History Recap / MonkS5E2MrMonkAndTheGarbageStrike

* CallBack: While in the clean-room with Monk, Stottlemeyer starts playing with the yo-yo he got during his anger management classes in "Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage."

* WhyWeNeedGarbagemen: San Francisco is covered in trash due to a sanitation workers' strike and Monk is losing his mind from all of it.

* CorruptPolitician: Subverted. Monk's first proposed solution is that the mayor murdered Cusack. However, he later says that this is the wrong solution.

* BrickJoke: At the start, Monk is using UPS to ship out his garbage. During his therapy session later, it's revealed the garbage is being sent to Dr. Kroger.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: No-one brings it up, and Monk is obviously not in a good state of mind when he explains it, but his plan to drive the garbage trucks into the bay when they get full would massively pollute the bay. He'd also run out of trucks long before he could get all the trash.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Cashews, for Nicholson. Fragments of them on a chair in Cusack's office leads Monk to conclude that he had been there.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: No-one brings it up, and Monk is obviously not in a good state of mind when he explains it, but his plan to drive the garbage trucks into the bay when they get full would massively pollute the bay.

* MistakenForEvidence: Monk finds scuff marks on the edge of Cusack's desk and cashew fragments on a chair. When he sees that Mayor Nicholson eats cashews and likes to put his feet up on his desk, he becomes sure that Nicholson killed Cusack. later, though, he realizes that Nicholson had visited Cusack earlier that same night and was secretly trying to negotiate an end to the garbage strike.
* NeverSuicide: Much to Monk's displeasure, he finds evidence that Cusack didn't kill himself, prolonging the investigation.

* SanitySlippage: If Monk was unhinged before, then this episode makes his state worse. It takes Stottlemeyer taking Monk to a sanitized room for him to solve the case.
* SecretRelationship: Of the professional type. Publicly, Cusack and Mayor Nicholson are adversaries in the strike negotiations. Privately, Nicholson went to Cusack's office on the night of the murder for a secret bargaining session. Nicholson couldn't admit to being there because it would have ruined his career, but Monk figured it out from evidence at the crime scene.

* StealingFromTheTill: The union's accountant, Ron Neely have been stealing money from the pension fund for years. With Cusack planning to look over the books as part of settling the strike, Neely knew he would be exposed and killed him, framing him as the one stealing.

* WhyWeNeedGarbagemen: San Francisco is covered in trash due to a sanitation workers' strike.

* StealingFromTheTill: The union's accountant, Ron Neely have been stealing money from the pension fund for years. With Cusack planning to look over the books as part of settling the strike, Neely knew he would be exposed and killed him, framing him as the one stealing.

The garbage collectors have been holding a strike, causing San Francisco to be covered with trash and Monk to slowly lose his sanity. What's worse, the union's head has been found dead of what appears to be suicide, which means unless Monk can solve this, the strike will continue indefinitely. Can he solve this before he loses his mind?
!!Tropes

The garbage collectors have been holding a strike, causing San Francisco to be covered with trash and Monk to slowly lose his sanity. What's worse, the union's head has been found dead of what appears to be suicide, which means unless Monk can solve this, more trash will build up. Can he solve this before he loses his mind?

* NeverSuicide: Much to Monk's displeasure, he finds evidence that Cusack didn't kill himself.
* StealingFromTheTill: The union's account, Ron Neely have been stealing money from the pension fund for years. With Cusack planning to look over the books as part of settling the strike, Neely knew he would be exposed and killed him, framing him as the stealer.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Monk's theory about Creator/AliceCooper being the murderer ''runs'' on this. How does Monk figure this? Cooper was performing a show on the same night as the murder. Why on Earth would Cooper do this? Cooper was insanely jealous of Jimmy. Why, you ask? Because Jimmy had an antique wingback chair in his office, and rock stars collect antique wingback chairs, of course! Disher tries to cut through this, but to no avail.

The garbage collectors have been holding a strike, causing San Fransisco to be covered with trash and Monk to slowly lose his sanity. What's worse, the union's head has been found dead, which means unless Monk can solve this, more trash will build up. Can he solve this before he loses his mind?

The garbage collectors have been holding a strike, causing San Fransisco to be covered with trash and Monk to slowly lose his sanity. What's worse, the union's head has been found dead, which means unless Monk can solve this, more trash will build up. Can he solve this before he loses his mind.

* StealingFromTheTil: The union's account, Ron Neely have been stealing money from the pension fund for years. With Cusack planning to look over the books as part of settling the strike, Neely knew he would be exposed and killed him, framing him as the stealer.