Friends: Episode-by-Episode 10.17 & 10.18 "The Last One"

1013: The One Where Joey Speaks French

- Good teaser.
- ?Divorce?? ? hee
- I totally buy that Rachel?s father had a heart attack. That angry old man.
- While Joey being completely unable to speak French is very silly I can?t even describe how much I love it. It kills me every single time.
- Monica being all excited about Erica is great.
- Final appearance of Rachel?s father! Again, love that we revisit him a final time.
- ?Just can?t believe I?m in Rachel Green?s room.? ? hee
- A semi-return of Ross & Rachel! I?ll say right now that I think it was important to get these two back together before the end of the show, but I like how this episode is just about reestablishing that they?re still a possibility rather than them just suddenly getting back together.
- The Chandler/Monica/Erica stuff is good too.
- ?Shovely Joe? ? hee
- Good end to the Joey/Phoebe story.
- Pretty solid episode.

B +

 

10.14 "The One With Princess Consuela"


* Episode Number: 231
* Production Code: 176264
* Original Air Date: February 26, 2004
* Written by: Tracy Reilly
* Directed by: Gary Halvorson
* Story by: Robert Carlock
* Guest Cast:
o Paul Rudd (Mike Hanigan)
o James Michael Tyler (Gunther)
o Dakota Fanning (Mackenzie)
o Brent Spiner (James Campbell)
o Steve Ireland (Mr. Zelner)
o Steven Eckholdt (Mark)
o Tom Dugan (Maitre d')
o Helen Eigenberg (The Realtor)
o Mary-Margaret Lewis (Rita)
o Craig Robinson (The Clerk)
o Alex Ball (Ralph Lauren employee)


Detailed summary

Monica and Chandler visit their house, which is in escrow, where Joey is comforted about losing his friends by the 8-year-old girl who presently lives there. Phoebe learns that she can change her name to whatever she wants, which turns out to be Princess Consuela Bananahammock. After Mike changes his name to Crap Bag, she decides to just be Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan.

Ross gets tenure at his job. Rachel's lunch interview with Gucci, turns out to be right next to her current boss's table. She doesn't get the new job; she loses her current one. However, while moving her stuff out of Ralph Lauren, she runs into her old friend Mark, who offers her a job with Louis Vuitton in Paris.

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I like how no one knows what escrow is.

I hate Dakota Fanning. I can't stand that little *****. I wish she would just die in every movie she's in.

I like the gag Chandler pulls on Joey about the little ghost girl.

"If you can't remember it, just think of a bag of crap." Mike is awesome in this one.

Ross really doesn't remember Mark? I guess it was a long time ago, and Ross didn't actually see him too often even back then.


I think this was a really great episode, other then that little devil child being in it.

 

1014: The One With Princess Consuela

- Okay teaser.
- Good Phoebe story in this one.
- The audience reaction for the escrow joke is way too big.
- ?You?re a strange kind of grown up.? ? hee
- Brent Spiner! Not a huge Star Trek fan, so him being here doesn?t do much for me.
- Craig Robinson! He tends to bug me a little bit.
- ?Princess Consuela Banana Hammock? ? hee
- Ross coming into Central Perk to celebrate right after Rachel got fired is great.
- Are you allowed to do two jokes about someone not knowing what escrow is in the same episode?
- Joey at Chandler and Monica?s house is good.
- Dakota Fanning! No strong feelings about her, except she?s always on the edge of creeping me out. It actually works nicely here with Chandler?s ghost joke later.
- I love Ross, the chair and the revolving doors.
- Mark! I can?t even describe how much I love that he has a quick reappearance here towards the end. He had a very important role way back when. And I love how Ross instantly exclaims how much he hates him and thinks he wants to sleep with Rachel again; ?Sexretary!?? ? hee
- Aww, Joey gets his own room! That?s all the confirmation I need for Joey eventually moving in with Chandler and Monica after the show ends.
- ?It?s seven years ago!? ? hee; I wish it was seven years ago?
- Rachel got a job in Paris! Good place to end the episode!
- Another solid episode.

