MonkThe series finale revealed the truth behind Trudy’s death and made her character much better in retrospect. When we are introduced to Adrian in MonkIn the first episode, Trudy has been dead for some time. Later we learned that Adrian’s wife was killed in a car explosionbut he was never able to find out who did it. Several Monk episodes saw Adrian get close to the answer, only for him to discover that there were still missing pieces of the puzzle. After a while, it became clear that Monk would only solve Trudy’s case at the end.
The final episode of Monk did not disappoint in that regard – Trudy’s killer was revealed. However, Adrian didn’t exactly solve the case. Instead, he watched a tape that Trudy gave him shortly before her death, where she talked about her past and her relationship with now-judge Ethan Rickover. After watching the tape, everything worked out for Monk – Ethan Rickover was the one who ordered his death. By giving Trudy a surprising story, Monk turned Adrian’s late wife into a real character and not just a memory.
Monk’s series finale finally gave Trudy agency and a proper backstory
We finally learn about Trudy’s past in “Mr. Monk and the End”
One of the problems with MonkAdrian’s portrayal of Trudy – which, to be fair, may not have been a problem but rather a creative choice – was to portray Adrian’s wife as the perfect human being who existed to accept him as he was and make you happy. Every time we saw Trudy in flashbacks, it was through Monk’s eyes. In other words, we never learn what Trudy was really like as a person. In many ways, she was just “Monk’s dead wife.”
“Mr. Monk and the End” was one of the few Monk episodes to treat Trudy as a character and not just the idealized version of Adrian’s wife. Trudy had a complicated past, including a relationship with a university professor she didn’t know was married and a son from that relationship who she believed was dead. Trudy never told Adrian about any of these things, which made her character more complex and nuanced. Learning more about Trudy’s past before meeting Adrian gave the character more agencyeven though she was dead throughout the show.
Trudy hiding a secret from Monk made her character better in retrospect
Trudy was human and had secrets and fears
Adrian never said anything remotely negative about Trudy – in his eyes, she was the most perfect person. This is undoubtedly why Monk was never able to solve his case. As pointed out by Sharona in “Mr. Monk and the Candidate”, Trudy’s murder was too personal for Adrian to solve as a normal case. Monk had the last piece of the puzzle in his house the whole time, but he was too scared to open the last gift Trudy had given him.
Trudy did nothing wrong and was under no obligation to tell Adrian about a relationship before they started dating. Still, the fact that she kept such a big secret from Adrian for a few years was actually a great addition to her character. After years of having Trudy as an idealized memory in Adrian’s mind, Monk finally portrayed her as a proper character with fears and secrets.