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"The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel" is the second episode of the sixth season of Friends, which aired on September 30, 1999. In it, Ross lies to Rachel about the annulment and realizes he needs her present when he tries to fix it. Meanwhile, Monica and Chandler decide to move in together and Rachel takes it surprisingly well.

Plot[]

After Ross confesses to Phoebe that he didn't get the annulment, Phoebe forces him to avoid plans he had with Rachel to explain. Ross says he didn't because he doesn't want to have three failed marriages at such a young age. Later, Phoebe tries to prove to Ross that it isn't that big of problem: they tell the whole story to a group of girls, all of whom don't care too much about his three divorces but still would not date him. Each gives a different reason as to why: one of them insists she wouldn't date him while he's still married, another only wants to date troublesome men and the last says that she thinks he's still in love with Rachel, which Phoebe agrees must be the actual explanation. Ross insists that isn't true and decides to get the annulment, but it turns out that won't be as easy as he'd hoped because they both have to appear before a judge in order to have the marriage annulled. However, Phoebe still does not get this and despite Ross' attempt at an explanation continues to believe he still loves Rachel.

Chandler and Monica tell everyone they're going to move in together. Joey is really upset about Chandler moving out because Chandler is the best roommate ever. When Monica tells Rachel, she mistakenly thinks the three of them are going to live together and is really excited about it, but it drives Chandler crazy. When Monica finally manages to tell Rachel that she and Chandler want to live on their own, Rachel isn't upset at all. This upsets Monica, because she thinks she deserves at least a few tears. However, it turns out that Rachel isn't upset because she doesn't think they're going to go through with it; they also cancelled their wedding in Vegas. When Monica tells her that it really is gonna happen, and that she and Rachel really aren't going to be roommates anymore, Rachel becomes quite upset and cries, saying it's the end of an era.

Moments later, Ross walks in, wanting to tell Rachel about the marriage, but she's really upset about moving out, and Ross instead hugs Rachel to comfort her. However, as he hugs her, he ends up accidentally smelling her hair.

Cast and Crew[]

Main Cast[]

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

Supporting Cast[]

Ron Glass - Russell
Alex Kapp - Stephanie (credited as Alex Kapp Horner)
Tembi Locke - Karin
Janelle Paradee - Meg
James Michael Tyler - Gunther

Crew[]

Directed By:
Gail Mancuso

Written By:
Shana Goldberg-Meehan

Trivia[]

General[]

  • The fact that for the next few episodes, Phoebe is the only one who knows that Ross and Rachel are still married is an indication of how much of a part Phoebe will play in relations between Ross and Rachel in future seasons, culminating in Phoebe driving Ross to the airport to catch Rachel in the series finale.
  • Ross comments that his sister and best friend will be "shacking up together". Ironically he and Rachel will briefly shack up together (all be it not romantically) for a short period this season, when she's pregnant in season 8/9 and when they get back together as a proper loving couple in the series finale.
  • At the end of the episode, Phoebe and Joey talk about hooking up. Apparently Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow approached the writers with the idea that Joey and Phoebe been secretly meeting up all the time.
  • In the same scene, Phoebe says that Joey will marry and have children with Rachel. In fact although he and Rachel do date briefly, by then she's had a child with Ross who she remarries after the series finale.
  • Rachel starts singing, and Monica continues "Come and knock on our door, we'll be waiting for you" which is the theme song of the sitcom Three's Company about 3 roommates, two women and a man.
  • The Five Card Charlie sign has moved to the wall above sink.
  • Running gag: People keep thinking that Monica is pregnant whenever she is trying to tell them that she and Chandler are moving in together. This story arc is reused in the episodes around Monica and Chandler's wedding when Ross and Chandler again think Monica is pregnant.
  • Rachel says everyone calls her "Racquelle" or "Rocky". This sounds like the name Paolo called her when they dated, "Racquella".
  • This is one of the few episodes in the Netflix version to have subtitles written in normal sentence case, as the subtitles for most episodes on Netflix (until the end of Season 6) are written in all-uppercase, with only portions for off-screen dialogues being written in sentence case.

Goofs[]

  • Throughout this episode Monica and Rachel keep saying that they've lived together for six years. However since this is the start of the sixth season, they have only lived together for the previous five years.
  • Chandler tells Monica that when it comes to sweets Joey is surprisingly strict, but in "The One With The Kips" (S5E5) he said that Joey leaves Rolos all over the apartment.
    • Probably about what kind of sweets are allowed inside the apartment.
  • When Ross and Rachel leave Central Perk to go to the movies, Rachel says that they're going to the Angelika, which Rachel says is "right up here". Central Perk is in the middle of the West Village. The Angelika is farther south, on the border between the Village and SoHo, so a New Yorker would refer to it as "down", not "up".
  • When Phoebe first sends Rachel in the taxi, Ross puts chewing gum in his mouth but when she sends Rachel away again he puts the chewing gum in his mouth again.
  • When Pheobe and Ross are talking about his tombstone, the same extras (man in blue sweater, woman in blue shirt and another man in dark tshirt) go inside Central Perk twice.
  • When Monica and Rachel are discussing how long they've lived together (5 years) the notepaper on the fridge door blows even though there are no windows open.
  • When Joey and Chandler are packing things up, Joey picks up the washing up liquid and asks who it belongs to. Chandler replies that it was here when they moved in but Chandler was living there with Kip, Monica's former boyfriend, before Joey moved in. Also since Joey moved in at least 12 months before the Pilot, it's improbable that washing up liquid would last 6 years. Unless the gag is they have basically hardly done dishes in the past 6 years, which is possible. How often do we see them cook or eat anything that isn't prepackaged?
  • When Ross is talking to his divorce lawyer, he nudges the clock with his left hand an inch to the right but in the next shot it's back to it's original position.
  • When Rachel starts saying "And Chandler, you're gonna have to watch those long showers you take..." her left hand is in the air pointing up. In the middle of the phrase the angle changes and her right hand is in the air pointing up.

Continuity[]

  • Ross said to his divorce attorney that this was his second marriage in two years. However, they went to Vegas on Monica and Chandler's first anniversary, which would be exactly one year after the day before Ross' first marriage, where they got together in London. So, if Ross got married the first day they were in Vegas (as implied in "The One In Vegas"), he got married twice in the same year. They could have gotten married after midnight. Also, Ross could've meant "within the last two years".
  • The scene where Rachel spits the cookie back out is curious, as throughout the series Monica is presented as being a professional chef, and a very skilled cook. In fact, her cookies are served many times, and are always well received.
  • Rachel complains that her boss called her Raquel, however in "The One Where Rachel Smokes", her boss clearly knows her name and calls her by it several times. And in "The One With Ross' Teeth", Rachel still has the same boss. However it is possible that during the meeting it was a manager higher up the chain who mispronounced her name. This is entirely possible as later in the series Mr. Thompson is at the charity auction whom Rachel introduces to Phoebe as her boss.  

External links[]

Episode Navigation[]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Preceded by
"The One After Vegas"
The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel Followed by
"The One With Ross' Denial"
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