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"The One With The Breast Milk" is the second episode of the second season of Friends, which aired on September 28, 1995. Ross is disgusted with breast milk, Monica goes shopping with Julie, and Joey deals with competition at work.

Plot[]

At Monica's apartment, Joey and Chandler experience an uncomfortable situation when Carol breastfeeds Ben right in front of them. Although not uncomfortable with breastfeeding, Ross (together with Rachel and Chandler) finds the idea of tasting it nasty, and he is disgusted when Phoebe and Joey taste it. However, when he discovers that Susan has tasted it too, Ross is challenged by her and tries to taste the milk too; but as Carol expected, he's not up to the task.

Meanwhile, Julie needs to abuse the discount of a friend of hers at Bloomingdale's, and Monica agrees to go with her. Chandler and Phoebe discourage her, as Rachel will probably get furious when she finds out, so Monica tries to cover it up by telling Rachel that she went shopping with Phoebe.

The next day, Rachel finds Monica's lunch bill in the pocket of her jacket. Monica ends up revealing how she went shopping and had lunch with Julie, which as she suspected, freaks Rachel out. Rachel stops talking to Monica for what she did, and explains to Monica how Julie has not only stolen her potential boyfriend, but is now stealing her too. Monica dissuades this by telling Rachel that no one could steal her from her best friend. They make up and hug in a tearful reconciliation, which Phoebe joins in. Monica convinces Rachel that if she got to know her, she might see that Julie's not the worst and is quite nice. Rachel talks with Julie, who finds her intimidating and got the impression that she doesn't like her. Rachel pretends to make nice with Julie, but once she's gone, Rachel decides that Julie's 'kindness' is fake and manipulative, as Rachel still can't cope with the idea of Ross being happy with a woman other than herself.

At his day job as a cologne spritzer, Joey faces work problems when a tall macho cowboy known simply as "The Hombre Man" steals his territory and his clients. He's even more annoyed by him when he steals a potential date, Annabel, from him. The Hombre Man is so good that the manager gives Joey a new cowboy costume to win customers Hombre-style. He and Chandler discuss the problem, and Chandler encourages Joey to face his fears and show The Hombre Man who's the better man. The next day, Joey and The Hombre Man wait for the doors to open and for their spritzing duel to commence. The Hombre Man is faster than Joey, but he spritzes the first cologne sample directly in the eyes of the first customer. The Hombre Man breaks his stoic character and apologizes profusely, while the manager yells at him, where we learn his name is Todd. Joey, feeling redeemed, finally goes out with Annabel.

After a long time, Ross gets himself to taste the breast milk, although not without gulping it down with half-a-dozen Oreo cookies.

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[]

Lauren Tom- Julie
Jane Sibbett - Carol Willick
Jessica Hecht - Susan Bunch
Joel Beeson - The Hombre Man
Emily Procter - Annabel
Richard Lyons - Man
Stan Sellers - Manager
Lou Wills - Customer
Alex Spencer - Girl #1 (uncredited)
James Michael Tyler - Gunther (uncredited)

Crew[]

Directed By:
Michael Lembeck

Written By:
Adam Chase & Ira Ungerleider

Trivia[]

  • Julie's hair is much shorter in this episode after Rachel sabotaged her haircut when Phoebe offered to cut it for her in the previous episode.
  • Monica goes shopping with Julie at Bloomingdale's, where Rachel goes on to work at in season 3.
  • Monica tells Phoebe to say they went shopping and she had a salad for lunch. In an interview on Oprah prior to "The Last One", Jennifer, Lisa and Courteney disclose they had a Cobb salad for lunch every day during the 10 year series run.
  • Technically the first, though not only, time Rachel is cheated on by a Geller.
  • When Julie tells Rachel she's intimidated by her, a sly smile appears across Rachel's face but is saddened when Julie states Ross is crazy about her (Rachel), Julie not knowing that Rachel already knows.
  • The store where Joey works is Saks Fifth Avenue which is where Rachel had her unsuccessful interview in "The One With All The Poker".
  • Joey will see another mother breastfeeding years later when he accidentally sees Rachel breastfeeding Emma.
  • The music during the showdown scene is known in Mexico as "La Música Durante la Escena del Enfrentamiento".
  • When this episode was first aired on BBC Two in January 2001 and in the BBC repeat runs, the whole scene opening teaser is skipped entirely, and starts with the opening credits. You can still hear a bit of the studio audience laugh track before the theme song begins.

Goofs[]

  • When Rachel, Ross and Chandler are being freaked out by Phoebe and Joey, Phoebe's position relative to Rachel changes between shots.
  • When Monica puts the phone down after speaking to Julie, she says it was Eddie Moskowitz and Rachel turns away puzzled. The shot changes to another camera and Rachel turns away puzzled again.
  • When Rachel and Monica hug for the first time, an extra can be seen turning away from the counter; then they hug again and the same extra is turning away from the counter the opposite way.
  • In the final scene in the department store, the manager opens the doors and the customer enters and takes a few steps forward but a few shots on we see a long shot of Joey and Todd and the customer is entering the doors again.
  • When Rachel, Ross, and Chandler are being freaked out by Phoebe and Joey, Rachel jumps out of her chair twice.
  • Just after the opening credits sequence, there is a 4-second night view of the city. All cars and trucks on the streets are driving backwards.
  • In the scene when Phoebe tastes the milk Ross is holding the baby in one hand and the milk bottle in the other. He brings the baby without a pacifier, then in different shots the baby has a pacifier in his mouth, then doesn't have it, than has it again.
  • When the shot shows Rachel watching Julie and Ross kiss, there is a picture to Rachel's right showing four scantily clad women, one of whom appears to have a bare breast showing.
  • Chandler puts the spatula down twice.

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 With Ross' New Girlfriend"
"The One With The Breast Milk" Followed by
"The One Where Heckles Dies"
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