Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) completely changed midway through Monk, and I still wish the original version of the character would have stuck around longer. Plenty of things changed over the course of Monk: Sharona (Bitty Schram) left in Monk season 3, Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) became friends with Adrian (Tony Shalhoub), and even the Monk theme song changed in season 2. It certainly took a while for the show to find its footing, but many of its changes ended up being for the best, and Monk is still popular even after two decades.

There are, however, some harsh realities of rewatching Monk that show that not every change made in the series was a positive. They range from Monk being very formulaic to the movie, Mr. Monk’s Last Case, being a bit underwhelming. One of the biggest problems with Monk, however, concerns Randy Disher. In truth, the Randy we met at the beginning of Monk didn’t stick around long, and halfway through the show, he became a completely different person. I think the way Monk changed Randy was one of the few mistakes in the entire show.

Randy Essentially Became A Different Character Midway Through Monk

Randy Got Dumber With Each New Season Of Monk

Much like Captain Stottlemeyer, Randy Disher was very different in the first season of Monk compared to the rest of the show. In Monk season 1, Randy was nasty to Adrian and very dorky around Sharona, and he was also a fairly competent police lieutenant, even if he couldn’t compare to Adrian. Sometime in the middle of Monk, however, Randy changed completely: he started to idolize Adrian, he ended up starting a relationship with Sharona, and, most importantly, he got extremely stupid. He went from a stuck-up but fairly effective cop to a bumbling detective who could basically only follow Stottlemeyer’s orders.

Randy had some outlandish theories about how the crimes in Monk were committed from the very beginning. In “Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale,” Randy suggested that Dale the Whale got liposuction, killed someone, and then had “reverse-liposuction” to create the perfect alibi. His theories only got worse from there, however. In Mr. Monk’s Last Case, Randy suggested that Rick Eden built a device that could lower the height of a bridge via hydraulics to kill Griffin. He even built a scale model out of LEGOs. Randy went from not always thinking things through before blurting out theories to wholeheartedly believing physics-defying conspiracies.

Randy Was Funny, But I Wish He Had Gotten More Character Development In Monk

Randy Did Get Nicer & More Confident As Monk Went On, But I Wish He Got Smarter, Too

Most of Randy’s idiotic antics were funny. He’s even responsible for some of the best episodes of Monk, like when Adrian has to convince him that he can solve a murder by himself. I like Randy a lot, and I’m glad he got nicer and more confident as Monk progressed, but I still wish he would have gotten smarter. Flanderization is a trend originating with The Simpsons, and it refers to the way a character will become almost a caricature of themselves as they get more and more ridiculous as the show continues. It’s not uncommon in the slightest, but I really hate that Randy was flanderized so much.

The worst part of Randy getting dumber over the course of Monk is that he made so much progress elsewhere. As previously mentioned, Randy became friends with Adrian and started a relationship with Sharona, and by the end of Monk, he became a police chief in New Jersey. Even after all those moments of personal growth, however, Randy was as dim-witted as ever. Randy Disher’s lack of intelligence was always good for a laugh in Monk, but it wasn’t very good for his character.