The One with the Cooking Class

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Friends season eight September 2001 - May 2002 List of Friends episodes
Episodes: The One After "I Do" The One with the Red Sweater The One Where Rachel Tells... The One with the Videotape The One with Rachel's Date The One with the Halloween Party The One with the Stain The One with the Stripper The One with the Rumor The One with Monica's Boots The One with Ross's Step Forward (a.k.a. The One With the Creepy Holiday Card) The One Where Joey Dates Rachel The One Where Chandler Takes a Bath The One with the Secret Closet The One with the Birthing Video The One Where Joey Tells Rachel The One with the Tea Leaves The One in Massapequa (a.k.a. The One With the Zesty Guy) The One with Joey's Interview The One with the Baby Shower The One with the Cooking Class The One Where Rachel is Late The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part One The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part Two

"The One With the Cooking Class" is the twenty-first episode of the eighth season of Friends.

First aired: May 2, 2002

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot

Monica's restaurant receives a bad review in The Post. She decides to make her bouillabaise for the reviewer, hoping that it will make him eat his words. Joey helps her track down the reviewer at a cooking course he teaches - unfortunately, he stands by his initial verdict. Before Joey and Monica can leave, the next course ('Cooking for Beginners') starts up, and Monica is able to correctly identify the difference between bearnaise and hollandaise sauce. Encouraged by the teacher's praise, she and Joey stay for the class.

Monica laps up the praise from the teacher, even constructing a star for herself out of aluminium foil, but reacts badly when the teacher says she should give the star to Joey for his cookies. The teacher points out that everybody's a beginner, and Monica reveals that she's actually head chef at Alessandro's.

When Joey and Monica are leaving after having been thrown out of 'Cooking for Beginners', they pass a class called 'Acting for Beginners'. The two stop in, to give Joey a confidence boost, but he is unable to even give the difference between upstage and downstage.

Rachel is beginning to panic about giving birth in one week. Ross reassures her that everything will be fine, and they'll go shopping the next day to prepare the apartment for the baby's arrival. Rachel teases him by bringing up the question of their complex relationship when he has to go to the bathroom.

When shopping, the assistant (Katie) flirts with Ross, to Rachel's consternation, even saying that he's like Indiana Jones. Later, Katie arrives at Ross's apartment with an item forgotten by the delivery people, and asks Ross out. They go out for coffee, but when Ross returns, Rachel admits that she's jealous and she doesn't want him to date anybody - she wants him to be at her beck and call. To Rachel's surprise (since even she recognizes that she's being unreasonable), Ross agrees. He then pulls the same joke on her that she pulled on him earlier when she has to go to the bathroom, but Rachel appears thoughtful at the idea of pursuing something more, though she denies it afterwards.

Right before Chandler goes for a promotional interview, Phoebe informs him that he doesn't give a good first impression. He begins to panic, but Phoebe coaches him. The interview itself goes fine, but Chandler slips up afterwards, telling the interviewer that he had trouble getting past the word 'duties', because it sounds like 'doodies'.