The One With the Birth Mother

Thursday, 8 January 2004

Monica and Chandler meet a pregnant woman in Ohio who has picked them from the wrong file, believing they are a doctor and a reverend, and they have to decide whether to confess.

What happens

• Monica and Chandler set off for Ohio to meet the woman carrying the baby they hope to adopt, and Monica drops her own rule about not getting her hopes up.
• Erica tells Monica and Chandler how impressed she is that he is a doctor and she is a reverend, and Monica plays along rather than correct her.
• Joey tells Phoebe he will not call her friend Sarah again, because Sarah ordered a salad and then ate his fries.
• Phoebe talks Joey into a second date by suggesting he order extra food as a buffer, and he warms to the idea.
• Chandler works out that the agency's anonymous file system caused the mix-up, and Erica announces she has already chosen them.
• Rachel picks out clothes for Ross's date while he waits outside the store, then carries home the wrong bag, and Ross turns up at Central Perk in a woman's shirt.
• Chandler refuses to sign the adoption papers under a false identity, and Monica accepts that Erica deserves the truth.
• Ross's date takes off her coat to reveal the identical shirt, and the two of them leave in opposite directions.
• Monica and Chandler admit they are a chef and an advertising executive from New York, and Erica calls the adoption off.
• Chandler catches Erica in the corridor and tells her Monica is already a mother without a baby, and Erica changes her mind.