B +

 

I'm in a surly mood.


10.13 "The One Where Joey Speaks French"

Okay, it's just the law of averages that sooner or later one of Joey's stories in S10 would be complete, total crap. And guess what? This one was the "winner". It's so unfunny that that I consider it insulting to the audience. So we're to understand that Joey, while not fluent in Italian, can credibly spew Italian curses on a dime (as per his Italian heritage), yet here he can't mimic a French word here or there? Come ON... Kudrow saves the brain-dead plot by showing off her French fluency. She should have had more opportunities to speak French; it could have given Phoebe some interesting plots. Oh wait, that's right, Phoebe got the least character development.

Being in my bad mood, I feel no shame in admitting that I was glad that Rachel's dad got laid low with a heart attack. The character was always a nasty, arrogant bastard. I smiled very darkly when Ross accidentally stepped on his catheter. So even though Ross is made to look like a goofball, I consider Papa Green to be experiencing some karma.

The R&R near-hookup always seems to me to be very awkward. Ross does the noble thing and doesn't take advantage of Rachel in her moment of vulnerability. But Rachel making it clear that she WANTS to be taken advantage of is just beyond moronic. Hey babe, isn't this exactly how you (or maybe we the viewers) ended up with The Great Rachel Pregnancy Melodrama??? Man, this woman just continues to make one brainless romantic decision after another. I just think this manner of re-introducing the R&R buildup to the finale is weird.

TGCMAS: maybe it's just me, but I think it's weird at how close Erica gets to C&M. I'd always figured that the birth mom would want to remain relatively anonymous until she gave birth and gave up the child. I guess I thought it might put the birth-mom in a situation where they might become more attached to the fetus, and thus might complicate their feelings of giving the child up to the adopting couple. But hey, if the birth moms can still go through with the arrangement even after becoming so familiar with the adopting parents, then that's cool. I just don't know if I could do it if I was a woman in that position.

C+ (F for Joey's French-mangle)


10.14 "The One With Princess Consuela"

C&M and the house in escrow: meh.

Phoebe's name adventures: lame.

Rachel's firing/job offer: I'm with AJ, how is it that Ross wouldn't have recognized Mark??? Now this almost seems like a characterization foul. Ross obsessed over Mark trying to steal Rachel away from him during that one season (S3 I think), so it'd be totally in character for Ross to remember this dude's face and name for the rest of all eternity. But I suppose the scene's saved when he quickly goes from zero to psycho the moment he realizes what just happened.

C

 

10.15 "The One Where Estelle Dies"


* Episode Number: 232
* Production Code: 176263
* Original Air Date: April 22, 2004
* Written by: Marta Kauffman & David Crane
* Directed by: Gary Halvorson
* Story by: Mark J. Kunerth
* Guest Cast:
o Steve Ireland (Mr. Zelner)
o Jane Lynch (Ellen)
o Maggie Wheeler (Janice)
o E.J. Callahan (Al Zebooker)


Detailed summary

Ross visits Rachel's old boss at Ralph Lauren to try to get her job back, so she won't have to go to Paris. She decides to stay, but Ross realizes how important Paris is to her, and tells her to go. When the house next to theirs goes up for sale, Chandler and Monica check it out and are disturbed to find Janice as their potential new neighbor.

Chandler pretends he's still in love with her so she'll think it's a mistake to move there. Joey's agent (Estelle) dies, but the gang doesn't want to tell him, because he's already upset about all the other changes going on. Phoebe calls him pretending to be Estelle, and Joey fires her. Later, he finds out she's dead, but Phoebe calls again, leaving Joey freaked out.

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Phoebe does a dead on Estelle. It's actually kinda scary how good she does it.

And for the last time in the show, Janice! Not her best appearance, but still pretty good.

How did Rachel come to be in such high demand again? Am I missing something here?

