When English teacher Beth Landow falls from the clock tower at Trudy's former high school, Monk quickly concludes that it wasn't suicide. A few words with the teachers in the lounge lead him to suspect a science teacher, Derek Philby. Unfortunately for Monk, Philby was proctoring an exam when Ms. Landow's body landed on Philby's car, setting off his car alarm and alerting the entire school to her death. Armed with a strong suspicion but no evidence, Monk becomes a substitute teacher in hopes of finding the information that will incriminate Philby.

NOTE: Kane Ritchotte, who played Benjy in the series pilot, has returned to the role after being replaced by Max Morrow for the first season. Presumably the juggling of child actors has something to do with production having been moved from Toronto to Los Angeles. Kane is American; Max is Canadian. Fans can't fail to have noticed an even more conspicuous change. The opening credits now contain scenes from last season's episodes mixed with what appear to be glimpses of the new season, and the familiar Monk theme by Jeff Beal has been replaced by Randy Newman's "It's a Jungle Out There."

***SPOILERS***
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I figured on this type of show, better to warn of spoilers on everything.

Monk found a brochure from a motel in Beth's mail slot. If you were having a secret affair with someone, would you give the no-tell motel your real name & address? And even worse, it was her work address, where someone could easily see it.

Why didn't they compare the writing on her "suicide note" to a sample of Beth's handwriting?

I can't remember -- how much trouble did Philby have finding the glasses? Did he go right to them? If so, he should have retrieved them earlier.

Overall I perfer the original mandolin laced theme to the newer Randy Newman one.I think the original theme was much more compatible to the
show.