While watching the brilliant comedy-crime series Monk, I was surprised by a wonderful breathing scene in the episode “Mr Monk and the Big Reward” (Season 4).
Mr Monk is an obsessive-compulsive ex-detective and consultant to the San Francisco Police Department. After a priceless diamond is stolen from the city’s art museum, a finder’s fee is offered. Mr Monk and his assistant Natalie soon find themselves being chased by three private detectives as they investigate the theft. At one point, the detectives, Mr Monk and Natalie come together with Captain Stottlemeyer and his deputy, Lieutenant Disher, at the police station. One of the thieves locks the office door and accidentally breaks the key. With everyone trapped in the room and clamouring over each other, Mr Monk suffers a claustrophobic episode and at the same time figures out where the diamond is. Once Mr Monk has explained what has happened, everyone knows that the diamond is in the interrogation room behind the two-way mirror, stuck to the underside of the table with chewing gum. Gladys, the cleaning lady, enters, having just been berated by Monk for not wiping the underside of things. The company watches in horror as the inevitable unfolds…
Private detective: Nobody’s going anywhere – not until we know what he knows.
[Key Clatters]
Stottlemeyer: All right, you just made a big mistake, my friend. I happen to be a police captain, and this is an unlawful imprisonment. (To Disher) Book him.
Disher: You’re under arrest. Turn around….Fine. Give me your hands. (To the Captain) Do you have your cuffs?
Stottlemeyer: In my office.
Private detective: It’s in there, isn’t it? The diamond – it’s in that very room.
Disher: What?
Stottlemeyer: It is?
Mr Monk: Uh, no, uh-
Private detective: Get the door!
[All Clamouring]
Stottlemeyer: Shut up! Everybody, shut up. Everybody but Monk. Monk, what’s goin’ on?
Mr Monk: [Sighs] Okay, here’s what happened.
Mr Monk begins to explain, as is his way.
Mr Monk: This is a very crowded room. This is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very-
Stottlemeyer: Monk, Monk, Monk, Monk, it’s okay. It’s okay.
He distracts Mr Monk with a question about the case and Mr Monk concludes his explanation.
Private detective: There’s seven of us, and we’re all adults. We’ll just divide the money seven ways.
Natalie: No way. We were here first.
Private detective: It’s only fair we divide the proceeds. We have been working in tandem.
Natalie: We’ve not been working in tandem. You’ve been chasing us. That’s not tandem.
Monk: Excuse me, could I say one thing? You and you and you – uh, you’re breathing my air.
Private detective: What about them?
Mr Monk: They’re breathing your air, you’re breathing his – It’s complicated. Uh, but if these two dropped back, um-
Stottlemeyer: Monk, it’s okay. I’ll call for help. Okay.
Gladys enters the interview room.
Natalie: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Gladys. N-N-N-No. Gladys! Gladys!
Private detective: No! Come on, lady! No!
[All Clamoring, Muffled]…