Second Look: Friends Season 4, Episode 14 – “The One with Joey’s Dirty Day”

Friends Season 4, Episode 14 “The One with Joey’s Dirty Day”
Written by Wil Calhoun
Directed by Peter Bonerz
Aired February 5, 1998 on NBC

Following in the vein of “The One with Rachel’s Crush”, “The One with Joey’s Dirty Day” feels like an episode of Friends designed to simply fill some space. Thankfully, “Joey’s Dirty Day” is mostly a return to form after the regrettable half hour preceding it; the episode does a fairly good job of being mostly pointless, until revealing its larger ambitions in the episode’s final moments – which if we’re being honest, is the only part of this episode anyone really remembers besides the Charlton Heston cameo, despite being quietly being, in hindsight, one of the more important momentum-driving episodes for the rest of the season to follow.

Though the episode takes its namesake from said cameo, “The One with Joey’s Dirty Day” really has its attention focused on two other characters in this episode: Chandler, and to a slightly lesser degree, Rachel. On the surface, their stories are pretty isolated and straightforward; Chandler goes through his version of the post breakup routine all adults over 23 have, and Rachel continues to trip over herself in her pursuit of Joshua (specifically, not getting into the club opening he semi-awkwardly invites her to in their only shared scene of the episode).

And at that, their stories are fairly pedestrian textually; there’s not much to learn about Rachel or Chandler we haven’t seen in previous episodes or seasons, as they go through the motions of pre and post-breakup behavior. Rachel’s awkwardness is good for a few more jokes, and Chandler trying to guide the women into his ‘masculine’ breakup recovery rituals is amusing in its own right – but absent of any context around these episodes, and both of their stories are rather rudimentary in both structure and delivery.

What makes their stories interesting is how they are positioned in season four, and how these stories are the beginning of two incredibly important arcs of the series (both indirectly involving Gellar siblings, oddly enough). Though Chandler purports Kathy may have been the love of his life, it doesn’t take anything particularly unique or drawn out for him to get over her; after this episode, Chandler returns to his normal antics (including an upcoming Janice cameo) and mostly resolves to being his goofy, impulsive self for the rest of the season – in turn positioning him perfectly for what was to come with Monica when Friends finally goes across the pond to finish the season.

Though Chandler’s journey requires a bit of foresight, Rachel’s story is much more deliberate in how it sets up an incredibly important, divisive arc for her and Ross. This is, of course, the episode where Rachel inadvertently introduces Ross to a cranky, wet Emily, asking him to take her out on the town, as a favor to her while she (attempts to) attend Joshua’s club opening. And though Rachel’s talked a big game about being over Ross and being ready to move on with her life, there are a number of pointed reaction shots suggesting she may not be, and that Ross’s sudden, incredibly in-character decision to run off to Vermont with a British stranger (which is closer than Nova Scotia, in his defense) has burrowed its way into her head, and through the facade she’s been putting on in the face of her recent personal and professional struggles.

I’m not particularly a fan of how this episode delivers this idea about Rachel; the camera work is incredibly heavy-handed, and Ross’s ironic dialogue adds nothing to the evolving dynamic between the two of them – which, on its face, is a bit more compelling than this episode makes obvious. Season four is the first of many times Friends would push Rachel into a really uncomfortable place, often compromising her character’s growth and ideals for the sake of short-term, ill-conceived dopamine hits of teasing her and Ross’s reunion; and for what it’s worth, her sudden regret at Ross’s incredibly lucky encounter is arguably the best of these (certainly better than the arcs involving Paul Stevens and one Joey Tribbiani in later seasons).

Rachel’s inability to forgive Ross had fallen into the background a bit, and season four felt all the better for it; it allowed room for larger, more interesting personal stories for Phoebe and Monica, expanding the show’s purview of its characters and their world, while enriching and evolving two of the show’s most consistently entertaining characters. “The One with Joey’s Dirty Day” marks the definitive return of that story to the show’s forefront – and I think it’s done just interestingly enough that it doesn’t feel like a regressive moment for the series, as it did back in “The One at the Beach”. By keeping the conflict internal to Rachel, at least early on, is a really smart decision – we have plenty of time to debate whether the climactic moments of this specific arc ultimately undersell its potential, given the story is really at its genesis here.

I also quite like Emily’s introduction; her first impression with the group is a terrible one, screaming and complaining about everything the moment Monica opens the door to her (currently former) apartment. It’s such an unflattering first impression, it makes the whiplash of what happens later all the more surprising and effective when Ross calls to tell them she’s not a miserable sod, and they’ve hit it off so well they’re already at bed and breakfast territory (which was the sign of a Big Deal Relationship in 90’s sitcom life). It presents Friends with an interesting challenge; how does it integrate a new, serious love interest for Ross into its story, without losing the thread on its other non-Rachel characters?

Though that answer is still yet to come in the season’s nine remaining episodes (well, eight, if you don’t count “The One with the Invitation”), “The One with Joey’s Dirty Day” at least posits the question in an intriguing way. And, as noted, the episode does a pretty good job bringing Chandler and Rachel up to speed so their arcs are lined up, at least in theory, with the others introduced in earlier episodes – and more importantly, it dips its toes into a potential Rachel/Ross romantic conflict, without a hint of the acidity found in the season three finale and “The One with the Jellyfish” (also written by Wil Calhoun, this episode’s credited writer), a sign that the ideological shift of this season is, at least for the moment, still intact.

Grade: B-

Other thoughts/observations:

• Yeah, the humor of Joey’s whole story is a big nothingburger for me; I get he couldn’t be involved for the sake of having Chandler do breakup with the women (an inverse of the episode where he eats ice cream post-breakup, embracing the “feminine” approach where here he tries to reject it), but it’s just not that funny.
  
• I love the shot of the chick and duck following Chandler into the bathroom. Their bond is forever adorable, and so much more rewarding than Joey’s rare interactions with them.
  
• It’s only been two days since Chandler broke up with Kathy, which is definitely one of the shortest spans of time between episodes (at least, defined spaces of time).
  
• “From now on… this chair is the one.”
  
• Why does Joshua need dress gloves? So odd.
  
• “Just take ’em off and we’ll have some fun.” Phoebe – “I can’t resist that line!”
  
• Monica mentions Rachel has no leg to stand on with Ross and Emily, since she apparently “flitted off to Vail” after meeting Barry.
  
• “We can be guys!” “You’d be all hairy and you wouldn’t live as long!”
  
• A great note: Monica getting the number for the strip club’s carpet cleaner.
  
• a stripper leaving to become a teacher? not happening in 2024, honey.
  
• It’s not often Friends does dream sequences, but Chandler gets his second one here, this time imagining all the girls fooling around in “his” apartment… until “Joshua” shows up with sexy eyes for Chandler, making him uncomfortable in his own subconscious. A perfect little closing credits scene.
  
• Extended thoughts: seven seconds of additional, thoroughly uninspiring footage.
  
• Up next: Chandler plans a trip to Yemen in “The One with All the Rugby”.