The One Where Joey Speaks French

Thursday, 19 February 2004

Rachel's father has a heart attack, and Ross goes with her to Long Island, where he turns down her offer of sex; Joey fails a French audition, and Monica and Chandler learn Erica's baby may have two possible fathers.

What happens

• Joey asks Phoebe to teach him French for a play audition, because his résumé claims he is fluent, and Phoebe agrees to coach him.
• Rachel arrives late and tells the others that her father has had a heart attack, and Ross insists on travelling out to Long Island with her.
• Monica and Chandler bring Erica to meet the others, and Erica asks to be taken round the New York tourist sights that Chandler dreads.
• Phoebe gives up on the lessons and walks out, leaving Joey to prepare for the audition alone the day before it.
• Rachel asks Ross to stay with her and tries to kiss him, and Ross refuses on the grounds that she is upset about her father.
• Erica tells Monica and Chandler that the father is either her high school boyfriend or a second man who is in prison for killing his own father.
• Rachel confronts Ross at the hospital for turning her down, and Ross announces that the two of them will never sleep together again, just as her father wheels into earshot.
• Monica works out from what Erica did with the prisoner that he cannot be the father, so the college boyfriend is.
• Joey's audition collapses into nonsense, and Phoebe poses as a French woman to persuade the director to let him down gently.
• Rachel agrees with Ross that they should not sleep together again, then tells him at her door that it is never truly ruled out.