The One With Phoebe's Rats

"The One With Phoebe's Rats" is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of Friends, which aired on January 16, 2003.

Plot

Rachel and Ross hire Molly, a very hot nanny. Joey's natural instincts go crazy when he sees her, and wants to have sex with her, but Ross and Chandler don't want him to. The two have a hard time driving Joey off her, but she does pretty well by herself when she introduces them to Tabitha, her girlfriend, some days later.

Mike is disgusted to find a rat in Phoebe's flat. He sets up traps all over the place, managing to kill Bob. Phoebe finds out how Bob, actually a female rat, has had babies, and to make up for her death, she and Mike take care of the babies, even taking them to Rachel's birthday party in Monica's apartment.

Rachel still finds her new colleague Gavin immature and a big jerk, but invites him to her birthday party nonetheless. The party is not really going well, as everyone's home by 9:30, but Gavin still shows up. When he does at the balcony, he brings Rachel a scarf, and he explains how he has feelings for her. Rachel's about to start criticizing him all over again, but he surprises her by kissing her. Not thinking that it would bring really tragic consequences, Rachel kisses him again. Little does she know that Ross is watching everything from his apartment, saddening him, breaking his heart.

Cast and Crew

Main Cast

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

Supporting Cast

Paul Rudd - Mike Hannigan
Dermot Mulroney - Gavin Mitchell
Melissa George - Molly
Carly Thomas - Tabitha
Cheryl Kennard - Heather

Crew

Directed By:
Ben Weiss

Written By:
Dana Klein Borkow, Brian Buckner & Sebastion Jones

Trivia

General

This is the fifth and final time the gang celebrate Rachel's birthday, following "The One Where Rachel Finds Out" (S1E24), "The One With The Two Parties" (S2E22), "The One Where Rachel Smokes" (S5E18) and "The One Where They All Turn Thirty" (S7E14)
They are having a birthday party for Rachel in this episode, which is set in the winter. Rachel's birthday is in May. Also, in The One With Chandler's Dad, the cop guesses that Rachel's an Aquarius, which is nowhere close to the May signs of Taurus and Gemini.
Rachel's name is spelled 'Rachel Greene' on her office door. The correct spelling of her name is 'Rachel Green'.
When Phoebe is discussing Bob the rat with Mike in her apartment, Phoebe is wearing the same necklace that Monica wore to her birthday dinner in "The One With Phoebe's Birthday Dinner".
In the uncut DVD version, Chandler says that Molly is the most beautiful woman in the world. Monica then replies with, "I can hear you!" from inside the apartment, and he replies with, "Can you set my pillow and blanket on the couch for me, please?"
This episode hints that Ross still loves Rachel - he looks extremely heartbroken when he sees her kissing Gavin.
When Mike and Phoebe hear Bob being killed by the trap, the audience slightly gasp, and you can hear someone saying "Oh no".

Goofs

When Joey and Chandler sing 'happy birthday' to Rachel, she tells them to be quiet because Gunther is going to want to hug her. However, he already knows her birthday as he asked Rachel in "The One With Joey's New Girlfriend" (S4E5).

The big white plastic dog which Joey gave to Chandler had drawn-up black eyes and a red mouth (since The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister). However, in the scene with Rachel and Gavin in the balcony at the end of the episode, the dog is completely white and bears no evidence of ever being drawn upon.
When Rachel open the box with Phoebe's rats, which she thought it was shoes, Monica gets up from the couch, scared. In the next take, she's sitting.
When Rachel first enters the office and goes to apologize to Gavin, Dermot Mulroney has his wedding ring on. When the camera zooms back to him in the middle of the conversation, the wedding ring is gone.

Episode Navigation

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Preceded by "The One Where Rachel Goes Back To Work"	Season Nine Episodes	Followed by "The One Where Monica Sings"


<< Season 8		Season 9				Season 10 >>
#01	"The One Where No One Proposes"		#09	"The One With Rachel's Phone Number"	#17	"The One With The Memorial Service"
#02	"The One Where Emma Cries"		#10	"The One With Christmas In Tulsa"	#18	"The One With The Lottery"
#03	"The One With The Pediatrician"		#11	"The One Where Rachel Goes Back To Work"	#19	"The One With Rachel's Dream"
#04	"The One With The Sharks"		#12	"The One With Phoebe's Rats"	#20	"The One With The Soap Opera Party"
#05	"The One With Phoebe's Birthday Dinner"		#13	"The One Where Monica Sings"	#21	"The One With The Fertility Test"
#06	"The One With The Male Nanny"		#14	"The One With The Blind Dates"	#22	"The One With The Donor"
#07	"The One With Ross' Inappropriate Song"		#15	"The One With The Mugging"	#23	"The One In Barbados, Part 1"
#08	"The One With Rachel's Other Sister"		#16	"The One With The Boob Job"	#24	"The One In Barbados, Part 2"