Season 10 Episode 4 - "TOW The Cake"

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So, are they pretending that Ben doesn't exist anymore? If the kid from Big Daddy wasn't available, there's no reason not to recast. It just seemed very strange that he wouldn't be there. Same with Rachel's Mom and Dad. If Marlo Thomas and Ron Liebman were unable to guest star, a reason for their characters' absence (mom's got the flu, dad's out of the country?) would have been nice.

Was the party a last minute thing? It was rude of Rachel and Ross to expect everyone to be there after they had already made plans (especially Mon & Chandler's vacation). I'm probably taking this show way too seriously, but the fact that R&R would do that pissed me off.

"FlVEbyFiVE" wrote in message news:[email]...

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Yes, good point. If they couldn't/didn't want to bring in these actors, they should have at least explained the absence of Ben and the Green grandparents.

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I know what you mean. Sitcom writers apparently think rudeness is funny and endearing. :)

Belphoebe

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Chandler and Monica should have taken into consideration it was Emma's first birthday ...

Rachel and Ross should have thought to formally invite them when they first started planning the party. Unlike R&R, their friends don't have Emma on the brain 24/7, and they probably forgot her birthday was even coming up. I would have gone on my trip, or insisted that if R&R wanted me there they would reimburse the vacation money. That would teach them to be more responsible and considerate. But it's just a sitcom.....

However, I will say that at the very least the episode did have continuity. Rachel has been shown to be careless (mailing C&M's wedding invitations late, losing R&M's grandmother). It was in keeping with the character that she wouldn't have checked Emma's cake soon after buying it, or have sent invitations.

I wouldn't forget my nieces birthdays (even if they gave me the chance). :)

"SWatson932" wrote in message news:[email]...

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Maybe they didn't get the memo from the writers telling them what the new date for Emma's birthday was going to be. ;)

Belphoebe

LOL!!!!!!

I expected a mention of him in the scene where Rachel says to Ross: "do you know how important this early experiences are?" - and where the hell was Gunther? He's always there when the Friends celebrate, he was even there at the New Year's party in S1, when he didn't even have a name

True, they should have been mentioned, but then they weren't even at the birth of their grandchild, so...

C+M were equally rude though, if not worse. Their message to Emma in the year 2020 was OTT.

It was a very weird episode, wasn't it? A lot of likable aspects about it, such as Joey's dramatic reading (what was the name of the first book he grabbed?), C+M with Emma, Estelle, Ross - who hasn't been this likable in a long time, some of Chandler's line were quite good as well, but some of them were just too mean. Other low points of the episode were Phoebe's song and Joey's supposed stupidity, they're definitely taking this too far...

Andr�

I let that slide and assumed they stopped by for a few minutes (maybe while Mr. Gellar was catching M&C in the closet doing their thing) and we just didn't see them. But we saw the *entire* party, beginning to end, so there was no excuse. It was just sloppy writing.

I agree. Don't take it out on the kid. Mon's been shrewish for a long time, though. But I expected more from Chandler. Her worst qualities are rubbing off on him.

They're becoming very Seinfeld-ish in that they're entertaining to watch, but you wouldn't actually want to befriend these people......well, except for Joey, he's still a teddy bear. You're right, they are making Joey dumber. Before he was just a bit naive and ignorant on some subjects. Now you can't really believe someone who would make the comments he's made, would be able to make it on his own. I thought it was hilarious though, that Joey, who had forgotten to bring a gift, would come up with the best one on the spot (and no one was the wiser), while Phoebe's gift was so awful that it appeared she might have forgotten to bring one and just made one up on the spot.

SPOOOOOOOOOOILER SPACE>........... "FlVEbyFiVE" wrote in message news:[email]...

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I was just hoping when Ross said that Rachel got pulled over that they would show her with the highway patrol officer in the road and he sees the cake and says "going to a party?" and she says shes returing the cake because its wrong... could you see the policeman asking to take a peak only to see a babies face on a penis? This episode had some serious issues... Like someone said earlier.. If you bought a cake in NEW JERSEY..for heaven's sakes - dont you think you should check it? Everytime I've purchased a cake, they always show it to you first.... I could see if they delivered it and she just put it in the fridge...but it sounded like she went there to get it. I guess im just venting because I expected a hell of alot more from the last season of friends than I'm seeing now.

Where's Charlie, Ben & Rachel's parents, (earlier mentioned)- or Mike? If these people are going to play the semi important roles.. it would be nice to see them. Hell even Joey's agent - Estelle got a spot on the show last night... Why is he auditioning anyway... doesn't he have a full time gig right now?

ANDDDDDDDD I call this a BLOOPER of the worst kind.. Didn't Ross say he was taking Rachel her purse? or was I dreaming that because somehow he managed to get to New Jersey and they both drove back to NY together? Then what happened to his car? And she was driving a Porshe??? did she take Monica's car? They can't use the excuse that they dropped off Ross's car at his place, because he lives across the street from M&C and J&R....I'm sooooo confused!

Ross doesn't have a car. The only reason Monica has a car is that her father gave her his Porsche after he accidently flooding destroy all her childhood stuff. Ross probably took a cab. He does have a P.H.D. and presumably makes good money. He could afford a taxi ride to meet Rachel on the way to New Jersey.

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 19:58:15 +0200, cookie dude wrote:

Hey, how's it going,

The way I see it the longer the show has gone on the smaller its universe has become, with the emphasis being more and more on just the main 6 and nobody else. So I was actually impressed that they thought to bring in Emma's grandparents on Ross' side though the glaring omission of her other two grandparents is pretty irresponsible all around. However, a bigger sin was again the ignoring of the fact that "you know what, Ross has another child and has gone through these types of things before. It's only really Rachel who is fully experiencing this all for the first time."

That all being said I really didn't find a single part of this episode funny. I just watched it and thought what I've been thinking for a while now: they stayed around too long. I just don't laugh at any of this stuff anymore, even Joey who used to be the one certain chuckle for me. And I just watch how goofy Ross is and just think: this man has a college degree, used to work in a museum, has a 8 or 9-year-old son, teaches at college. Shouldn't he be maturing with age? I could make similar cases for the rest of the characters. It's just that with the natural evolution of the sitcom they have all degenerated.

But they don't get on, and are divorced - remember TOW the Two Parties.