltimateHero: Marty Eels is not an actual or competent detective as he claimed he was. It was all his mother's idea, and she was just feeding him information.
* GPSEvidence: Eels is able to figure out where the body was dumped just by identifying the species of mosquito and realising it's only present in a certain area. Though considering his whole act turns out to be a sham, it's questionable how accurate this is.

* KarmaHoudini: Eels and his mother are guilty of multiple crimes -- including fraud, obstruction of justice, and destruction of evidence -- and yet not only are they not charged with anything, but Eels even gets himself a cushy job at a community college after the fact. That said, they at least end up going through a TraumaCongaLine of Mrs. Eels being abducted and nearly drowned for messing up the criminals' plan, so they don't escape ''completely'' unscathed from the whole thing.

* MyBelovedSmother: Eels' mother is the controlling type. She nags her son, insults his abilities and forces him to use information she over-heard on the job to pretend to solve the case and become famous.

** Monk letting Eels take credit for finding his mom at the end of the episode.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Marty Eels, the new goldenboy private detective, seems to find clues faster than Monk, can see clues from yards away and acts as a human lie detector. Dr. Kroger [[DiscussedTrope even claims this is part of the human condition]]. It turns out he's faking and using information his mom overheard to "solve" the case.

* ActorAllusion: Eels is far from the [[WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}} first private detective]] Creator/JasonAlexander has played.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Marty Eels, the new goldenboy private detective, seems to find clues faster than Monk, can see clues from yards away and acts as a human lie detector. It turns out he's faking and using information his mom overheard to "solve" the case.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Eels smells a dog's mouth, eats dirt and uses a divining rod during the investigation but he also appears to get results so everybody lets it slide.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Monk figures out Eels' secret when he calls a car rental service and the quality control operator happens to confess to Monk she can hear him and Natalie arguing while on hold.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Monk figures out Eels' secret when he calls a rent-a-car service and the quality control operator happens to confess to Monk she can hear him and Natalie arguing while on hold.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Monk figures out Eels' secret when a quality control operator happens to confess to Monk she can hear him and Natalie arguing while on hold.

* LivingLieDetector: Eels. Randy even calls him a human lie detector, despite Monk trying to point out (correctly, as it turns out) that what he's doing is impossible without an actual polygraph machine.

* KarmaHoudini: Eels and his mother are guilty of multiple crimes -- including fraud, obstruction of justice, and destruction of evidence -- and yet not only are they not charged with anything, but Eels even gets himself a cushy job at a community college after the fact. That said, they at least end up going through a TraumaCongaLine of Mrs. Eels being abducted and nearly drowned for messing up the criminals' plan, so they don't escape ''completely'' unscathed from the whole thing.

** Stottlemeyer is weirdly quick to drop Monk when Eels seems to be solving the case

** Natalie and Julie attempt to make Monk feel better by faking a case for him to solve. Obviously, he catches on.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Marty Eels, the new goldenboy private detective, seems to find clues faster than Monk, can see clues from yards away and acts as a human lie detector. [[spoiler: it turns out he's faking and using information his mom overheard to "solve" the case]]

* ChekhovsGun: Eels' mother's job as a quality control operator
* GPSEvidence: Eels is able to figure out where the body was dumped just by identifying the species of mosquito and realising it's only present in a certain area [[spoiler: actually a subverted and parodied trope, Eels was faking]]
* LivingLieDetector: Eels. Randy even calls him a human lie detector [[spoiler: actually averted, he's faking it]]
* IHaveYourWife: Subverted. The beginning of the episode shows a jewellery store manager being blackmailed by armed men who threaten to kill Peggy if he doesn't do as he's told. Peggy turns out to be his dog.
** Later played straight with Eels mother
* {{Jerkass}}: Eels acts like a jerk towards Monk and Natalie bragging that he's the better detective

* MyBelovedSmother: Eels' mother is the controlling type. She nags her son, insults his abilities and forces him to [[spoiler: use information she over-heard on the job to pretend to solve the case and become famous]]
* PetTheDog: Natalie and Julie attempt to make Monk feel better by faking a case for him to solve. Obviously, he catches on.
** Monk letting Eels [[spoiler: take credit for finding his mom]] at the end of the episode.

* MyBelovedSmother: Eels' mother is the controlling type who forces him to [[spoiler: use information she over-heard on the job to pretend to solve the case and become famous]]
* PetTheDog: Natalie and Julie attempt to make Monk feel better by faking a case for him to solve. Obviously, he catches on.l

* HumanLieDetector: Eels [[spoiler: averted, he's faking it]]

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: