The One In Massapequa

The One In Massapequa
"You people are made of stone"
Episode Information
Air date	March 28, 2002
Written by	Mark Kunerth (teleplay) Peter Tibbals (story)
Directed by	Gary Halvorson
Alternate titles	The One With The Zesty Guy
Episode Guide
Previous	The One With The Tea Leaves
Next	The One With Joey's Interview

"The One In Massapequa" is the eighteenth episode of the eighth season of Friends, which aired on March 28, 2002.

Plot

It's Ross & Monica's parents' 35th wedding anniversary, and Monica is very excited to be giving the speech at this year's celebration. Usually, Ross gives a very moving speech and makes everyone cry. Monica's attempts at writing a moving speech get pretty far-fetched, bringing up dead relatives and pets to get a few tears. This doesn’t work very well. Phoebe has decided that "fate" has brought her to her new boyfriend, Parker. He is a constantly cheerful, talkative, energetic and enthusiastic person with a wacky personality and a strange and annoying habit of making a big fuss of everything, even the most trivial things...and his habit of doing this irritates the friends greatly.

At the anniversary party, Parker is driving everyone crazy with his ridiculously over-the-top compliments on absolutely everything. Phoebe catches the others making fun of Parker and gets upset, but then realizes that he is driving her crazy as well. Monica & Ross's parents also tell Rachel & Ross that since they are having a child out of wedlock, they've actually told all of their friends that they got married. They don't want to pretend, but when several people give them checks as wedding gifts, they play along. When guests ask for details about the proposal and wedding, they actually end up having a lot of fun telling others about their fantasy day, with Rachel creating various extravagant details while Ross tells a touching story about proposing to her in the planetarium where they had their first date, making it seem like there is some spark left between them. Monica gives the anniversary toast and it's a total dud. She gets desperate and brings up Terms of Endearment and neglected Romanian children in an attempt to get her parents to become emotional and cry, but her speech eventually gets so ridiculous that no-one can feel anything except bewilderment after hearing it, not even the starry-eyed Parker. Ross then gets up and gives a brief two-sentence toast stating that he and Rachel would consider themselves lucky to be half as happy as Jack and Judy in thirty-five years, which makes his parents cry. Monica is frustrated.

Parker breaks up with Phoebe for angrily telling him, after getting fed up with his constant enthusiasm, that she wants him to be "much less happy." After arguing with her, Parker angrily storms out of the room...and then returns to compliment the argument.

Back at their apartment, Ross and Rachel continue to debate some details of their fictional marriage, with Rachel being touched when she learns that Ross's story about his proposal to her was the one he actually planned to use when they were going out, saying "it would be something she'd find hard to have said no to."

At the end of the episode, a sympathetic Ross comforts an upset Monica, assuring her that he thought her speech was great, and he doesn't understand why nobody cried, also claiming that their late grandmother would have loved it, and that she was there in spirit. This makes Monica cry, and then say "Oh good God, Ross! How the hell do you do it?"

Cast and Crew

Main Cast

Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene
Courteney Cox - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller

Supporting Cast

Alec Baldwin - Parker
Elliott Gould - Jack Geller
Christina Pickles - Judy Geller
Kat Sawyer-Young - Catherine
Ellen Gerstein - Aunt Lisa
John C. Moskoff - Uncle Dan
Aixa Clemente - The female guest
Bob Bencomo - Male Guest (uncredited)
Tim Silva - male guest

Crew

Directed By:
Gary Halvorson

Written By:
Peter Tibais
Mark Kunerth

Trivia

General

• Before heading out to the Geller's 35th wedding anniversary, Parker inquires about the location. Monica tells him it's in Massapequa, and Parker replies that he's never been there. Alec Baldwin, who portrays Parker, was born in Massapequa.
• When Parker says "classic Ross" in reference to Ross saying about the time, this is a callback to The One Where No One's Ready when Ross was trying to hurry everyone up.
• In the large photograph displayed at the Gellers' anniversary party, Jack and Judy wear the exact same outfits as they are wearing in person at the party.
• Ross learned that Chichi had died in "The One With The Thumb" (S1E3) and is seen looking at a picture of the dog later in the episode.
• If you watch carefully on the screen throughout the party scenes, you can see a man wearing glasses and looking just like Stephen Waltham, who is the father of Emily Waltham Ross's second ex-wife. It's possible that Jack and Judy kept in touch with Emily's parents after the divorce.
• When Ross and Monica are discussing her speech, she says that at their parents 40th, he can give the speech.
• Rachel says she'll think about Ross' proposal he'd planned at the Planetarium. Although they don't get back together until "the series finale, this would influence her decision to get off the plane to be with Ross.
  • This is evident in the uncut version which has extra dialogue between Ross and Rachel set after she leaves the bathroom when Ross on the theme of his proposal asks "How about if there was a windshield so your hair wouldn't get all messed up?" to which Rachel replies: "I'll think about it, alright?"
• One of Joey's presents to the Gellers is naming a star after them. A private company publishes a private, proprietary catalog with unofficial star names, unrecognized by NASA, the scientific community, or the International Astronomical Union. People can pay to "unofficially name" stars. On March 28, 2002, the air date of the episode, all main cast actors had stars unofficially named after them in the Ursa Major constellation (Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry, Schwimmer).  When Ross took Rachel to the planetarium,  he pointed out a star cluster which he stated could be Ursa Major, before they had sex for the first time.
• Phoebe tells Parker, "You are like Santa Claus on Prozac, at Disneyland, getting laid!" 10 years later, Alec Baldwin was the voice of Santa Claus in the 2012 kids cartoon Rise of The Guardians.
• When Parker says about "the mitzvahs, both bar and bat", this is a callback to the uncut version of The One With Joey's New Brain when Monica tells Chandler about when "Ross played at her butmitza". It was explained in the commentary that despite numerous takes, Courteney was unable to say "bahmitza" so they gave up.
• According to the commentary, Alec Baldwin suggested the lines about the bouncy plate holder.

