Episode 1.5- The One with the East German Laundry Detergent

The Summary
This is the one where Joey tries to make an old girlfriend jealous and tricks Monica into posing as his new girlfriend, Ross teaches Rachel how to do laundry, and Chandler recruits Phoebe to break up with Janice for him.

The Guest Stars
Camille Saviola as the Horrible Woman
Kim Gillingham as Angela
Jack Armstrong as Bob
and
Maggie Wheeler as Janice

The Ratings
Creativity- 8.9
Humor- 8.1
Emotion- 7.7
Fun- 8.1
Overall- 8.3

Chandler- 7.3 (Did not enjoy a hopped-up on espresso version of Chandler)
Joey- 8.1 (Quite funny and scheming to get back his old girlfriend suited him)
Monica- 8.8 (Hilarious as usual and was subtly funny in the restaurant with Joey)
Phoebe- 9.0 (Her gift for breaking up was great, and even though she didn't have much to do in this episode she still highlighted the best lines section)
Rachel- 8.9 (Her intense vulnerability was very appealing and she was great with emotion and humor: she is proving to be one of the most versatile actors on the show)
Ross- 8.7 (Great slapstick Ross comedy and once again he comes through with emotion and humor)

The Best Lines
Rachel: Oh, come on, you guys can pee standing up!
Chandler: We can? Okay, I'm trying that.

Monica: Chandler, nobody likes breaking up with someone. Except for Kevin Milmore... may he rot in hell.

Phoebe (to Rachel's anxious behavior): What's the matter? Why so scrunchy?

Rachel: Ooh, big glamour night. Me and Monica at Laund-o-rama.
Ross: You want to hear a freakish coincidence? Guess who's doing laundry there too?
Rachel (excited): Who?
Ross: Me! ... Was that not clear?

Phoebe (to Chandler, who is about to break up with Janice): You can do this! It's like pulling off a band-aid. You do it really fast, and then... the wound is exposed!

Rachel (upon finding out all her white laundry turned pink): God, I'm going to look like a big marshmallow peep!

Phoebe (when she sees Rachel's clothes are all pink): What a neat idea! All your clothes match... I'm gonna do this.

The Moments
The crazy laundry detergent lady.
Ross and Rachel's first "date".
We meet Janice for the first time; Chandler breaks up with her for the first time.

The Romances
Phoebe breaks up with her boyfriend, Tony.
Chandler (with help from Phoebe) dumps his girlfriend, Janice.
Monica and Joey break up another couple, Bob and Angela, so Monica can go out with Bob and Joey with Angela.

The Verdict
A solid episode, with great character performances by David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, and Lisa Kudrow. However, the episode sometimes lacked on laughs, and in the end, that is what a sitcom is all about for me. Great originality, with some wonderful situations, but as you can see, when the best lines section isn't brimming with hilarity, something went wrong. This is not, by all means, a bad episode, and I do not think this would have deterred anyone from Friends. It simply has less humor than the episodes before, but it had nice emotional moments and wonderfully delved into the personas of each character.