Mr. Monk is eager to meet the grown-up actress from his favorite show The Cooper Clan, and to read her newest book. Natalie and the SFPD aren't so excited, however, especially after a car bomb nearly kills the new author. Afraid for her life, Christine Rapp hires Monk as her bodyguard from a stalker. Monk soon finds that the more he learns about Christine, the less innocent she appears.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Hero: If Kim hadn't hired Monk to be Christine's bodyguard, Monk wouldn't have realized that Christine was the actual murderer.
- Alliterative Title: The Cooper Clan.
- Artistic License: It's unlikely that a bookstore would accept a return if the book has a page ripped out and replaced.
- Blackmail Backfire: Victor tried to blackmail Christine Rapp over rigging the Silver Globe ceremony she won. Take a wild guess how he ended up.
- Bland-Name Product: The Silver Globe - which Christine won for Best Supporting Actress in "The Vanishing Girl", a TV Movie about anorexia—for the Golden Globe. Monk mentions that was the only Award Show he ever saw (and was bored by Bob Hope telling jokes, as well as two accountants from Fineman & Kelly, who tabulated the ballots, telling the rules); her assistant credits it for saving her career.
- Book Safe: Victor hid the ballots of Christine's Silver Globe award in one of these.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Among the men Christine admits to sleeping with are described as Cheech, Chong, Cheech and Chong. Ew.
- Broken Pedestal: After reading the book, Monk becomes disillusioned with the show and Christine.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Having lived vicariously through The Cooper Clan as a kid, Monk has trouble understanding the actors are not the wholesome characters they played and refers to them as a family. Then he reads Christine's memoir.
- Chekhov's Gun: Monk used episode 4 of The Cooper Clan to reveal that Christine actually wrote the letters and the words on the mirror to herself as he was able to see her writing on her own cast.
- Continuity Nod: Monk is shaken on seeing that Christine survived a car bomb; Trudy died via a similar explosion.
- Contractual Purity: In-universe, Monk is horrified to read that the so-called perfect family of the Cooper Clan grew up to be the opposite. Christine by far is the worst, since she slept her way to stay in show business (and later committed murder).
- Damsel out of Distress: Even though Natalie calls for Monk to help her as she grapples with Christine, she manages to disarm Christine so that Christine doesn't shoot her.
- Dissonant Serenity: This happens in Monk's Imagine Spot, due to his unconscious state and still wanting to do The Summation. The parents tell "Cathy" on the Cooper Clan show that they've discussed how murder isn't the best solution for solving problems.
- Dramatic Irony: Unaware of Christine's dirty secrets, Monk spends at least half the episode worshipping her and being a fanboy around her. It's only once Natalie and Stottlemeyer urge him to read Christine's tell-all book that he finally learns the truth about her.
- Forged Letter: Monk figures out that Christine wrote the threatening letters and the mirror message, since one Cooper Clan episode featured her character writing signatures on her own cast.
- Former Child Star: Christine. Her television costars also suffered; one is working as a stripper to support her baby, without any child support, and another became a meth addict. The one who's considered a possible stalker is the most well-adjusted, all things considered. Christine murdered the accountant who helped her rig an award. He had tried to blackmail her after she wrote and published a book.
- Frame-Up: Christine frames her supposed stalker for the car bomb and the threatening letters. She then shoots him and claims self defense.
- From the Mouths of Babes: During Monk's Imagine Spot, Child!Christine denies committing the murders when accused, and then says he doesn't have any proof. Her costar says she has to strip in Florida because she has a baby to support, and one of the clan denies the kid is his.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Apparently the go-to "expletive" in The Cooper Clan is "shucky darns".
- Head-Tiltingly Kinky: Natalie and Randy have this reaction to whatever the hell was on Page 73 of Christine's book.
- Imagine Spot: After Christine knocks him out, Monk has one where he does The Summation as a member of the Cooper Clan. In that In-Universe Breaking the Fourth Wall fictional episode, he's a jock sporting an afro.
- Irony: Monk considers the Cooper Clan (who weren't a real-live family) to be more of a family to him than his real family. The irony here is that the actors who played the Cooper Clan collectively had more issues than Monk's own family.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Monk is the only one who doesn't know that Christine and the Cooper Clan were a less-than-ideal family.
- Noodle Incident:
- Page 73 of Christine's book.
