Second Look: Friends Season 4, Episode 4 – “The One with the Ballroom Dancing”

Friends Season 4, Episode 4 “The One with the Ballroom Dancing”
Written by Ted Cohen & Andrew Reich
Directed by Gail Mancuso
Aired October 16, 1997 on NBC

“The One with the Ballroom Dancing” makes for a wonderful (if recognizably flawed) early season pairing with “The One with the Cuffs”, two incidental Friends episodes filling time in between larger plot points with tangential stories about the Central Perk Six. And while the emotional arc of “Ballroom Dancing” is notably more muted than “Cuffs”, they both work in tandem to help settle and reset the series after the debacle to close season three, relying on familiar formulas and rhythms of earlier episodes in the series, in what makes for a quintessentially ’90s sitcom episode: weightless, funny, and with at least one uncomfortable element properly dating its content to a bygone era.

Knowing the episode’s credited writers – Ted Cohen and Andrew Reich (who would be an EP in the show’s final three seasons – and their only other credited script to date, “The One with Ross’s Thing”, it’s no surprise “The One with the Ballroom Dancing” isn’t exactly the deepest episode of the season – even by those metrics, however, “Ross and Chandler get seduced into gym memberships and bank accounts” is still an oddity of a Friends plot, an amusing aside that mostly works because it forces Ross into the role of straight man, which allows Chandler (who has accepted his fate of paying $50 a month to a gym until he dies) to completely define the comedic energy of their plot.

Equally fun and juvenile, Chandler’s attempts to fight back against corporate tactics (which, in this world, is mostly “hot chicks exist”) is certainly a relatable character for the moment; though in our world it has mostly translated into arguing with robots and call center employees, the idea is the same – in that sense, it makes for a really unique Friends plot, in that it offers a bit of commentary on life at the turn of the century, something Friends hardly ever partook in post-“The One with the Lesbian Wedding”. This story is a much safer examination of modern life, of course – at this point, Friends was way too popular to jeopardize itself with any kind of controversial stories or jokes – but it was (and still is) prescient, the rare example of Second Act Friends (which, remember, began with “The One with the Morning After”) engaging with something even slightly out of its standard storytelling formulas.

Of course, “The One with the Ballroom Dancing” is mostly remembered for Joey dancing with Mr. Treeger on the roof, rather than its nascent social commentary – and rightly so! It’s a wonderfully shot sequence, and a perfect reminder of how endearing Joey can be when Friends properly calibrates his character. Joey agreeing to teach the building’s janitor how to dance (in exchange for him not telling the landlord about Monica’s semi-illegal renting arrangement with Rachel) is an obvious avenue for physical humor – but instead of just purely play it for the kind of superficial homoerotic humor Friends often leans on (to wildly varied degrees of effect), it plays its climactic moment earnestly, transforming what could be a really cheap laugh into something much more disarming and genuine.

The final sequence, where Treeger and Joey execute the dance routine in the hazy moonlight of the building’s roof, is a fantastic scene that only further informs Ross and Chandler’s own attempts to assert their masculinity in the episode’s other major non-Phoebe plotline (Monica and Rachel, unfortunately, are left mostly on the sidelines). Joey’s absolute glee at the routine is palpable, tapping into Joey’s unique, childlike ability to experience joy is such a great moment for his character, a rare example where the limitations of his character’s construction provide a emotional springboard, rather than act as a hindrance – or even worse, as something Friends openly demeans him for.

It is a glimpse into a very different version of Joey, one whose nobility and naivete are not just played for cheap laughs, or as an emergency salve to some particularly chauvinistic behavior. And boy is it needed, because the rest of “The One with the Ballroom Dancing” features Phoebe biting her client on the ass while giving him a three and a half hour massage… a storyline that is, of course, more about giving Phoebe a reason to search for direction in her life than about her casually assaulting someone at her workplace.

Doesn’t exactly make for the most comfortable subplot, however – similar to last season’s “The One with the Jam”, its attempts to delve the earnest, gullible Phoebe into some of the show’s more nihilistic humor makes for an incongruous mix. Though the subplot gives us the classic scene of Joey giving Phoebe advice on how to lose her lady boner (turns out Chandler works for both Phoebe and Joey in resetting the mood), it largely feels like a miscalibrated story, one where Phoebe bites a man on the ass, makes out with him, then loses her job and finds out he’s married in the same breath.

Putting down the explicit story beats on paper illuminates just how strange and cruel this whole story is, providing an ugly, though accurate, contrast in Friends styles, as it tries to marry a horrible Phoebe story with one of the most endearing Joey stories of the series. Obviously, not the balance Friends should seek – nor do I think it was intended, but even in 1997 the dissonance between Phoebe and Joey’s stories would be blatantly obvious. Mostly, it’s just a disappointing prologue to Phoebe’s most memorable arc in the entire series, an ineffective plot that nearly obfuscates the simplistic beauty in the episode’s final moments.

Thankfully, “The One with the Ballroom Dancing” is appropriately titled; the closing dance number is a strong moment for the young season, and the first time in awhile Friends has offered an endearing portrayal of a main character without some affectation of pessimism undercutting it. Nonetheless, it provides an anchor for a decidedly unbalanced collection of auxiliary stories – and more importantly, reminds us Friends is still capable of fun in its smaller moments, in the rare moments it was still willing to lead with its heart.

Grade: B-

Other thoughts/observations:

• This episode confirms Rachel is the Worst Roommate of the six; anyone who puts empty milk cartons back in the fridge deserves exactly the condemnation she receives from Monica and Treeger.
• Rachel: “He said really mean things that were only partly true.”
• Chandler, detailing his gym schedule: “I try to go four times a week, but I’ve missed the past 1200 times.”
• Treeger, of course, is played by veteran character actor Mike Hagerty, who passed in 2022. He also had an important bit role in “The Raincoats”, one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes.
• The one note I like about Phoebe’s subplot is everyone noticing her feet are “dressed up” for Greenpeace Activist Hot Guy and calling her out on it.
• In a sign the Rachel/Ross peace would not last long, their only exchange this episode is when Rachel laughs at the thought of Ross working out.
• I will never not be impressed that Joey knows what a pas de bourree is.
• Though our world does not have Karen Lambert to assuage us from canceling, we do have terrible customer service experiences, our data being sold willy-nilly without acknowledgment, and the predatory-and-now-customary autopayment system… not gonna lie, I think I prefer the system Chandler and Ross raged against.
• Phoebe: “I started asking people on the street if they wanted massages… then those police officers thought I was whore too.”
• Of all the Chandler/Joey gay jokes made throughout the series, “Hey Duck, is Chick here?” remains one of my absolute favorites.
• The only sour note of Joey and Treeger is at the end, when Friends indulges in some classic fatphobia regarding Marge’s friend Treeger wants to set up Joey with.
• Phoebe’s honesty in her first post-incident interview is a hilarious closing bit.
• Extended thoughts: there’s an additional scene between Chandler and the gym manager, where Chandler exclaims “Yes, I hate it here! Everything that you have in here is very heavy!”
• Up next: Phoebe discovers a new singing voice and everyone suddenly starts dating again in “The One with Joey’s New Girlfriend”.