If there’s one element to appreciate about “The One with the Ride-Along”, it is seeing Friends give itself a brief respite from Monica/Chandler-centric stories for a week; although season five’s been at its best when focused on their budding relationship, it’s only healthy for the series to not put all of its eggs into a single proverbial basket. And though it doesn’t find the best ways to fill its time – most of this episode is Ross, Chandler, and Joey watching a cop do vaguely shady cop shit – “The One with the Ride-Along” saves its biggest surprise for last, when it stares down the barrel of another Ross/Rachel tease – and for once, steers away from the proverbial skid.
For the most part, the 20th episode of season five fills exactly the role it needs to, focusing on an incredibly slight story – the guys tag along with Officer Gary on the titular, totally legal ride-along – as filler plot, strictly to get this season a little bit closer to the finish line in low-stakes fashion. It even finds a few interesting wrinkles within that story, after the guys hear a “gunshot” (a car backfiring), and Chandler gets offended that Joey’s supposed instinct was to throw himself across Ross to save his life, rather than him. The car backfiring, as dumb and silly a moment as it is, turns out to be kind of an intriguing little pivot, pushing Ross into a space of neurotic self-reflection on life and death, while also using Chandler’s own neuroses to fuel a bit of drama – until Joey reveals he was really trying to protect a meatball sandwich and not either of his friends, a reveal that is so cleverly done and endearingly delivered, it easily dodges any potential Idiot Joey allegations that could be thrown its way (as I’ve discussed, season five begins Joey’s slow descent into basically being a drooling invalid over the second half of the show).
That “The One with the Ride-Along” doesn’t really do much with these ideas is forgivable; Chandler and Joey’s argument is funny enough, and anything that sends Ross into a space of even nascent self-reflection are healthy, logical choices for Friends. Where season five almost gets itself into some troubling waters is when Ross’s story circles back around to the other half of the episode, which mostly focuses on Rachel’s moral conflict on whether to tell Ross about a voicemail she accidentally erased Emily leaves on Ross’s voice machine (which Rachel overhears when she goes over to see money and margarita ingredients, in order to make picture organizing with Monica go down a little easier).
On its face, this is a perfectly harmless story, a cheeky way to put a coda on Ross’s strange transformation into docile fiancé in the back half of season four. Emily’s abrupt marriage to another person is certainly not a kind way to paint the character, but it at least provides the plot a bit of closure – and even a bit of intrigue, as it suggests the ultimate problem in Ross and Emily’s relationship might’ve been Emily all along, giving Ross another heavy internal monologue to have as he contemplates life and all its wonder, following his “near death” experience riding around the city in Gary’s (clearly unmarked, by the way) cop car. But it’s a tightrope “The One with the Ride-Along” tries to walk, and though the episode does a rather remarkable job of avoiding the inherent gravity of their story, there are still a few moments where Friends is playing it a little bit too coy with Rachel’s reaction to Emily’s phone call, and her subsequent struggle over whether to tell Ross that she called at all.
Ultimately, I commend “The One with the Ride-Along” for backing away from the edge, to push itself to resolve with less complications – and importantly, a moment where Ross isn’t being damagingly impulsive, perhaps the last coherent example we’ll get for most of the rest of the series (lest we forget, we are heading into a very ugly, dark era for Ross Gellar in the coming seasons… it’s going to get ugly, folks!). And while I don’t really love the genesis of how it explores a bit of tension between Chandler and Joey, it proves to be useful in establishing a low-key tone the Ross/Rachel material has no option but to follow. Though “The One with the Ride-Along” is not an impactful or memorable episode on the whole, its ability to show even a modicum of restraint in this moment is something to remember as the season heads into its final few episodes.
Other thoughts/observations:
- Again… Phoebe and a cop just feels so wrong.
- I really like the reveal that Monica constantly steals money from Ross, and that he’s vaguely aware of it. Just another great Gellar wrinkle.
- Joey: “Half the taste is in the smell!”
- Ross should absolutely be roasted about the voicemails he leaves himself: “I just want you to remember this feeling. Love yourself, ok? And get stamps.”
- Wait, Rachel had a dog named Le Poo? We’re just going to gloss right over that?
- Great Serpico reference by Joey in the middle of the episode.
- Up next: Gary makes an unceremonious exit in “The One with the Ball”.
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