Well, Friends had pretty much hit its stride at this point. I cover three episodes and all of them receive B+. That can probably safely describe Friends. Reliably an above average show that will make you laugh, but (usually) never the best thing on television. Well, maybe it could have been in the 1990s when TV was objectively worse than it has been in the 2000s, but I think you get the point. Two of these episodes feature the monkey pretty prominently. Your approval or disapproval of the creature likely depends on whether you like those episodes (I'm apathetic about the monkey). The other one mostly doesn't feature any major subplots except to lead the audience to the birth in the next episode.
"The One Where the Monkey Gets Away"
This is a pretty good episode that highlights Rachel's transformation as a person and Ross-Rachel's relationship. It also delays the inevitable with a pretty stupid twist having Barry still be in love with Rachel. This is probably the worst sign of stalling yet on this show. Paolo wasn't a character, but at least the idea of what he represented made sense.
Ross finds out that Rachel is no longer interested in a penis embargo and is interested in the right guy. Ross sees this as a sign to attempt to "woo" her. He sees the perfect timing to try this when he goes to pick up Marcel by bringing wine over.
Rachel of course loses Marcel when he poops in the shoe. I think this is a pretty classic scene as I remember seeing this specific scene on another television show or movie in the background. She lets Marcel get away. She throws away his poop on the wedding invitation. Why does she need to walk outside to do this? I guess she wanted to get the poop out of the apartment which I can accept. I also feel like she would have seen Marcel when she went back into the house. Oh well. (There was another scene where it look like one of the friends should have clearly seen Marcel, but fine)
Ross spends most of the rest of the episode yelling at Rachel about losing his monkey. (Each time monkey was used as a euphemism was funny and takes every other use of monkey to a different level). He naturally extends that frustration with Rachel missing the signs that Ross wants to be with her.
Rachel mistakenly calls Animal Control, which is actually understandable. Unfortunately, the worker there happens to have a vendetta against Rachel (Monica was fat, she had her own problems) and Marcel is apparently illegal to own in the city.
The purpose of the worker is to show the difference between pre-Friends Rachel and Friends Rachel. It's a clearly different person. She still is adjusting and at least she's now trying to live on her own. (Witness her memorization of every muffin, but she said it to the wrong guy)
Joey and Ross look for the monkey and come across two sweaty, loosely clothed hot girls. Hilarity ensues. It's funny to think they could enter probably a dream of theirs, but they had to save Marcel. For once, Joey ruins it and not Chandler with the girls.
So Ross tries to make his original plan on Rachel and it's going well until Barry walks in out of nowhere. A thing that somewhat saves this scene is Ross' reaction, which is appropriately funny and self-referential to the show. Otherwise, it's way too obvious of a stalling tactic used by the show.
This episode was written by the team of Jeff Astrof and Mike Sikowitz, who wrote five episodes in season one and left after just season two. They later were both developers of The Wild Thornberry's. I don't know what a developer is, but it's not a creator and it was under the writing credits for both of them.
It was directed by the unfortunately named Peter Bonerz, who directed 12 episodes over four seasons before stopping. Bonerz is best-known for acting in the role of Dr. Jerry Robinson on The Bob Newhart Show. (Disclaimer: I've never seen the show; before my time)
It's a good episode undone by some unfortunate improbabilities (in addition to Barry, what the heck is with Heckles stealing the monkey?). It's not enough to ruin the episode, but I can't give it an A.
Grade - B+
"The One with the Fake Monica"
Thus ends the era of Marcel the monkey. I never hated the monkey like a lot of people do, but I've never loved it that much. I haven't really found an episode I hated due to the monkey. Of course, I never found myself missing the monkey either.
Anyway, the episode parodies parents looking for colleges for their kids when they have Ross look for zoos for Marcel to go to. I'm not sure if monkeys actually experience sexual stages where they need a partner, but it seems plausible enough and I'm not curious enough to google the accuracy.
The actual farewell was surprisingly effective. The monkey being taken away combined with the music and the look on Ross' face make you feel reasonably sad that it's happening even if you don't care about the monkey. The important thing is that Ross cares about the monkey leaving which the scene effectively conveys.
Meanwhile, Monica encounters a case of someone stealing her credit card. She befriends her and realizes she wants to be her. This plot is ultimately unimportant, but nonetheless kind of a good showcase for Courtney Cox. She is not satisfied with how little she actually does in her life, which I think most people can relate to. The ending where she joins the dance class is seen as a triumph of sorts.
