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The One With The Morning After

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"The One With The Morning After" is the sixteenth episode of the third season of Friends, which aired on February 20, 1997. In it, Ross and Rachel's relationship crumbles after she learns what Ross did the previous night, while Monica and Phoebe try a new waxing strip to painful results.

Plot[]

At his apartment, Ross is still in bed, fast asleep, when he's woken up by the voice of Chloe. Horrified, he checks the answering machine for messages and hears one from Rachel, who apologizes for the previous evening, saying that she loves him and that she'll drop by his apartment so they can patch things up properly. Ross doesn't get rid of Chloe in time and hides her behind the door as he opens it to find Rachel standing in front of him. Rachel tells Ross she wants them to get back together, and he agrees as Chloe continues to hide.

Ross doesn't waste any time in confessing everything that happened last night to Joey and Chandler. Chandler thinks Ross is crazy for cheating on Rachel, while Joey urges Ross to find out "the trail" - the list of people between the girl he slept with and the girl he doesn't want to find out what happened. Ross traces the trail from Chloe to her colleague Isaac, who has a sister named Jasmine, who works with Phoebe, who is friends with Rachel. Chloe has already told Isaac who has in turn told Jasmine, who Ross gets to before she can tell Phoebe. Jasmine promises that she won't tell Phoebe about Chloe, but does mention that she's already told her roommate... who is none other than Gunther. Ross rushes to Central Perk, only to find that Gunther has already told Rachel everything.

Phoebe and Monica try out Waxine from the TV commercials, but the pain is too much for them. Joey and Chandler rush to their aid, but before they can get out of the room, Rachel storms in the apartment, followed by Ross. Phoebe, Monica, Chandler and Joey stay in the room, unknown to Ross and Rachel. The fight between Ross and Rachel is worse than last night's. Rachel gets even angrier with Ross - she discovers that Chloe was still in the apartment while she was there getting back together with Ross. She's furious for finding out from Gunther and asks him how Chloe was in bed. Ross then says he wanted to tell Rachel before saying that Chandler and Joey told him not to tell. In the room, Chandler and Joey get scared and decide to stay inside since they'll be safe. Rachel then asks Ross how he would feel if she was with Mark and mocks Ross by trying to fantasize being with Mark in front of him.

Meanwhile, the guys eat the Waxine, which happens to be organic, but not really edible. Joey says he thinks he needs a new walk. It's now 3:00am, and Monica is put out that Rachel has never questioned why she (Monica) apparently never came home that night. Ross is still trying to make Rachel forgive him. Just as it seems that Rachel might try to start thinking about forgiving him, he starts touching and kissing her. She slaps him away angrily and tells him to go. Ross suddenly walks towards her and tells her that there's got to be a way they can work past this. He tells her that he can't imagine his life without her and they both start crying and Ross gets down on his knees and holds Rachel. Rachel says that she used to think of Ross as somebody who would never ever hurt her, but everything has changed since now Rachel can't stop picturing Ross with Chloe and there's nothing he can say or do to make things the same between them ever again. Ross continues to deny the end of everything between them, stating "this can't be it". Rachel sadly replies: "Then how come it is?"

Meanwhile, much later, the other four are able to get out where they find Rachel still in her clothes and sleeping on the couch and Ross is gone. Chandler asks Joey if he's done a new walk and Joey answers "No, I really have to pee."

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[]

Angela Featherstone - Chloe
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
Maury Ginsberg - Isaac
Cynthia Mann - Jasmine

Crew[]

Directed By:
James Burrows

Written By:
David Crane & Marta Kauffman

Quotes[]

Monica: How's the big anniversary dinner?
Rachel: Well, we never actually got to dinner.
Monica: Ha, ha, oh, nice!
Rachel: No, we kinda broke up instead.

Ross: Rachel’s all like, "I love you and, and let’s work on this." And all I can think about is, "What is she gonna do, what is she gonna say?" when I tell her what I did.
Chandler: Well, before we answer that, I think we should address the more important question: how dumb are you?

Ross: Gunther! Gunther. Gunther, please tell me you didn't say anything to Rachel about me and the girl from the Xerox place.
Gunther: I'm sorry. Was I not supposed to?

Phoebe: Oh, I knew something had to be wrong, because my fingernails did not grow at all yesterday.

Ross: [fighting with Rachel, while everyone else is eavesdropping in Monica's room] She was...
Joey: Awful! Horrible!
Chandler: She was not good! Not good!
Joey: She was nothing compared to you.
Ross: She, she was different.
Joey: Eww!
Chandler: Uh-oh.

Ross: Look, I didn't think there was a relationship to jeopardize. I thought we were broken up.
Rachel: We were on a break.
Ross: That, for all I knew, would, could last forever. That, to me, is a breakup.
Rachel: You think you're gonna get out of this on a technicality?
Ross: Look, I'm not trying to "get out" of anything, okay? I thought our relationship was dead.
Rachel: Well, you sure had a hell of a time at the wake.

Ross: Come on, Rach. Tell me what you're thinking.
Rachel: I'm thinking... I'm gonna order a pizza.
Ross: Order a pizza, like... I forgive you?

Ross: [Rachel is ordering a pizza] No anchovies.
Rachel: With, uh, extra anchovies.
Ross: That's okay, I'll just pick them off.
Rachel: Yeah. And could you please chop some up and just put it right there in the sauce?

Joey: You think I need a new walk?
Chandler: What?
Joey: Well, you know, I've been walking the same way since high school. You know, you know how some guys... they walk into a room and everybody takes notice? I think I need a "take-notice" walk!
Chandler: Are you actually saying these words?

Ross: This can't be it.
Rachel: Then how come it is?

