This is a review of the second half of the finale only.
However, please feel free to post anything at all about the *whole* of the finale - but below the spoiler space please.
Meanwhile, some good news for the British, European, and Australian fans who have not yet seen the finale - despite being cut into two parts, *nothing* was lost! Yay!!
C4 UK/Anzac/Euro SPOILER SPACE for 724...
S P O I L E R
S P A C E S
S P O I L E R
S P A C E S
724 "TOW Monica and Chandler's Wedding (part 2)"
When Rachel freaked out at Chandler's disappearance, Phoebe dragged her off into the bathroom, where she rummaged in the waste basket for a tissue, but instead found a used pregnancy testing kit. Since it was positive, Phoebe declared that Monica is pregnant...
..Rachel keeps saying "Oh my God", while Phoebe wonders if that was why Chandler took off - but Rachel tells her that since she emptied the trash the previous night, Monica must have just taken the test; and she makes Phoebe agree that they tell no-one about the matter.
Later on, the girls find Ross who's been up all night searching for Chandler in vain. He looked everywhere, including both of Chandler's parents, who believe Ross is interested in them! Ross asks Rachel to stall Monica for a couple of hours while he tries again, so Phoebe insists on going with him to make sure he succeeds.
Rachel tells Monica that they need to talk since she fears that she will never get married, but Monica simply tells her the right guy is just round the corner - so Rachel tells Monica that she's decided to become a lesbian, but Monica tells her that any woman would be lucky to have her - then Rachel tells Monica that she'd feel better if she slept with Joey, and Monica drops everything to talk!!
After much searching, Ross & Phoebe are getting desperate, when it occurs to him to ask her where she would hide if she was Chandler. Phoebe has a good think, then takes him to Chandler's office where he is indeed hiding, all alone on a quiet Saturday morning. Chandler describes his fear of him & Monica becoming The Bings, as horrible as his parents - but Ross is great as he reveals that both Nora & Helena tried to seduce him, and since Chandler would never do that than he cannot be anything like his parents!
After much talking, Rachel eventually runs out of ideas, so Monica starts getting ready again. Out of sheer desperation, Rachel fakes a fall, but that only makes Monica suspicious, and Rachel is forced to admit that they cannot find Chandler (Phoebe appears giving the thumbs up) 's vest - whereupon Monica so freaks out that Phoebe has to assure her that they've found the vest!
---o0o---
The whole wedding party gathers at the hotel where the ceremony will take place, and though the ladies are dressed up, they can't compete with the bride who looks stunning in her gown. But at that moment, Joey phones from the studio to warn the Maid of Honour that he's been held up, and can't officiate.
Meanwhile, instead of Chandler having to plunge, Ross persuades him to get ready by proceeding one little step at a time, and eventually he's coaxed him into a tuxedo. However, the next step is a big one, getting married, so Chandler nips out for a furtive smoke. But when he hears the girls coming, he ducks into a closet, from where he overhears Phoebe mention Monica's pregnancy!
Rachel finds a Greek Orthodox wedding just ending, so by lying that Chandler & Monica are also Greek Orthodox, she persuades the priest to officiate. Meanwhile, Ross frets that he's lost Chandler, but while Helena hits on him, and Nora recalls her marriage when the groom wore a wedding dress, Monica appears in her full regalia, and she is so beautiful that Ross's breath is taken away - but when she asks about Chandler, he breaks into a sweat, and has to pretend that the drops are beads of joy!
When Ross encounters Chandler in the corridor, he easily throws him to the floor, and prepares to give him the ass-kicking he warned about, and this time nobody is laughing, especially not Phoebe. But Chandler hurriedly explains that he did not run away, but went to the hotel's gift shop, where he bought a "I heart NEW YORK" romper suit for the baby, since anything small enough to fit it could not be scary, and Ross embraces him.
Finally the ceremony begins, with an aisle procession of Chandler arm-in-arm with what looks like his two mothers, Ross looking like a very lucky bloke arm-in-arm with Phoebe & Rachel, then a radiant Monica arm-in-arm with her parents, so Chandler beams his beamiest smile at her as she joins him at the altar. Everyone is puzzled by the new minister, but Rachel whispers at them to pretend they are Greek Orthodox - and so the priest begins, "Dearly Beloved"...
