The One With the Blackout

Thursday, 3 November 1994

A citywide blackout locks Chandler in a bank vestibule with a lingerie model while Ross keeps failing to tell Rachel how he feels, and she ends the night with a stranger named Paolo instead.

What happens

• A blackout cuts off Phoebe's set at Central Perk and seals Chandler inside a bank's ATM vestibule.
• Chandler works out that the woman shut in with him is the model Jill Goodacre.
• Rachel admits that Barry never gave her any real passion, and Ross assures her that passion is coming for her.
• Joey warns Ross that he has waited so long that Rachel now sees him only as a friend, and pushes him to ask her out tonight.
• Joey blocks Monica from going outside by inventing a surprise party, and Phoebe's protest at always being told last reveals that Monica once had a crush on Joey.
• Ross starts his confession on the balcony, but a stray kitten drops onto him before he can say it.
• Rachel tracks down the kitten's owner and returns with Paolo, an Italian neighbour who speaks almost no English.
• Chandler chokes on a piece of gum and Jill saves him with the Heimlich manoeuvre.
• Ross tells Paolo that he and Rachel are involved, then insults him using a word Paolo cannot understand.
• The power returns, Jill kisses Chandler goodbye, and Chandler asks the bank to send him the security footage.