Goofs/Continuity

• When Monica stands up in her kitchen, we hear her voice say to Chandler "check this out," but her mouth doesn't move.
• When referring to the dead dog in the photograph, Monica refers to it as "she" and then minutes later refers to the same dog as "he." Then when Ross tells Rachel about how Monica was "the 200 pound 11 year old who rode her" and in the closing titles of this episode, Ross refers to Chichi as "she."
  • Additionally, in The One With The Thumb when Ross tells everyone that Chichi was sent away to live on a farm before realizing the dog had actually died, he also refers to the dog as "he."
• Jack Geller is often replaced by a poor stand-in. At one point, the stand-in is wearing dark framed glasses, not even wearing the same suit and tie! Not to mention the HUGE height difference.
• Jack and Judy are handed the picture of Chichi twice.
• Despite the fact that almost everyone at the party believes Rachel and Ross are married, no one notices the lack of wedding rings on their fingers. However at the end of the episode, Rachel is wearing a ring on her left hand.
• When Monica talks about wanting to make everyone cry and how they used to say "God your brother", she actually says "Cod". The same goes when she continues and says "Cod you" as something she wants them to say to her. This is not so much a goof as it is her putting a certain emphasis on the G.
• In the scene after the party, in Ross' apartment, when Rachel starts to walk towards him, you can see the camera man in the mirror.
• When Parker arrives at the party, in the shot after he says "event room C", his lips are moving but he has finished speaking.
• Ross says their first date was at the Planetarium but that was their SECOND date when they slept together for the first time. We see them return from their first date, a foreign movie, as this was when Rachel started giggling when Ross touched her butt.
• Ross and Rachel leave the apartment after the rest of the gang but arrive first, although it's possible their cab took a faster route.
• When Joey shows the gang his presents, there is a loose piece of selotape hanging from the one containing the book.
• It was established in season 1 that the Geller and Greene families are best friends yet neither Sandra or Leonard Greene are seen at the anniversary dinner, indeed no mention is made of them. It's possible that neither were invited to avoid creating a scene which could disrupt the celebrations.
• When Rachel and Ross are talking to his parents, her bag is over her left shoulder but when they are just talking to Jack, it disappears when a different angle is used. When Jack walks away it's on Rachel's shoulder again but when they reach the bar, she's holding it in her right hand.

External links

• The One in Massapequa at the Internet Movie Database

Episode Navigation

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Preceded by "The One With The Tea Leaves"

Season Eight Episodes

Followed by "The One With Joey's Interview"

<< Season 7		Season 8					Season 9 >>
#01	"The One After 'I Do'"		#09	"The One With The Rumor"		#17	"The One With The Tea Leaves"
#02	"The One With The Red Sweater"		#10	"The One With Monica's Boots"		#18	"The One In Massapequa"
#03	"The One Where Rachel Tells..."		#11	"The One With Ross's Step Forward"		#19	"The One With Joey's Interview"
#04	"The One With The Videotape"		#12	"The One Where Joey Dates Rachel"		#20	"The One With The Baby Shower"
#05	"The One With Rachel's Date"		#13	"The One Where Chandler Takes A Bath"		#21	"The One With The Cooking Class"
#06	"The One With The Halloween Party"		#14	"The One With The Secret Closet"		#22	"The One Where Rachel Is Late"
#07	"The One With The Stain"		#15	"The One With The Birthing Video"		#23	"The One Where Rachel Has A Baby, Part 1"
#08	"The One With The Stripper"		#16	"The One Where Joey Tells Rachel"		#24	"The One Where Rachel Has A Baby, Part 2"