---o0o---
When Joey arrived at the studio, the director was not interested in the truth or any of his excuses, but assured him that there was only one scene to do - except Crosby turned up drunk. They began filming, but despite Joey's attempts to fill in, Crosby was hopeless, yet the director was determined to continue until it was in the can.
The director was fully aware that Crosby was hammered, but stubbornly insisted on continuing, so Joey cleverly told his co-star that they were done for the day, and as he tossed Richard over his shoulder to carry him off, the triple Oscar nominee looked down in puzzlement that he could see his own arse!
Back at the hotel, just as the priest begins, Joey rushes down the aisle to take over, and apologises to the dearly beloved for being late and still in his WWI uniform! Beginning the proceedings before the groom can escape again, which startles the bride, Joey delivers a sweet yet short speech (since he left his notes in his dressing room) then invites Monica to say her vows.
Monica's speech is so beautiful that Chandler dispenses with his, simply telling her how much he loves her - whereupon they kiss too early which throws Joey off track, they complete the proceedings almost in reverse! As Joey declares them to be husband & wife, Chandler & Monica kiss again, and everyone applauds.
But when Chandler whispers to Monica that he knows about the baby, she denies all knowledge of it. So it is that as Chandler asks his wife who did take the pregnancy test, Phoebe is telling Rachel how happy she is that the newlyweds are going to have a baby - and Rachel looks very very worried...
---o0o---
This was an hilarious episode to close the season (which has now become my second favourite out of all seven) with a startlingly good ensemble plot for Ross, Phoebe, Rachel, and a razor-sharp Chandler - while as the innocent party, Monica was necessarily left with rather less to do, except light up the screen with her charm & beauty.
Ross was a real brick in this episode, such a good friend to Chandler that it made up for his bad deeds in college. Okay so occasionally he was a tad Mental Geller, but I reckon that he had every right to get annoyed, especially since he had been up all night. When you consider his stress level, he was actually quite calm & controlled.
Once again, Joey was the singleton carrying the lighter side, and his sparring with Crosby was delightful. Meanwhile, though we had a second helping of Nora & Charles, I would have liked so much more, as well as the hotly anticipated cat-fight between Nora & Judy. Maybe this will happen during the reception at the start of Season 8 - if a certain mother-to-be manages not to steal Monica's thunder...
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Rachel took the trash out??? If Phoebe had thought about this, would she have realised that Rachel was lying to her, right there?
Ross has already kissed both Nora & Chandler, and since Helena quite clearly fancies the boy, does he have any chance of completing a Bing hat-trick there?
When Rachel first got dressed, and wore that blue top & denims, she looked really lovely. So why was she all dowdy again at the wedding?
There was an apparent continuity error in the first part of the finale. Monica's ansaphone message said the wedding would be on a Saturday, but in 717 "TOW the Cheap Wedding Dress" she gives the date as May 15th, a Tuesday. At the time I was at a loss to explain it, and no-one else could help, but now a possible reason is apparent. Since that earlier episode was written, the finale's plot required that Chandler be able to hide at his office, so the writers were forced to alter the date.
After some cynics remarked that we never see the friends at work any more, we have now seen all six - Monica at Allesandro's in 707/718, Ross at NYU in 702/718, Joey's studios in 704/715/718/723/724, Rachel at Ralph Lauren in 704/705/709/712/720, Phoebe's massage/telesales in 702/713, and Chandler at his multinational HQ in 724. Since Chandler obviously likes his work the least, who is happiest in their careers?
When the subject of successful Hollywood marriages last came up in 413 "TOW Rachel's Crush", their examples were Susan Sarandon & Tim Robbins (not legally married though they have two children), Alec Baldwin & Kim Basinger (filed for divorce on January 12th), Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman (separated on February 5th), and erm Mel Gibson & Clint Eastwood (but we won't go into that right now). Anyway, Paul Newman is a better example since he has been married to Joanne Woodward since 29th January 1958 - but did you know that she is his *second* wife?
