Well it's taken eight years but Mr. Monk is finally back on the police force! That's right, he gets his badge back, but since this is a procedural comedy, everyone knows he'll be back to being the OCD detective by the end of the episode. Nothing ever really changes on "Monk." That's part of its charm ... and part of the reason the show is ready to be over. Anyway, last week's episode starts with Stottlemeyer giving Monk some very exciting news: he was reinstated back onto the police force! Huzzah!

Monk is very excited for his first day, although it is darkened somewhat by the knowledge that he and Natalie have to break up the team. He doesn't need a personal assistant anymore if he's working a regular job, and she has to find another job. She has an interview with a concert promoter, and Monk now has his dream job. They have a touching moment where they promise to still hang out, and then he goes to work.

Things get very quickly too real for Monk when he realizes being a cop isn't all he remembered. The police are looking for the Pick Axe Killer but Monk is kept on phone duty and at his desk for at least the first week to get settled in. It doesn't even help that Stottlemeyer (being so cute) found Monk's old desk, or that young Officer DiMarco hero worships him. They capture the killer before he can even be a part of it, and Monk is sad. The man who saw the killer, a window washer named Manny, explains how it happened but Monk is hesitant to believe him.

The next day Monk and his new partner Doyle are over checking on a cat lady when he sees where the window washer apparently found the murderer. Monk decides there's no way that Manny could've been telling the truth, but the other polite officers don't believe him. Plus, the killer confessed! There's no reason to keep looking into it now. That is until Officer DiMarco is killed by Manny, and there's a new murder to investigate.

Monk quickly sees that DiMarco has strange paper in his hand, and decides that the young cop was being paid off for something. The other cops warn Monk not to ever accuse another cop of being dirty unless he has complete proof. The blue stand by their own. I hate when they have that in movies and I hate it here too. They're not even allowed to suspect one another? Ugh. Stottlemeyer warns Monk of the same thing at the funeral, and all of the cops refuse to deal with Monk because he wasn't adhering to 'the code.' All of this explains why Monk might eventually quit, but it certainly makes the cops of San Francisco seem like jerks.

Monk confesses to Dr. Bell he is not happy, and he goes to confront Manny once he checks DiMarco's books. DiMarco was a ticket cop and found the Pick Axe Killer's car. He couldn't turn the man in himself for the reward, so he persuaded Manny from his softball team to do it. Then Manny killed him to keep all the money. Monk accuses Manny and his partner is not there for back up, so Manny pulls Monk onto his window washing scaffold and takes them up into the air. He plans to kill Monk! He gets pretty close too, but Monk manages to fight back and the police have witnessed the whole thing.

Monk was right, but he no longer wants to be a cop. It turns out he preferred the freedom of being a detective all along. He had to be a cop to figure that out. Okay, I'll buy it. Now at least he'll only have to deal with Stottlemeyer again and not any of those jerks. Natalie comes back (of course) because she misses him, even if her other job probably paid more and was three times more exciting. Yeah. Because that'd happen. Ah well, we're back to the status quo. What a shocker.

"Monk" is on USA Friday nights at 9 PM EST.

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Story by Chelsea Doyle
Starpulse contributing writer

Follow Chelsea on twitter at http://twitter.com/mustbethursday.