The TV.com Summary
This is the one where Joey's new girlfriend wants to go to bed with him, but Joey's participation in a fertility study is preventing this and during Rachel's birthday party, Chandler accidentally lets it slip that Ross is in love with her.
The Guest Stars
special guest star
Lauren Tom as Julie
guest starring
Corinne Bohrer as Melanie
Tommy Blaze as Carl
The Ratings
Creativity- 8.9
Humor- 8.9
Emotion- 9.1
Fun- 8.7
Overall- 9.0
Chandler- 8.8 (Very funny as he anxiously tries to manipulate Rachel after spilling the beans)
Joey- 8.6 (Humorous, but his main plotline was not that funny, he shone in a smaller role throughout the episode)
Monica- 8.7 (Hilariously crazy, even as Rachel tries to keep Monica's crazy at bay)
Phoebe- 8.6 (Unfortunately, Phoebe had very little to do in this episode, but was funny as always in what she was given)
Rachel- 9.4 (Ending the season with a knockout performance, Rachel is at once breathlessly in love and hopelessly confused, maintaining her typical hilarious vulnerability throughout)
Ross- 8.8 (Playing morose with style and grace, Ross rocked in the parts of the episode he was in, but perhaps his greatest feat was off the screen, when his present stunned and took away Rachel's breath)
The Best Lines
Joey: I'm helping out down at NYU Med with some research.
Ross: Oh, what kind of research?
Joey: Just, you know, science.
Ross: Science. Yeah... I think I've heard of that.
Joey: It's a fertility study.
Monica: Oh.. Joey. Please tell me you're only donating your time.
Joey: Actually, a little bit more than that...
Monica: She's out having drinks with Carl.
Ross: Oh. Hey, who's Carl?
Monica: You know that guy she met at the coffeehouse!
Phoebe: Well, see, there's this guy that she met...
Ross: ...at the coffeehouse? Right.
Phoebe: So you do know who he is!
Ross: I have to go to China.
Joey: The country?
Ross: No, no, this big pile of dishes in my mom's breakfront.
Joey: Go to China. Eat Chinese food.
Chandler: Of course, there, they just call it food.
Joey: I may have a couple beers in me already, but... I love you, man.
Chandler: I'm still on my first, so, uh... I just think you're nice.
Rachel (after unwrapping Oh the Places You'll Go, Joey's gift): ...it's a book!
Phoebe: Oh!! Dr. Seuss!!
Joey (sincerely): That book got me through some tough times.
Monica: You know what's great? That you already know everything about him! That'd be like starting on the fifteenth date.
Phoebe: But, you know... it'd be like starting on the fifteenth date.
Monica: Another good point.
The Moments
Chandler lets it slip that Ross is in love with Rachel.
Rachel goes to catch Ross at the airport, but she is too late.
Ross haunts Rachel on her date with Carl.
The Romances
Joey is dating Melanie, but he is participating in a fertility study and is unable to have sex with her.
Rachel finds out that Ross is in love with her, and she debates whether or not to do something about it.
Rachel is dating Carl, but leaves to pick up Ross from the airport, so Monica takes Carl.
Ross comes back from China with a girl named Julie.
The Verdict
Excellent, definitely a best of Friends, and an amazing season finale that would pave the way for many more amazing, and more shocking, season finales to come. This episode, filled to bursting with heart and humor, epitomizes what Friends can do when it's in top form. It makes you become helplessly invested in the lives of the people you are watching onscreen as you enjoy their ups and suffer their downs. It makes you become breathlessly wrapped up in every moment of the show; it excites you when something good happens, only to crush you moments later. All the while, it consistently keeps up the humor. This is a show with a beating heart, not like the mechanized sitcoms of the noughties. It'll thrill you and make you fall onto the floor with laughter just as quickly as it will break your heart. And this episode really slipped in and out of both with brilliant efficiency. When Chandler let it slip that Ross loves Rachel, done in a subtle and clever manner, I found my breath taken away. Welcome to Friends. If you had any questions at the end of the first season about whether or not you would return for a second, all of those questions were wiped away. This is emotional comedy as it was meant to be, and there is no doubting that these Friends are forever.
CERTIFIED BEST OF 'FRIENDS'
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