"The One Where Rachel Finds Out"
This is Friends firing on all cylinders. Every joke seemed to hit. The way Rachel found out about Ross' love for her was hilarious. Joey's plot about preventing a woman from having sex with him was decently funny, but ultimately forgettable. But I did feel I laughed more than normal.
The opening scene quickly transitions the audience from last week's birth episode to what is clear will be the main plot of this one. Ross shows off his baby's picture to all of his friends. Rachel comments on the picture on Ross' shoulder while she says a bunch of stuff that also applies to Ross' feelings for her. Then Chandler scoffs at him. *FORESHADOWING*
Ross has to go to China for a week before her birthday. They don't really explain much, but he's a paleontologist and they need a bone so it works fine enough. Somewhat conveniently he has to go right before Rachel's birthday so he has enough time to give her the present but not enough to actually see her. That's just one of those things you have to accept in a show like this.
Rachel opens her presents. The guys give her pretty awful gifts. Travel Scrabble, really? I do understand gifts for her would be difficult, but that's like a kid gift. (Also Rachel doesn't travel) Granted, it's somewhat in character for Chandler to be the one who gives that gift. Joey gives her a Dr. Seuss book. Well, that's just making the character stupider than he is for the sake of a laugh. All's I'm saying is the writers could have come up with better gifts instead of things that would never happen.
Ross gives her a ring that reminds Rachel of her grandmother's ring. Ross remembers some specific moment when she wanted it. It's in character and it's a good gift. Then Chandler blurts out that Ross is in love with Rachel. Then Matthew Perry helps make the next four minutes or so hilarious as he tries desperately to backtrack his statement. If you don't laugh at Chandler fumbling his words and trying to convince Rachel what he said wasn't true or didn't happen, I don't understand you.
Rachel quickly tries to catch up to Ross in the airport. This wasn't a bad way to delay their meeting. Ross is understandably learning Chinese on the go. Although, in my opinion, if he's listening to a foreign language tape, he would probably have heard Rachel scream Ross. Music on a headphone? Yeah, that's hard to hear anyone. But an instructional tape with people speaking in relatively calm voices? Kind of a stretch.
She tells the airline attendant to pass a message to.... an old gentleman. I guess her message was vague enough that it wasn't clear she was a potential dating partner of this special message. I did chuckle at the older man trying to convince his wife that there is no Rachel though. Really, considering that this type of show was going to do end up delaying Ross-Rachel, I'm nitpicking. This is about as good as a contrivance in delaying a romance as you can get. The timing is going to be way too convenient. It's just a fact really.
So she goes back, thinks over it, and decides she doesn't want to pursue it. Monica wants her to be with Ross, which I guess makes sense. She rationally thinks about what it would mean for her friendship to start dating Ross. Then she goes on a date with Carl, who's sitcom obnoxious. I'm sure people like him exist, but what in the heck was Rachel interested in him for anyway the first time? It's not like it was a blind date.
Naturally, her thought bubble convinces her to try it with Ross. With the help of an imaginary Ross and her real, less than ideal date, she's convincingly sold. Only when she goes to the airport, Ross will be meeting her with Julie. And cliffhanger to end the season.
In hindsight, this doesn't look as bad because Julie is a perfectly nice woman. It's easy to see why Ross begins dating her. Rachel's hatred of her takes on funny levels because of how harmless and nice she is. She's Homer Simpson to Julie's Flanders. I'm sure at the time, this was immensely frustrating, but again the character of Julie significantly redeems this.
This episode was written surprisingly not by the creators. Usually, season finales, and especially so for debut seasons, are written by the creators. This is written by Chris Brown, who barely wrote anything else on television or movies. The episode sheds some light on his talent, and he wrote two more episodes, both of which I'd have to re-watch, but I remember being good. It's just a little strange.
