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Monk: Season Two (Blu-ray Review)

REVIEW OVERVIEW

The Series
The Video
The Audio
The Supplements
Overall

SUMMARY

Adrian Monk has a new batch of complex cases in this more hilarious second season of the popular detective series.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Monk: Season Two continues the story of the neurotic detective, played brilliantly by Tony Shaloub, as he solves a new batch of cases, tries to deal with his mental health issues, solve his wife’s murder, and get back on the police force.

No longer hindered by the first season’s need to setup up all the characters and introduce us to Monk and his backstory, season two has more breathing room, and, boy, does is breathe! In the first few episodes we see Mr. Monk travel to Mexico to help solve the unsolvable murder of a skydiver while dealing with not having access to the only bottled water he will drink, going undercover as a substitute teacher to solve the murder of a teacher who seemingly jumped from a clock tower, and solving a murder at a circus. The series is really beginning to hit its stride in this second season and setting up for its nice long run, even if we know Sharona  (Bitty Schram)will not be here for the full run.

The episodes in this season, spread across four discs, are:

  1. Mr. Monk Goes Back to School
  2. Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico
  3. Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame
  4. Mr. Monk Goes to the Circus
  5. Mr. Monk and the Very, Very Old Man
  6. Mr. Monk Goes to the Theater
  7. Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect
  8. Mr. Monk Meets the Playboy
  9. Mr. Monk and the 12th Man
  10. Mr. Monk and the Paperboy
  11. Mr. Monk and the Three Pies
  12. Mr. Monk and the T.V. Star
  13. Mr. Monk and the Missing Granny
  14. Mr. Monk and the Captain’s Wife
  15. Mr. Monk Gets Married
  16. Mr. Monk Goes to Jail

Purchase Monk: Season Two on Amazon.com

The Video

Like Season One, Season Two of Monk has been newly remastered in 4K and presented on Blu-ray in a 1.78:1 AVC 1080p encodement. Monk looks a little soft with coarse granularity. That said, this season looks better overall than the first season due to a step up in production. I am not seeing the low quality visual effects in the backgrounds and some of the aliasing. The source, despite some film softness, looks natural and grain is organic. Flesh tones are sometimes a little tilted towards red, but acceptable. The image is clean with no issues with source damage.

The Audio

The audio mix for Monk comes in English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo. There is nothing too special about the sound, but it is good for what it is, presenting clean dialogue and a medium width stereo image.

The Supplements

There are no new bonus features included. These are all ported over, archival features in standard definition, but still worth a look if you have never seen them before.

Bonus Features:

  • The Minds Behind Monk (SD; 00:04:34)
  • Disher – Character Profile (SD; 00:03:05)
  • Stottlemeyer – Character Profile (SD; 00:04:36)
  • Precinct Tours (SD; 00:02:12)

The Final Assessment

Monk Season Two continues the hilarity and the weird cases that kicked off with season one all presented in a solid 4K presentation that is a definite upgrade over the broadcast, streams, and DVDs the series has been relegated to for years. Keep ‘em coming Kino Lorber!


Monk: Season Two is out on Blu-ray December 19, 2023, from KL Studio Classics

Purchase Monk: Season Two on Amazon.com


  • Rating Certificate: TV-PG
  • Studios & Distributors: Mandeville Films | ABC Signature | Moratim Produktions | NBC Universal Television | Touchstone Television | USA Cable Entertainment | Universal Media Studios (UMS) | KL Studio Classics
  • Run Time: 640 Mins.
  • Street Date: 19 December 2023
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  • Primary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo
  • Subtitles: English SDH
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Adrian Monk has a new batch of complex cases in this more hilarious second season of the popular detective series. Monk: Season Two (Blu-ray Review)