Second Look: Friends Season 5, Episode 7 – “The One Where Ross Moves In”

Friends Season 5, Episode 7 “The One Where Ross Moves In”
Written by Gigi McCreery & Perry Rein
Directed by Gary Halvorson
Aired November 12, 1998 on NBC

“The One Where Ross Moves In” is one of those Friends episodes that, on its face, shouldn’t work. It features three incredibly silly, strange (and mostly weightless) plots, puts Rachel fully back into “The One with the Fake Party” mode for a character nobody cares about, and spends an inordinate amount of time just watching Joey fool around like a child. And yet, “The One Where Ross Moves In” is a pure comedic delight, an episode that concerns itself less with the larger plot machinations surrounding its characters and leans into telling a traditional, self-contained sitcom story – with some particularly strong physical comedy – about a bunch of goofballs clumsily making their way through adult life.

It’s surprising, and a bit refreshing, how well “The One Where Ross Moves In” works as a pure episode of hangout comedy, unconcerned with the blossoming stories at the core of season five. I mean, this is an episode that opens with Joey giggling at pig nipples in a National Geographic magazine, and ends with the three guys playing dress up in a cardboard fort in their living room; at its core, “The One Where Ross Moves In” makes no presumptions about being a serious, or focused, episode of television (the writers, Gigi McCreery & Perry Rein, would later work on Wizards of Waverly Place and Haters Back Off, which helps inform the tone of this episode a bit). And because of that, it feels like an episode unmoored from the show’s typical characteristics and concerns – which makes it a bit of a jumbled watch, but one with a comedic energy and focus that’s impressive for a series already on the other side of its hundredth episode.

To really get the point across, “The One Where Ross Moves In” has a noticeable absence of Monica/Chandler canoodling, and also features Rachel telling Monica “I can’t get started with all that Ross stuff again… he’s going to be messed up for a long time!”. Though Friends would inevitably be unable to resist itself, “The One Where Ross Moves In” distinctly tries to separate itself from the most recent era of Friends episodes by keeping its plot light, and inconsequential: Ross moves in with the boys for a week, Phoebe dates a health inspector, and Rachel talks herself out of a date with Danny. In a way, it allows the series to depressurize itself from the resolution of “The One with the Yeti”, and to reset expectations for the season’s second act, which would (mostly) prove to be one of the lighter, less serialized plot-heavy arcs of these middle seasons.

Instead, the episode offers simple pleasures; with Chandler and Joey, it’s a prescient reminder that friends don’t always make good roommates – especially when you’re on the other side of 30, and you’ve gotten comfortable with your own routine. It’s hilarious to watch Joey’s immediate frustrations with Ross’s gestures and habits build over the episode, eventually sparking old tensions within Chandler about their time spent together rooming in college (which nearly boils over when Ross asks them both to chip in for new air filters for his air purifier since “they all use it”), and leading to them trying to talk Ross into taking a shitty apartment – and then reneging on their secret plan to push him out, after realizing their friend needs them, more than they need their own peace of mind. Again, it’s not much but a reaffirming story of bro-ship; but thanks the committed performances, from Ross’s hand gestures to Joey’s outsized reactions to them, it gives the plot a comedic propulsion that keeps it moving through the whole episode.

Rachel’s “pursuit” of Danny also contains a lot of the same comedic energy – but instead, it devolves Rachel back into the blubbering, immature person she was during her initial pursuit of Joshua. Though it is always fun to see Friends remind us that Rachel’s been a “hot girl” her whole life, and thus came into the series with an exaggerated lack of “real-life experiences”, one where doors just don’t magically open – and not every guy who doesn’t invite you to a housewarming party is trying to play mind games with you in the hopes of possibly dating one day. It would be a little more forgivable if we hadn’t just seen Rachel go from bitchy manipulator in “The One at the Beach”, to the bumbling goof chasing Joshua, to the woman who sabotaged Ross’s wedding on a whim and a vibe right before this ill-conceived subplot with Danny; on the other side of the last 30 episodes of Rachel, it feels a bit reductive in a way that’s not warranted by its comedic value – which is really just limited to watching Rachel convince Rachel of an increasingly convoluted conspiracy around Danny’s assumed attraction to her (which would be more fun, had the idea not be worn out last season).

Thankfully, this episode also features Phoebe once again getting horny for the state, and paying a dear price for it; if double-dating a fireman wasn’t bad enough, Phoebe spends this episode using a sexy health inspector to wreak havoc on New York City food establishments (and, lest we forget, Gary lies waiting in the wings later this season). I always find these stories with Phoebe so uncharacteristic for someone who spent her childhood on the streets; she gets awful horny for a badge with a sense of humor – and it is only until her new boyfriend starts to threaten Central Perk does Phoebe realize what she’s doing to her own community (an apt encapsulation of Gen X bohemia, in its own way).

It’s a weird plot running underneath the other two stories of the episode; which, again, thank goodness the focus is mostly on bits like Phoebe drinking sour milk to convince Larry Central Perk is safe, or Joey silently, and slowly, catching up to Chandler’s plan to sabotage Ross’s rental application (even Rachel gets in on the physical comedy, with a fun bit of her trying to hide from Danny as she “walked” into his party from the fake regatta gala she was ‘coming’ from). Any comedy with 24-episode season orders is going to need to blow off some steam; though “The One Where Ross Moves In” isn’t particularly remarkable in how it decides to stand in place for 22 minutes, it is a strong reminder of how capable and comedically versatile the series remained, even after crossing the century mark.

Grade: B

Other thoughts/observations:

• Ross, regretting his decision to lease an apartment from his ex-wife’s family: “Who needs a lease when it’s family!”
  
• I don’t know why, but I love when Joey realizes he thinks “nomad” was “gonad”. Just a genuine goofball, that guy.
  
• Monica points out her timing with men is poor: “You only go for them five minutes before they get married!”
  
• Joey, getting madder at Ross: “He taped over Baywatch with some show about bugs… what if that had been porn???”
  
• You heard it correct, Danny’s party is, for some reason, set to Smash Mouth’s “Every Word Means No”.
  
• Hey, it’s Doug Benson as Tom!
  
• Why is Danny eating a salad with no utensils? Dude has such odd vibes, it’s an obvious non-pairing with Rachel.
  
• Extended thoughts: Unsurprisingly, most of the cut material in this episode comes from extra bits between Phoebe and Larry. Not a lot missed there.
  
• Up next: Friends offers up a twist on its signature holiday episode with “The One with the Thanksgiving Flashbacks”.