The One With Rachel's Going Away Party

"The One With Rachel's Going Away Party" is the sixteenth episode of the tenth season of Friends, which aired on April 29, 2004.

Plot

As Rachel prepares to move to Paris, Monica and Chandler are preparing for the birth of their child in a few weeks as well as moving to their new home. Erica has arrived to stay in New York until the birth, but is being put up in a hotel since Monica and Chandler are now packing stuff away. Chandler, Joey and Ross are having fun with bubble-wrap in Monica's guest room. They find a set of black handcuffs which he thinks belong to Monica. They turn out to be her grandmother's.

However, they find the time to throw a going-away party for Rachel, who privately talks to her friends during the party. Each and every speech ends in a very touching moment for Phoebe, Monica, Chandler and Joey (who attempts to commit suicide but is stopped by Rachel). When it comes to Ross, Rachel completely blows him off without a goodbye speech and leaves. He is so upset about this that he forgets his pride and confronts her at Joey's apartment. He then storms off to his place. Not long after, Erica comes over to the apartment, where she has contraction pains. Monica and Chandler take her to the hospital for the birth of their child.

At Ross' apartment, Rachel comes storming in, slamming the door. She explains to him that the reason she didn't give him a goodbye is not because he means less to her but because he means more, and that it makes her so angry that Ross has learned nothing about her after ten years that she decides to give him a goodbye - one in which she yells angrily at him. Ross grabs Rachel and kisses her. Ross and Rachel suddenly pull away to ponder the situation, and then continue to make out.

Cast and Crew

Main Cast

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

Supporting Cast

Anna Faris - Erica

Crew

Directed By:
Gary Halvorson

Written By:
Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen

Trivia

This is the last episode with Rachel's name in the title.
This is the last episode titled "The One With..."
This is the last episode to have a tag scene.
Chandler says "It's like when Melrose Place got cancelled." Melrose Place was a popular primetime soap opera from Aaron Spelling that ran on Fox from 1992 to 1999. It focused on the lives of a group of young adults living in a brownstone in West Hollywood, California. Matthew Perry had auditioned for the role of Billy Campbell before landing the role of Chandler on Friends.
Rachel tells Monica "you've been like a sister to me" and later says to Chandler "you've been like a brother to me", although the tv version omits the latter. This foretells that they will become her sister-in-law and brother-in-law when she marries Ross shortly after the series finale.
In the DVD version, it shows Ross and Rachel going into his bedroom kissing, to have sex, but stop and then agreeing to do it anyway, then showing the following morning scene, which is shown in the next episode, but the first bedroom scene is cut from the episode when it is shown on the TV.
Ross and Rachel stating "it hasn't stopped us before" when discussing whether they should have sex hints that they've slept together in secret beyond the 300 times known about.
Due to the season number, it has been exactly 7 years (not counting the airdate) since Ross and Rachel's break up.

Goofs/Continuity

As shown in "The One On The Last Night" (S6E6), Rachel's old room is completely empty when she moves out, so the handcuffs from Monica and Ross's grandmother should not be there.
The level of beer in Ross' bottle goes up and down between shots as he's talking to Joey at the kitchen table.
When Ross fears that Rachel is going to talk with him, the volume and the color of his beer changes between shots.
Erica is supposedly over eight months pregnant with twins, and considering the twins size when they were born, she would be much bigger than she is in this episode.
Chandler is once again crying in this episode, and Monica mentions him crying over the 6:00 news the day before (because of an old woman scammed by her mechanic), which is in direct contradiction to "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry". However, at the end of that episode, Chandler seemed to not be able to stop crying.

Episode Navigation

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Preceded by "The One Where Estelle Dies"	Series Ten Episodes	Followed by "The Last One, Part 1"


<< Season 9		Season 10
#01	"The One After Joey And Rachel Kiss"		#07	"The One With The Home Study"	#13	"The One Where Joey Speaks French"
#02	"The One Where Ross Is Fine"		#08	"The One With The Late Thanksgiving"	#14	"The One With Princess Consuela"
#03	"The One With Ross' Tan"		#09	"The One With The Birth Mother"	#15	"The One Where Estelle Dies"
#04	"The One With The Cake"		#10	"The One Where Chandler Gets Caught"	#16	"The One With Rachel's Going Away Party"
#05	"The One Where Rachel's Sister Babysits"		#11	"The One Where The Stripper Cries"	#17	"The Last One, Part 1"
#06	"The One With Ross' Grant"		#12	"The One With Phoebe's Wedding"	#18	"The Last One, Part 2"