I came late in the game to Monk. I had seen some episodes here and there when there was a marathon on, and I always enjoyed it, but I never really got into it for the first 4 years. But then during its 5th season something changed. USA brought Psych into the world and paired it up with Monk. Since I'd always liked what I'd seen and I wanted to watch Psych it made since to watch it's lead-in series as well, and like that I was hooked.

For the last 4 years I've followed Mr. Monk (Tony Shalhoub) and Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) as they solved murders and slowly began to help Monk work out a few of his issues. But the driving storyline behind the series has always been the mystery of who murdered Trudy, Monk's beloved wife. And it's a storyline that begins to come to an end tonight, as does the series.

Tonight's Monk is part one of the Series Finale of Monk, something that honestly makes me a little sad. I'm not sure what I'll do on Friday nights without Monk and his tight knit group of friends/colleagues. From the always reliable Natalie to the bumbling Lt. Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) and of course, Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) Monk's oldest friend, and the man whose stood by him throughout everything he's gone through. Each of these characters has a special place in my heart, one that will be a bit vacant next week when the series comes to an end.

On tonight's episode Monk thinks he's finally figured out who killed Trudy but before he can reveal who did it, he must first solve the most difficult murder case of his career - his own. Having seen the promo for this week's episode, there's a part of me that's worried Monk might actually bite the dust, reuniting him with Trudy at last. All I know for sure is that I'll be rooting for Monk until the very end, and holding out hope that one day we might get to see him again in a tv movie or two.

Part 1 of the Monk Series Finale air tonight at 9/8 c on USA.