Friends Central
Register
Advertisement

"The One With The Girl Who Hits Joey" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of Friends, which aired on February 18, 1999. When Joey starts dating Katie, he finds she packs a painful punch. Ross has trouble making friends with his new neighbors.

Plot[]

TOWTGirlWhoHitsJoey-Rossfindsout

Ross finds out about Monica and Chandler.

Having learned of the relationship between Monica and Chandler by seeing them going at it from the window of his new apartment, Ross confronts them angrily. He is furious at Chandler at first, mistakenly thinking the latter's taking advantage of his sister, but his anger vanishes on the spot when they tell him that they are in a serious relationship. Since he is the last of the friends to discover the relationship, Chandler and Monica don't have to hide anything anymore, and they quickly become a much-discussed subject of talks in the group. Things with Monica and Chandler start to go wrong when he starts to freak out about the relationship when his friends start to make long-term-relationship jokes, such as he and Monica getting married and having kids and having Ross as a brother-in-law.

The friends also get to meet Joey's new girlfriend, Katie, a very nice and cheerful young woman with a wacky personality who unfortunately for Joey is also constantly energetic - so energetic, in fact, that she keeps playfully punching his arm, only as a little girly banter in her mind, but he finds this insufferable because she's rather strong and keeps accidentally hurting him. She thinks he's only joking when he actually tells her this (most likely because of the ridiculous way in which he does, although she does seem to be rather oblivious to the fact that she's hurting him). When he decides to break up with her, he wears six sweaters on top of each other to cushion the punches. Rachel experiences first hand Katie's punches and retaliates in anger by kicking Katie's ankle, hurting Katie, who is furious and demands that Joey stick up for her. He refuses, however, and she breaks up with him, much to his delight as he hugs Rachel as thanks for sparing him the pain.

TOWTGirlWhoHitsJoey-Rossaccepts

Ross accepts Monica and Chandler's love.

At his new apartment, Ross receives a visit from Phoebe with an assortment of house-warming gifts worthy of her fantasy. At the same time, the president of the tenants committee, Steve, greets Ross and tells him of Howard, the retiring handyman, explaining that a party in Howard's honor will be thrown soon. When Ross reasonably refuses to contribute $100 for the handyman he has never even met, Steve thinks that Ross is a cheapskate, Steve misunderstands and gets the impression that Ross is a cheapskate. He depicts Ross as this and vilifies him with everyone in the apartment block, causing them all to hate him. Annoyed by this, he tries to organize a party for everyone to explain the reason behind the refusal, but ends up going to the party everyone's having for Howard. He's even more surprised to find Phoebe there, especially when he finds out that she chipped in the $100 and that everyone likes her. Things go even worse for him when he unknowingly cuts and eats Howard's cake. Just as he's about to be kicked out of the party, Phoebe jumps in to defend Ross, but ends up criticizing and insulting her new friends, who kick both her and Ross out of the party unceremoniously.

5x15 Proposal

Chandler proposes in a last ditch effort to make Monica forgive him.

When Chandler talks to Monica about all the jokes the friends have kept making, he makes the immature mistake of trying to pass off their relationship as "casual". Monica gets angry with him and storms out, avoiding him when the two get within talking range. When he insists on speaking to her, she tells him to start figuring out how to solve their relationship problems for himself. Now in a desperate situation, Chandler tries to make up with her by taking Ross and Joey's advice of making a big gesture. What he manages to do, however, is screw up again - this time in a good but very unnatural sense - by proposing to Monica in front of everyone just to say sorry. Monica graciously turns him down (much to Chandler's relief) and takes the relationship-problem-solving responsibilities back.

In the epilogue, Ross makes jokes about how Chandler apologized by proposing, but then ruins it by doing it on Rachel.

Cast and Crew[]

Main Cast[]

Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene
Courteney Cox - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller

Supporting Cast[]

Willie Garson - Steve
Soleil Moon Frye - Katie
David Dalton - Guest #1
Linde Gibb - Guest #2
Stephon Fuller - Guest #3
James Michael Tyler - Gunther

Crew[]

Directed By:
Kevin S. Bright

Written By:
Adam Chase

Quotes[]