For any British & European fans who are puzzled why Monica should be so concerned about Chandler's vest, that is the term Americans apply to a waistcoat.
Although Rachel was the Maid of Honour, and Phoebe was not, they dressed alike, so did that meant that they were really bridesmaids?
And how come Helena, Nora & Judy also wore dresses with the same sort of golden/silvery sheen?
How come the wedding took place at a hotel, and not at the Morgan Chase Museum, as arranged in 622 "TOW Paul's the Man"? Anything to do with Megan Bailey?
Was Chandler wearing the Diane Keaton tuxedo from the end of 720 "TOW Rachel's Big Kiss"?
Why was there a closet for storing ice in the residential part of the hotel?
Did you know that "Anastassakis" is the original Greek family name of Jennifer Aniston? Are there similar in-jokes with Papasifakis, Stephanopolus & Acidofolus?
Why does Rachel give the Jewish greeting "Mazel Tov" to the Best Man & Maid of Honour at the Greek wedding?
Wasn't it just so neat that Chandler's final fears of marriage were swept away by the thought of having children of his own?
Why does Monica tell Chandler her wedding dress is no longer new?
Gary Oldman was brilliant as an actor drunk on the job, and he was provided with some exquisitely funny lines to say - but does that evocative line "I'm wearing two belts" seem familiar at all?
Aaron the film director was not very sensitive about what was happening on his set, was he? Or did he just not care?
Did American soldiers in WWI really carry swords?
Why didn't Richard Crosby enunciate? Because he was drunk?
Look at how easily Matt LeBlanc picked up Gary Oldman - he made him seem as light as a feather. Joey is easily the strongest of all six friends. But did you notice that as they went out the door, Crosby narrowly managed to grab a bottle of booze on the way?
When Joey tells the dearly beloved that they won't be confused by Memorial Day 2002, is that when his movie comes out? What date is that exactly?
Did you prefer the dress that Monica lost in 717 "TOW the Cheap Wedding Dress", which was actually supposed to be perfect?
What was Monica's something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?
Why wasn't Ben Geller invited to his aunt's wedding?
Have the Tribbianis been delayed at the christening? Will we see them in S8-01?
What about Cassie, and all the other Geller aunts & cousins we've seen?
Joey's speech "I've known Monica & Chandler for a long time, and I can not imagine two people more perfect for each other" was indeed similar to what he said in 716 "TOW the Truth About London", part of which was "you guys are perfect for each other", while he did not mention having & giving or sharing & receiving.
And when Chandler abandoned his prepared vows, don't forget that he had stolen a copy from Monica, but Joey let her go first!
Come on, be honest, when everyone applauded, did you join in too?
---o0o---
In case anyone is in any doubt, it's quite clear that it was meant to be Rachel who is pregnant - one in the eye for all the cynics who so yawningly predicted Monica would be pregnant by the end of the season. But who is the father? Ross? That's what they want you to think, but the key word here is 'history'. Joey? The most likely, especially as he's the only one who didn't know about the baby by the end of the finale, and they deleted the scene where Rachel caught him with her knickers. Chandler? The least likely, but remember the golden rule of murder mysteries. Officer Hanson? Nah. Mr.Zelner? Could be. That guy whose name escapes me? Hope not, and 3 months is a *long* time.
What will happen next? She *could* have the baby, but sadly that seems the least likely option with at least one season still to go. She could have an abortion, or a miscarriage, or the pregnancy test could turn out to be faulty (especially if it had been in the trash for too long), or it could even belong to somebody else - like cousin Marie, or Nora got Charles drunk, or Nora & Ross, or even Judy after getting her wicked way with Gunther. My best guess is that at the moment, *nobody* knows, since it depends upon Jennifer & Brad Pitt, as well as Lisa & Michel Stern and Courteney & David Arquette - reality bites...
Finally I would like to thank everyone who posted so delicately to my review of part 1, such that nothing was spoilt for me in part 2. But no spoilers PLEASE about Season 8...
Tennant Stuart