 

1015: The One Where Estelle Dies

- I like how the episode begins exactly where the previous one ended.
- Good teaser; Joey is good in it.
- Estelle?s dead! Meh, I don?t care?
- Good stories all around here.
- ?And he can touch anything he wants!? ? hee
- Phoebe does a pretty good Estelle impression.
- Janice! Had to be a final Janice appearance this season. The idea that Janice and Chandler/Monica could end up as neighbors is great. This appearance isn?t one of the best, but it?s good.
- Courteney Cox is distractingly pregnant.
- I don?t like how we get rid of Janice here in almost the exact same way we got rid of her back in 707: Chandler saying he still got feelings for her.
- I really like the final Ross/Rachel scene here.
- Good, but not great.

B

 

10.16 "The One With Rachel's Going Away Party (a.k.a The One Where Rachel Goes To Paris)"


* Episode Number: 233
* Production Code: 176265
* Original Air Date: April 29, 2004
* Written by: Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen
* Directed by: Gary Halvorson
* Guest Cast:
o Anna Faris (Erica)


Detailed summary

Rachel finishes preparations to go to Paris. Monica and Chandler pack up their apartment with the gang's help. While packing, Chandler finds a pair of fur-lined handcuffs and has trouble tracking down their owner. During a going away party for Rachel, she says individual goodbyes to everyone except Ross; he's upset and confronts her, leading to a passionate kiss and an explanation that she was putting it off, because of how hard it would be. Erica is in town until the baby arrives and she ends up going into labor at the party.

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I don't care how hard it was going to be for her to say it... she still should have said goodbye to Ross. That was messed up.

 

1016: The One With Rachel?s Going Away Party

- Very good teaser.
- ?That?s because I?m pregnant!? ? hee; Erica spending so much time with Monica and Chandler is kinda weird, but I buy it.
- ?Maybe Richard!? ? hee; I always get a kick out of Richard references.
- All good stories here.
- ?It feels like when Melrose Place got cancelled.? ? hee, that?s very meta of them..
- I agree with Chandler: the idea of Rachel with handcuffs is interesting.
- ?Oh, I?m sure gonna miss pretending to laugh at your weird jokes that I don?t get.? ? hee
- Still don?t like that Chandler supposedly cries all the time now.
- Rachel intending to not say goodbye to Ross us just weird, it doesn?t really make sense even. I do like Ross? outrage at not getting the goodbye. Not sure I like it when he actually confronts Rachel about it though.
- I never actually realized until now that Nana (the grandmother we saw die back in season 1) was the one who used to live in the apartment. I thought it was Monica?s other grandmother.
- Erica?s having the baby! Yay! Good scene.
- Ross & Rachel kissing! I think we?re ready for a series finale!
- Good, but not spectacular.

B

 

10.15 "The One Where Estelle Dies"

Even though, we're building up to C&M's baby birth and the R&R climax (no pun intended), I find Estelle's death to be the redeeming story here. Kudrow does do a great impersonation of Estelle. It's funny; now that the show is coming to a close, Lisa Kudrow's getting a lot of time to show off her talents: speaking French, voice impersonations, etc. I'm not really impressed at the idea that Joey thinks Estelle's calling his cell phone 'from the other side'. It's kinda one of those too-stupid-even-for-Joey gimmicks. But I love the tag scene where he's leading the memorial service for her, only to find the paper-munching guy has eaten the speech.

Janice () at the new house: I agree that it's totally recycling Chandler's earlier 'escape' where he's pretending to still have feelings for her. But this one seems to be to be a little funnier, since Desperate Chandler swiftly arrives and quickly thinks of the solution to get rid of her all by himself (he needed Monica's help last time). I love the jokes about how his testicles have retracted into his body at the mere sound of Janice laughing. It took several years, but he finally has the appropriate physical reaction to hearing her nasal cackle.

R&R: meh. I know that we're in the "home stretch" for R&R and all that, but I think it's pretty lame of the writers to keep Ross in such a state of ambivalence/confusion about his feelings for Rachel. He wants her to stay. He thinks she should leave for Paris to pursue her dream. He wants her to stay. He wants her to go. Stay. Go. Stay. Go. (She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not.) After all the years and all their ups and downs and the fact that they have a child together, I just can't really buy that the two of them would still be so uncertain of their real feelings for each other. In the Real World, we'd consider two people with the exact same history to be crazy, if not horribly immature in the emotional sense. But hey, this is television. It stands to reason that the necessary build-up must occur before the big climax. But seriously, folks, was there ANYBODY out there who didn't see what the final result would become?