  • Ross: Chandler!!! Chandler!!! (He opens the door to the apartment but is stopped by the chain; Chandler and Monica quickly stop making out and try to get dressed.) Chandler, I saw what you were doing through the window! Chandler, I saw what you were doing to my sister! Now get out here!
  • Chandler: (To Monica) Wow! Listen, we had a good run. What was it? Four? Five months? I mean, that's more than most people have in a lifetime! So, good-bye, take care, bye-bye then! (He kisses her and starts to climb out the balcony window.)
  • Monica: What are you doing?!
  • Chandler: Oh, I'm going on the lamb.
  • Monica: Come on Chandler, come on, I can handle Ross. (They go to the door. Ross is trying to stick his hand through and undo the chain; Monica pushes his hand back.) (To Ross) Hold on! (She opens the door.) Hey Ross. What's up bro?
  • (Ross spots Chandler and starts chasing him around the kitchen table. Chandler runs and hides behind Monica.)
  • Ross: What the hell are you doing?!!
  • Rachel: (running from the guy's apartment with Joey in tow) Hey, what's-what's going on?!
  • Chandler: Well, I think, I think Ross knows about me and Monica.
  • Joey: (panicking) Dude! He's right there!
  • Ross: (To Chandler) I thought you were my best friend, this is my sister! My best friend and my sister! I-I cannot believe this!
  • Chandler: Look, we're not just messing around! I love her. Okay, I'm in love with her.
  • Monica: I'm so sorry that you had to find out this way. I'm sorry, but it's true, I love him too.
  • (There's a brief pause.)
  • Ross: (happily) My best friend and my sister! I cannot believe this. (He hugs them both.) (To Joey and Rachel) You guys probably wanna get some hugs in too, huh? Big news!

Trivia[]

  • When Ross hugs Joey and Rachel in the opening scene, both Joey's and Rachel's hands are under his left arm and Joey's forearm crushes Rachel's wrist. When they separate, Rachel shakes her injured wrist and mouths "ow". Incidentally this is the same wrist Rachel hurt when she ran behind the apartment door while hiding from Danny in "The One With The Inappropriate Sister " .
  • In the first scene in Central Perk, everyone in the gang is sat with the person they share a storyline with (Phoebe and Ross, Monica and Chandler, Rachel and Joey).
  • Rachel jokes to Chandler that Ross will be his brother-in-law. This actually happens happens in season 8 when Chandler and Monica marry. Monica will also become Rachel's sister-in-law at the end of the season when Rachel and Ross get married in Las Vegas.
  • After being thrown out of the party for Howard, and Ross and Phoebe are back at Ross' apartment, Phoebe is clearly holding a bag of "CHEEZ-IT Party Mix". The first letter (C) and the last letter (T) have been redacted from the bag, resulting in "HEEZ-I". The spaces for the missing letters are still visible.
  • This is the second-straight episode when Ross is portrayed as cheap. But it's justified because he just moved in and is asked to contribute $100 for someone he hasn't met.
  • In Joey and Chandler's apartment, the Magna Doodle says, inside a heart, C.B. + M.G. 4ever (Chandler Bing plus Monica Geller forever).
  • The song played in Ross' apartment for the party is the The Rockafeller Skank, performed by Fatboy Slim.
  • Ross wears a similar red sweater to the one he wears when it's revealed that he is the father of Rachel's baby in "The One With The Red Sweater" (S8E2)
  • This is the first of three proposals from Chandler to Monica. In this episode it's a misguided attempt to make her forgive him.
    • At the end of the season, he suggests they get married in Vegas in "The One In Vegas, Part 2".
    • Finally, he and Monica propose to each other at the end of season six, in the same living room as the proposal in this episode.
  • In the tag scene, Ross jokingly proposes to Rachel. At the end of this season Rachel proposes to Ross (off-screen) as revealed when they sign the divorce papers.

Goofs[]

  • When Ross is eating Howard's cake, the frosting on his face changes between camera angles.
  • In the previous episode Ugly Naked Guy's apartment was numbered 201 but in this episode it has 3B on the door, presumably because 201 would be too high for the floor it's supposed to be on. Later it is unnumbered.
  • When the guys are discussing Chandler's "big gesture" in Central Perk, the green coffee mug on the table changes to a different green mug between camera angles.
  • When Ross is putting on his name labels, he is holding a whole pack, but when he puts on the Dr. Gellar badge he only seems to have two.
  • When Chandler and Rachel are discussing the differences between him and Richard, Rachel has two utensils in her salad. The next shot when Rachel says "You're absolutely right, that makes everything different" and sits down in the recliner, there's only one utensil in her salad.
  • In the first coffeehouse scene, Chandler says "Big zero-gravity Moon steps". The gravity on the Moon, although smaller than on Earth, is 1.625 m/s2 and not zero; it is sufficiently strong to cause ocean tides experienced on Earth.

Photos[]

External links[]

Episode Navigation[]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Preceded by
"The One Where Everybody Finds Out"
"The One With The Girl Who Hits Joey" Followed by
"The One With The Cop"
Advertisement