The One Where The Monkey Gets Away

"The One Where The Monkey Gets Away"
Season	1x19
Episode no.	19
Written by	Jeff Astrof Mike Sikowitz
Directed by	Peter Bonerz
Guest stars	Mitchell Whitfield - Barry Farber Megan Cavanagh - Luisa Larry Hankin - Mr. Heckles Angela Visser - Samantha Elizabeth Sjoli - Tia James Michael Tyler - Gunther (uncredited)
Original airdate	March 9, 1995
Episode List
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Next →	"The One With The Evil Orthodontist"

"The One Where The Monkey Gets Away" is the nineteenth episode of the first season of Friends, which aired on on March 9, 1995.

Plot

Rachel gets to know that her ex-fiancé, Barry, is marrying her best friend Mindy. This starts sprouting doubts in her whether she made the right decision breaking up with him.

Ross leaves Marcel with Rachel the next day, but he gets away as Rachel takes out Marcel's poop. She gets everyone looking for him before Ross finds out. At the same time, Ross is planning to tell Rachel of his feelings. When he tries to do so, Rachel is in no mood to talk about such matters, as she's worried to death about the monkey's getaway. Ross gets to know that Marcel has gotten away. He's furious with Rachel for losing the monkey, and gets even madder when she tells him she called Animal Control to look for him. He points out that as Marcel is an illegal exotic, they'll take the monkey away from him as soon as they find him.

The Animal Control personnel turns out to be Luisa, an old acquaintance of Monica and Rachel, as they used to share a common room in high school. Unluckily, Luisa also remembers the hard times she had to get through by Rachel the prom queen (Monica, being fat, had her own problems and couldn't help Luisa out). Because of this, Luisa decides to confiscate the animal instead of helping her old schoolmates out.

The friends' search for the monkey does not go well - Joey and Chandler lose the chance to hang out with two beautiful hot women in the building. Meanwhile, Phoebe and Monica manage to find Marcel in the basement. At the same time, Luisa finds the monkey too, and fires a tranquillizing dart in his direction. Phoebe intercepts the dart, which hits her in the butt, letting Marcel escape again.

Ross and Rachel, still arguing about the monkey's getaway, decide to search the one apartment they haven't looked at yet - Heckles'. Heckles (who has been previously shown to have an extremely possessive nature) turns out to have captured Marcel, and dresses him up in a pink tutu to disguise him. Ross and the friends, however, know that it's Marcel, but just as they are to get him back, Luisa reappears and captures Marcel in a cage. Having to acknowledge the fact that compromise with Luisa won't work amicably, Rachel resorts to blackmailing her by reporting her shooting a human with a tranquillizer dart, which makes Luisa relinquish Marcel to Ross.

Ross, who has forgiven Rachel for her carelessness with Marcel, tries to resume the conversation about his feelings. Just as he's about to tell her, Barry walks in on them. He tells Rachel that he's still in love with her and can't marry Mindy because of this.

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

Mitchell Whitfield - Barry Farber
Megan Cavanagh - Luisa
Larry Hankin - Mr. Heckles
Angela Vissr - Samantha
Elizabeth Sjoli - Tia
James Michael Tyler - Gunther (uncredited)

Crew

Directed By:
Peter Bonerz

Written By:
Jeff Astrof & Mike Sikowitz

Trivia

• In the uncut DVD version of the episode, Joey asks Mr. Heckles if he can have his butt-magnifying glass, which Joey later takes for himself in The One Where Heckles Dies" (S2E3).
• Mr. Heckles dresses Marcel in a pink tutu. The monkey that plays Marcel is in fact a female monkey named Katie.
• It is revealed that Monica, Rachel and Ross all attended Lincoln High School.

Goofs

• When Monica checks the magazine she folds it, but when she says "lucky" it's not.
• After Marcel has escaped from the basement, he is seen eating a banana as a pair of arms reach out to grab him. These arms are supposed to belong to Mr Heckles, their weird neighbour, however the arms clearly belong to a young, large and hair free woman.

Episode Navigation

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Preceded by "The One With All The Poker"

"The One Where The Monkey Gets Away"

Followed by "The One With The Evil Orthodontist"

1. "The Pilot"
2. "The One With The Sonogram At The End"
3. "The One With The Thumb"
4. "The One With George Stephanopoulos"
5. "The One With The East German Laundry Detergent"
6. "The One With The Butt"
7. "The One With The Blackout"
8. "The One Where Nana Dies Twice"
9. "The One Where Underdog Gets Away"
10. "The One With The Monkey"
11. "The One With Mrs. Bing"
12. "The One With The Dozen Lasagnas"
13. "The One With The Boobies"
14. "The One With The Candy Hearts"
15. "The One With The Stoned Guy"
16. "The One With Two Parts, Part 1"
17. "The One With Two Parts, Part 2"
18. "The One With All The Poker"
19. "The One Where The Monkey Gets Away"
20. "The One With The Evil Orthodontist"
21. "The One With The Fake Monica"
22. "The One With The Ick Factor"
23. "The One With The Birth"
24. "The One Where Rachel Finds Out"