B

Oh, and I should address this question from AJ:

Not really. It's absurd, but then again, this is sitcom-physics. Makes the time-space continuum and theoretical-probability babble of Star Trek look Einsteinish in comparison. But it at least follows the existing, established implausibility of a spoiled princess with no job experience going from waitress to high-powered fashionista in only 3 years or so. So no, it shouldn't shock you that Rachel Green suddenly became the hottest person in Fashion.

10.16 "The One With Rachel's Going Away Party (a.k.a The One Where Rachel Goes To Paris)"

AJ says:

I don't care how hard it was going to be for her to say it... she still should have said goodbye to Ross. That was messed up.

Hansen says:

Rachel intending to not say goodbye to Ross us just weird, it doesn?t really make sense even. I do like Ross? outrage at not getting the goodbye.

Drago says:

Thirded; motion carries.

Her it's-so-much-harder-because-it's-Ross excuse doesn't wash. It would have been more appropriate for her to pull him aside privately, in the next room or in the kitchen or on the balcony, and say her piece. I'd normally be sticking my finger down my throat at all this dramedy stuff, but I know it's here for a reason, so I have no complaints.

I forget: did we ever find out who the real owner of the furry handcuffs turned out to be? (Speaking of cuffs, Phoebe's "Where do think Mike is right now?" crack is just awesome though. One last nugget of her mysterious past...)

And so t

 

10.17 & 10.18 "The Last One"


* Episode Number: 234
* Production Code: 176267
* Original Air Date: May 06, 2004
* Written by: Marta Kauffman & David Crane
* Directed by: Kevin S. Bright
* Guest Cast:
o Paul Rudd (Mike Hanigan)
o Anna Faris (Erica)
o James Michael Tyler (GUnther)
o John Rubenstein (The Doctor)
o Carole Gutierrez (Nurse)


Detailed summary

Ross and Rachel spend part of the night together, their kiss having led to more. Ross decides he wants to be with Rachel, but she views their night together as the perfect way to say goodbye. Monica and Chandler coach Erica through delivery at the hospital, and all are surprised when she delivers twins. Chandler and Monica name the girl Erica, after her surrogate mother, and the boy Jack, after Monica's father.

Joey buys a new chick and duck (Chick & Duck Jr.) as a house-warming gift for Chandler and Monica, the previous pair having gone to that "special farm" for old birds. Mike tells Phoebe that he wants to have babies. Gunther confesses his love to Rachel.

Ross and Phoebe race to JFK airport so Ross can tell Rachel how he really feels. Once there, they realize Rachel is at Newark Airport. As Monica and Chandler finish packing for their move to the suburbs, Joey's Chick Jr. and Duck Jr. escape from their box and get stuck inside the foosball table; it has to be torn apart to get them out, but by Monica, as the boys can't stand to damage the table.

Ross and Phoebe get to Newark airport just before Rachel departs. Ross pours out his heart to her, but she leaves anyway. Ross arrives home; a few minutes later, Rachel shows up, having realised she loves him, too and decide to be together...

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And so we're at the end. I thought this was a great ending to the series, if not a little predictable.

It's only right that Joey and Chandler's last story revolves around the foosball table.

I love the way the answering machine scene plays out at Ross' apartment.

Gunther finally grew a pair!



It took a loooooooong time to do this, but I enjoyed reading hansen's and drago's commentaries along the way. Thanks to everyone(the few of you) who participated.