Trivia[]

General[]

  • This is the first time that someone utters the classic "we were on a break". However, it is Rachel who says it — Ross first uses it in the next episode.
  • Monica wears a "Girls" sweater similar to that worn by Rachel and Susan in other episodes.
  • The episode takes a darker turn than any other episode in the series.
  • Phoebe waxes part of Joey's forearm to prove to him how much it hurts. In "The One With Ross' Sandwich", he'll have to shave his leg to cover for Monica and Chandler's relationship.
  • During Ross and Rachel's breakup, the window above Monica's door is seen open later on in the scene, presumably so Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe could eavesdrop.
  • The definitive break-up scene was so emotional that both Schwimmer and Aniston cried after it was shot.
  • This episode and the previous one could be considered the two-part episode for this season; although they are two separate episodes, at the end of the first one it says "To Be Continued".
  • The set-up for this episode is brought back in "The One With The Kips" (S5E5). While Ross and Rachel talk in the living room, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey are in Monica's room. It's even revealed that Joey hid a "survival kit" under the bed in case that situation happened again.
  • When Rachel leaves a voice message to Ross saying she will be at his apartment at 8:30, Ross looks at his wrist to check the time, expecting a watch to be there, but there was no watch. Later in the episode, Chloe admits to stealing Ross' watch, which explains why the watch was missing from his wrist earlier in the episode.
  • These are the final appearances of Isaac and Chloe.
  • The song playing at the beginning is the same song that played when Ross and Rachel had their first kiss in "The One Where Ross Finds Out" (S2E7). It also played in "The Last One, Part 2" (S10E18) when Ross and Rachel have their final on-screen kiss when they get back together.
  • The position Ross and Rachel are in when he's on his knees holding her is the same position Monica and Rachel were in when she was begging Rachel for money to avoid taking up the job at the American Diner.
  • Matt LeBlanc did the "Previously on Friends" voice-over before "The One Were Ross and Rachel Take A Break" was briefly summarized.
  • The discussion between Ross and Rachel when she asks him to describe Chloe is recalled when the gang are listening to Chandler describe his colleague Wendy in "The One With Christmas In Tulsa".
  • Some sites/versions like IMDB and the season 3 DVDs call this episode " The one the morning after".

Goofs[]

  • When Monica and Phoebe are pulling the wax strips off each other's legs, you can tell that it's not really waxed on since the paper is not fully stuck to their legs. Water was probably used as it would hurt to actually have to wax the same leg every take. When Phoebe puts the "wax" on Joey's arm, it looks to be the color and consistency of honey. Honey would make sense since later in the episode they eat the "wax" out of desperation of being stuck in the room with no food.
  • Phoebe spreads wax on the interior side of Joey's forearm (palm up), then places the paper on the exterior side (palm down), then Joey pulls it off from the interior side.
  • When Chloe is looking for her shoes at Ross' apartment in the morning, they are not the same ones she was wearing the night before.
  • Rachel told Ross in this episode that they were on a break and that he had cheated on her, but Rachel said to Monica that she and Ross had broken up, which lead him to sleep with Chloe, and they got back together again, but Ross and Rachel broke up again when she found out about him sleeping with Chloe, but there was not really any need for another break up if they had already broken up before he slept with Chloe, therefore Ross didn't cheat on Rachel since him sleeping with Chloe happened after Ross and Rachel had broken up and the night before they got back together, only to break up again.
  • Ross tells Jasmine that they met at Phoebe's birthday, however in the Pilot Jasmine was a waitress at Central Perk where the friends hang out daily so Ross and Jasmine met many times.
    • Though it could be that they probably were yet to be acquainted then.
  • When Ross hands the newspaper back to Rachel, he is handing it over with his left hand. But in the next shot of Rachel grabbing it, Ross is handing over the newspaper with his right hand.
  • In the very last shot in the tag scene the door is open then closes itself [with no one closing it] in about half a second.
  • When Isaac talks about Rachel, he describes her as 'that chick from the coffee place', yet 6 episodes earlier she quit working there.
  • When Monica hits the blender button, she drops/throws the lid that's in her hand. Then immediately in the closeup, it's in her hand. When they go back to the wide shot, her hand is empty.
  • When Rachel and Ross are arguing, she is clearly wearing two rings on her left ring finger, in one take she is sitting at Monica's table and is clearly only wearing one ring, then the scene changes and she is wearing two rings again.
  • Monica, Phoebe, Joey and Chandler can hear Ross and Rachel talking in the living room, but Rachel and Ross can't hear the others talking in Monica's room, even though they're not whispering. However, Rachel and Ross are arguing loudly or even yelling at each other, and are so engrossed in their conversation they likely didn't hear anyone talking normally in the bedroom. The others have to listen at the door, meaning they can't otherwise hear them, and thus Ross and Rachel wouldn't be able to hear them either being much further away from the bedroom.
  • In the previous episode, Phoebe and Monica had a fight over dinner with the translator and the diplomat, but in this episode they get along just fine, though it happened the night before. However, they were not seriously angry with each other over these two men. They would have quickly made up, such as they did when fighting to take care of the coma guy in The One With Mrs. Bing".
  • When Ross and Rachel are arguing in the living room, the transom window above Monica's bedroom door is open and in the shots from the interior of Monica's room the transom window is shown as closed. The transom window over Monica's door appears open in both the scenes from the living room and the scenes from the inside of her room. In both sides the window is on inclination.
  • At the start, Rachel stops by Ross' place before she goes to work, and she is then seen later in the coffeehouse. However, she possibly didn't go to work because she needed to talk to Ross, or more likely, she went there on her lunch break or after work, and this is when Gunther told her the news.

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 Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break" 		Series Three Episodes Followed by
"The One Without The Ski Trip"
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