I thought he hired the train guy, and we saw his hand with six fingers.
I just looked at it again, it’s five fingers, but now I think it’s the Judge. 
Ol’ six fingers was shown in the flashback at the very start…well, his hand was, that is. As Trudy walked to her car, we see a hand go up and rest on a railing and it has six fingers.
And you’re right, Monk didn’t shoot him, but he was damn close to doing so when the other guy did.
These are the episodes in the marathon starting at 6am this Friday leading up to the series finale: [Season.Episode]
[1.4] Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale
[1.7] Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger
[2.11] Mr. Monk and the Three Pies (you meet Adrian’s brother Ambrose)
[2.16] Mr. Monk Goes to Jail (the return of Dale the Whale)
[3.1] Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan
[3.11] Mr. Monk vs. the Cobra
[4.6] Mr. Monk and Mrs. Monk (appearance of the Trudy impostor)
[4.9] Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa
[4.11] Mr. Monk Bumps His Head
[5.1] Mr. Monk and the Actor (Stanley Tucci plays “Monk”)
[5.6] Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion
[7.16] Mr. Monk Fights City Hall
[6.15] Mr. Monk Is on the Run: Part 1
[6.16] Mr. Monk Is on the Run: Part 2
Then the finale episodes.
What no pilot?
The pilot would’ve been a good start. Maybe they left it out of the marathon because it had a different actress (other than Melora Hardin) as Trudy. The rest of the episodes are good choices as each one had a little (or a lot) to say about the circumstances around Trudy’s murder. In the marathon are the two Emmy-award winning performances by John Turturro as Ambrose and Stanley Tucci as the “actor” Monk. This marathon is definitely not a “best of Monk” showing, just episodes that are tied together by Monk being involved with his Trudy investigation.
They broadcast the two-part pilot on Sunday. It was weird, because the actors looked a lot younger, even though it was only a few years ago. And they seemed to use his quirks for humor more than they do now. (On the recent episodes I just find his quirks/OCD compulsiveness annoying.)
The pilot episode, Mr. Monk and the Candidate (Michael Hogan who later achieved fame as Col. Tigh in Battlestar Galactica), was shot over seven years ago. In the current finale episode I thought one of the ineffective parts was the flashback scene with Adrian and Trudy because they looked older than they should have looked twelve years ago. Some softer lighting may have helped, but this is just minor quibbling. For sure, the older episodes were cleverer and Monk’s savant-like abilities were played up more.
That disappointed you? This has been the worst “on location in SF” show in history.
You also forgot the line “That’s the 4:32 BART train from San Jose!”
The insulting part of this episode was filming Craig T. Nelson in “shadow” like that while ordering the guy to kill Monk. Since it was filmed such that it was obviously him, and obviously his voice, that means they either think <a> we’re stupid and will be shocked when he’s revealed, or <b> it won’t be him, and they’ll somehow show that scene again with another actor to cheat, or invent some inane crap about a recoding or something.
He is the Judge? IMDB lists him as an actor, but doesn’t give his character a name. Sounds like a dead give away to me. 
He’s A judge. Most likely the Judge. Otherwise they had no reason to introduce him.
Yeah, I noticed that.
In this article Tony Shalhoub says that he’s pleased with the finale tonight. He gives no hints about how everything will end, but I really don’t think that Trudy is really still alive. After all, they’ve shown her getting into her car, turning the ignition, and BOOM!
I have some ideas about Trudy’s secret. It has to have something to do with the midwife’s disappearance from 12 years ago. Perhaps the judge was her professor and they had an affair where she became pregnant. The midwife then either delivered the baby or performed an abortion. To cover up all that she was killed and Trudy found out. Just an idea.
Not bad, not bad at all. For sure the midwife connection has to be explained. Trudy did say in her tape that her secret has to do with something that happened years before she met Adrian. Tonight we shall see what that is!
Sounds good to me. I was thinking the midwife was killed to keep her quiet but the child survived and was Benni, but it’s only been 12 years.
Seriously, don’t open this unless you really don’t care about being surprised.Good call. I read an article earlier today (I can’t seem to find it again) that stated openly that Monk finds out that Trudy has a daughter. I didn’t make the connection to the midwife, but that’s gotta be it.
I do not think she is dead. Whitness Protection. IMHO.
Monk’s got balls.
Twenty minutes to go…is Monk dreaming this?
You take care of her? He could only have meant the child…she didn’t die, he paid off the midwife to hide the child/put it up for adoption.