After a botched bust makes him lose his confidence, Randy resigns from the police department and moves to the farm he inherited from his recently deceased Uncle Harvey. However, the circumstances of his uncle's "suicide" seem suspicious to Randy and the head farm hand, Oates. Monk pokes around the small community for the foul scent of murder and may crack the case, if the environment doesn't crack him first.
Deciding he is cut out to be a cop after all, Randy goes see Captain Stottlemeyer to withdraw his resignation. Stottlemeyer gives Randy his badge back and says he didn't resign, he was just on sick leave with meningitis.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- The Alibi: Belmont attends a county dance to make sure he's seen by multiple witnesses far away at the time Harvey Disher supposedly shot himself. Monk, however, points out that it's weird that he would attend this dance when he hadn't attended any dances in ten years... unless he had an ulterior motive.
- Bedtime Brainwashing: Randy listens to a motivational tape every night. Monk takes advantage of this by whispering the solution to the case in his ear while he's sleeping.
- Bilingual Bonus: The Spanish that Monk speaks when posing as a farmhand at Jimmy Belmont's farm is actual Spanish, not broken translations. For instance, he introduces himself by saying, "Hola, Señor. Entiendo que Ud. [Usted] busca ayuda," which means "Hello, sir. I see that you are looking for help." In that same sequence, some of the conversation that Monk has with the non-English speaking farmhand Javier while in the chicken coop. Even if you don't speak Spanish, it's clear that Monk is asking Javier, "Did you ever see Jimmy Belmont fighting or arguing with Harvey Disher?"
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Subverted by Randy. He seems to be setting up to borrow Monk's catchphrase "Unless I'm wrong... which, you know... I'm not" but instead says "Unless I'm wrong... which I probably am"
- Chekhov's Gun: While undercover on Belmont's farm, Monk overhears some of his workers complaining about four missing salt licks. It turns out that Belmont used the salt licks to prop Disher's truck into the right position, knowing they would melt when the sprinklers came on at 8:00.
- Comforting Comforter: When Randy decides to try sleep-solving a couple more cases and lies down on his couch, Stottlemeyer gets up and drapes the young officer's coat over him.
- Continuity Snarl: Randy stated in “Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever” that he didn’t have any uncles. Here, he’s taking over his paternal uncle’s farm after said uncle allegedly kills himself.
- Fake Alibi: On the surface, Jimmy Belmont was half a mile away surrounded by witnesses when Harvey killed himself. In reality, Jimmy killed Harvey earlier, set his truck up on four salt licks, and left the engine running. Then, when Harvey's farm sprinklers go off, they melt the salt and send the truck into a nearby electric fence, creating an illusionary timeline of when Harvey actually died.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Tony Shalhoub's wife Brooke Adams (Actress) makes her third appearance on the show as the local sheriff, who takes a shine to Monk.
- Just One Little Mistake: After Randy has finished reeling off the explanation Monk fed him while he was sleeping, Belmont gets in his face and claims it's just an unproven story. Then Randy asks the local law enforcement for a pen and an evidence bag and retrieves the key from the pickup. No one ever moved it after the "suicide", so if Belmont's fingerprint is on the key, it proves he handled the pickup last.
- Long List: When Monk is confronted by Jimmy Belmont after finding his fenced off field of marijuana, Monk rambles off a long list of nicknames for the plant.Adrian: Okay, what's back there? Let me guess. Fields of reefer.
Jimmy: Fields of reefer? What kind of cop were you?
Adrian: You know what I mean: Ditchweed. Boo. The old Ali Baba.
Jimmy: What makes you think that I'd actually—
Adrian: Magic Dragon. Bambalachi. Yellow Submarine. Black Bart. Doctor Giggles. Kentucky Blue. You know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Railroad Weed! That's right. The Devil's Parsley. Skunk, Splim, Splam, Mooster. Side Salad. - Never Suicide: Harvey Disher appears to have shot himself after accidentally running over his beloved prize pig. Three guesses what really happened, and the first two don't count.
- No Matter How Much I Beg: Monk catches Jimmy Belmont setting his illegal marijuana crop on fire. He runs away as the smoke gets very strong. We cut to Randy's farmhand Oates finding Monk handcuffing himself to a tractor as he believes he has inhaled reefer. He appears to have a full panic attack, even saying the trope page quote here, but then instantly sobers up when the sprinklers come on and drench him, prompting him to have the "Eureka!" Moment that solves the case. Oates immediately frees him as he thought the whole plea was dumb.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: As Monk is talking to the Sheriff about the night of the dance when Harvey died and she tells him Jimmy hearing it and how little he attends these dances, it gets gears turning in his head, as it's a rather odd coincidence that during the one dance Jimmy has attended in a decade, Harvey Disher shoots himself and Jimmy is the only one to hear the shot.
- Reality Has No Subtitles: All of Jimmy Belmont's farmhands speak Spanish, which goes untranslated.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Oates describes Monk as sobbing like a little girl while freaking out when he thinks he's inhaled marijuana fumes.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Harvey Disher takes offense when Jimmy Belmont tries to bribe him with $15,000 to keep him from reporting Belmont for illegally growing marijuana. Subsequently Belmont kills Harvey and makes it look like he committed suicide out of guilt for accidentally killing his prized pig Nadine.
- Shout-Out: Monk chains himself up to some farm machinery and has a panic attack in front of Randy's farmhand Oates, as he thinks he inhaled reefer when trying to catch Jimmy Belmont in the act of burning his illegal field of marijuana. Suddenly, the sprinklers come on, drenching Monk, and he suddenly calms down and asks Oates if the sprinklers come on nightly, and he announces that he's solved the case. Oates later comments in the kitchen, "One minute you're handcuffing yourself to a piece of farm machinery, sobbing like a schoolgirl, the next minute you're putting all the pieces together like Sherlock Holmes. Which is the real Adrian Monk?"
- Spotting the Thread:
- Disher finds the premise of the suicide flawed as a whole. How could Nadine the pig have gotten out of her pen in a position to be run over when only Harvey had access to the pen and kept Nadine constantly locked up?
- Harvey supposedly committed suicide by shooting himself with a rifle he kept in his truck's gun rack. But as Randy shows to Monk, Harvey kept a revolver under his seat. So why would he shoot himself with a gun that is much harder to maneuver in the cramped space of the truck cab?
- Monk asks around and finds out only Belmont heard the gunshot, and he and Randy do a test at the next dance to see if someone could hear a sound from the area Harvey supposedly committed suicide while far away at a dance hall filled with music and other noise. Monk can't. Granted, Randy did forget to load their test gun, but he did stand there yelling "bang!" for several minutes and Monk hears better than the average person.
- 10-Minute Retirement: Yeah, like Randy quitting the force is going to stick...
- Unprocessed Resignation: Randy becomes a farmer, although not a very good one. When he's ready to be a cop again, we find out that Stottlemeyer simply held on to his badge and made up an excuse for his absence.
- Why Don't You Marry It?: Belmont mockingly suggests Harvey Disher marry his prize pig, Nadine, and calls her his girlfriend. Disher doesn't consider the joke very funny.