 

1017: The Last One, Part One

- Not a particularly funny teaser.
- Very glad we get the full main title sequence here and not the shorter version.
- Very appropriate title to this final two parter by the way. I can?t believe we?re finally here!
- ?I love that our baby is prompt!? ? hee
- Anna Faris is adorable? I love her silent reactions when she?s alone with Chandler.
- I never really noticed until this episode that the chick and the duck completely disappeared at some point. I do like how Joey gets a new chick and duck here.
- The Phoebe in a musical thing doesn?t really work for me.
- The final episode had to have a story with Ross & Rachel together and I love it.
- Aww! Chandler and Monica got a baby! Erika having twins is probably somewhat unnecessary, but I like it. I love that they name the girl Erica: ?Oh my god, that?s just like my name!? - hee
- ?Is that what a dinosaur would do?? - hee
- The final Gunther moment! Him actually telling Rachel how he feels is an excellent way to end that running joke. Good for him!
- Always seemed kind of strange how early Chandler and Monica got to take the babies home.
- Mike and Phoebe?s gonna make some babies! Yay!
- Ross going after Rachel is a great moment. Love the huge audience reaction.
- Solid first part.

B +

1018: The Last One, Part Two

- Oh, Phoebe?s cab! Haven?t seen that one in a while.
- ?Wow, Jack?s gonna have a tough time in high school with that vagina!? ? hee
- Joey making chick and duck noises as Chandler and Monica walk in is great.
- I love that Joey and Chandler?s final stories are together. That they have to take the foosball table apart is nicely fitting too. I enjoy the symbolism of it.
- ?Monica! Monica! Monica! Monica! Monica!? ? hee
- Ross finding out he went to the wrong airport is a heartbreaking moment. Very well done.
- Phalangie! I love the guy on the plane: ?Her friend has a feeling something?s wrong with the left phalangie!?
- The final scene with just Chandler and Joey is awesome and really sweet.
- When Ross, over 230 episodes ago, said that all he wanted was to get married again and Rachel suddenly came running into Central Perk and back into his life, the show essentially made a promise to its viewers. ?These two characters are meant for each other and if you stick with us, they will end up together.? I think it?s because I don?t believe in fate, destiny and one true love in real life, that I so love it in my fiction. And the reveal of Rachel here, in Ross? apartment is a fantastic one. I know it was inevitable and therefore predictable, but I still find it incredibly moving. That entire scene with Ross listening to the phone message and then Rachel suddenly being in the room is easily my favorite part of the episode. I do love how Ross chooses that moment to make an ill timed ?on a break? joke. Had to have one of those here.
- And the show ends the only way it should end: the six friends together in Monica?s apartment. It?s a great scene, but it does have small thing that bugs me: Ross says they almost made it ten years without mentioning he tried to make it as a dancer. Ten years of what exactly? It?s not like the characters are aware of that they?ve been on a TV show for ten years.
- By the way: all the friends actually lived in the other apartment at some point during the run of the show.
- I enjoy that Chandler gets the last joke, him being my favorite character and all. It?s a funny one too.
- And that?s the end.
- A worthy end to what I consider a great show.

A -

-------------

Looking at all my reviews for this season, the average grade is basically a B

Highest rated episodes: 1004 & 1018
Lowest rated episode: 1003

So, looking at my average grade for all seasons, they rank like this:

Season 03 ? Strong B +
Season 04 ? Almost a B +
Season 02 ? Between a B and a B +
Season 06 ? Between a B and a B +
Season 05 ? Barely above a B
Season 10 ? B
Season 07 ? B
Season 08 ? Almost a B
Season 09 ? Strong B -
Season 01 ? Between a C

 

I cheered during the reveal when Rachel was standing at Ross' door.

 

Great job hosting the episode by episode, Armenian...

 

Thanks. I'm actually surprised I kept it up all the way through.



Alright, now who's ready for the Joey episode-by-episode?



*runs like the devil's chasing him*

 

10.17 & 10.18 "The Last One" (single review)

The ending was in fact totally predictable, but I'll give it a B+.

