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Klarinet Archive - Posting 000077.txt from 2002/11

From: "Will Hartung" <willh@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] First Squidward, now Monk
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 20:50:36 -0500

From: <LeliaLoban@-----.com>

> Bill Wright wrote,
> >Okay, but I want to say that the episode is especially interesting
> >(to me) because of the clarinet/guitar/voice at the episode's conclusion.
> [snip]
> >Also, in your role as movie critic, the episode's music is a superior
> >blend of comedy and.... pathos ??
>
> I like that about the series generally. The writers are doing a pretty
good
> job of keeping the series funny without asking the audience to laugh *at*
the
> funny nut case. That's as ugly as laughing at someone in a wheelchair. I
> wish the plots were more complex; but the writers seem to be laughing
*with*
> the character, who has (up to a point) a sense of humor about himself and
who
> manages to live a productive life despite a severe handicap. Tony Shaloub
> makes Monk so endearing that he might even become a role model for the
> employable mentally ill. I also like it that the top cop is an
intelligent,
> thoughtful man, not the butt- headed goon that comic detectives usually
have
> to deal with. Still, there've been an awful lot of detective heroes with
> gimmicks (Ironside in his wheelchair; Columbo in his crumpled raincoat;
the
> blind detective with his cane; Hercule Poirot weeth zee French accent zo
> stageee; Miss Marple the old lady detective; Jessica whatshername the
mystery
> writer detective, etc. etc.). People will get tired of this series fast
if
> Monk continues to be defined primarily by his illness.

I know nothing about the clarinet (as my earlier post noted), but I've seen
this entire series and enjoy it a lot.

I think that Monks gimmick is that his disability gives him this great skill
of noticing detail. It's more that his disablility is a price for his
intuition. Sort of an idiot savant.

I don't watch the series because of the disability, and I think that they
pushed it back fairly quickly (for example, he no longer needs to touch all
of the posts or parking meters when he's walking).

Now they're using the disability as lead ins to different aspects of the
story. Now it's more quirky. Also, for the other detectives mentioned, they
didn't really limit them. They were mostly set dressing (maybe Ironside has
some issues, but it seemed rare to me). Monk needs to overcome his
disabilities to solve his cases.

I like the show because of his leaps in logic, because of the interaction
between himself and his assistant, and the struggle over the loss of his
wife. It seems to me that the loss of his wife is what made him more
dysfunctional, as he was certainly capable before.

Overall, it's a real positive, light weight show that's not completely
idiotic. I think the show has a couple of more good seasons out of it.

ObClarinet: How many of you "air practice", and does it work? :-)

Regards,

Will Hartung
(willh@-----.com)

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