The One with the Fake Party

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"The One With The Fake Party" is the sixteenth episode of season four of the television situation comedy Friends.

First aired: March 19, 1998

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot

Ross's relationship with Emily Waltham has been going extremely well, but now Emily is returning to England after her two-week sojourn in New York City. Rachel, in the meanwhile, is obsessing over Joshua Bergin, a hot guy she met at work, but who has just gotten out of a divorce and doesn't quite feel ready to enter into a relationship. Rachel solves both problems by hastily, i.e. in five minutes, organizing a surprise farewell party for Emily, to which Joshua happens to be invited (her previous plan, sneaking a note into a trench coat he was purchasing, having been canceled at the last minute).

Rachel's fake party, of course, revolves around the idea of seducing Joshua, but nothing goes according to plan: her attempts to look good to Joshua backfire, and Ross is clearly ill-at-ease with the fact that her party is disrupting his plans for his last evening together with Emily. Rachel is forced to delay everyone's departure by setting up a gigantic game of Spin the Bottle; her bottle lands on Gunther, whose very eager expression scares her off. Joey's and Emily's bottles land on each other... Three times in a row. Rachel gets Joshua, but the kicking of Phoebe's babies derails the moment. Finally, in desperation, Rachel straps herself into her old cheerleader's outfit, cartwheels into a bedroom, and dislodges a tooth. In the aftermath, she admits to Joshua that she's attracted to him—only to discover that he feels the same way about her.

The episode closes with Ross and Rachel moping together in the hallway. Ross is despondent over his ruined night, but Rachel points out that Emily has been spending time bonding with all of Ross's friends and asking Monica for embarrassing stories about him—something she wouldn't be doing if she intended to just forget him once she returned to England. And Joshua returns, unable to resist his attraction to Rachel.

Finally, vegetarian Phoebe spends most of the episode drooling over Joey's sandwiches, most of which contain meat. It's for the child, Phoebe says ("There’s a Phoebe on my sandwich!" Chandler exclaims), but she still feels bad about the increased murder/consumption of animals. Joey bravely volunteers to take up her vegetarianism for the duration of her pregnancy.

[edit] Trivia

The message on the Magna Doodle says "Joey eats little v", then later it says "Emily ... ~~Bon Voy~~ see ya"

During the scene were Rachel asks Joey to zip up her dress, the song "The Impression That I Get" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones can be heard in the background.