The One with the Embryos

"The One with the Embryos"

"The One with the Embryos" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the American television situation comedy Friends, which was broadcast on NBC on January 15, 1998. While the title refers to Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) having in-vitro fertilisation as part of the on-going storyline designed to cover up the actress's pregnancy, the episode is best remembered for the trivia game played by the other characters, and was ranked #21 on TV Guide's list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".

The episode was directed by Kevin S. Bright and written by Jill Condon and Amy Toomin. It frequently ranks amongst the series' best episodes in polls. Giovanni Ribisi and Debra Jo Rupp reprise their recurring characters Frank Jr. and Alice Knight.

Plot

The episode begins early in the morning, to the sound of a rooster crowing. Monica and a very cranky Rachel go over to Chandler and Joey's to find out what the sound is, and it turns out that the chick is becoming a rooster.

Later that morning Phoebe goes to the doctor to find out if she is ready to be implanted with Frank and Alice's embryo. As she leaves Monica and Joey return from doing laundry and they are in the middle of a dispute. They are debating whether Chandler and Joey know Monica and Rachel better than the girls know them. The guys claim that they can name all five items in Rachel's shopping bag in six guesses. When they manage to do so Monica calls for a rematch. Ross agrees to make questions for the game.

At the doctor's office Phoebe finds out she is ready for implantation, and that it's actually not one embryo but five. However even with five there's only a 25% chance of success and the whole process costs Frank and Alice $16000.

The game is ready to begin. Ross has made five categories with questions and whoever gets the most questions right will win. Both teams start out by getting a question right, however the girls miss their second question and the guys are in the lead.

At the hospital Phoebe gives a pep talk to the embryos before they are implanted.

The game is almost finished, with the guys still in the lead. If the girls miss their last question the guys will win. However they get it right and Ross presents them with the lightning round. Monica and Chandler start to raise the stakes by suggesting they play for larger and larger sums of money. Rachel objects when the numbers get too big, prompting Monica to suggest that if she and Rachel win the guys have to get rid of the birds. Chandler agrees to that, but only if Monica and Rachel give up their apartment if they lose. Monica agrees to this.

A while later the lightning round begins. Chandler and Joey answer 4 questions correctly. The girls do great with their round until they are asked what Chandler does for a living. They are unable to answer that question correctly and the guys win with 4 to 3.

Later on the moving process has begun. Monica is trying to get the guys to bet on something new to win the apartment back but with no luck. Phoebe comes back and tells them how expensive the procedure is and how small the chance of success is, concluding that Frank and Alice are "literally putting all their eggs in my basket". Rachel comes in from her room and declares that she is not moving. Chandler concludes that in that case she'll have to be his and Joey's roommate.

Later still Frank Jr and Alice come over with a pregnancy test for Phoebe. She goes to take the test. The door opens and Joey and Chandler come riding in on their white dog. Rachel tells them that she thinks they are just being mean, and that she was forced by Monica to raise the stakes. Monica retorts that Rachel was the one who gave the wrong answers to the questions they missed. Chandler tells them to stop yelling in their apartment because it's ruining their moving day, causing them all to start arguing over whose apartment it really is. Their fight is interrupted by Phoebe coming out from the bathroom with a positive pregnancy test. Frank Jr declares in triumph that his sister is going to have his baby, and they all gather for a big group hug.

As the episode draws near an end Monica and Rachel begin to unpack their things in their new apartment, and they find something living in a drawer. They sadly declare that they can't believe they're living there.

Chandler and Joey on the other hand marvel at the size of the closets in their new home, and happily declare that they can't believe they're living there.

Reception

In a 2001 review, Entertainment Weekly rates the episode A+, stating that "Thanks to the trivia contest alone, Embryos is quite possibly Friends' finest moment". It singles out Rachel's line "He's a transpon-transpondster!" (in response to the question "What is Chandler Bing's job?") as the best of the episode. The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends call it a "sure-fire contender for the best episode of all time ... not one to be missed under any circumstances". In 2004 an MSNBC.com reviewer wrote that the character trivia is "revealed in a manner completely organic to the plot. Beautifully written and acted, "The One With The Embryos" encapsulates the whole series in a single episode". The episode was ranked #21 on TV Guide's list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".

The episode is the favorite of Cox and LeBlanc. Cox likes the episode because she enjoys playing Monica at her most competitive, while LeBlanc spoke fondly of the pace of the episode and the information about the characters that came out. He identified scenes that featured just the six core cast as the best, "because you don't have to introduce a character -- you don't have to lay any pipeline -- you just get right to the funny".

External links

• "The One with the Embryos" at the Internet Movie Database