Friends, "The One with George Stephanopoulos": At some point it's all going to come together

 

A review/recap of the October 13, 1994 episode after I thought you were great in Silence of the Lambs.

Very solid episode that had two main plots that separated the guys from the girls, with a very small subplot that advances the girls' plot.

The guys plot revolved around Chandler and Joey taking Ross to a Rangers game to cheer him up because it is the anniversary of the first time he and Carol had sex. Of course nothing ever goes right for Ross and he ends of in the emergency room after getting hit in the face by a puck.

Rachel's subplot, which creates the girls' main plot, is that she gets her first paycheck, and then is sad when she sees how little it is and how much gets taken out from taxes. The girls have a slumber party at Monica's apartment to try and cheer her up, which doesn't work. Of course things turn around when they get drunk and spy on former President Clinton's political adviser George Stephanopoulous and share secrets that they did to each other and having a laugh.

What makes this episode a good one is that equal time was spent to each plot, which had each character. No character felt left out. Everyone had something to do. In the end both Ross and Rachel were cheered up by their friends.

Joey and Phoebe are the breakout funniest characters of the show up to this point. Joey at the beginning not understanding the difference between omnipotent and impotent, and Phoebe at the beginning of the slumber party telling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk were hysterical.

The funniest part of the episode when the girls are describing what they think the guys are like sexually, and then while they are describing each one it cuts to what they are doing at the hospital (Joey fighting a vending machine for candy, Chandler arguing with ER admissions nurse, and Ross struggling to drink a cup of water so he splashes it on his face).

Few things we learned about the characters in this episode:

• Ross has only had sex with one person in his life
• Phoebe is a vegetarian
• Phoebe slept with one of Monica's ex-boyfriends right after they broke up

There is also more foreshadowing of Ross and Rachel getting together, as Rachel tells the girls that she thinks Ross is really smooth and then pictures what he would be like in bed. I think the writers knew from the beginning what they were going to do.