The One Where Ross Dates A Student

"The One Where Ross Dates A Student" is the eighteenth episode of the sixth season of Friends, which aired on March 9, 2000.
==Plot==
Ross gets his anonymous teacher evaluations back and finds out that he has an admirer amongst his students who says he is a hottie of the paleontology department. The student, Elizabeth, asks Ross out.
There is a fire in Phoebe's apartment probably due to Phoebe's candles which has badly damaged her and Rachel's bedroom. Forced to move out while repairs are carried out, Phoebe agrees to stay with Joey since it was her candles that caused the fire while and Rachel gets to stay with Monica who is more than keen to have someone stay in her new guest room (dubbed 'Hotel Monica'). Chandler's friend Dana from college directs the new Al Pacino movie so Chandler has to take her out to get Joey an audition. However Dana recalls that she went out with this actor guy ten years ago but he never called her again after she did him a favor.
Investigators find out that the fire wasn't caused by the candles but actually by Rachel's hair iron. Therefore, Phoebe and Rachel switch apartments. Rachel is surprised to find she actually enjoys living with Joey due to his easygoing nature, while Phoebe quickly gets annoyed with Monica's constant need to impress and strict rules. Exasperated, Phoebe tries to switch apartments with Rachel, but the latter enjoys living at Joey's and declines.
Ross and Elizabeth have a great date and decide to start seeing each other, with Ross thinking that a professor dating a student is merely 'frowned upon'. Although he is still insecure because of the age difference, he decides he doesn't care what people think only to find that dating students is more than just frowned upon but could actually get him fired. Ross and Elizabeth like each other too much to stop going out and decide to keep it a secret from the faculty. Joey gets the audition but he forgets about it.
==Cast and Crew==
===Main Cast===
Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene
Courteney Cox - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller
===Supporting Cast===
Alexandra Holden - Elizabeth Stevens
Bess Meyer - Dana Keystone
Richard Roat - Burt
Greg Wrangler - Fireman #1
David Warshofsky - Fireman #2
Louisa Abernathy - Lydia
David Moreland - Mel
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
===Crew===
Directed By: 
Gary Halvorson
Written By: 
Seth Kurland
==Trivia==
===General===
* In this episode, Rachel lives with Joey, until "The One With The Secret Closet", where she moves in with Ross. She later moves back with Joey in "The One Where Monica Sings". 
*This is the first appearance of Alexandra Holden as Elizabeth Stevens in the series.
*As of this episode, all of the gang have at one point lived at Chandler and Joey's apartment;
**Chandler moved in before the events of "The Pilot" (S1E01);
**Joey also moved in before the events of "The Pilot" as shown in "The One With The Flashback" (S3E6);
**Monica and Rachel briefly lived there when they lost their apartment to Chandler and Joey in "The One With The Embryos" (S4E12) and lived there until "The One With All The Haste" (S4E19), and Rachel again lives here in this episode;
**Ross moved in after Emily's cousin kicked him out of his new apartment in "The One Where Ross Moves In" (S5E07) and lived there until "The One Where Everybody Finds Out" (S5E14), where he buys Ugly Naked Guy's apartment;
**And Phoebe briefly lives there in this episode.
*In the uncut DVD version of the episode, Rachel figures out that the smell in Joey's apartment is old shrimp.
*Ironically, when she lived there in season 4, Rachel hated Chandler and Joey's apartment, but now she actually enjoys living there. Although, what she likes here is the fact that she doesn't need to live under Monica's rules.
*This is Joey's second failed attempt at being in an Al Pacino movie. He was cast as Pacino's "butt double" for a shower scene in "The One With The Butt" (S1E06) and he ended up getting fired for overacting the role.
*In the beginning of the episode, the strange fruit that Chandler holds up to Monica (to which she replies, "I don't know.") is a Kiwano (Cucumis metuliferus, horned melon, African horned cucumber/melon, jelly melon, hedged gourd, melano).
*In this episode, Rachel wears a shirt that says "Girls" on it similar to one that Susan wears in "The One With The Metaphorical Tunnel" (S3E04), except that on Rachel's shirt the font is green, and on Susan's shirt it's purple.
*Monica and Phoebe living together proves to be as annoying to Phoebe as it had been as seen in "The One With The Flashback", both times for similar reasons.
*By this episode, both Ross and Monica have dated younger people (Monica dated Ethan in "The One With The Ick Factor")
**While Ethan was 17 and a minor, Elizabeth is over 18 and therefore not a minor. However she is his student and it is inappropriate, which is something Ross previously showed disapproval of when Joey was teaching acting.
**Rachel also dated a younger person, Josh who was a college student under 21, in "The One With Joey's New Girlfriend" but this was just to get back at Ross.
*After Rachel says "I've never lived like this", Joey imitates Monica's "I know!"
*The scene where Rachel says she wants to stay at Joey's took several takes as Lisa kept cracking up.
*This episode was used as "F is for Fire" in the Nick at Nite Friends A-Z Event (January 2023).
=== Goofs ===
*Ross is shown enjoying ice cream in this episode, when he admits to hating ice cream in "The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs", because it is too cold. He also ate ice cream with Marcel in "The One After The Superbowl".
*When Joey and Chandler are talking in the kitchen after throwing wet paper towels, a Krispy Kreme box of donuts appears and then disappears, then appears again.
*Monica wants to know how Rachel likes her eggs in the morning so she can bring her breakfast in bed, but when Phoebe and Rachel switch apartments Phoebe gets annoyed that Monica keeps making her food but makes her leave the bedroom to eat it because Monica has a rule against eating in bed. 
* When Chandler, Joey and Ross are talking about Dana Keystone from college, Ross is holding a water bottle; it disappears, then he is holding it again.
*At the beginning of the episode, when Chandler, Monica, and Phoebe are having breakfast, the colored table napkin that Chandler uses keeps on changing position while he and Joey talk about getting an audition from his former colleague in college who is now a movie director.
*In the widescreen version (viewable on Netflix) during the scene when Phoebe allows Rachel to take the room in Monica's apartment, the bedroom wall ends abruptly and you can see the kitchen screen left.
*When everyone is at Phoebe and Rachel's apartment and the fireman is asking them what might've caused the fire, his helmet switches hands between shots.
*After Rachel says, "I warned her [Phoebe] about those candles", we get an exterior transition shot, then we join Chandler in his and Monica's apartment, talking on the phone to the casting director. When Joey walks in, a boom mic appears in frame above him (Joey).
*On the DVD version, Supervising Producer Ted Cohen is credited twice.
**Once when Joey mentions that 'The last day of auditions is Thursday'; the second one is just after Chandler says 'Yeah, so Tuesday?'
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
* "The One Where Ross Dates a Student" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
Category:Friends Episodes
Category:Season 6
Category:Episodes with Ross' name in the title
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