Subtleties
Sometimes I feel like Fluttershy. She's good at scaring her friends for Halloween, but she found she really doesn't have fun doing it. In that twisted fic I was talking about, I was going to do a mind-screw on the readers and confuse them as to whether Lector was really being mutilated. I found I couldn't do it. I added some stuff so it's clear to the readers that Lector is not being hurt in that way. I did, however, decide on rating it M.
I went and looked at Crystal's Monk entries, as I vaguely remembered she listed episodes she liked and I wanted to see if there were any I liked listed that I'd forgotten about. I found a couple, at least; I still definitely prefer the first four seasons, when it seemed more like the show just had comedy elements and wasn't trying to turn everything into a comedy.
I also remembered again how much I dislike Lee Goldberg's take on the characters, and some other writers on occasion too. Things like Sharona putting in earplugs so she won't have to listen to Monk talking all the way to Mexico. She wouldn't do that. I can't decide whether Lee Goldberg really thought she would or if he just threw it in as a cheap gag. I didn't like that episode in general; I think the only thing I enjoyed was the scene where Monk was thought dead and the others react to it, gah. Then they hear that the guy dragged himself through the mud and Sharona is so relieved because she knows Monk wouldn't do that. LOL.
I was also reminded of a bit in the season 8 episode with Sharona where she and Natalie disagree on what to do when Monk doesn't want to use the elevator. I don't recall the context, but I wasn't sure I liked the writer's take on Sharona saying Natalie should force Monk to use the elevator. If it was a situation where they had to in order to catch a crook or something, that would be one thing, and yeah, she'd probably do it then. But if there was no real rush, I don't know that she would. She did try to get Monk to do things he was afraid of in order to get over his fears; she was hired as a nurse and was trying to help him. But she did recognize when pushing him to do something was not going to work and she wouldn't do it those times. She honestly indulged Monk's eccentricities more than some people probably remember she did. So offhand the scene sounded like an awfully simplistic approach that may or may not have been IC in the specific circumstance.
I think characters like Sharona and Monk have so many nuances that it can be hard for some writers to really see the whole picture with them. They may focus on a trait and exaggerate it, like Lee Goldberg latched onto Sharona's more negative traits and expanded them in a way that was not IC, or how he exaggerated Monk's need to not be alone by having him chase ... I think it was Dr. Kroger ... overseas. He wouldn't do that. If he was going to do that, he would have done it when Sharona left. (Not that Sharona leaving the way they wrote her doing was IC either, because it wasn't.)
Of course, even when the characters are written IC, I don't always like everything they do. I knew there was something about Mr. Monk and the Panic Room I didn't like, and I couldn't remember until I saw Crystal's more detailed summary of it. I remember not liking the monkey throwing up on the wall (although it was kind of funny when Sharona tried to say it was Benjy, LOL). And I didn't like her leaving the monkey in Monk's apartment. Although if I remember right, circumstances were extenuating and she was so desperate to keep the monkey from being put down because she was so sure it didn't kill anyone and that was the only reason she did it. She ended up getting arrested for taking it. I did like that she loved an animal so much that she was trying to save it, so in that circumstance I'm torn on what to think because I didn't like her actions but I liked her motivation.
In any case, I still like Natalie better than I did before, which I'm happy about, but I'm wondering if it's because I'm trying to mostly stick with the earlier episodes and it was mostly in the later ones where she was kind of a ditz sometimes. That would fit with how they tried to turn the show into a stronger comedy vehicle later on. I guess we'll find out, because eventually I'll have to put on some more later ones too....
Regardless, as much as I discovered I hate the episode about the Frisco Fly, I did find the scene of Monk crying/whimpering in Natalie's lap adorable. And Julie was pretty sweet in that scene too, which was nice. Honestly, in a lot of these episodes, she kind of seems like a brat. I know, fairly normal teenage behavior, but I don't think Benjy would have acted out in the ways Julie did. Julie does have her moments, though; the epilogue of Mr. Monk and the Astronaut was so sweet and adorable.
I went and looked at Crystal's Monk entries, as I vaguely remembered she listed episodes she liked and I wanted to see if there were any I liked listed that I'd forgotten about. I found a couple, at least; I still definitely prefer the first four seasons, when it seemed more like the show just had comedy elements and wasn't trying to turn everything into a comedy.
I also remembered again how much I dislike Lee Goldberg's take on the characters, and some other writers on occasion too. Things like Sharona putting in earplugs so she won't have to listen to Monk talking all the way to Mexico. She wouldn't do that. I can't decide whether Lee Goldberg really thought she would or if he just threw it in as a cheap gag. I didn't like that episode in general; I think the only thing I enjoyed was the scene where Monk was thought dead and the others react to it, gah. Then they hear that the guy dragged himself through the mud and Sharona is so relieved because she knows Monk wouldn't do that. LOL.
I was also reminded of a bit in the season 8 episode with Sharona where she and Natalie disagree on what to do when Monk doesn't want to use the elevator. I don't recall the context, but I wasn't sure I liked the writer's take on Sharona saying Natalie should force Monk to use the elevator. If it was a situation where they had to in order to catch a crook or something, that would be one thing, and yeah, she'd probably do it then. But if there was no real rush, I don't know that she would. She did try to get Monk to do things he was afraid of in order to get over his fears; she was hired as a nurse and was trying to help him. But she did recognize when pushing him to do something was not going to work and she wouldn't do it those times. She honestly indulged Monk's eccentricities more than some people probably remember she did. So offhand the scene sounded like an awfully simplistic approach that may or may not have been IC in the specific circumstance.
I think characters like Sharona and Monk have so many nuances that it can be hard for some writers to really see the whole picture with them. They may focus on a trait and exaggerate it, like Lee Goldberg latched onto Sharona's more negative traits and expanded them in a way that was not IC, or how he exaggerated Monk's need to not be alone by having him chase ... I think it was Dr. Kroger ... overseas. He wouldn't do that. If he was going to do that, he would have done it when Sharona left. (Not that Sharona leaving the way they wrote her doing was IC either, because it wasn't.)
Of course, even when the characters are written IC, I don't always like everything they do. I knew there was something about Mr. Monk and the Panic Room I didn't like, and I couldn't remember until I saw Crystal's more detailed summary of it. I remember not liking the monkey throwing up on the wall (although it was kind of funny when Sharona tried to say it was Benjy, LOL). And I didn't like her leaving the monkey in Monk's apartment. Although if I remember right, circumstances were extenuating and she was so desperate to keep the monkey from being put down because she was so sure it didn't kill anyone and that was the only reason she did it. She ended up getting arrested for taking it. I did like that she loved an animal so much that she was trying to save it, so in that circumstance I'm torn on what to think because I didn't like her actions but I liked her motivation.
In any case, I still like Natalie better than I did before, which I'm happy about, but I'm wondering if it's because I'm trying to mostly stick with the earlier episodes and it was mostly in the later ones where she was kind of a ditz sometimes. That would fit with how they tried to turn the show into a stronger comedy vehicle later on. I guess we'll find out, because eventually I'll have to put on some more later ones too....
Regardless, as much as I discovered I hate the episode about the Frisco Fly, I did find the scene of Monk crying/whimpering in Natalie's lap adorable. And Julie was pretty sweet in that scene too, which was nice. Honestly, in a lot of these episodes, she kind of seems like a brat. I know, fairly normal teenage behavior, but I don't think Benjy would have acted out in the ways Julie did. Julie does have her moments, though; the epilogue of Mr. Monk and the Astronaut was so sweet and adorable.