Throughout Monk’s eight seasons, Adrian Monk proves himself to be a uniquely brilliant private investigator, but he would not have been so successful without the help of Sharona and Natalie. The Watson to Monk’s Sherlock, both Sharona and Natalie helped Tony Shalhoub’s character be the best version of himself.

Yet an episode in the show’s final season demonstrates that both Sharona and Natalie are more than just personal ᴀssistants to Adrian Monk. They often play an integral role in Adrian solving his cases, lending their skill sets to his investigative work. It’s only fitting, then, that one of the Monk’s best episodes features the two characters taking an equal share of the credit for solving the crime Adrian is investigating. He quite literally couldn’t have caught the culprit without them, and relies on their resourcefulness to gain access to the evidence he needs.

Sharona And Natalie Solve The Case Together With Adrian Monk In “Mr. Monk And Sharona”

They Play A Key Role In Collecting Evidence And Hunting Down The Killer

Five seasons after Bitty Schram’s character Sharona Fleming left Monk, much to the dismay of the show’s fans, she returned for the season 8 episode “Mr. Monk And Sharona”. After falling out with Natalie, Sharona helps Monk and her successor as his ᴀssistant solve the case of her uncle’s murder at a country club. Without her ability to pick locks with a hairpin, they would never have found the phone battery they needed to implicate Perry Walsh in the crime.

Natalie is in on the investigation, too, as she searches for evidence in Walsh’s office alongside Adrian and Sharona, and leads the chase when they realize Walsh is watching them. Monk’s two ᴀssistants aren’t there simply for moral support or to manage his phobias. They’re fully involved in his detective work with him, and ultimately take the decisive measures to catch the culprit responsible for Uncle Howie’s death. In fact, it’s Natalie who ends up persuading Sharona to refuse the compensation she’s being offered to accept that her uncle’s death was an accident, and pursue his killer.

It’s Natalie And Sharona Who Apprehend The Episode’s Culprit Perry Walsh

They Join Forces To Subdue Walsh After Adrian Monk Has Given Up The Fight

If it weren’t for Sharona and Natalie working together, Adrian Monk couldn’t have apprehended Perry Walsh as he tries to get away. Monk chases him down on the golf course, before Walsh punches him to the ground. He then tells Natalie and Sharona that he’s giving up on the case, but they refuse to concede defeat, hunting Walsh down on a golf cart in what’s surely one of Monk’s funniest ever scenes.

Sharona jumps off the cart and spear-tackles Walsh into a sand bunker, before the two of them grapple on the ground. It’s Natalie who delivers the decisive blow, however, knocking Walsh out with a rake, just as it looks as though he’s about to get away. This hilariously entertaining action sequence is symptomatic of just how important Adrian Monk’s two ᴀssistants have always been to his detective work. As great as he is at solving crimes, Sharona and Natalie give him the backup he needs to carry out his investigations and catch the criminals he’s looking for.

Sharona And Natalie Were Always More Than Just ᴀssistants To Adrian

From Monk’s First Season, They Were Effectively Co-Detectives

“Mr. Monk and Sharona” isn’t an exception to the dynamic we see in other Monk episodes. It’s confirmation of the rule that without Sharona or Natalie by Adrian Monk’s side, he wouldn’t get anywhere with the majority of his investigations. Right from Monk’s first season, in which Sharona discovers a crucial detail that solves the investigation in the sixth episode, “Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger”, and proceeds to explain the crime alongside Adrian, Monk’s ᴀssistants have effectively been his co-detectives.

Natalie also encourages him to take on many of his cases in later seasons and gets him much of the evidence he’s looking for. Monk wouldn’t be half the show it is without these two indispensable characters, not only because of the personal dynamic they share with Adrian Monk, but because of the essential support they give to his investigative work. Adrian’s unerring ability to deduce the perpetrator of a crime from limited evidence would be nothing without Sharona’s quick wits and Natalie’s practicality, which so often facilitate the critical breakthroughs in Monk’s cases.