Containing the requisite SPOILER SPACE
SPOILER SPACE
SPOILER SPACE
An uneven episode, where some very large logical holes are offset by many very funny lines and a few very sweet moments. On the whole, I liked this episode more than any Friends episode I've seen in some time, though it still does not compare to the early days.
If this episode has one major flaw, it derives from a fundamentally contrived structure. The events had to play out the way they did so that Rachel and Ross would be physically removed from each other for the entire episode, and to draw out the suspense of the father's identity for as long as possible. To achieve this end, we had several characters doing strange things that were actually kind of out of character. (And two who were, wonderfully, beautifully in character, but more on that later.)
Monica's behavior as a wife is both contrary to what we might expect and very unflattering to her. Even though I am not a particular C&M aficianado, and no fan of CCA at all, I really prefer to buy into the idea that Chandler and Monica have married each other because they want to be together. Certainly that appeared to be the case the day they nearly raced each other into a Vegas chapel two years ago; Monica's attention was on being with Chandler, not on Being a Bride. Here we are led to believe that once the spotlight is off Monica there lingers no residual excitement or joy over the fact that she will spend her life with him, or even residual satisfaction that she proved Judy wrong. As one who has been a bride, this left a pretty sour taste in my mouth. I think it was out of character; at the very least, Monica should be the type of person who spends the entire next episode after her wedding walking up to every single person she sees and shouting "Hi! I'm glad to meet you! I'm *Mrs.* *Bing*! Yes, that's right, *Mrs.* *Chandler* *Bing*!" until everybody wants to Bing her over the head.
I also didn't think the way she opened the packages was in character. Monica is very organized, very orderly, and very correct. Monica would not tear packages open like a crazed toddler; she'd have worked out a meticulous system. The packages would be opened in alphabetical order, with her noting down exactly what was in each package and whom it was from, and then the gifts would be sorted by which cabinet or cupboard she intended to put them in - including a pile for Returns. (This one is handled by Rachel.) The gift which either came without a card, or from which the card was lost, would cause a major upheaval. Her reason for excluding Chandler? Not that she's too big a baby to wait, but because he'd want to open them up his way...like a crazed toddler... and mess up her system, and somebody might not get a thankyou note, and news of the missed thankyou note might get back to Judy, and ooooooh lordy, can't have that...
Chandler and Ross' story was both contrived and unoriginal. The scene where Ross is seen taking all the soap and stuff came right out of a Happy Days episode, and really, the idea that he stayed until the very last moment doesn't really make any sense. I think something must have gotten cut. There is also a very, very bad mistake made at the end. Monica's pouting because she's not a bride anymore, and she sees a freshly taken picture where Chandler is KISSING ANOTHER WOMAN ON HIS WEDDING DAY and this doesn't cause a problem? In a series where Ross saying the wrong name caused a huge crisis for which he was **brutally** punished the entire season by a writing staff who was (and I quote Michael Curtis) "happy Ross got his comuppance?" Here also is another logical hole: Last year, when Monica got engaged, she threw a 21 gun hissy fit because Rachel "stole her thunder" by merely kissing Ross. Here Rachel has REALLY stolen her thunder on her wedding day, and there's not a word about it. Actually, Monica's behavior is much more reasonable here, and the compassion she shows is the appropriate response - but it shows once again that these writers really just don't care in the slightest about consistency of characterization.
That's it for the bad stuff. There are certainly reasons why I did really like much of this episode. Phoebe was at her best - her absolutely, Wacky Wise Woman best. This is the Phoebe that works much better than any other, and she was just priceless. Most of her advice was quite sound, the way she expressed it was funny, and it just worked very well, right down to the point where her very reasonable educated guess about Tag blew up in her embarrassed face. She feels bad, but we don't think badly of her for making a logical mistake.
My favorite scene? Joey's proposal to Phoebe, and the joy of her acceptance, was surprisingly touching; I wish I'd been as moved by C&M's proposal. Obviously, the sweetness of that lovely scene is undercut by the fact that he made the same speech to Rachel, but I forgive that because the second proposal was VERY funny and it really worked. So did Phoebe's reaction. I do, for better or worse, suspect that the writers were indeed trying the idea of an eventual Phoebe/Joey hookup on for size to see if it would work or overload the show with couples.
David Schwimmer is a good director. I think the staging and the pace went very well, and the timing of the scenes clipped in such a way that one might almost not realize that the identity of the father was screaming at us two thirds of the way through the show. (When the audience realizes that Ross is the only person who doesn't know, who else could the father possibly be?) And I leave by pointing out the last logical hole in the show; Rachel at one point discusses the possibility of not telling the father, and furthermore behaves as if she does not know whether or not he would be willing to be involved in the babies' life. Um, how exactly can she avoid either? Ross sees her all the time, he has been in and out of love with her for years, and his devotion to his first child is documented. How exactly was she going to keep Ross from learning about his child, and what on earth made her think this development wasn't going to make him try to be more involved in her life?
But yet, it was a good episode. Good cast. Lots of good laugh lines. Good writing *in places*. Good director. This is at least OK.