The One with the Embryos
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"The One With the Embryos" is the twelfth episode of season four of the television situation comedy Friends.
First aired: January 15, 1998
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[edit] Plot
At the beginning of the episode, it's early morning and Rachel and Monica are awoken by a crowing rooster. Determined to see what the racket is, they storm across the hall to Chandler and Joey's apartment. Chandler reveals that the chick is "going through some changes" - the vet thinks she's turning into a rooster. Chandler assures the girls that they're "getting a second opinion."
Later that morning, Ross, Chandler and Phoebe are hanging out at the girls' apartment. Phoebe is going to the obstetrician to be implanted with Frank and Alice's embryos, and is nervous but excited. Rachel comes in, after returning from the grocery store. When Ross asks why she's up at 8 am shopping, Rachel replies that she's been up since six - "thanks to somebody's dumbass rooster."
As Phoebe is leaving for her appointment, Monica and Joey come in. Joey says that Monica's upset because it's her laundry day, and that means Joey knows Monica's wearing her "old lady" underpants. Monica can't believe that Joey and Chandler think they know the girls better than Monica and Rachel know the guys. The guys prove it by naming the contents of Rachel's shopping bag, without looking.
They then decide to play for $100, using personal questions. They ask Ross to come up with the questions. "Oh sure," Ross says. "It's not like I have a job, or a child, or a life of my own!" When they then suggest they'll let Phoebe come up with the questions, Ross then declares that he wants to play and agrees to come up with the questions.
Meanwhile, at the doctor's office, Phoebe learns a couple of interesting things regarding her potential surrogacy. They put more than one embryo in - in Phoebe's case, they'll be inserting five - so that there's a 25% chance that at least one will attach. There's nothing she can do to make sure the process works. And perhaps most troubling of all, she learns the procedure costs $16,000 each time it's performed - and Frank and Alice are using all the money they have to do it this time. "They are literally putting all their eggs in my basket," she explains later.
The game takes place (answers below). Monica gets upset with Rachel when she misses a fairly easy question about the name that appears on the guys' TV Guide. Rachel guesses "Chandler Bing," when the name is actually "Ms. Chanandler Bong." (Monica scolds her, reminding her that they steal the TV Guide every week...) At the end of the round, they're tied - but luckily Ross has prepared for such an event, and reveals that they'll have a "Lightning Round."
While preparing for the lightning round, the stakes raise: First they play for more money. Monica isn't satisfied with that, so she makes an interesting proposition: If the girls win, the guys have to get rid of the chick and duck. The guys agree, on the condition that if they win, they get the girls' apartment. During the Lightning Round, it seems the girls are on the track to victory - until Ross asks them to name Chandler's job. The girls can't name it - Rachel guesses "transponster," which isn't even a word - and the guys win. Not only do they get to keep the birds, they get the girls' apartment.
The guys start moving their stuff in - but Rachel refuses to move. It was a "stupid bet," she says. Monica convinces her that they do have to move - they made a deal, and it was Rachel's fault they lost in the first place (after she missed the TV Guide question). Monica goes to try and reverse their misfortune - and ends up losing their mattresses in the process.
Phoebe takes a pregnancy test, and is a bit discouraged when she finds it's negative. She decides to relax, upside-down, over a chair for a couple of hours to "let gravity do its thing." Frank and Alice come in, with a lollipop and another home pregnancy test. "Don't mix those up," Monica says, "you could really ruin that lollipop."
As she's in the bathroom, the guys come in riding on the big ceramic dog. Rachel again protests having to move, and the entire gang argues - until Phoebe runs out of the bathroom and announces that she's pregnant. Everyone is thrilled - especially Frank, who declares: "My sister's gonna have my baby!!"
At the end of the episode, the guys and girls are in their new apartments - Rachel and Monica (who find something living in one of the kitchen drawers) are considerably less thrilled than Joey and Chandler (excited about all the space).
[edit] Trivia Game Answers
- Monica's biggest pet peeve is animals dressed as humans.
- Chandler claims that Michael Flatley - the Lord of the Dance - scares the "bejeezus" out of him. "His legs flail about as if independent from his body!" Chandler offers by way of explanation.
- The name of Ross and Monica's dead grandmother - whose funeral Joey and Chandler both attended in The One Where Nana Dies Twice - is Althea.
- The name of Chandler's father's Las Vegas all-male burlesque is "Viva Las Gay-Gas."
- Monica's field hockey goalie nickname was "Big Fat Goalie."
- Rachel claims her favorite movie is Dangerous Liaisons; her actual favorite movie is Weekend at Bernie's.
- Monica got a pencil stuck in her ear when she was 14.
- Monica has eleven categories for her towels - including Everyday Use, Fancy, Guest, and Fancy Guest.
- Joey's favorite food is sandwiches.
- Chandler was 19 when he first touched a girl's breast.
- When he was a child, Joey had an imaginary friend named Maurice, who was a space cowboy.
- Joey and Chandler's tv guide was delivered to "Ms. Chanandler Bong"
[edit] Additional trivia
- The contents of Rachel's shopping bag are as follows:
- A half-eaten box of cookies
- Apples
- Diet soda
- Yogurt
- Tortilla chips
- Scotch tape (because Chandler and Joey used up the girls' remaining tape "making scary faces")
- Many of the items from Rachel's bag come from the Safeway chain of stores found usually in cities on the west coast. But the plot is located in New York where there are no Safeway stores.
- Also, Joey's imaginary friend, Maurice, and his occupation as a space cowboy, reference the Steve Miller Band song "The Joker" where he sings about people referring to him as Maurice and being a space cowboy.
- Phoebe's storyline where she becomes pregnant with Frank Jr.'s children begins here because Lisa Kudrow was starting to become visibly pregnant in real life.
[edit] Goofs
- In the last scene with both Monica and Rachel, a boom mike can be seen entering the frame.
[edit] Additional cast
- Dr. Zane - Cindy Katz
- Frank Buffay Jr. - Giovanni Ribisi
- Alice Knight-Buffay - Debra Jo Rupp
| Preceded by "The One With Phoebe's Uterus" |
List of Friends episodes | Followed by "The One With Rachel's Crush" |
