Bad Monkey Premiere Review: Bill Lawrence, Vince Vaughn shine in offbeat Florida-set mystery series

Bill Lawrence turns the unique comedic voice found in Scrubs, Ted Lasso, and one of the best shows about to debut in its 2nd season in Shrinking, towards an off-kilter mystery series in Bad Monkey.

Lawrence’s comedy background doesn’t indicate compatibility with this particular genre. Yet his ability to find humor and heart in the most unique scenarios comes through loud and clear. Instead of a hospital or therapist practice, Bad Monkey takes on the lunacy of South Florida.

Bad Monkey is based on Carl Hiaasen‘s novel of the same name. The case centers on a missing arm that winds up in the hands of Rogelio (John Ortiz). He brings the arm to suspended detective and ex-partner Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn). Rogelio wants Andrew to transport the arm to Miami. The Key West police department doesn’t want a murder investigation in town. Yancy can’t help himself and begins investigating, jeopardizing his entire career.

Vaughn is perfect as Yancy. This detective character is unique. Past cases do not damage him. Yancy can’t let anything go, which can be good sometimes, but it also means Andrew is his worst enemy. Matching Vaughn’s pitter-patter is Natalie Martinez as Rosa Campesino. She’s a medical examiner with whom Andrew crosses paths. The chemistry between Vaughn and Martinez, particularly in the second episode, is terrific.

Yancy’s repartee with everyone keeps things from getting too dour. However, like the patients on Scrubs and Shrinking, Bad Monkey takes the actual murder seriously. The gripping missing person mystery involves Nick Stripling and its impact on his daughter Caitlin and suspected widow Eve (Meredith Hagner). Charlotte Lawrence plays the daughter of the man with the missing arm. She does a surprisingly good job as the most dour character on the show. As the conclusion of episode one shows, Yancy’s snooping does have consequences.

There is one storyline in Bad Monkey that isn’t quite working yet. Neville Stafford is a Bahamian fisherman with an adorable pet monkey in a separate storyline that the narrator promises to connect with Yancy’s investigation. All he cares about is reclaiming his home from a real estate developer. That developer connects to the missing person story involving Yancy. Stafford’s connection to Yancy is tenuous but begins to tie together in the 3rd episode.

Overall, Lawrence continues to throw a near-perfect television game on Apple TV Plus with Ted Lasso, Shrinking, and now Bad Monkey.

After the overview and ranking the first three episodes of Bad Monkey 9 out of 10 (Outstanding), here’s a quick recap. Bad Monkey is streaming on Apple TV Plus.

A disarming case kicks off Bad Monkey

Bad Monkey begins with a fisherman reeling in an arm, which winds up in Rogelio’s custody. Rogelio turns to his suspended partner, Yancy. He doesn’t want Yancy to solve the case. He wants Yancy to transport it to Miami so he doesn’t have to pursue the case as part of the Key West PD.

Yancy takes the arm to Miami, where he meets Rosa, the medical examiner. She quickly determines the arm belongs to Nick Stripling and sends Yancy back to the Keys. Rogelio tells Yancy to dump the arm somewhere and forget about the case. Yancy can’t let go of the case and takes the arm home.

The Stripling case isn’t Yancy’s only concern. Yancy was suspended for running Bonnie’s (Michelle Monaghan) husband’s golf cart into the water. Bonnie is Yancy’s ex-wife and current girlfriend.

Bonnie is not bothered by Yancy’s actions and continues to sleep with him. She appears to agree to talk to her husband about dropping the charges, but the sight of an arm in Yancy’s freezer abruptly ends Yancy’s appeal. She does come around, though.

Yancy goes from suspended to fired after questioning Nick’s wife, Eve. He pushes forward and asks one of the fishermen about the expensive missing watch. Before the young man can answer, he’s killed by a man in a bright orange poncho.

Neville’s sister sells his home to a real estate developer. Neville’s first idea is to piss in the construction crew’s gas tank. He turns to the Dragon Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith, magnetic screen presence) for help. After she banishes him, Neville sees the real estate developer on the beach in an orange poncho.

