Friends Season 4, Episode 16 “The One with the Fake Party”
Written by Alicia Sky Varinaitis (story), Scott Silveri & Shana Goldberg-Meehan (teleplay)
Directed by Michael Lembeck
Aired March 19, 1998 on NBC
In a lot of ways, “The One with the Fake Party” is a classic mid-season episode of Friends; it leans heavy on slapstick humor for its biggest jokes, forgets entire arcs for its characters (in this case, Monica and Chandler), and prominently features a subplot with Joey and food. But unlike previous seasons, which were either lost in mindless one-off plots or trying to recover from the fallout of a creative choice, “The One with the Fake Party” stands facing forward, quietly setting up some of season four’s climactic plot arcs – while also delivering the most wholehearted Joey subplot of all time, exactly the salve the half hour needs from the cringe fest formerly known as Rachel Greene.
In theory, the arcs of Rachel and Ross in this middle third of the season are exercises in extremes, as both pursue relationships with equal abandon for logic. In practice, however, the last few episodes have somehow transformed Ross into the sympathetic character of the two, especially when “The One with the Fake Party” opens with Monica pointing out Emily’s set to go home in just a few days – and then Rachel bulldozes his plans for her final day by planning an impromptu farewell party for Emily, in order to get Joshua to finally see her outside of a Bloomingdale’s dressing room.
This leads to an incredibly dissonant central plot, where Ross spends his time in the background, sad and frustrated about the impending deadline for his whirlwind romance – all while Rachel goofs around the foreground of every scene, in a series of increasingly unhinged attempts to seduce Joshua (who just told Rachel he’s not ready to date after his divorce).
Though it is certainly nice to see season four continuing to let Jennifer Aniston exercise some comedic muscles, how it is applied in the context of the season’s arc feels miscalculated. Ultimately, her presence comes at the cost of Emily, whose quick wit and earnestness peeks through the surface in the few moments “The One with the Fake Party” lets the episode be about something besides Rachel’s misguided pursuit of Joshua.
It almost feels like two episodes shoved into one; an episode where Rachel and Ross are able to bond over how vastly their paths have diverged in a short time, and a separate episode where Ross spends Emily’s final day in America trying to keep his friends from her. Hell, an episode where Monica supersedes her brother’s plans with her own disastrous itinerary almost writes itself, and would’ve helped keep Monica a little more engaged in the goings-on around her, while her own arc waits through a major stalling period.
It’s too bad, because the potential for having isolated, meaningful stories for Ross and Rachel would’ve helped set the stage a bit earlier for what’s to come later in the season. What we’re left with instead, is an increasingly silly Rachel story that leaves Ross and Emily mostly on the sidelines, swallowing up more and more screen time to the point the best plot of the episode – Phoebe and Joey’s meat-based agreement – is left hanging on the fringes of a much sillier, meaningless story about a guest star nobody else in the cast has engaged with (and during the course of this episode, wouldn’t).
Rachel’s costume changes and crescendo of bad decisions isn’t a laugh less affair; but it is certainly painted with a dull brush, and drowns out any attempts the episode makes at building chemistry between Rachel and Joshua’s character. It’s certainly canon to her character, as we’ll see in later seasons when she finds herself leading the pursuit of a potential relationship; doesn’t mean it adds anything to the present, especially when “The One with the Fake Party” rolls out Monica as the voice of reason (at times, in ways it feels like the show reminding itself and the audience that it is still somewhat grounded in its own reality).
What’s missing is the investment; to this point, Friends has spent a handful of episodes on Rachel’s clumsy pursuit of Josh, without establishing anything about the two of them for the audience to invest in. Any halfway seasoned watcher of television can tell by this point that the show and its writers are not trying to take Joshua seriously as a character – which is why Joshua’s return and declaration (“I bought six suits from you, and I don’t even wear suits to work!”) feels so flat at the episode’s climactic moment.
It doesn’t help that it has such a fantastic runner putting it to shame at every turn; though Phoebe and Joey-centric stories can be a mixed bag, “The One with the Fake Party” is absolutely one of their best. When a pregnant Phoebe finds herself at the mercy of her baby’s meat cravings, her and Joey eventually make a deal, where Joey goes vegetarian for six months to ensure no additional animals die because of Phoebe proverbially switching teams. Not only is this one of the most adorable subplots of the entire series, but it also features scenes of Phoebe and Joey drooling over each other making sandwiches – which certainly makes for a strange contrast of wholesome and cringe whenever Rachel’s latest stunt interrupts them, but absolutely helps keep the episode afloat when it’s fumbling to get the audience to buy into the potential of a Rachel/Joshua relationship.
Thankfully, “The One with the Fake Party” finishes a lot stronger than it starts; despite it fumbling mightily on its way there, the hallway scene with Rachel and Ross is probably my favorite between the two all season. Once Friends is done poking Rachel’s desperation with a hot stick over and over again, the episode makes room for a really beautiful scene where Rachel points out to Ross that what is happening between them is not only abnormal, but it’s shared, pointing out that two-week flings don’t sit down with your sister to look at family photo albums, or spend time getting to know every one of your friends at the first surprise party of their life.
It’s an incredibly quiet, thoughtful scene, and even brings in Chandler for a fun moment of levity – it’s everything season four of Friends has done well, even as the now-familiar, dull anchor of Joshua’s implied significance lingers in the background. At the very least, “The One with the Fake Party” uses the hallway scene as a catalyst for Rachel and Ross to both take a step in a new direction, raising the stakes for both of their characters – and really testing just how much the audience is willing to invest in new relationships for The Chosen Couple (which obviously there were still millions of fans clamoring for, even though who would want that after the events of “The One at the Beach” and “The One with the Jellyfish”.
It’s a bit of a rough road to get there, but “The One with the Fake Party” is able to define itself by its strengths, rather than its weaknesses, by sticking the landing – both in how it resolves this episode, and how it quietly establishes some of the bigger plot threads that will eventually define season four, and the entire second act, of Friends. After the fiasco that was season three’s middle episodes, I’m certainly not complaining!
Grade: B-
Other thoughts/observations:
- Chandler: “I say more dumb things before 9am than most people do all day.”
- Ross and Emily had an exciting day looking at… a collection of Victorian doorknobs at the Cooper Hewett museum, which is extremely in character for the Gellar brother.
- Look, I’m sure it read nice on the page when Joshua tells Rachel she’s smart and sophisticated… but when has Friends allowed her to show that in any of these episodes?
- Rachel’s suggestion of playing spin the bottle is arguably worse and more embarrassing than putting on her cheerleader’s outfit. Though spin the bottle does have a fun bit of Chandler spinning himself (“Story of my life”) and then the man next to him (“story of my father’s life”).
- Gunther randomly tells Emily Rachel is his girlfriend, and it is fucking weird.
- “She was looking at the pictures of you with those Albino kids.” “That was computer camp!”
- Chandler’s face when Rachel tells him to sit down on the hallway steps is so hilariously despondent. Matthew Perry is really in his bag this season, and it’s made for a particularly bittersweet rewatch (not that it will get any easier in seasons five or six; the second act of the series is really Chandler’s arc, and I’m here for it!)
- Extended thoughts: I am sad to report that so many of Chandler’s great bits were cut for the broadcast version (and thus, are not on the Blu-Ray set); his fake British accent, his cereal killer bit, and the joke about his father are all extended version only.
- Up next: Chandler and Joey open a door that can’t be closed in “The One with the Free Porn”.