FRIENDS: THE ONE WITH THE TWO PARTS {PARTS 1 AND 2} (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about six Generation-X friends who live together in New York City and share a favorite haunt, a coffee bar called Central Perk. In this two-part episode, Chandler and Joey wait impatiently for a waitress at a restaurant, Riff's, and are stunned to see that their server is Phoebe—except it is actually Ursula, her twin sister (Lisa Kudrow's character from "Mad About You"). Joey is immediately attracted to her, saying he notices a difference between the two. Phoebe is less than pleased, however, as she does not have a good relationship with her sister. Ross, after fretting over Marcel's recent misbehavior, attends Lamaze class with his ex-wife Carol and her partner Susan, feeling awkward about their non-traditional "parenting team." Things are further complicated when Carol is late for a class and Susan and Ross have to power through alone. Back at the apartment, Marcel somehow changes the TV to Spanish-language mode, and Monica nags Rachel about taking down the Christmas lights. Joey asks Phoebe about his asking out her sister, and she reluctantly gives him her blessing. At work, Chandler flirts with an attractive woman, Nina, but is upset when he learns that he must fire her. He finds he cannot do it, however, and ends up asking her out instead. At Central Perk, two women enter (Helen Hunt and Leila Kenzle in their roles from "Mad About You") and mistake Phoebe for her sister. Later that night, Mr. Heckles stops by the apartment to complain yet again about the non-existent noise the friends are making. Joey arrives and asks Phoebe to try on his birthday gift for Ursula, a sweater, and it is clear that she is unamused with their relationship. The next day, Chandler's boss discovers that he did not fire Nina, and Chandler is forced to invent a story about Nina's unstable mental health and violent reaction to being let go, which eventually backfires when Nina hears the rumor and confronts Chandler, leading to an unpleasant breakup.
At Lamaze class, Carol panics about the rigors of childbirth, and Susan comforts her, telling her to think of the "big picture," which in turn scares Ross, overwhelmed by the prospect of fatherhood. His friends reassure him that his problems with Marcel are not indicative of poor parenting skills. Phoebe continues to worry about Joey and Ursula's relationship, and the others tell her that it is not yet serious, but when she explains about her past with her sister stealing her belongings and former boyfriend, they encourage her to talk to Joey about her feelings. When she goes to his apartment, however, she finds Ursula there and learns that the relationship has indeed taken a serious step. Back at Monica's apartment, Rachel attempts to finally take the Christmas lights down, but falls off the balcony. She is saved by the lights around her ankle and knocks on an apartment window to be rescued, which annoys the occupant, Mr. Heckles. Monica takes Rachel to the emergency room to treat her injured ankle. Rachel admits that she does not have insurance, and Monica grudgingly agrees to let her use hers. They meet two attractive young doctors (Noah Wyle and George Clooney from "ER") and flirt with them while pretending to be one another to hide the insurance fraud. At Central Perk, Ross tells Joey and Chandler about an unnerving dream he had about his unborn son. Joey says that he is taking Ursula out for her birthday, and is dismayed to learn that Phoebe's birthday is the same day. At Phoebe's surprise party, Rachel defends her decision to accept the doctors' date invitation. The surprise does not quite go off as planned, but Phoebe is none the less thrilled, although she is saddened when she realizes that Joey is not there and is instead with Ursula.
Ross has dinner with his father, Jack, and asks if he "freaked out" before the birth of his first child. Jack explains about the moment he truly "knew" that he was a father, which seems to reassure Ross. On their double date with the doctors, Rachel and Monica initially continue the charade of being one another, but Rachel says they should just confess. Monica disagrees, and the two argue. When the men begin to ask them about their lives, they begin to reveal embarrassing facts about "themselves," culminating in Monica tells Rachel's dad an awkward secret about his daughter over the phone, and the doctors are alarmed. The next day, as they continue to attempt to change the television back from Spanish, a downtrodden Joey says that Ursula stood him up on their date and won't take his calls, and Phoebe seems to feel bad. She goes to see Ursula at Riff's and they exchange birthday presents, with Ursula re-gifting Joey's present, and she casually says that she is no longer interested in him. Monica and Rachel are summoned to the hospital because of a problem with one of the forms, and they decide to just change the forms again and have Rachel pay for herself. Ross and Chandler realize that Marcel has swallowed a Scrabble tile and rush him to the hospital in a panic, where they run into the girls. Joey is visited by Ursula, who tries to break things off officially, but when Joey presses her, admits that her reservations are about Phoebe, and asks him to choose between them. He apologizes but chooses Phoebe, and gives her a farewell kiss…and realizes after a moment that it was not Ursula at all.
At the hospital, Chandler praises Ross for being "very dad" in handling Marcel's emergency, and as the monkey awakens from surgery, Ross seems to feel like a parent for the first time. Back in the apartment, Marcel's TV change seems to have affected all the "amigos" as they share a meal and spy on their neighbor, as usual. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: February 23, 1995 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:23:10
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:78528
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Friendship
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1994-2004
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Kevin S. Bright … Executive Producer
- David Crane … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Marta Kauffman … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Jeff Strauss … Supervising Producer
- Jeff Greenstein … Supervising Producer
- Todd Stevens … Producer
- Wendy Knoller … Associate Producer
- Andy Zall … Associate Producer
- Michael Lembeck … Director
- Michael Skloff … Music by
- The Rembrants … Theme Music by
- Jennifer Aniston … Cast, Rachel Green
- Courteney Cox … Cast, Monica Geller
- Lisa Kudrow … Cast, Phoebe Buffay/Ursula Buffay
- Matt LeBlanc … Cast, Joey Tribbiani
- Matthew Perry … Cast, Chandler Bing
- David Schwimmer … Cast, Ross Geller
- Dorien Wilson … Cast, Mr. Douglas
- Jane Sibbett … Cast, Carol
- Jessica Hecht … Cast, Susan
- Larry Hankin … Cast, Mr. Heckles
- Jennifer Grant … Cast, Michelle (Nina)
- Michele Lamar Richards … Cast, the Lamaze Teacher
- Leila Kenzle … Cast, Fran Devanow
- Helen Hunt … Cast, Jamie Buchman
- Tiffany Patty … Cast, Woman
- Elliot Gould … Cast, Jack Geller
- Alaina Reed Hall … Cast, The Admissions Woman
- George Clooney … Cast, Dr. Michael Mitchell
- Noah Wyle … Cast, Dr. Jeffrey Rosen