Erica's "dumb blonde" moment when she doesn't realize that she was carrying twins is totally lame. But I do like the surprise on C&M's faces. Chandler is totally spot-on (one last glimpse of Desperate Chandler). But since this is the end of TGCMAS, it doesn't take long for him to come around to the thought of having two kids. Monica certainly hit the jackpot, going from being barren to twins. I also agree that it's WAY too early for the twins to be going back home with them--you'd think they'd spend at least one day in an incubator while the pediatrician runs test on their weight, breathing, oxygen saturation, etc. But this is sitcom physics we're talking about. (Only 24's Jack Bauer physics is worse. ) Chandler's line at the end where he mentions that Monica had the apartment super cheap due to rent control laws was classic; it was a rare 'meta' moment that addresses something I've often heard as a complaint of the show: the question of how all these good-looking, young, allegedly less-than-rich people could survive living in Manhattan (presumably in Greenwich Village).

And I suppose that's the thing that I like most about this final episode: the fact that subtle continuity was observed throughout the ep. Duck I and Chick I were "taken to that farm" finally addresses what the hell happened to them. I love how Duck II and Chick II end up in the foosball table, which means that the table must be dismantled to free them. I love how Joey & Chandler practically break into tears at the thought of tearing it apart. (Destroying furniture has become the preferred method of removing them from the show. The barca loungers were sawed up, the foosball table dismantled, the porcelain dog presumably falls off the moving truck, Chandler's door sawed in half, Ross's couch shredded up, etc.) Richard also gets a mention, Dead Nana gets a mention (being her apartment), Phoebe's cab. Treeger the super gets a mention at the very end too. Just one big continuity-gasm.

And thus we have the true climax of the ultimate R&R reunion. For once the drama was well crafted AND well-executed. The heartbreak on Ross's face as he realizes he's at the wrong airport totally works (kudos to Schwimmer for nailing this one). And I also like that Phoebe doesn't play off the mistake with her usual flakey attitude, and acts serious for a change. The moment Ross realizes his mistake, she complements it with a slient look of disbelief & frustration. Believable, little things like that are what the show needed more of in these final seasons. Rachel's trying to get off the plane seem a little corny at first ("There's something wrong with the phalangie!11!"), but I'm willing to let it go as it's only serving to lead to the climax. Her appearing at the door as he's trying to recover the phone message was great. Ross's little slip up at mentioning the "break" is a minor blip of TGRCD, but he quickly catches himself.

In a way, I think it might have been better to have the final scene of them all sitting in the coffee house again, since that was exactly where the show first began (just like Seinfeld started & ended with the "button" conversation). But this ending scene works better emotionally, since they're leaving the apartment to go to the coffee house anyway. I think a lot of long running sitcoms have ended this way, with all the characters gradually exiting the setting where they most often were (Cheers and MASH come to mind). So you could say it's sort of a cliché, but it's a kind of tradition too, so it's appropriate.

Overall, the finale was well done. Not quite bust-a-gut hilarious, but it was a good, respectful wrap to the show.

I'll cop to the fact that I was heavily invested in this show, so I too stuck it out thru all 10 seasons, even through all the melodramas and all the 'The Great ____ ____' moments. Si

 

I never updated twice in one day! Unless I was late the day before!






And if you had watched the episodes faster and commented after each one like hansen, this thread would have been past 1,000 posts. so ha!

 

I woke up this morning and I got on my computer to update this... but there's nothing to update.


My life has no purpose now.

 

Well, choose another one, then.

 

Pfft... the only other show I would do it for is How I Met Your Mother. But it's still goin strong. It'd be silly to do an episode by episode for a show that's not done yet.

 

You could do Futurama...

 

I could probably sum up my feelings on the last 3 seasons or so (essentially everything after M&C get married) of the show all together as noot bad, good enough to keep you watching, with some very funny indivual moments (I loved the Janice appearance in the penultimate episode, for example), but somehow overall just a several steps down from the show's peak. Too often it just seem s like their killing time unitl the show's end, when they can finally bring R&R together again (I did like the J&R plot, though, I always thought they made a better couple). Sadly, when they finally get to the wind up, and the R&R story finally reaches its climax, it's just a bit meh. You knew it was coming, you know she's not going to Paris, you know she's not going to end up with Joey (since he has his own show lined up for the following season.

That said, great job, AJ.