Second Look: Friends ‘The One with the Ick Factor/The One with the Birth’ – Who The Hell Is Jordy

‘The One With The Ick Factor’ (originally aired 5/4/95)

With Friends gearing up for its season endgame in the next two episodes, ‘The One With the Ick Factor’ is a light-hearted episode about sex: both in dream form, and the physical form with high schoolers. It again puts the troublesome characterizations of Rachel and Monica front and center (a topic I’ve discussed at length this season) that can only be slightly distracted by the culmination of Chandler’s professional arc this season.

Time and time again, Chandler’s proved to be the best character in the first season: he’s very consistently written, which makes his pockets of growth throughout season 1 much more effective – Chandler’s by far the most immature person in the group mentally (some would say Joey, but it’s more lack of brain cells than actual maturity), but ironically, the most successful professionally of the group. His corporate arc for the season comes to a hilarious close in ‘Ick Factor’, when he hires Phoebe as an assistant and finds out none of his co-workers like him anymore, now that he’s their boss.

I love how Chandler embraces this later in the episode: he tries to appeal to them as “one of the guys” instead of Mr. Bossman Bing, but all it does is provide more jokes. So what does he do? He turns it to his advantage, giving the people around him a reason to laugh at him (if only to make them work weekends in an act of corporate vengeance). But it’s an example of when the message Friends said it was always about rings true: Chandler’s slowly getting more comfortable with who he’s become, a small step in his long arc of maturity on the show (arguably the show’s most consistent plot over the life of the show).

However, as much as they nail Chandler in the episode, they completely miss on Rachel and Monica. Rachel isn’t doing much but having sex fantasies about everyone in the group – for unexplained reasons – which causes Ross to get angry and jealous in wince-worthy fashion. There doesn’t seem to be much reason Rachel’s dreaming about having sex, and feels like a cheap ploy to sexualize a character for no reason.

Is it as troublesome as what happens with Monica? I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the point of Monica sleeping with an underage high schooler. Again, there doesn’t seem to be much of a point except “Monica makes shitty decisions with her vagina”, harking back to the pilot when she slept with Paul the wine guy, another guy whose lies spread her thighs. There’s nothing to suggest that their relationship is ‘special’ (except what we’re told), so Monica saying she loves him is more than a forced moment – and follows one of the emptiest statements a character’s ever made: “icky” doesn’t really explain much of anything.

‘Ick Factor’ mostly exists for its final moments, which again tease Ross and Rachel with the same formula as many scenes in the season: they get in close proximity, share half a moment, and it’s interrupted. Ross’s beeper goes off, signaling the impending arrival of his child, and the episode ends with everyone rushing off to the hospital, dumbfounded Ross in tow.

Other thoughts/observations:

– why would Ross need a beeper for the museum? “Come quick! They’re still extinct!”

–  Phoebe… gets some head rushes in the episode, which she enjoys. What a character.

– It’s funny how few times Chandler actually utters the phrase “Could that be anymore ____?” compared to the amount of times people make fun of him for it.

– How old is Monica? 25 and 13 months, if you must ask.

 

‘The One with the Birth’ (originally aired 5/11/95)

‘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. Like ‘Ick Factor’ (and really the first season as a whole), ‘The Birth’ does a fantastic job when it’s focusing on its male characters, and struggles mightily with its female characters – although oddly, ‘The Birth’ is one of the 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 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 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.

‘The One with the Ick Factor’: C

‘The One with the Birth’: B+