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(S07E14) "Rodderick Brody changed my life, maybe as much as Trudy." -- Monk

If I didn't know better, I would have taken this episode of Monk as the drinking game edition because if you took a drink every time someone mentioned the word "swirlie," you were seriously hammered halfway through the show. If that was what you were up to, good for you because you probably didn't care that the last act of the show was a ridiculous plot switch that spoiled an otherwise very good episode. More on the ill-advised plot development after the jump.

By and large, though, there was a lot of good stuff here. The flashback to little Adrian in seventh grade was superb, right down to his tweed jacket and beige shirt and black slacks. A lot of Monk's psychological damage occurred in that junior high school bathroom thanks to the bully in question, Rodderick Brody.

When Monk consulted with Dr. Bell about his appointment with Brody, the psychologist knew all about the swirlies and Adrian's lingering hatred of Brody. What was so truthful about all this is that nobody but Adrian believed how the bullying had hurt him.

Dr. Bell advise him see the meeting as a gift, a chance to confront the bully. Natalie forced Monk to deal with the discomfort. And, best of all, Rodderick had no memory of the swirlies being anything more than good-natured fun. He never apologized for the bullying, not once.

Only Adrian, remembering it from his perspective alone, couldn't let the pain go. For Monk to equate the memory of Brody's bullying to being as monumental in his life as Trudy's love shows you how big this encounter was.

As for the crime, from the moment Marilyn Brody was presented -- babbling about her family -- you sort of knew she was hinky, didn't you? The fact that Rodderick was a millionaire made me wonder if Monk doing his homework helped him on the road to success. Where was the karmic justice in that, Natalie?

By the way, I'm convinced Natalie is becoming Monk's unloved wife. She does everything to help him and gets blamed for everything that goes wrong. She tries in vain to make him a better person, but in the end, when Rodderick was exonerated, Adrian blamed Natalie for the outcome. He said it was all her fault because she lied to him about karma. Sigh. Someday Natalie will take that Sharona express and find someone who'll appreciate her.

Everything in the show was going along well -- Rodderick's arrest, Monk's idea of a cartwheel by proxy -- then the out-of-leftfield twist of the wife's twin was just jarring. Monk episodes usually have more intricate, interesting mysteries. This felt like The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. The evil twin -- with the very same haircut and the same size – appeared out of nowhere to commit the murder. Ho-hum.

Funniest bit in the show was Monk's camera; was that a 1970 Kodak Instamatic with the flashcube on top? Pro bono comeuppance was pretty clever, too, as well as Plato's great cosmic swirlie. Oops, time for another drink.