The One At The Beach

"The One At The Beach" is the twenty-fifth episode and season finale of the third season of Friends, which aired on May 15, 1997.

Plot

Phoebe finds a photo with her mother's writing and tracks down a woman in Montauk who may know where her father is. Because of this, everyone heads to the beach with Phoebe for the weekend. Ross' girlfriend Bonnie, however, has to stay behind as she is working.

At the beach house the gang discovers the floor has been completely covered in sand and Phoebe casually mentions that the massage client who loaned her the house "might have said there was some flood damage." There's no source of entertainment, so the guys resort to playing "Strip Happy Days." Monica notices that Rachel is flirting with Ross -- attempting to paint his nails and serving him margaritas. Rachel confirms that she is hoping they will get back together. Rachel's plans, already interrupted by Phoebe's entrance earlier, are again interrupted with the sudden, unexpected arrival of Bonnie at the beach house.

Phoebe finds her namesake, Phoebe Abbott, who according to her mother Lily's writing, is her late parent's best friend. She seems to know Frank, Phoebe's father, but is reluctant to give Phoebe any more information about him. When Phoebe breaks in Abbott's house to look for information about Frank, she wakes Abbott up. Abbott finds Phoebe's thirst for knowledge uncanny and reveals a secret to her - she is, in fact, her birth mother.

At the house, Chandler keeps nagging Monica into considering him to be her boyfriend; Monica, however, can't find enough "boyfriend material" in Chandler to take the offer seriously. Meanwhile, Bonnie takes advantage of the now-clear weather to have a swim but is annoyed by the sand she has in her hair. Rachel takes the chance to suggest to Bonnie to shave her head, which Bonnie does, reducing her head to a round, shiny, hairless dome. Everyone is shocked by Bonnie's new appearance, especially Ross. He asks for an explanation to this, and Bonnie reveals Rachel as to being behind the whole shave-the-head idea. Ross is angry at Rachel, but his anger dissolves into nothing when he learns that Rachel did this because she's still in love with him. The two kiss, but are interrupted by Joey and Chandler. The guys point out to him that it's his chance to get back together with Rachel; but Ross likes Bonnie too much to dismiss her in such a crude manner. The episode concludes with Ross climbing the stairs and then trying to decide whether to enter a door that will lead to Rachel's room, or a door that will lead to Bonnie's. As he opens one of the two doors without it being specified whose room he has entered, the screen fades to black.

Cast and Crew

Main Cast

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

Supporting Cast

Christine Taylor- Bonnie
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
Teri Garr - Phoebe Abbott

Crew

Directed By:
Shelley Jensen

Written By:
Wil Calhoun

Trivia

With this episode all of the six friends' mothers have appeared at least once.
Chandler says, as a joke, that he was abducted by Rachel's hat and can't have children. As we find out in the season nine episode The One With The Fertility Test, he actually is infertile.
This is the second time that Chandler brings up the possibility to be with Monica. The first time, in The One With The Birth, is when Chandler suggests to Monica they be each other's back-up spouses.
This is one of the few episodes that doesn't start with "The One With..." or "The One Where...".
No shots of Monica's apartment are featured in this episode - this is one of the rare times this happens.
This is also the last of season finales with normal episode length. As of Season 4, the final episode of each season is lengthened to 1 hour (including commercials).
12 months after this episode, Ross will marry Emily and Rachel will realise she's still in love with Ross.
Ross asks Rachel if she's trying to get him drunk. Two years after this episode they will both get drunk and married in Las Vegas.
This is the last time Ross will openly admit to Rachel to still being in love with her (though it's hinted in many episodes he still does love her) until The Last One Part Two (S10E18).

Goofs

When the six friends arrive at the beach house, the sand inside is all wet due to "flood damage". A few seconds later the sand's dry.
When Joey wakes up covered in sand, his "right boob" has a big crack. However when the camera angle changes, the crack is gone.
When Rachel is telling Ross that she is still in love with him, her hair keeps changing from behind her ear to down when the camera changes angles.
You can see the door Phoebe Abbott walked in through open again when Phoebe Abbott and Phoebe Buffay are talking after she broke into her house.
When Phoebe Senior says "There's cookies on the counter", Phoebe Junior goes to the counter, opens a porcelain dog and takes out a cookie. She couldn't have known that the cookies would be inside the dog.

Photos

Episode Navigation

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Preceded by "The One With The Ultimate Fighting Champion"	Series Three Episodes	Followed by "The One With The Jellyfish"


<< Season 2		Season 3				Season 4 >>
#01	"The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy"		#10	"The One Where Rachel Quits"	#19	"The One With The Tiny T-Shirt"
#02	"The One Where No One's Ready"		#11	"The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister"	#20	"The One With The Dollhouse"
#03	"The One With The Jam"		#12	"The One With All The Jealousy"	#21	"The One With A Chick And A Duck"
#04	"The One With The Metaphorical Tunnel"		#13	"The One Where Monica And Richard Are Friends"	#22	"The One With The Screamer"
#05	"The One With Frank Jr."		#14	"The One With Phoebe's Ex-Partner"	#23	"The One With Ross' Thing"
#06	"The One With The Flashback"		#15	"The One Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break"	#24	"The One With The Ultimate Fighting Champion"
#07	"The One With The Race Car Bed"		#16	"The One With The Morning After"	#25	"The One At The Beach"
#08	"The One With The Giant Poking Device"		#17	"The One Without The Ski Trip"
#09	"The One With The Football"		#18	"The One With The Hypnosis Tape"