Second Look: Friends Season 5, Episode 9 – “The One with Ross’s Sandwich”

Friends Season 5, Episode 9 “The One with Ross’s Sandwich”
Written by Ted Cohen & Andrew Reich
Directed by Gary Halvorson
Aired December 10, 1998 on NBC

Although the Monica and Chandler relationship’s been an obvious creative boon for Friends in its fifth season, episodes like “The One with Ross’s Sandwich” underline some of the struggles the series has contended with since bringing Ross and Rachel’s story back to the forefront at the end of season four. Though an episode with a lot of strong comedic bits, and another great reminder of why Joey is definitively the most reliable, honorable member of the Central Perk Six, “The One with Ross’s Sandwich” is not an interesting or impactful episode for any member of the group – and ultimately, its narrative inertia works against it in a few key moments.

The central conceit of “The One with Ross’s Sandwich” is not what the title would suggest; it is really about how Monica and Chandler’s secret relationship is affecting Joey, the only person in the group they’ve entrusted with the information. Even though he begs them not to, they continue to exploit Joey’s knowledge for their own comfort, so “The One with Ross’s Sandwich” is all about the price Joey has to pay for Monica and Chandler, which relies a bit heavily on them being idiots about something they ostensibly care very greatly about protecting (otherwise, why would Chandler leave nude pictures of Monica in a magazine in Central Perk… how is Monica never mad at him for this?).

It turns “The One with Ross’s Sandwich” into a hilarious series of unfortunate events for Joey; he has to carry Chandler’s underwear out of Monica’s apartment, and draws Rachel’s ire when she discovers Joey preparing to film a sex tape (which was really Monica and Chandler’s), and later holding Monica’s nude picture with a bucket of chicken in his living room. Being the honorable guy he is, Joey’s response to all of it is “I’m Joey, I’m disgusting” – which is hilarious in its own right, allowing Matt LeBlanc to tap into the barely-contained anger that leads to some of the best Joey faces and reactions, but it also paints Monica and Chandler as being a bit selfish and reckless, continuously putting Joey in a position to defend their behavior.

Their comeuppance isn’t really even that satisfying; Joey eventually turns the tables on them, telling the group he slept with Monica in London, and she’s spent the weeks since trying to seduce him to continue their British tryst. Though I’m willing to concede Joey’s clever enough to think of this little twist on the spot, it doesn’t quite feel on-character to see everyone else in the group just kind of shrug their shoulders over it all, and to see Joey take credit for sleeping with a woman he hadn’t, all in service of a simple lie that isn’t quite justified (if Monica and Chandler are that insecure about telling the group, how “strong” is their relationship, really?). Again, Joey makes a lot of these moments more palatable with LeBlanc’s incredible comedic timing – but the attempt at farce really makes Monica and Chandler look like shitty friends, and forces Joey to compromise himself in ways that feel incredibly unrealistic for his character (except when he congratulates them on the sex camera setup, of course).

Elsewhere, “The One with Ross’s Sandwich” focuses its attention on getting under Ross and Phoebe’s skin – and again, though these two stories are full of great comedic moments, they are clearly engineered around moments of humor rather than logic or emotion. They kind of work, in their ability to tap into common adult frustrations – friends unintentionally ruining hobbies, refrigerator etiquette in the workplace – but for them to work, they have to turn Rachel into the most regressive, immature version of herself (she signs up for Phoebe’s night class just “for fun”, and proceeds to never read a page or attempt to have an original thought) and Ross into an incredibly immature one.

Now, both of these stories have their own entertaining qualities; Ross yelling to his co-worker about ‘”‘the Moist Maker’ is an iconic bit, and Phoebe’s devilish grin when she hears Rachel repeating her Jane Eyre robot theory are both great spots of humor, albeit ones that come from some unwelcome places. Combined with Joey’s many hilarious reaction shots, “The One with Ross’s Sandwich” is absolutely one of the funnier episodes of season five – but it often comes at the cost of its characters, in what ultimately feels like a miscalibration of tone and story.

A more interesting version of this episode might’ve put Joey/Chandler/Monica on the backburner, and instead focused on Ross’s mental decline, which has ticked up considerably in recent episodes – but always in the background, his mental breakdown more of a side story than a true priority in season five’s storytelling hierarchy. All we really get is a few scenes of Ross acting incredulously to his boss, then he’s medicated for the rest of the episode – until he finds out Joey “slept” with Monica, which induces quite the mild response from Ross (probably good, given his attempts to “tough guy” Joey earlier in the episode got him flipped over a couch). And though we hear him mention his divorce and subsequent eviction at least once an episode, only “The One Where Ross Moves In” has dealt with the fallout of that in any way – and that was just observing his worst habits as a roommate, neglecting to really tap into the loneliness and frustration Ross is experiencing in the moment (nobody else in the group really seems to give a shit either, which is… odd?).

Though the narrative choices of “The One with Ross’s Sandwich” are questionable at best, there’s just enough humor to keep the episode from getting bogged down in its own bullshit. But it does belie the fact Friends is clearly searching for directions for everyone besides Monica and Chandler – those early results, which have ranged from Danny to Phoebe’s dating choices, have been an incredibly uneven bag, only deepening the obvious issue of Friends trying to figure out arcs for the rest of its characters. “The One with Ross’s Sandwich” is a byproduct of that uncertainty, an inert episode that probably would’ve benefited from its characters taking a moment to look inward, to give the series a real chance to catch its breath and chart a path forward for the other two-thirds of its ensemble.

Grade: C+

Other thoughts/observations:

• Joey, to Chandler: “Tighty whities? What are you, eight?”
  
• “Someone ate the only good thing going on in my life!” is oddly Ross in one of his most relatable moments.
  
• Ross’s high school nickname was Wet Pants Gellar… I don’t really know if Mental Gellar is an improvement, though.
  
• Joey: “Get ready to come out of the non-gay closet!”
  
• Anyone who eats someone else’s sandwich AND throws most of it away deserves to be publicly ridiculed.
  
• Where are all these offices with psychologists on payroll?
  
• Phoebe brings Monica to her class on Rachel’s suggestion – turns out to be an act of cruelty, as Monica answers her own questions and convinces the teacher to give them more tests and homework.
  
• Joey has a bucket of chicken available, because he’s only eating the skins.
  
• Extended thoughts: Joey gets in a good joke about Rachel wanting him to see Ugly Woman with her, after she finds Monica’s razor in their bathroom and Joey ends up shaving his legs to cover for them.
  
• Up next: Danny returns for “The One with the Inappropriate Sister”.