Monk receives a new case when late magazine publisher Elliot D'Souza turns up dead and his personal assistant suspects murder. In pursuit of the truth, Monk goes to Sapphire Mansion, home of Sapphire magazine's decadent star, Dexter Larson. Can Monk prove murder despite his discomfort with the atmosphere, Dexter's willingness to play dirty, and the seemingly total lack of evidence?
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- All Men Are Perverts: Stottlemeyer (who is "married, not dead") and Disher are suddenly interested in what they think is a case-closed accidental death when Monk says his investigation will take him to the Sapphire mansion. Averted with Monk, who can't think about sex without cringing.
- Artistic License – Physics: Dexter's electromagnet falls under this. Ignoring the fact that a car battery wouldn't have enough stored energy to power such a strong magnet, magnetic fields decrease in strength exponentially the further you are from the source as per the Inverse-Square law. The magnet is described as being "strong enough to lift a car," but an electromagnet that strong would be far too heavy and bulky to carry around, and even then it still wouldn't have the effect shown in the show.
- As Himself: Danny Bonaduce, who is apparently friends with Dexter. This is because Dexter took his car to set up the murder and not be seen driving his own car.
- Blackmail: Dexter tires to worm out of the case by tracking down the nude photos Sharona did in her past and threatening to release them if Monk doesn't back off. It doesn't end up working for him.
- Brick Joke: Dex snaps at Monk for touching an expensive statuette in his first scene. When Monk solves the case, he and the police reveal that they can prove how he killed Elliot by magnetizing the statuette to the table.
- Burn Baby Burn: While wrapping matters up, Randy finds the photos that Dex used to blackmail Monk through Sharona, as well as the negatives. He sets them alight as she watches, ensuring that no one can hold them over her head again.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The clock on the wall in Elliot D'Souza's private gym is off by about forty minutes when Monk comes in, and a tape containing Elliot's final business recommendations has been erased. Both of these resulted accidentally from Dex's method of murdering Elliot — a magnet to pull down his weights on him.
- Noelle Winters mentions that Dex found her an apartment and sent her on a promotional tour. It turns out the apartment was right below Elliot's private gym, and Dex let himself in to kill Elliot while she was on the tour.
- Danny Bonaduce gushes about how Dex insisted that he stay the night, even though he had only had a few beers and had intended to drive home. Dex used his car to get to the murder scene.
- Cigar Chomper: Dexter fancies himself a cigar smoker, and is first introduced with one between his fingers.
- Closet Geek: Dex excised his nerdiness and nerdy interests from his public personality when he turned Popular Computing into Sapphire Magazine and became a Hugh Hefner-style ladies' man.
- Commonality Connection: Sharona finds an unlikely ally in Amber, who provided Dex's alibi for the morning of the murder. Amber has a daughter of her own, and just wants to make her proud of her. Sharona, who is afraid the blackmail will hurt her son, can relate. Ultimately, Sharona uses this to talk her into destroying his alibi.
- Everybody Has Standards: When Monk reads a bunch of models the poems Trudy wrote, they're all so deeply moved that they no longer wish to indulge in the party.
- Fake Alibi: Dexter has Sapphire model Amber Post claim he was with her in bed on the morning Elliot died. In exchange. he would make her Sapphire girl of the year, something which would help her and her four-year-old daughter. With the right convincing, the team gets Amber to reveal the story is a crock to ensure Dexter is put away.
- Hate Sink: Dex doesn't exactly make himself well-liked. It's one thing for him to treat his models like toys to play with and discard when they grow old. But he crosses the line when he blackmails Monk by proxy using Sharona's pictures. He's notably the only man who could tie Monk's hands from doing the right thing. Later, he tells Sharona that he used to be nerdy, "the kind of guy girls wouldn't date". But given his blackmail, Sharona isn't too far off when she coldly quips "You still are..."
- Have You Told Anyone Else?: Dex asks Elliot to refrain from telling anyone about his decision to shut down Sapphire, claiming that he just wants one last carefree weekend and that the other council members are blabbermouths. Elliot agrees, ensuring that Sapphire remains safe after Dex kills him.
- Hidden Depths:
- One of Dex's oldest models, Noelle, plays piano.
- Dex himself is a nerd with a long-time interest and expertise in electronics - and, indeed, that's what the magazine was originally about.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: Monk notices two flaws in Dexter's alibi:
- Dex hands Amber an earring, claiming she lost it during their night together, and she plays along. However, Monk notices that Amber's ears aren't pierced.
- Amber says she and Dex watched the sun rise. Monk points out that the windows don't face east.
- I Was Young and Needed the Money: Sharona posed for the pictures that she's being blackmailed over in an attempt to make a better life for herself and her baby son, and she's not very proud of it.
- Laser-Guided Karma: For his actions, Dex gets (not one) but two women who turn on him after he bribes or blackmails each into looking the other way.
- Locked Room Mystery: Elliot D'Souza is found dead in his office gym with a barbell on his throat, which only has one way in or out. His assistant is sure that Dexter Larson is responsible. Monk eventually deduces Dexter used a homemade magnet to bring the bar down on his neck.
- Magazine Decay: In-Universe. From Popular Computing to Sapphire Magazine. All it took was a bankrupt magazine with a bikini girl on its cover.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Dex uses a magnet to pull a weight down on Elliot while he's exercising. Initially, the police dismiss it as an accident. Monk proves otherwise.
- Mama Bear: Sharona tells Dex that she will utterly devote herself to destroying him if he harms her son by releasing the compromising pictures he has of her:Sharona: Okay, you listen to me, you twisted, porn-peddling freak. You publish those pictures, you are gonna hurt my son. And if you hurt my son, I will dedicate my life to ruining yours.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: Sharona explains the blackmail situation to Benji, who tells her that she and Monk shouldn't hold back on exposing a villain just because it might cause him problems at school. Sharona asks him if she's told him she loves him. Going by Benji's reaction, she does all the time.
- Playboy Parody: Sapphire is an In-Universe version of Playboy, complete with its own mansion and collection of bunnies.
- Product Placement: For Exide Select Performance batteries. The killer used a battery of that brand for the high-powered magnet.
- Revenge Porn Blackmail: Dexter resorts to blackmailing him with the threat of publishing some photos of Sharona if he doesn't back off. Sharona admits that she posed for some skeevy pictures when she was younger to make a better life for herself and her son, Benji. She worries that Benji will get bullied if the photos come out and threatens the suspect in Mama Bear mode about it.
- Sex Sells: Sapphire magazine originated, surprisingly, as a tech magazine. When Dex became in charge of it and sales were low, he had a bikini-clad model appear on the cover. Over time, the tech part was phased out and the magazine became Sapphire.
- Sweet and Sour Grapes: Sharona tries to explain to her son that if she and Monk try to do the right thing, her dark secret will be exposed and kids at his school will talk. In turn, Benjy tells his mother he won't let himself be bothered by what kids will say, as long as Monk and Sharona put a bad guy in jail. Later, not only is Dex arrested for the murder of his boss, Randy obtains the incriminating negatives of Sharona and burns them in front of her. Either way, Benjy doesn't have to worry about kids making fun of him at school.
- Take Back Your Gift: When she strips Dex of his alibi, Amber hands back the sapphire necklace and Ferrari keys from her crowning as "Sapphire Magazine Girl of the Year", on the principle that she doesn't need the likes of him to support her daughter.
- Truth in Television: Dex's Sapphire magazine was failing because it was falling out of favor of the internet. Anyone can tell you that with the internet and electronics on the rise, magazines aren't quite as popular as they used to be. Especially girly magazines. (Or, for that matter, electronics magazines.)