- One of the men Christine admits to having slept with is Bob Denver. For reasons never explained, he has an asterisk by his name.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Page 73 of Christine's book. It's so bad that Natalie eats the page before Monk can read it.
- Precision F-Strike: You know you've screwed up if Adrian Monk calls you a whore while returning your book.
- Psychological Projection: When Stottlemeyer wonders why the man Christine (seemingly) killed in self-defense would stalk her, Monk (who just learned of her dirty secrets) gives a salty hypothesis that the stalker was a devoted fan and she disappointed his view of her.
- Punny Name: Christine Rapp's stalker is named Victor Timlinson.
- Really Gets Around: Christine. She has a long list of men she slept with in her book. As her assistant says:Christine: (To Monk.) Oooh, shy. I like that in a man. (Leaves to her bedroom.)
Christine's assistant: She likes anything in a man. - Running Gag: Page 73 is missing, because Natalie ate it. It's referred to throughout the episode.
- She's All Grown Up: Monk has an innocent version, noting how Christine is no longer a child actor on a sitcom.Monk: (with child-like wonderment) She got bigger.
- Spanner in the Works: Christine would've gotten away with murder and a disgusted Monk would've never given her another thought if only Natalie hadn't insisted on watching The Cooper Clan to get him out of his funk. The episode they just so happened to watch is the one that shows Christine's handwriting is the same as her mystery stalker, cluing in Monk that fact that the whole thing was a cover for the murder.
- Series Continuity Error: In-Universe, Monk mentions to Christine that, in The Cooper Clan's season 3 episode 10, Cathy had a peanut allergy, but in a later season 5 she ate brownies only not to have any reaction. She points out that Dr. Nabors might have given some cure, but he actually pointed it was actually Dr. Norbert who was her doctor, and the latter announced his retirement at the end of the tonsils episode (implied to be before the brownies one). Christine is left exasperated and her assistant has to change topics.
- Show Within a Show: The Cooper Clan, the show where Christine started out. In one scene, a bemused Christine is watching the show with Monk, who remembers all the lines despite the fact he hadn't seen it for 35 years. Another scene has Natalie and Monk watching another episode of the show (which turned out to be a key piece of evidence). Another scene has an In-Universe Breaking the Fourth Wall fictional episode with Monk as a jock sporting a Funny Afro.
- Shout-Out:
- The Cooper Clan is a cheery, innocent family sitcom in the style of The Brady Bunch, down to the title. What really clinches it, however, is when Christine complains about Monk's avatar, saying, "Adrian, Adrian, Adrian!", a nod to the famous "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" moment.
- In the bookstore window, you can see two books from the Hannah Swensen series.note
- Subverted Sitcom: The episode has Monk solving the stalking and attempted murder of Christine Rapp, who played Cathy on Monk's favorite sitcom, The Cooper Clan. Monk has a dream about being part of the family on The Cooper Clan, where he basks in the joy of it before asking the young Kathy if she has anything to tell her parents. Cathy admits to some typical sitcom secrets, like reading her sister's diary and her dog breaking the family vase...but Monk is actually talking to Cathy as if she was Christine, calling her out for cheating to win an award and murdering the fan who helped her rig the votes after he tried to blackmail her. Cathy gets grounded for the murder, and all the other children in the Cooper family begin speaking from the perspective of their adult actors who have all turned to lives of miserable decadence and addiction. And the Laugh Track just keeps going, much to Monk's annoyance.
- Tap on the Head: Christine knocks Adrian out from behind. He then has an Imagine Spot, from which he recovers after Natalie frantically calls for help.
- Warts and All:
- Christine tries to invoke this trope, that perhaps Monk can find it in his heart to forgive his favorite (grown) child star. Given Monk has never been one to let it down for any fallen hero (and Christine's issues are pretty severe), it doesn't work out that way.
- Natalie later tries to lampshade to Monk the importance of this trope. As she puts it, if people required that actors from their favorite shows have no issues or baggage before enjoying them, nobody would bother watching them. Monk is not moved, and only bothers to watch it with reluctance.
- You Are Not Alone: Played for Laughs in the end when Natalie tries to cheer Monk up. He feels that without the show, he has virtually no "real" family, only for Natalie to point out he has her and Stottlemeyer and Randy. Still, Monk isn't satisfied, as Natalie isn't "funny". This leads to a small gag where she tries to prove otherwise.
