‘The One with the Birth’ is kind of a bottle episode – everyone’s in the hospital together, even though they only share a few scenes together. And like “The One with the Ick Factor” (and really the first season of Friends as a whole), “The One with the Birth” does a fantastic job when it’s focusing on its male characters, and struggles mightily with its female characters – although oddly, it is one of the few times Phoebe serves a real purpose throughout the season.
Considering the two big story lines of the episode, the ancillary material with Rachel and Monica really feels off. Both of them spend their time in the hospital pining over cliched female values: Monica has baby fever, and Rachel’s chasing doctors. Compared to Ross and Joey, who are in their own ways having non-traditional experiences with masculinity and fatherhood, Rachel getting dressed up for a doctor (who’s trying to deliver a baby, by the way) and Monica getting emotional over the sight of infants is almost painful.
It’s frustrating, because the rest of the material is so damn good: when Phoebe gets trapped in the utility closet with Ross and Susan, ‘Birth’ goes from a below average episode to a great one. As Ross and Susan argue over names and who gets to enjoy what about being a parent, Phoebe reminds them what it’s like to have no parents, and how lucky their child will be to have three who love him so much, they’re fighting over him. It puts an entire season of bickering into perspective for the two characters, and finally makes a much-needed connection between the two, realizing that they’re all part of a family now, no matter what their situation might be.
Elsewhere, Joey finally shows a little of the maturity and responsibility we first saw in “The One with the Boobies”, helping guest star Leah Remini (and Celtic fan with a thick NY accent) deliver her child. Smartly, the show doesn’t really hint at anything romantic between them, instead showing us what makes Joey worth having around: he’s not just someone who bangs everybody and eats everything, he is capable of having some compassion, and sharing a moment with a woman that doesn’t require contraception. By isolating him from the rest of the group, we finally get to see a side of Joey that isn’t confused and lost in every conversation, giving some texture to a character that desperately needs it.
At its core, “The One with the Birth” is really about Ross becoming a father, a journey that has only popped up in a few pockets during the season. It comes to a beautiful conclusion, however, in a pair of touching scenes that close the episode. All season, Ross has been a character stuck in the past (even professionally = he’s obsessed with dinosaurs, the most ancient thing someone can study), and there’s no way to whip someone back to reality than having a child. It may not be the way he wanted it to happen, but once he sees Ben for the first time, there’s nothing on his mind but the future – as he shows in the final scene, explaining how things might be a little odd for Ben at first, with him not being around all the time.
It takes awhile to find its footing, but when it does, “The One with the Birth” produces some satisfying scenes for a number of marginalized characters like Joey and Phoebe – though this simultaneously occurs with Rachel and Monica being thrown completely in the wind. But the episode’s conclusion is so strong, it helps suppress some of the more difficult things to swallow in its earlier scenes, finishing on a touching scene of the whole group together, staring at the fascinating image of a new life.
Other thoughts/osbervations:
- the final scene (shown from Ben’s perspective), is arguably the best framed shot in Friends history.
- Chandler’s plan to marry and impregnante Monica at 40 is the first hint at an attraction between them, which doesn’t really start popping up regularly until late in the third season.
- somehow Estelle goes from being a nurse to a chain-smoking agent, one of the origin stories I’m mad Friends never told.