Maturity is a big part of the early seasons of Friends, so it’s no surprise what themes are at the heart of “The One with the Fake Monica”, which puts the Gellar siblings under the microscope into very different stories. Of course, most people remember “The One with the Fake Monica” for Marcel’s humpy departure – and its a key component of the episode, but certainly not the most rewarding.
From beginning to end, Monica’s material is a lot more interesting than Ross’s; his scenes painting a simple picture of a guy whose animal is going off to the pet equivalent of college. Monica chasing down the person who stole her identity – and befriending her – is a little bat shit crazy, but it gives us two fantastic scenes in the tap dancing studio, one of my favorite sequences in the first season.
The first scene in the dance studio displays the mentalities of the three main females on the show. When everyone begins doing the routine, Rachel picks it up easily: most of Rachel’s life previous to leaving Barry was her conforming to the world around her, be it her father’s demands or money, or having a nose job so she didn’t garner so much attention in public. Phoebe’s off in her own world (because let’s be honest, the writers of Friends never had an idea who Phoebe was for consecutive episodes) and of course, she’s happy as can be.
But Monica’s struggling to fit in: she can’t quite get the moves (as always, coming in second place to Rachel), and she’s not confident enough to go out on a limb and do what she feels. She wants to fit into a neat little box with everyone else who “lives life”; but as Not Monica points out later, Manana isn’t that person. She’s not a free spirit – but there’s nothing wrong with that (who would clean the damn apartment if she was?). A lot of Monica’s character early on (in her pre-Richard phase at least) is coming to terms with herself about who she is, and embracing that personality.
It makes her return to the dance studio that much more rewarding: when she does her goofy steps, the teacher calls her out for not doing it wrong, to which Monica responds “But at least I’m doing it!” Part of Monica’s neurotic nature comes from her mother – a fact that’s well known, but only mentioned once through the episode. She’s always been a disappointment to her mother: Monica could never dance to the cadence that her mother often demanded. ‘Fake Monica’ is less about living vicariously through someone else, and more about Monica coming to terms that it’s ok to be the person she is.
It’s a rare moment of subtle character work for Monica – so it’s not really surprising that the rest of the episode can’t match the effort put into Monica’s arc. There’s a big reach with Marcel’s departure, a non-character who Ross is attached to on way too many pathetic levels – although the addition of John Sebastian was a great touch to close the episode. I’ve complained about that monkey a lot, but I think it’s more out of disappointment – what is a gimmick thinly disguised as serious character development. There are moments where the show takes it seriously, but there are also episodes where the monkey’s not a metaphor for fatherly responsibility, it’s a fake girlfriend or kid going off to college for Ross.
But no matter how detracting Ross’s material can be, Monica’s moments are some of the most quietly rewarding arcs Friends has in the show’s run, a complete 180 from Rachel’s plot in the previous episode…. plus we finally got rid of that fucking monkey!!!!
Other thoughts/observations:
- Phoebe just acts like a ten year old through the episode… I always knew her character was underdeveloped, but rewatching the series has revealed that she was really only written one or two episodes a season (minus her pregnancy arc), and simply floated around the rest of the time.
- Manana… it’s Pennsylvania Dutch.
- Joseph Stalin is a badass stage name, I don’t care what the reputation is behind it. Much better than Old McGroin.
- Not Monica’s performance is very amateurish: her comedic pauses are way too obvious, particularly when delivering her schtick about Dead Poet’s Society turning her into a felon.
- Why is Phoebe playing a Game Boy?
Up next: Friends gets real horny – and a bit weird – in “The One with the Ick Factor”.