The episode was directed by Kevin Bright, his first directorial effort for Friends. He went on to direct 54 episodes of the series including the finale of the entire series. He's an important executive producer for the show, who didn't write anything for it, but was involved in all 10 seasons. (I think only the creators were involved for that long)
Overall, I did spend a lot of time nitpicking the episode, but most of these are really small things and things you have to expect. So most of those won't affect my grade. There's also a subplot about Joey working for a fertility clinic and having to hold off on sex for him, but it's mildly memorable and his partner barely qualifies as an actual character.
Grade - A
Season 1 Review
The first season was a good start to a classic sitcom. Friends hasn't suffered yet from some of the issues that plague them later and the characters are all still sympathetic and relatable (to a point). They still can access people's hearts and make you care for the characters, something they lose in the later seasons. Obviously, a sitcom doesn't NEED that, but frankly it's better if it has it.
There are only a couple season-long arcs that the show did. First, Rachel needs to adjust and accept her newfound life, something that was resolved a few episodes ago. It was a complete arc to where she finally knew she was in the place was wanted to be. Her character still has a ways to go to future seasons, but it's certainly a good start.
Ross tries to date Rachel for the entirety of the season. First, they both need to wait, because Ross is going through a divorce and a future son while Rachel just walked out of a wedding. Just when the time began to make sense, Rachel found plot device Paolo which the writers fully acknowledged was a plot device. It worked ok and Paolo was in less episodes than I thought, but each successive episode was more frustrating.
Rachel then broke up with Paolo when he tried to cheat on her, which caused her to shun all men. I thought this made sense and was a nice way to delay the future relationship. Then they play in a poker game, Rachel misses out on a job, and Ross lets Rachel win a bunch of money. That helped the audience root for this sort of annoying inevitability. Then Rachel has a minor detour with Barry, which while it made little sense, helped close off the season-long arc I mentioned above. Then this episode happened and delayed it even further. So this is a season-long arc that is somewhat incomplete, but at least Rachel did find out about it and that's a new development.
The other characters don't really get season-long arcs unfortunately. Matthew Perry steals the season as Chandler making nearly every Chandler story funny and creating a unique and compelling individual. While Phoebe probably gets the least screen time, Lisa Kudrow I've noticed makes the most of her little time by the end and probably is MVP of the girls.
Monica and Joey, for better or worse, are still a little on the short end of the stick. Joey obviously a little bit more developed than your regular womanizer, but he's not exactly fully defined. Monica, while still consistent, is still kind of a clean-freak, obsessive friend. Both Matt Le Blanc and Courtney Cox still make the characters into... characters, but both of them are clearly on the bottom of the pole at least. (While I've never paid attention to it, there's a lot of people that think Le Blanc helped salvage the latter seasons so he does get his time. I'm not sure Cox ever gets hers)
So Friends first season gets four characters who stand out of an ensemble of six and complete one of two season-long arcs while adding to another arc that could have grown stale. I personally laugh at every episode so I'm going to raise this grade a little higher and I end up with a ....
Season 1 Grade - B+
Quotes
"What you think I'm going to tell a girl I like that I'm also seeing a cup?" - Joey
"The tough thing is that she really wants to have sex with me." - Joey
"Crazy bitch" - Chandler
"That book got me through some tough times." - Joey about Dr. Seuss
"That's good. Keep rubbing your head. That'll turn back time." - Joey to Chandler
"Maybe I'll know when I see him." - Rachel
"Does this help?" - Phoebe holds up picture of Ross
Playlist (Part of my Top 50 tracks of 2013; 1-10; 11-20)
21. "Inhaler" - Foals
22. "Rose Quartz" - Toro y Moi
23. "Ode to Sleep" - Twenty One Pilots
24. "Just Make it Stop" - Low
25. "Primetime" - Janelle Monae ft. Miguel
26. "Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons (I'm somehow not tired of this song)
27. "Sacrilege" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
28. "Retrograde" - James Blake
29. "Hold On We're Going Home" - Drake ft. Majid Jordan
30. "The Mother We Share" - Chvrces
Programming note: Thus ends my Friends recaps on Sundays. In its place, I will be doing The Sopranos Season 2. I found that doing Sopranos recaps significantly increased my appreciation of this show so I will continue those.
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