The One Where Ross Can't Flirt
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"The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" is the 19th episode of season five of the television situation comedy Friends.
[edit] Plot
On the day of Chandler and Monica's ten-month anniversary, chaos reigns. Joey's grandmother is visiting to watch Joey's performance on Law & Order, the girls search for Monica's earrings and Ross tries to flirt with a hot pizza delivery girl.
Monica's lost earrings are a source of slight consternation: she loaned them to Phoebe, who loaned them to Rachel, thus inciting disaster in that Rachel is not supposed to borrow Monica's things, because she keeps losing them. The earrings are no exception, and the two spend a tense half-hour searching for them before deciding to come clean. Phoebe is forgiven, but Rachel is not.
Joey's grandmother is his biggest fan, but only speaks Italian, leading to problems when Joey's scene turns out to be cut from the episode ("you see that body bag right there? I'm in it"). Joey stalls until the end of the episode and then slips a hastily-made tape into the VCR, portraying him demanding $100,000 (it clearly is shot in the guys' apartment, and Joey is even wearing the same clothes). "And if I don't get it... I'm gonna shoot this duck!" Joey's virtuoso performance then cuts unexpectedly to a homemade tape of Chandler singing David Bowie's Space Oddity, which Joey hastily describes as a teaser trailer for next week's episode. Phoebe: "I am definitely gonna watch that!"
Finally, in the opener of the episode, Chandler flirts with Caitlin, the pizza delivery girl. Ross is doubly annoyed: first off, Chandler's dating Monica, and second off, Ross would be quite happy to get on Caitlin's good side. Ross's horrendous inability to flirt intercuts with Monica and Chandler (and, eventually, the rest of the Friends) debating whether it's okay for people in a relationship to flirt with other people, whether serious or not. Chandler maintains that Monica should not flirt with other men, because men are stupid enough to think it means she wants to sleep with them. "No way!" Monica exclaims. "It's true," Chandler tells her. "Well, that's pathetic!" "Again, true." Finally, after Ross crashes and burns with Caitlin, at one point asking about the gas ovens at the pizzeria, continuing with "you know the smell gas has? They put that in" and "lots...lots of other gas smells"...Rachel runs after her and explains that Ross was trying his best not to be creepy, just not succeeding very well. She returns with Caitlin's number.
[edit] Guest Stars
Kristin Dattilo as Caitlin
Lilyan Chauvin as Grandma Tribbiani
[edit] Trivia
The Law & Order episode being watched by the friends is clearly Agony. During breaks in the friends' dialogue, the TV is audible, including Jack McCoy mentioning the name of the suspect (Bergstrom) and Abbie Carmichael discussing her links to the Houston D.A.'s office. The times during which the TV is visible also confirm that Agony is playing.
| Preceded by "The One Where Rachel Smokes" |
List of Friends episodes | Followed by "The One With the Ride-Along" |
