The One With The Blind Dates

"The One With The Blind Dates" is the fourteenth episode of season nine of Friends. It aired on February 6, 2003.
==Plot==
Joey and Phoebe want Ross and Rachel to get back together, so when they ask them to set them up on blind dates, they take advantage of this and decide to set them up on terrible dates so they'll see how perfect they are for each other. Phoebe sets Rachel up with a drug addict, Steve (who previously appeared in "The One With The Stoned Guy" as a restaurant owner offering Monica a spot) and Joey sets Ross up with a history teacher. Realizing it's his perfect match, he tells the woman that the date is off, leaving Ross to be stood up. Rachel's date with Steve is a disaster when he starts insulting himself and starts to cry. Meanwhile, the waiters at the restaurant where Ross got stood up at have a pool going to see how long it takes for Ross to give up and leave, Ross finds out when a waiter offers him free crab cakes in a bid to get him to stay longer. Ross and Rachel meet up at the coffeehouse and realize Joey and Phoebe's plan and chase after them.
Chandler and Monica babysit Emma and Monica is ovulating but they can't have sex because of Emma. When Emma finally falls asleep they go in the bedroom to have sex. Joey stops by and, realizing this, takes Emma away. Joey then tells them he won't tell Rachel if they name their first born child Joey, to continue 'his family name'. 
The ending shows Ross and Joey at the restaurant trying to get free crab cakes pretending to be stood up. However, the waiter informs them that they're instead betting on to see how long it will take Steve to cry which he quickly does.
==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===
John Eric Bentley - Waiter #2
Alexandra Conley - Emma Geller-Greene
Athina Conley - Emma Geller-Greene
Jon Lovitz - Steve
Sam Pancake - The Waiter
===Crew===
Directed By: 
Gary Halvorson
Written By: 
Sherry Bilsing-Graham & Ellen Plummer
==Quotes==
*Joey: Why is the bedroom door closed?
*[Joey hears moaning inside and gets surprised]
*Joey: You can't have S.E.X when you're taking care of a B.A.B.I.E
*[Joey runs out of the room with Emma]
*[Cut to outside. Phoebe and Joey are walking down the street to Central Perk.]
*Phoebe: Now, wait a minute. So, they're gonna name their first child Joey?
*Joey: Uh-huh.
*Phoebe: How - how do I get them to name the next one after me?
*Joey: It's easy, you just walk in on them having sex.
*Phoebe: Oh, so they owe me like, three Phoebes.
*(Phoebe sees Rachel and Ross through the window.)
*Phoebe: Oh my god! Look, it's Ross and Rachel. Oh, the plan is working.
*(Joey does the "plan-laugh.")
*Phoebe: Don't, don't do the plan-laugh.
*[Cut to inside Central Perk.]
*Ross: The first dates we've had in months, and they were both such disasters.
*Rachel: Oh. Huh. You know, it is weird that Phoebe would set me up on a date that was awful on the same night that Joey set you up on a date that didn't even show.
*Ross: Wait a minute; you don't think it was intentional? I mean, that's just stupid.
*[Cut to outside Central Perk.]
*Joey: We're geniuses! Yeah, look at them, look at them, they're really bonding.
*Phoebe: Oh, yeah, they're falling in love all over again.
*(Rachel and Ross turn around and look at Phoebe and Joey with puzzled expressions on their faces.)
*Phoebe: Oh, they see us! Oh, they, they look mad. Oh, they figured it out. They're coming this way. Run!
*Joey: Where?
*Phoebe: Mexico!
*(They run down the street with Ross and Rachel following right behind them.)
==Trivia==
=== General ===
* Steve, played by Jon Lovitz, first appeared in "The One With The Stoned Guy" (S1E15). He does not reappear for a span of 193 episodes, the longest of any character on the show. Rachel does not seem to remember him, despite waitressing for him at Monica's apartment. However, Rachel only met him once for less than an hour, so it would be understandable that she wouldn't remember him after almost nine years.
*This is the second appearance of Sam Pancake as a waiter. He previously appeared in "The One Where Joey Tells Rachel" (S8E16).
*The restaurant where Ross waits for his date is Delmonico's Steak House. This is located in Beaver Street, Manhattan.
*It's revealed that Rachel (and Ross) have seen Joey naked in the morning as they say "hey, you're not naked". Rachel previously saw Joey naked in "The One With The Boobies" though she was looking for Chandler.
*This is the second time Joey wants one of the friend's babies named Joey. He previously tried to have Phoebe name one of the triplets Joey.
*Joey remarks to Phoebe that "I thought that with them living together again, they'd realize they're perfect for each other." This refers to the period after Ross and Rachel got married in Las Vegas and she moved in with Ross, not knowing they were still married. It's also a callback to "The One Where Rachel Finds Out" when Rachel saw a hallucination of Ross who told her "we're perfect for each other".
*Joey states that Ross and Rachel should be together. Ironically, he starts dating Rachel at the end of the season putting a further barrier between Ross and Rachel getting back together, although the relationship only lasts one week and they can't get past the kissing stage.
===Goofs===
*When Rachel hears Monica saying "Thank God! Emma, there you are!" her hand is on her purse strap, but in the next take, is not anymore.
*Ross is offered crab cakes at the restaurant on his blind date, but he's allergic to shellfish.
*When Rachel is with Steve, her grip on the menu changes between shots.
*Joey's eyebrows are completely grown back at the beginning of this episode. When Rachel is surprised that he is dressed in the morning, he comments "fifth day's a charm." Assuming Rachel moved in immediately following the end of the previous episode, it would be impossible for Joey's eyebrows to look the way they do. Even if Rachel did not move in immediately after the fight with Ross, it still takes 5-6 weeks for a person's eyebrows to grow back in.
==Screenshots==
Friends episode208 .jpg
TOWTBlindDates.png
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode
* "The One with the Blind Dates" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
Category:Friends Episodes
Category:Season 9
Category:Episodes
Category:Season 9 Episodes