Lastly, there's a very short, but really hilarious part where Joey is trying to find a better name for a role. Chandler mockingly suggest Joe Stalin, which Joey finds as a really good nickname. It's hilarious in part because I could see Joey not knowing who that is and also because Chandler's face when he is telling him is so perfectly played.
This episode was written by two writers who usually write alone. Adam Chase wrote 16 episodes over six seasons before leaving the show. This is his fourth credited writing episode on the show, although he wrote three of them within the first 11 episodes. (More impressive since the creators wrote quite a few of those themselves). Ira Ungerleider wrote nine episodes over three seasons before leaving. He (she?) wrote the classic bottle episode "The One Where No One's Ready."
It was directed by Gail Mancuso, who directed 14 episodes of Friends starting with this one. She won an Emmy for directing an episode of Modern Family and has directed 95 shows/movies. She regularly appeared in every season after this one until season five, when she stopped.
I liked this episode, but it's pretty unmemorable I guess. So points off for that.
Grade - B+
"The One with the Ick Factor"
The one where Monica has sex with a minor would be a more apt title. Their are four storylines in this episode, although two take up a short amount of time or significance. Ross gets a beeper (Hey it's 1995 alert!) so that he will know when Carol goes into labor. Chandler finds out his co-workers don't like him. And Rachel has sex dreams about all the guys.
Rachel dreams about having sex with first Chandler and then Chandler and Joey. They get a fair amount of humor from this with Chandler's cocky bravado mixed with his self-deprecating humor, Ross' jealousy, and the dreams themselves. It's a pretty inconsequential plot that almost led to something happening between Ross and Rachel. It doesn't which makes it completely inconsequential.
Ross' pager number is 555-JIMBO for some reason which is really close to 555-JUMBO. He keeps getting calls about people who are looking for sex - it's apparently a really popular sex line cause Ross gets a lot of calls. I wish the pager number wasn't so randomly JIMBO just to make it close to JUMBO, but that's also a pretty funny plot that leads Ross to see the pager at the end and sarcastically say "Great, now I'm having a baby."
Chandler finds out no one likes him at works. This works because Chandler would be the type to care what other people think about him. It's a fairly standard sitcom trope, but it's perfectly in character. Plus, it leads to Ross and Joey to make an impression on him, which is hilarious. Plus, Chandler learns to just accept it and pays his price secretly by having his imitators working on the weekends. (You can't just make fun of the boss out in the open like that!)
Then, Monica has sex with a minor. There's a weird "love" thing thrown around in this episode which feels like they are diminishing the word since Ethan is a one-episode character. That's a bit of a problem in this episode. We are kind of supposed to accept they have either been dating awhile or are close to being in love if not in love. That could be true, but it's not really effective in one episode.
The actor who played Ethan was adequate although in no way believable as a 17-year-old man. His voice certainly sounded young, but that was about it. The actor was 26 by the way. But it's still reasonably funny so it's not a total dud or anything.
This episode was written by Alexa Junge, her third episode thus far. Junge was a Friends writer for five seasons, writing 12 episodes over her run. The most amount of episodes she wrote was five in a season in Season 2. Her best written episode may very well be the best of the entire show with "The One Where Everybody Finds Out."
The director of the episode was Robby Benson, who interestingly enough is best-known for playing the beast on Beauty and the Beast. This is his only directed episode of the season, but he comes back to direct five episodes in 1997 and then never returns. Sitcom directors make me scratch my head.
Grade - B+
Quotes (Lots of Joey quotes here)
"What happened to forget relationships, I'm done with men - the whole penis embargo?" - Ross
"Hey, I don't need violence to enjoy a movie just so long as there's a little nudity" - Joey's movie philosophy
"You're a monkey. You're loose in the city. Where do you go?" - Joey
"Oh my god, you'd put that poor little creature in jail?" - Phoebe
"We have got to start locking that door." - Ross after Barry walks in on Ross-Rachel
"Apparently, he's reached sexual maturity." - Ross
"Hey! He beat ya!"- Joey about Chandler
"You know there already is a Joseph Stalin?" - Joey
"Marcel, I'm hungry." - Joey's goodbye to Marcel
"I'm sorry, it was a one-time thing. We were very drunk and it was someone else's subconscious." - Chandler's rationalization for dream sex with Rachel
"I just had sex with someone who wasn't alive during the bicentennial." - Monica
"I just had sex." - Ethan, and thus was born the Lonely Island song
Playlist
1. "Inhaler" - Foals
2. "Best of Friends" - Palma Violets
3. "Ambitionz as a Ridah" - Tupac
4. "Gas Money (Remix)" - Youtube rappers
5. "Primetime" - Janalle Monae ft. Miguel
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