Friends Guide: 1x02
The One with the Sonogram at the End
This episode picks up the story threads the pilot dropped off. In some respects, the episode is more entertaining than the pilot. On the other hand, the episode feels dated, relying on gender roles and family cliches that ultimately don't serve it well.
Ross finds out his ex-wife Carol is pregnant. We'll ignore the logic issues---did they have one last romp in the sack for Carol to really figure out that she was a lesbian? If so, they didn't use protection, etc, etc? As long as you don't think too hard about how all of this happened, it's easily the funniest thread in the episode. What I like about it is that the comedy comes mostly from the unusual circumstances of the situation, and doesn't rely on **gasp a lesbian** humor. How do you deal with a non-traditional family? I like the story comes out of that. One downside, however, is that it does sometimes rely on David Schwimmer's physical comedy. The show finds it funny. I don't.
Meanwhile, Rachel has to meet her ex for the an obligatory 'let me give you back your stuff' meeting. Any time Barry is on screen I want to tear my hair out from boredom. The big twist is that he isn't upset because he was busy having an affair with her bridesmaid (and friend) Mindy. I wouldn't call it that interesting of a plot twist. (Ross's ex-wife being a lesbian had far more interesting possibilities.) The whole point, though, is to show that Rachel gets her heart stomped on even when she thought she was doing that to him---not really original material here, nor is it that captivating. It's also hard to take seriously when a) the whole big scene between them takes place in a dentist's office (I realize it's to mirror the OBGYN scene with Ross, but logic again, what dentist would have a personal conversation while working on a patient?) and b) Barry's dialogue is god awful: "I wanted to hurt you bad." Eesh, he sounded like he wanted to actually, physically harm her for a second.
Ross and Rachel have a nice little scene in the cafe together, which is there to show the connection between them and the two storylines. It's a nice little moment even if the only real connection between them is being in similar circumstances.
The other downside of this episode is that it somewhat forgets that it's an ensemble cast. Monica and Ross's parents come for a visit---again their parents being the judgmental mother and the obtuse dad are well trodden cliches, which unfortunately are only there to reiterate Ross and Monica's somewhat cliched roles within their "normal" traditional family. (How boring.) Monica shares her neurotic side for the first time, but outside of the opening scene, there isn't much for her to do. Phoebe, Chandler, and Joey have a handful of lines each but mostly don't do anything either.
Minor Thoughts:
~The cold open of a lot of these early s1 episodes has to do with social commentary. Taboo things like discussing sex, etc, and preconceptions of how men and women act, but I can't help but roll my eyes at it now. It seems to be trying to hard to fit men and women in specific roles that I don't necessarily buy. I'm kind of glad the show got out of the habit of doing this and just let the show be a funny story for 22 minutes.
~Hey, there's a different actress playing Carol. Wonder what happened with that.
~I do give the show a ton of credit for giving the world a likable lesbian character, who wasn't relegated to an onslaught of gay jokes, nor defined (for the most part) by her sexuality. And long before Will and Grace came along, too!
~I forgot to mention it about the pilot, but one thing I love about these early episodes are that they sit around and watch TV. I understand later on that there just isn't time for it in the story, but these little bits lead to some nice moments of comedy, and make the characters feel a little more real.
~So, this coffee shop is going to let the girl the just hired with no experience close up at night by herself in a huge city? Lol. Okay.
2 stars. Ross and Carol's story is pretty funny, and bonus points for the sweet ending with the baby, but Barry is a bore, and the episode plays by standard sitcom rules instead of expanding on its neglected characters. Also, it loses points for being so badly illogical.
This episode picks up the story threads the pilot dropped off. In some respects, the episode is more entertaining than the pilot. On the other hand, the episode feels dated, relying on gender roles and family cliches that ultimately don't serve it well.
Ross finds out his ex-wife Carol is pregnant. We'll ignore the logic issues---did they have one last romp in the sack for Carol to really figure out that she was a lesbian? If so, they didn't use protection, etc, etc? As long as you don't think too hard about how all of this happened, it's easily the funniest thread in the episode. What I like about it is that the comedy comes mostly from the unusual circumstances of the situation, and doesn't rely on **gasp a lesbian** humor. How do you deal with a non-traditional family? I like the story comes out of that. One downside, however, is that it does sometimes rely on David Schwimmer's physical comedy. The show finds it funny. I don't.
Meanwhile, Rachel has to meet her ex for the an obligatory 'let me give you back your stuff' meeting. Any time Barry is on screen I want to tear my hair out from boredom. The big twist is that he isn't upset because he was busy having an affair with her bridesmaid (and friend) Mindy. I wouldn't call it that interesting of a plot twist. (Ross's ex-wife being a lesbian had far more interesting possibilities.) The whole point, though, is to show that Rachel gets her heart stomped on even when she thought she was doing that to him---not really original material here, nor is it that captivating. It's also hard to take seriously when a) the whole big scene between them takes place in a dentist's office (I realize it's to mirror the OBGYN scene with Ross, but logic again, what dentist would have a personal conversation while working on a patient?) and b) Barry's dialogue is god awful: "I wanted to hurt you bad." Eesh, he sounded like he wanted to actually, physically harm her for a second.
Ross and Rachel have a nice little scene in the cafe together, which is there to show the connection between them and the two storylines. It's a nice little moment even if the only real connection between them is being in similar circumstances.
The other downside of this episode is that it somewhat forgets that it's an ensemble cast. Monica and Ross's parents come for a visit---again their parents being the judgmental mother and the obtuse dad are well trodden cliches, which unfortunately are only there to reiterate Ross and Monica's somewhat cliched roles within their "normal" traditional family. (How boring.) Monica shares her neurotic side for the first time, but outside of the opening scene, there isn't much for her to do. Phoebe, Chandler, and Joey have a handful of lines each but mostly don't do anything either.
Minor Thoughts:
~The cold open of a lot of these early s1 episodes has to do with social commentary. Taboo things like discussing sex, etc, and preconceptions of how men and women act, but I can't help but roll my eyes at it now. It seems to be trying to hard to fit men and women in specific roles that I don't necessarily buy. I'm kind of glad the show got out of the habit of doing this and just let the show be a funny story for 22 minutes.
~Hey, there's a different actress playing Carol. Wonder what happened with that.
~I do give the show a ton of credit for giving the world a likable lesbian character, who wasn't relegated to an onslaught of gay jokes, nor defined (for the most part) by her sexuality. And long before Will and Grace came along, too!
~I forgot to mention it about the pilot, but one thing I love about these early episodes are that they sit around and watch TV. I understand later on that there just isn't time for it in the story, but these little bits lead to some nice moments of comedy, and make the characters feel a little more real.
~So, this coffee shop is going to let the girl the just hired with no experience close up at night by herself in a huge city? Lol. Okay.
2 stars. Ross and Carol's story is pretty funny, and bonus points for the sweet ending with the baby, but Barry is a bore, and the episode plays by standard sitcom rules instead of expanding on its neglected characters. Also, it loses points for being so badly illogical.
Labels: friends rewatch
posted by spaceorphan @ 8:51 PM
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