FRIENDS: THE ONE WHERE RACHEL HAS A BABY {PARTS 1 AND 2} {EIGHTH SEASON FINALE} (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, Rachel, in labor, arrives at the hospital with Ross in not-so record time. Rachel is dismayed when she learns that she must accept a semi-private room, especially when a creepily over-friendly couple joins them, determined to share every minute of the birth experience. In the waiting room, Monica jokingly tells Chandler that she thinks they’re ready for a baby, assuming he will panic, but he nonchalantly agrees, which freaks her out in turn. Eventually, though, they agree that they are ready and want to start trying.
Judy Geller arrives and takes Ross aside, giving him his grandmother’s engagement ring and encouraging him to propose to Rachel. He declines, saying they are not “in that place,” but takes the ring nonetheless. The other friends try to think of a good reason for why Ross and Rachel aren’t together, and Joey, still nursing his crush on Rachel, briefly considers what he’d do if he was with her instead. Back in the room, Ross and Rachel deal with another couple, this one far less cheerful.
Phoebe meets an attractive man with a broken leg, but he disappears into an elevator before she can get his name or room number. Joey assumes his Dr. Drake Remoray persona from “Days of Our Lives” to get the man’s information from a nurse, and then interrogates the man, Cliff, with “medical” questions about his relationship status and quality as a boyfriend. Phoebe enters later and she and Cliff flirt. Elsewhere, Monica and Chandler attempt to start “trying” for a baby, as they have a lot of time to kill in a clean, bed-filled building, but are busted by a nurse. Ross and Rachel contend with several more couples, all of whom give birth before Rachel, which annoys her greatly. She and Ross are shocked, however, when they are joined by another couple: Janice, Chandler’s profoundly annoying ex-girlfriend, and her new husband. Janice is delighted that she and Rachel are going to be “baby buddies,” whereas Ross and Rachel are less thrilled. Monica and Chandler come by, having heard Janice’s distinct laugh, and are equally as alarmed at her presence. Janice too gives birth before Rachel, but after twenty-one hours in labor, the doctor tells Rachel that she is finally reading to go to the delivery room.
Back in Cliff’s room, “Days of Our Lives” comes on the television and Cliff is stunned to see “his” doctor onscreen. Phoebe tries to pretend that he imagined it, but “Dr. Remoray” comes racing in to tell Phoebe about Rachel, and the illusion is blown. Things are made slightly worse when Joey tells Cliff a few eccentric facts from Phoebe’s life. In the delivery room, Rachel struggles to give birth, made more complicated by the fact that the baby is breach (upside-down), but Ross encourages her, and though she injures him in the process, Rachel finally brings their daughter into the world. Ross and Rachel share a romantic kiss when Rachel tells the doctor that the baby’s name is to be “Geller-Green,” although they do not yet have a first name. Later, the other friends come into Rachel’s room and meet the baby, and though Rachel tells Ross he can choose the name, she dislikes both of his suggestions. When asked, Monica reveals one of the baby names she’s had picked out for years: Emma. Rachel loves it, and Monica lets her have it out of love for her new niece.
Later, Janice stops by Rachel’s room and introduces her to her less-than-adorable new son. When Rachel mentions Ross, Janice tells her that he will eventually have his own family and Rachel will be raising Emma alone, which worries her. Ross comes in and Rachel tentatively mentions the sparks between them lately, but Ross says that he doesn’t want to “go down that road,” and Rachel reluctantly agrees. However, a private talk with Phoebe makes Ross realize that he could have “everything [he’s] wanted since [he] was fifteen” and could be a family with Rachel and Emma, and he reconsiders. Back in Rachel’s room, she tearfully tells Joey when Janice said, and he promises her that she will never be alone no matter what. When she asks him to get her some more tissues, he goes over to Ross’ jacket and the ring drops onto the floor. He kneels to pick it up, and turns around in surprise to Rachel, who misinterprets his actions as a proposal and says “okay.” In the hallway, Ross approaches her room with flowers. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: May 16, 2002 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:43:51
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:79109
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Friendship
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1994-2004
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Shana Goldberg-Meehan … Executive Producer
- Ted Cohen … Executive Producer
- Andrew Reich … Executive Producer
- Marta Kauffman … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- David Crane … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Scott Silveri … Executive Producer, Writer
- Kevin S. Bright … Executive Producer, Director
- Todd Stevens … Co-Executive Producer
- Sherry Bilsing-Graham … Supervising Producer
- Ellen Plummer … Supervising Producer
- Brian Buckner … Supervising Producer
- Sebastian Jones … Supervising Producer
- Wendy Knoller … Producer
- Mark Kunerth … Co-Producer
- Dana Klein Borkow … Co-Producer
- Richard Allen … Co-Producer
- Noel Bright … Associate Producer
- Mary Rodriguez … Associate Producer
- Michael Skloff … Music by
- The Rembrants … Theme Music by
- Jennifer Aniston … Cast, Rachel Green
- Courteney Cox Arquette … Cast, Monica Geller-Bing
- Lisa Kudrow … Cast, Phoebe Buffay
- Matt LeBlanc … Cast, Joey Tribbiani
- Matthew Perry … Cast, Chandler Bing
- David Schwimmer … Cast, Ross Geller
- Amanda Carlin … Cast, Dr. Long
- Debi Mazar … Cast, Evil Bitch
- Eddie McClintock … Cast, Cliff
- Maurice Godin … Cast, Sid
- Rachael Harris … Cast, Julie
- Tim DeKay … Cast, Marc
- Jo Nell Kennedy … Cast, Nurse #1
- Henriette Mantel … Cast, Nurse #2
- Maggie Wheeler … Cast, Janice
- Christina Pickles … Cast, Judy Geller
- Mark Daniel Cade … Cast, the Doctor
- Laura Margolis … Cast, Woman Giving Birth
- Karin Co … Cast, Woman with Mild Contractions
- Jimmy Palumbo … Cast, Sick Bastard
- Sarah Rush … Cast, Nurse #3