I was both excited and anxious about the new movie on Peacock + called Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie. I loved the TV show Monk and the character of Adrian Monk, as played by multiple EMMY winner Tony Shalhoub. But the title of the movie implied something that I did not want. A last case? It sounded too final for my tastes. I certainly was not ready for a permanent goodbye.

So the Defective Detective fell right into place as the film started. Adrian Monk was still suffering from his compulsions, trying to make money writing a book to pay for Molly (Caitlin McGee),Trudy’s (Melora Hardin) daughter’s, wedding. However, the book was a failure, and we discovered that Adrian Monk was feeling suicidal.

And, once again, I was fearful of how this movie was starting to go.

With the return of Natalie (Traylor Howard), Randy (Jason Gray Stanford), Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), and Dr. Bell (Hector Elizondo), the show pulled no punches when it came to nostalgia. These actors all slipped easily back into these roles that they spent so many years playing on the TV show Monk. You could feel the connection between them and you were excited to see them.

Still, the key to all of this is Tony Shalhoub, who was perfect as Adrian Monk. He was able to portray both the silliness and depression of the character. He could easily switch from anguish to anxiety at a moments notice. It was as if he had not missed a beat after all of these years.

The story itself was okay at best. I’ve seen better Monk episodes, but this was fine, and the key to this movie was the return of the characters. The film which was very much like the show, a howdidit, much like Columbo episodes. We knew the killer, but Monk was trying to figure out how it happened.

I thought the ending of the movie was just tremendous. I felt as if I was emotionally connecting to the story and came just short of tears filling my eyes.

I really found this Peacock film a pleasure, a treat. These are great characters and it was a welcome return.

4 stars