The One with the Girl Who Hits Joey

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"The One With The Girl Who Hits Joey" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of Friends.

First aired: February 18, 1999

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Having just seen Monica and Chandler through the window, Ross charges over to Monica's apartment in a rage, but is soon calmed when he learns that the two are not fooling about but are in love.

Joey goes out with a new girl, Katie, but is having second thoughts about dating her. She keeps punching him on the shoulder for emphasis and for fun - except that it's giving actual pain to Joey. The rest of the gang don't believe that such a small woman could inflict such damage (going so far as to suggest that Ross' son Ben come over to protect Joey). Joey eventually decides to break up with Katie, but wears multiple sweaters to cushion any blows Katie will give him. When Rachel finds out first hand just how hard Katie hits, Rachel playfully hits her back. After Katie's hitting becomes very painful and annoying to Rachel, she ends up kicking her very hard in her leg. Katie threatens Joey with either defending her honor or breaking up. Joey shrugs his shoulders and Katie storms out, much to the delight of Joey.

As Ross is moving in to his new apartment, the tenant board asks him to kick in $100 towards the going away fund for the building's long-running super. Ross doesn't feel like he should give so much money to someone whom he had never met and whose services he technically only could have used for less than a week. This irks the rest of the tenants in the building, who see Ross as being snobby and not their 'type'. Things aren't helped when Phoebe, who was visiting Ross, offers her own $100 on the spot - despite that she's not even a resident in the building. In an effort to win back their good graces, Ross decides to throw his own 'welcome party'. However, across the hall, the rest of the building - and Phoebe - are busy celebrating the going away of the super. When Ross further ingratiates himself with the residents by eating from the 'Goodbye' cake, Phoebe jumps in with some observations that the rest of the tenants have their own flaws, and should look past Ross'. However, her observations are so irritating, they kick both Ross and Phoebe out. Phoebe later explains that she was trying to look bad so Ross could jump in for the resident's defence (Ross, deadpan: "Oh, yeah. See, I did not get that.")

Now that Chandler and Monica are officially boyfriend and girlfriend with everyone's knowledge, things seem to be going fine - until the subject of marriage and babies comes up. Chandler immediately gets panicky at the prospect of getting married and being a father so soon. His actions wind up irritating Monica, to the point where she suggest they take a break from each other. Trying to joke around with Monica doesn't seem to help them get back together (Monica: "You need to figure it out on your own"), so Chandler goes to Joey and Ross for advice. They both declare that Chandler needs to show just how committed to the relationship he is. Chandler then runs in while everyone is playing cards in Monica's apartment, declaring "There's really only one way to do this." Chandler then gets down on one knee, and despite Monica's pleas of "Don't do it!", Chandler produces a ring and asks, "Will you marry me?" Ross and Joey groan, while Phoebe and Rachel stare in disbelief (Rachel: "Oh, I can't not look at it!"). When Monica presses Chandler for why he's proposing, he reveals that he was in a state of confusion and asked Joey and Ross for help (Monica: "Who, two divorces and Joey?" Ross: "Hey!" Joey: "She's right, you know." Ross: "Yeah, but still... cheap shot."). Monica then declares that Chandler isn't ready to 'figure things out' on his own, and the two happily hug.