"The Monkees" Rewatch: Monkee See, Monkee Die

In “Monkee See, Monkee Die,” the boys travel to Cunningham Island to collect an inheritance from “eccentric millionaire” John Cunningham. When they arrive they meet Mr. Cunningham’s butler (Ralph), travel companion (Kingsley), spiritualist (Madam Roselle), and grandniece, Ellie. Besides being the person Davy falls in love with “for the very first time today,” Ellie is meant to inherit the mansion, but she must spend one night there before she decides to keep it or give it up. Cunningham left the Monkees the library organ and when they try to “inherit and run” the island’s “foggy season” forces them to stay the night.

Straight up, I love this episode. The writing is on point; the jokes tighter and snappier and more quotable than “Royal Flush,” for sure. Take the opening scene with their landlord, Mr. Babbit, threatening to kick them out. Less than a minute in, two great exchanges occur:

The first: 

Davy: Hey, what’s the matter we paid the rent the first of September?

Mr. Babbitt: Yeah! But that was for July!

And then: 

Mr. Babbitt: Fix? What fix? This place, this place is like a castle!

Mike: Yeah, well okay, in this castle the moat overflows.

Micky: The, eh, roof leaks.

Peter: And the plaster’s falling.

Davy: Yeah, and the phone doesn’t work!

Of course, as awesome as the episode’s writing is the best part is simply the image of the guys in three nightgowns and an onesie screaming and flailing at every creak and bang in the house as the other characters get knocked off. Another great visual (sort of running) gag in this episode is Mike’s attempt to get a message out by luring various animals, like a carrier pigeon with breadcrumbs and a dog with large bones he found in a closet. Incidentally, despite their growing fright that last detail passes without much notice, which is surprising. I would think random bones would raise some flags, especially since everyone seems to be dropping dead. But, then again, I shouldn’t overthink it too much.

The romps in this episode are pretty fun as well, though “Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day” is my favorite of the two. I briefly mentioned the romps for “Royal Flush” and I suppose I should elaborate the terminology a bit for the unfamiliar, because it plays a big role in the show. The romps are basically music videos that act as a way to incorporate the music into the show and some songs got multiple romps throughout the course of the series. As can be expected, the romps differ from episode to episode, but overall they tend to include performance footage, stock footage, old clips from the show, and the guys running in silly costumes or goofing around. Some tie better thematically into the episode than others, like this episode’s version of “Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day” which includes footage of the guys running around in monster masks and capes. I’m probably not making this all sound too entertaining, but just trust me, it’s quite endearing in practice.