When the wife of Las Vegas casino owner millionaire Daniel Thorn (James Brolin) is strangled to death in an elevator by her own scarf, Captain Stottlemeyer, who is in hangover mode, suspects foul play and brings Monk out to investigate. While solving the murder, Monk must also help Stottlemeyer remember what he did during his hangover and help Randy overcome a gambling addiction issue.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Alliterative Name: Teresa Telenko.
- Card Sharp: Monk's incredible memory allows him to win back Randy's money at the blackjack tables.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Stottlemeyer asks what happened to his pants, a bellhop explains he threw them out a window on a bet with a stripper. When Stottlemeyer gets his pants back after they've been kicked out of the casino, he finds the tabloid that lead him to solve the murder the first time, and allows them to nail Thorn.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Monk is unable to look at the showgirls on stage:Natalie: Mr. Monk, they're not naked.
Monk: They're naked-ish!
Natalie: Well, I can't argue with that. They are naked-ish. - Dark and Troubled Past: Natalie implies she had a gambling addiction and had to leave her job and home in Las Vegas because of it.
- A Deadly Affair: Sheryl Thorn was murdered by her husband with his mistress as an accomplice. Whether this affair was the reason for the murder or not isn't made clear.
- Drunken Master: Stottlemeyer gets a Monk-like intuitive leap and solves the murder while sloshed. Unfortunately he forgets the whole thing until he sees the newspaper at the end.
- Fake Alibi: Daniel seemingly couldn't have killed Sheryl himself, as he was outside the elevator on the ground floor when Sheryl went up. In reality, Sheryl was already dead, and the one who went up the elevator was actually Teresa Telenko.
- Foreshadowing: Before the Thorns leave for the benefit, Sheryl is looking for her earrings, and decides to wear a different pair. Stottlemeyer solves the case because Teresa was wearing different earrings than Sheryl—probably because Sheryl couldn't find the pair that would have matched and changed them at the last minute.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Monk falls into this category in certain settings, as shown when Stottlemeyer looks out the peephole of the bachelor party's hotel room:Stottlemeyer: Which one of you idiots invited Monk?!
- The Gambling Addict: Randy falls victim to this and nearly loses everything he has. Monk falls into this while trying to win Randy's money back.
- Hypocrite: Monk calls out Thorn on pretending he's a grieving widower like Monk when in reality, he was his own wife's murderer. Exaggerated in that Thorn even has the nerve to dedicate a hospital in her honor.
- Impostor Forgot One Detail: As she's the one doing most of the work on a tight timeframe outside of the actual murder, Teresa commits some rather glaring mistakes in her rush not to get caught. She presses the elevator switch with Sheryl's thumb while it's upside-down, screams too loudly than Sheryl would've realistically done if she had been choking, and most glaringly of all, wore earrings that were wholly different than the ones being worn by the woman she was impersonating.
- The last of these mistakes was probably not entirely Teresa's fault, as Sheryl wore a different pair of earrings than she had planned to and made the switch at the last minute.
- Kill and Replace: Thorn and his mistress (a lookalike for his wife) kill Thorn's wife while descending on an elevator (that the mistress was hiding up above). The mistress takes the place of the wife for a few moments, only to pretend that the wife died when her scarf got caught and strangled her on a return ascension.
- Killer Outfit: This is the cover story for Sheryl Thorn's death, in that it appears that she strangled to death when her scarf got caught in the elevator door, as she had a habit of catching it on things. In truth, the real Sheryl had already been killed by that point. Monk also almost falls victim to the same thing while trying to recreate the murder.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: To all the world, it looks like Sheryl Thorn died when her long scarf got caught in the elevator door, strangling her to death. In reality, Daniel strangled her on the way down, had his girlfriend come down into the elevator via the hatch, impersonate Sheryl and get back in the elevator, then bring Sheryl's body back down and tie the scarf around her neck.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: The episode never really explains why Thorn murdered Sheryl in the first place.
- Not So Above It All: Monk gets addicted to gambling when he has to play blackjack to win Randy's money back
- "Not So Different" Remark: Played with. Thorn tells Monk he doesn't drink or gamble either, and Monk replies that they also have in common that their wives were murdered.
- Rewatch Bonus: Thorn's wife's face is never visible during the lobby scene in the intro. Because it's actually his mistress disguised as his wife.
- In the opening scene just before Sheryl's death, she mentions that Daniel bought her the elegant blue gown she's wearing specifically for that night. That way he could control what she was wearing and make sure Teresa had an identical dress.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Natalie hypothesizes that someone was hiding on top of the elevator car, who jumped down from the roof and strangled Sheryl Thorn while she was alone in the elevator on the way back up to the penthouse. Monk has his doubts on that, as Sheryl was creaming about her scarf being caught, not about someone trying to kill her. Natalie turns out to be right that someone was hiding up there, but it wasn't the killer: it was Sheryl's double, prepared to take her place after Daniel himself murdered her on the way down.
- Rule of Symbolism: Monk gets a hot streak at the blackjack table, winning bigger and bigger bets, as he lays out how Daniel killed Sheryl.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: Natalie says, "I can do anything I want, I'm cute" while searching Daniel Thorn's jacket without a warrant. Later, she uses her "cuteness" to get information, and some special treatment, out of the concierge.Monk: Boy, it's like you have superpowers.
Natalie: It's a gift.
Monk: And a curse?
Natalie: No, just a gift. - Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: After some Evil Gloating, Daniel Thorn orders Monk and Co. thrown out of the casino for cheating, even though there's been no cheating, only Monk's photographic memory.
- Separated-at-Birth Casting: Sheryl Thorn and Teresa Telenko are played by two different actresses, who bear a striking resemblance to one another.
- Shout-Out:
- The gambling scene is a shout out to Rain Man, which Stottlemeyer references by name.
- The method of Sheryl's "accident" may be a reference to the death of Isadora Duncan.
- Spotting the Thread:
- When Monk and Natalie reenact the death scene, Thorn calls the elevator, actually coming close to strangling Monk. Natalie manages to save him. After Thorn opens the door, Monk confronts him with a question: He can barely talk after his "experience" with the scarf, so how was Sheryl able to scream for help?
- How Monk and Stottlemeyer ultimately find the proof that Thorn and his mistress killed Sheryl. While Daniel's mistress is a dead ringer for Sheryl and could mimic her body language, she forgot one thing: to grab Sheryl's earrings. Stottlemeyer while drunk looked at the photos of "Sheryl" exiting the elevator and of the corpse. He said, "They don't match."
- Trumplica: Daniel Thorn is a boisterous, egomaniacal casino mogul with several other mannerisms reminiscent of Donald Trump.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: Stottlemeyer has little to no memory of what he did the night he called Monk due to how drunk he was. Part of the episode has him and Monk retrace Stottlemeyer's steps in search for clues.
