Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck (played by Adam Arkin (Season 1) and Tim Curry (Season 2) in a fat suit) is one of the most recurring villains from the tv show Monk, appearing in 2 episodes so far. Biederbeck is brilliant, rich, ruthless, and morbidly obese. He first shows up in Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale, and makes another appearance later on in Mr. Monk Goes to Jail. He claims to own half the city, and have controlling interest in the other half. He controls his vast empire from his bedroom.

In "Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale", a judge makes a 911 call, saying that Dale is killing her. The problem is that this isn't possible, since Dale is too fat to walk, let alone get out of his room and kill someone. Monk solves the case and catches Dale's personal doctor, who promptly turns states evidence on Dale.

During this episode we find out that Monk has severe hatred and bitterness towards Dale because he sued Trudy and Monk over an article she published about him. Even though he knew he couldn't win the case, Biederbeck kept pumping money into the trial, forcing Monk and Trudy to shell out costs. Eventually, they had to sell their house, which Beiderbeck now claims to store his pornography in. As Trudy died before the trial ended, Monk blames Dale for stealing the last years of her life.

The next time we see Biederbeck is in the Season 2 Finale; he is adjusting to life in prison easily. He has a personal servant, luxurious funiture, a TV, just about everything you wouldn't normally find in a prison--everything except a window. He hires Monk to solve the murder of an inmate who was brutally poisoned less than an hour before his execution. The man had owed Biederbeck $1,200, so Biederbeck became a suspect. Monk agrees that Dale isn't the culprit, since $1,200 is petty change to him ("I wouldn't bend over to pick up $1,200, even if I could"). Dale mentions that he wouldn't normally be concerned over something like this, except that until the case is solved and Biederbeck is proven innocent, they will not put in the window.

In return, Dale offers Monk information concerning who killed Trudy. Even though Sharona tells him not to, Monk takes the case on the offbeat chance that Biederbeck is telling the truth. After solving the case, Dale informs Monk that the carbomb that killed Trudy was not meant for Monk, but for Trudy. He also said that he should look for a Warrick Tennyson in Manhattan. This gives Monk his first real lead on Trudy's death. Eventually, Monk finds Tennyson in the Season 3 Premiere, so Biederbeck was telling the truth after all.

Given the metaphor that Monk is Sherlock Holmes, Dale can be seen as Professor Moriarty.