Friends: The One Where Monica Gets A Roommate

This week I’m going to be talking about a DVD I got from one of my friends. My friend and I were talking in science one day, and he said that I reminded him of Phoebe Buffay. I thought that was a real person and asked if she was in our grade (tenth-grade), and he said she was a fictional character on Friends. I asked what Friends was, and he stared at me in disbelief. For anyone who’s as clueless as I was, Friends is a sitcom about six people living in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The show aired on NBC for ten years.

Friends follows the lives of Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), and Ross Geller (David Schwimmer). I haven’t seen all the episodes and the DVD I got has five episodes.

The first episode is “The One Where Monica Gets A Roommate,” or “Pilot.” The episode begins with Monica, Joey, Chandler, and Phoebe hanging out in Central Perk (a fictional coffee shop), discussing Monica’s upcoming date with a guy named Paul. Monica insists there’s nothing juicy to share, but her friends refuse to believe this. They continue trying to pump her for information. Monica’s older brother Ross soon enters and he looks depressed. Monica tells everyone else that Carol moved out. Carol is Ross’ ex-wife, who has recently realized she’s a lesbian. Joey is surprised that Ross never knew, but Ross defends himself by saying that if Carol didn’t know, how was he supposed to know?

Everyone is trying to cheer him up but Ross says all he wants is to be married again. At that moment, Rachel bursts inside the shop in a wedding dress. After she’s introduced to the group, Rachel says she was supposed to marry a man named Barry Finkle (for his money), but that in the end she couldn’t go through with it since she didn’t love him. The group leaves the coffee shop soon after.

At Monica’s, everyone is watching a Spanish soap opera and making up ridiculous lines for the characters. Meanwhile, Rachel is on the phone, talking to her father. Her father is not too happy that she didn’t marry Barry, but Rachel says she doesn’t love him, and that it does matter. We don’t hear what Mr. Green says, but based on what Rachel says it’s pretty easy to fill in the blanks. Rachel says she’s going to stay in the city with Monica—without asking Monica’s permission—and that maybe she doesn’t need her father’s money. She quickly backpedals, but her father’s already hung up. Monica, meanwhile, has her date with Paul, but she offers to stay home with Rachel. Rachel insists that she go, so Monica leaves.

The next morning, Rachel is excited to be making coffee for the first time in her life, but Chandler and Joey spit it out. Monica enters and tells Rachel about her date, and then she leaves for work. Rachel tries to find a job, but is unsuccessful.

After the job hunt, Rachel goes shopping and buys a pair of boots that she calls her, “I don’t need a job, I don’t need my parents, I got great boots” boots. Monica asks how she paid for them, and Rachel says that she used a credit-card. When Monica asks who pays for the card and Rachel says her father does, the group urges Rachel to cut up her cards. Reluctantly, she does. Her friends welcome her to the real world and Monica says that it sucks.

Ross, Rachel, and Monica are hanging out in Monica’s and Rachel’s apartment when Monica switches off the TV and goes to bed. Ross and Rachel reach for the last cookie, and each person offers it to the other. In the end, they split it, and Ross reveals that back in high-school he had a major crush on Rachel. Rachel says that she knew. Ross asks if it’s okay it he asks Rachel out sometime, she says maybe, and it’s pretty obvious that “maybe” is really a “yes.” They say good night, Rachel goes into her room, and Ross leaves the apartment.

There are two main sets in the episode—Central Perk and Monica’s apartment. Central Perk is a set, and Monica’s apartment is location, though it’s not in New York. The show was filmed in Burbank, California.

I really like this episode. My fave character is Rachel because I love how clueless she is about the real world. She’s the former princess who got kicked out of the kingdom. My fave part of the episode is when Rachel’s sitting at the kitchen table, and her friends are urging her to cut up her credit-cards.

I would recommend this show, and I will review something in a week.