Fucknuts

The blunt term erupts from Yancy’s lips in the 1st episode but takes on new meaning when he gets a new job title. After blowing his lid in the last episode, Sheriff Sonny Summers (Todd Allen Durkin) offers Yancy a new job as a Food Inspector, which elicits the aforementioned colorful retort. He does accept the role, but his initiation to the job is rough. He’s forced to evade a rampaging SUV by jumping through a plate glass window.

For the most part, Yancy is trying to move on from the missing arm case. The death of a dumb but still young man is eating at him. He tries to focus on his new job. Later, he meets with Caitlin, Nick Stripling’s daughter. Caitlin believes her stepmother, Eve, killed her father. Yancy tries to resist but can’t shake the case. Neither can Rosa.

Finally, Yancy’s ex-wife and girlfriend Bonnie shows up briefly to tell Yancy she’s leaving town.

Who is Alvin Einstein?

Episode three, Nobody Said He Was Alvin Einstein, is the darkest episode of the series. There are plenty of fun moments. The interplay between Yancy and Rosa is Bad Monkey‘s eternal flame and has more romantic hints than ever. However, the romantic aspect is interrupted by a phone call from Yancy’s girlfriend and ex-wife, Bonnie. She’s on the run following accusations she slept with an underage person in Oklahoma.

However, the addition of Zach Braff as a substance-abusing doctor adds a more ominous tone to the series, which works well. Dr. Israel “Izzy” O’Peele (Braff) devised a medical insurance fraud scam with Nick Stripling. He’s able to justify his role by claiming nobody got hurt. However, when he hears the kid he gave the arm to got shot, his demeanor changes. While he’s able to get Yancy and Rosa to leave, it’s clear the death of a young man distresses him. Izzy wants to do the right thing but Christopher gets to him first.

Caitlin tries to get her stepmother, Eve, to confess, but she can’t. Her father, Nick Stripling, walks out and embraces Caitlin to end the episode.

Episodes 4-6 Review

With the season over halfway, the South Florida-set murder mystery series Bad Monkey continues to impress.

The marriage between Bill Lawrence’s comedy with authentic character moment with Vince Vaughn’s snarky comedic prowess continues to shine. Impressively, the series is more than just a vehicle for Vaughn as episodes 4-6 shine the spotlight on other characters while still letting Vaughn’s earnest performance shine

Episode 4 is a flashback episode that tracks Nick and Eve’s relationship and the start of his scam with Dr. Israel “Izzy” O’Peele. Braff reprises his role and gets much more to do in this episode. The chemistry between Rob Delany and Braff is terrific. By going with a flashback and explaining the decision to cut off his arm, the audience now seems to be caught up.

Episode 5 essentially picks up after the events in the 3rd episode. After being knocked out, Yancy wakes up in his rich, annoying neighbor’s home following Nick’s attack. However, Nick was sloppy and left his phone. He and Rosa spend time together trying to crack Nick’s phone code while going on the run. The dirty Miami police detective is looking to pin O’Peele’s death on Yancy. Rosa gets Yancy out of the medical examiner’s office and introduces Yancy to her family. Finally, Neville finds evidence of Nick’s scam but his philandering ways come back to bite him. Overall, episode 5 thrives on the chemistry between Vaughn and Martinez.

Andrew Yancy takes a backseat in episode six. His former partner Rogelio turns Yancy into Mami PD after his boss threatens his family. Yancy spends most of the episode behind bars. Three surprising characters fill the void in Bonnie, the underage student she hooked up with and Andrew’s father, Jim (Scott Glenn). Bonnie accepts her actions but decides to keep running from the feds.

The most touching moment still goes to Yancy, though. In another flashback triggered by A guilt-ridden Rogelio’s memory, he remembers Yancy’s gifts to his children. He returns to the Miami PD to free Yancy.

Bad Monkey Final Thoughts

Bad Monkey is a series that can easily cruise on the back of Vaughn’s incredible performance. However, Lawrence’s latest series backs up Vaughn’s charisma with a great scene partner in Martinez, clever writing, and a tremendous glorified cameo appearance by Braff, adding a darker, necessary tone to give the series some stakes.

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