The One With The Morning After

"The One With The Morning After" is the sixteenth episode of the third season of Friends, which aired on February 20, 1997.

Plot

At his apartment, Ross is still in bed, fast asleep, when he's shaken up by the voice of Chloe. As he checks the answering machine for messages, he hears a message from Rachel, saying that she loves him and that she'll drop by his apartment. Ross doesn't get rid of Chloe in time and hides her behind the door as he opens it to find Rachel standing in front of him. Ross promptly agrees to be her boyfriend again.

Ross doesn't waste any time in confessing everything that happened last night to Joey and Chandler. Chandler thinks Ross is crazy for cheating on Rachel, whilst Joey urges Ross to find out "the trail" - the list of people between the girl he slept with and the girl he doesn't want to find out what happened. Ross traces the trail from Chloe to her colleague Isaac, who has a sister Jasmine, who works with Phoebe, who is friends with Rachel. What Ross doesn't trace is the trail from Jasmine to her roommate, Gunther, who without hesitation, tells Rachel everything.

Phoebe and Monica try out Waxine from the TV commercials, but the pain is too much for them. Joey and Chandler rush to their aid, but before they can get out of the room, Rachel storms in the apartment, followed by Ross. Phoebe, Monica, Chandler and Joey stay in the room, unbeknownst to Ross and Rachel. The fight between Ross and Rachel is worse than last night's. Rachel gets even angrier with Ross - she discovers that Chloe was still in the apartment while she was there getting back together with Ross, she's furious for finding out from Gunther and she mocks Ross by trying to fantasize being with Mark in front of him.

Meanwhile, the guys eat the Waxine, which happens to be organic, but not really edible. Joey says he thinks he needs a new walk. It's late night now (actually soon 3:00 a.m. as said by Monica), and Ross is still trying to make Rachel forgive him. Just as it seems that Rachel might try to start thinking about forgiving him, he starts touching and kissing her. She slaps him away angrily and tells him to go. Ross suddenly walks towards her and tells her that there's got to be a way they can work past this. He tells her that he can't imagine his life without her and they both start crying and Ross gets down on his knees and holds Rachel. Rachel says that she used to think of Ross as somebody who would never ever hurt her, but everything has changed since now Rachel can't stop picturing Ross with Chloe and everything has changed. Ross continues to deny the end of everything between them, stating "this can't be it". Rachel sadly replies: "Then how come it is?"

Meanwhile, much later, the other four are able to get out where they find Rachel still in her clothes and sleeping on the couch and Ross is gone. Chandler asks Joey if he's done a new walk and Joey answers "No, I really have to pee."

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

Angela Featherstone - Chloe
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
Maury Ginsberg - Isaac
Cynthia Mann - Jasmine

Crew

Directed By:
James Burrows

Written By:
David Crane & Marta Kauffman

Trivia

General

This is the first time that someone utters the classic "we were on a break". However, it is Rachel who says it - Ross first uses it in the next episode.
During Ross and Rachel's breakup, the window above Monica's door is seen open later on in the scene, presumably so Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe could eavesdrop.
The definitive break-up scene was so emotional that both Schwimmer and Aniston cried after it was shot.
The set up for this episode is brought back in "The One With The Kips" (S5E5). While Ross and Rachel talk in the living room, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey are in Monica's room. It's even revealed that Joey hid a "survival kit" under the bed in case that situation happened again.
When Rachel leaves a voice message to Ross saying she will be at his apartment at 8:30, Ross looks at his wrist to check the time, expecting a watch to be there, but there was no watch. Later in the episode, Chloe admits to stealing Ross' watch, which explains why the watch was missing from his wrist earlier in the episode.
This is the final appearance of Isaac and the final physical appearance of Chloe. The latter makes one final appearance in a flashback in "The One With The Invitation" (S4E21).
The song playing at the beginning is the same song that played when Ross and Rachel had their first kiss in "The One Where Ross Finds Out" (S2E7). It also played in "The Last One, Part 2" (S10E18) when Ross and Rachel have their final on-screen kiss when they get back together.

Goofs

When Monica and Phoebe are pulling the wax strips off each other's legs, you can tell that its not really waxed on since the paper is not fully stuck to their legs. Water was probably used as it would hurt to actually have to wax the same leg every take.
When Chloe is looking for her shoes at Ross's apartment in the morning, they are not the same ones she was wearing the night before.

Episode Navigation

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Preceded by "The One Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break"	Series Three Episodes	Followed by "The One Without The Ski Trip"


<< 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"