The One With the Baby Shower

Thursday, 25 April 2002

Monica and Phoebe forget to invite Rachel's mother to the baby shower, and once Mrs. Green arrives she offers to move in for eight weeks, while Joey auditions to host a game show.

What happens

• Monica and Phoebe realize they never sent Rachel's mother an invitation, and Monica's apologetic phone call fails to fool Mrs. Green about the reason.
• Joey turns down basketball because he is auditioning to host a game show called Bamboozled, and he recruits Ross and Chandler as practice contestants.
• Mrs. Green presses Rachel about hiring a nanny, learns that Rachel cannot afford one, and announces that she will move in to help instead.
• Rachel tells Monica and Phoebe that eight weeks with her mother is unbearable, and Monica urges her to refuse, privately hoping to inherit Mrs. Green's affection.
• The gift opening exposes how little Rachel knows about babies, so she calls off the presents and begs her mother not to leave.
• Ross and Chandler turn Joey's practice round into a genuine contest, and Chandler loses on a Google card but ends up loving the game.
• At the audition the producer tells Joey that the wheel and the cards have been cut for being too confusing, and Joey accepts the stripped-down show once he hears about the women holding the scores.
• Mrs. Green starts redecorating Ross and Rachel's apartment, so Ross argues that he already raised Ben alone and wants to care for this baby himself, and Mrs. Green agrees she is not needed.
• Ross reminds Rachel how far she has come since arriving in the city on her father's credit card, and tells her she will be a good mother.
• Phoebe talks Monica into confronting Mrs. Green about her rudeness, and Monica does, then immediately chases her into the hall to apologize and falls down the stairs.