Friends Episode Review: “The One with Rachel’s Sister”

My wife and I had a chance to watch this episode a couple days ago on Netflix while trying to get tired enough to go to bed and, while the original description made it sound a little dull, this wound up being a very funny episode.

The part with Ross and Jill seems to just be getting started and, while Witherspoon did an excellent job and there were some funny moments (mostly relating to Rachel inadvertently giving her sister a reason to date Ross in the first place), I have a feeling this story is just getting started and won’t truly be funny for at least another episode or two.

The story about Monica being sick, however, was probably one of the most memorable stories I’ve seen from this series so far. It was funny enough watching her try to convince her friends she wasn’t sick, despite coughing and sneezing constantly. However, when she took things up a notch and went out of her way to seduce Chandler, despite being as unsexy as possible, I thought it was hilarious, especially when he finally caved in at the most unbelievable time (and funniest reason too).

Another thing I liked about this episode was Joey (Matt LeBlanc) using his new waiter job as a way to pick up women by wooing them with free food. This part of the episode was somewhat predictable, both when he got in trouble with it and when he tried to use the coffee shop’s free food on your birthday policy to his advantage. However, despite the predictability, it was surprisingly funny, partly because LeBlanc, true to form, sold it so well, especially when he shut down all of his friends with the exception (of course) of Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow).

As I said before, when we first started watching this episode, I wasn’t really sure what to think of it. However, it turned out to be much funnier than I expected, especially the parts with Monica and Chandler. We enjoyed the episode as a result and it’s one I would recommend if you haven’t seen it before.

My Grade: A