Friends‘s fifth season is one of the show’s most consistent, propelled by a creative resurgence brought about by the unorthodox pairing of Monica and Chandler during “The One with Ross’s Wedding”. Not only has it allowed the series to anchor itself once again on a budding, passionate relationship, but without the narrative baggage of Ross and Rachel’s decades-spanning, ever-expanding mythology; by recentering itself on Monica and Chandler’s unexpectedly serious relationship, it allowed the series to pass the 100-episode mark without feeling tired, regressive, or completely out of ideas. That context is important, because “The One in Vegas” is perhaps the strangest season finale of the series, a double-episode that spends 35 of its 45 minutes doing nothing, until it tries to double back on Ross and Rachel as the driving romantic conflict at the heart of the series just as it was starting to sink its teeth into a couple interesting stories.
The last of Friends‘s mid-series “Destination Finale” trilogy (following “The One at the Beach” and “The One with Ross’s Wedding”), “The One in Vegas” basically tries to incorporate every overarching non-Phoebe story of the first five seasons by shoving them into a single thoroughline. After Ross mistakes Rachel’s naked night alone at home as an invitation for some casual sex, “The One in Vegas” unnecessarily pushes them to the forefront again as the crew makes their way from New York to Vegas, following them as they fight and argue from Monica’s apartment to the airplane to their Vegas hotel room, in a plot that is tethered to absolutely nothing tangible except a clear, strangely desperate fear that the series would lose its relevance without the now-iconic former couple as the central conflict of the entire show.
The sudden turn back to Ross and Rachel bickering is a weird shift, and in Part 1 of the finale, basically obfuscates the presence of anyone else in the episode. This, in combination with the sudden defusal of the conflict between Joey and Chandler that started this whole thing in “The One with Joey’s Big Break”, makes most of Part 1 feel pretty pointless, the only points of friction or humor coming from Chandler’s discovery of Monica’s lunch with Richard (which… as one might guess, funnels some of Chandler’s most grating tendencies to immediately surface) and Joey’s attempts to get rich quick in Vegas.
The former of these at least pushes Monica and Chandler to an interesting place; the problem is, it takes 35 minutes before Chandler’s over his bullshit, and joins Monica on her hot craps run. When the two of them decide to gamble on whether they’ll get married in Vegas or not, it is an immediate, noticeable spark to the episode, which had mostly coasted along on Ross/Rachel histrionics, or inane subplots where Phoebe fights with an elderly slot machine lurker, and Joey terrifies a young Thomas Lennon over the two being “hand twins” – which is one of the dumbest Joey plots to date; after giving him such a compelling story of having his big break ripped away from him, Friends oddly backs off and regresses to the absolute worst kind of mindless Joey subplot.
But I digress; “The One in Vegas” spends a bit too long with Chandler being busted up about Monica having lunch with the legendary Richard (who remains offscreen, and unseen since “The One Where Monica and Richard Are Just Friends”), which makes the last ten minutes feel like the only part of the finale with any real creative effort put into it. Even that ends up being a story in service of yet another Ross and Rachel plot twist – which, as effectively surprising as it is to see the two of them drunkenly walk out of the Vegas chapel (both with ink all over their faces, the result of Ross’s ‘prank’ to give Rachel a French mustache while she slept on the plane), only serves to undercut the fascinating bit of tension it had been building, as Monica and Chandler win their bet (by making their own luck, a fun little moment that is obviously as unrealistic as anything in the show’s run), then scramble to try and put together traditional wedding accoutrements in a few minutes time.
It is a disappointing moment of regression for Friends, which had spent most of the season proving that the show had more interesting stories than the constant rise and fall of Ross and Rachel’s romance; in the past two episodes alone, it had introduced tension between Chandler and Joey, pushed Joey into a completely new, uncomfortable place, and managed to tease out the overarching plot of season six (Monica and Chandler’s impending engagement, and further entangling of their lives) without giving away the bag. The Monica and Chandler scenes in the second half of Part 2 are good enough on their own to justify the meandering, wasteful first 35 minutes of the episode; but when Ross and Rachel come stumbling out of the Vegas chapel, it is a rather sobering reminder that no matter how far Friends would stray from its initial premise, or no matter how much attention and time it gave to Monica and Chandler’s relationship, the series would always, always find a way back to Ross and Rachel, even in moments and eras of the series where it was completely and obviously unnecessary.
And it’s not like the final reveal doesn’t work; it’s a rather clever bit of hand to bring Monica and Chandler into the chapel, building up the tension of them eloping, only to reveal a drunken Ross and Rachel making jokes as they stumble out of the chapel into the night. Unfortunately, after an episode that completely wastes Joey and Phoebe, and saddles Monica and Chandler with a conflict that takes nearly the entire double-episode to get to its point, it’s a moment that reveals the limitations of Friends creatively, a sign that no matter what interesting or emotionally poignant places it finds for its other four leads, the series would always, always circle back to the same Ross and Rachel stories by season’s end (the only season finale that doesn’t prominently feature a melodramatic Ross/Rachel story is and will forever be “The One with Barry and Mindy’s Wedding”). Subsequent seasons would find a few new wrinkles in this story (mostly involving Rachel, if we’re being really honest), but “The One in Vegas” is a reminder that no matter what might be happening in the Friends-iverse, the narrative gravity would forever lie with Ross and Rachel, for better or worse (typically for worse, especially as the series carried on into its later seasons).
“The One in Vegas” is an incredibly strange double-episode season finale; the lack of conflict in the story’s first two acts is a baffling choice, reducing it to petty arguments between its two central couples, while leaving the more interesting stories teased in “The One with Joey’s Big Break” to basically crumble into dust. Then, when the episode and season appear to have completely run out of gas, Friends accelerates suddenly through its final five minutes, teasing out a terrific new development for Monica and Chandler… right before regressing into the usual Ross/Rachel melodramatics, a confluence of factors and ideas that leave season five’s finale a decidedly mixed bag. Hardly the worst Friends season finale through its run, but an incredibly odd, disengaged way to end one of the show’s more creatively expansive seasons nonetheless.
Other thoughts/observations:
- There’s a throwaway joke about Joey’s ATM pin number being etched into a bench across the street from his apartment that I particularly love; it’s just such a fitting character detail.
- Phoebe starts “keeping score” between London and Vegas, but she’s already dropped the bit by the time they get off the plane.
- “Ross, I am a human doodle!”
- “Pair of shoes for the Chan-Chan man!”
- Phoebe’s defense from being expelled from the casino is that she sells drugs to kids. No notes.
- Monica’s something new, blue, and borrowed is a sweater they steal from the gift shop; their something old is a condom Chandler’s had in his wallet for 20 years.
- Rachel’s “I’m doing good baby, how you doin'” is an all-time great line delivery from Jennifer Aniston.
- Up next: that’s (finally) a wrap on season five! As always, the official ranking of the season’s episodes will publish later this week.
Despite taking nearly 13 months to get through season five, we are still on schedule to finish the series by the 25th anniversary of the series finale. Season six will begin August 13th – make sure you subscribe to the free Processed Media newsletter so you never miss a review!