The One With Rachel's Assistant

"The One With Rachel's Assistant" is the fourth episode of the seventh season of Friends, which aired on NBC on October 26, 2000. This is one of the 10 episodes directed by actor David Schwimmer.
==Plot==
The episode starts with the gang in Monica's apartment, watching an appalling episode of Joey's detective series, Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. Although Joey thinks the show is fantastic, no one has the heart to tell him that the episode was awful. When Joey is out of earshot, Chandler remarks, "That was one of the worst things ever... and not just on TV." Phoebe, however, simply presses her breasts against Joey rather than lie or hurt his feelings.
The day begins with Phoebe and Monica sitting in Central Perk, when Rachel and Joey burst in and start to compete over who has the best news. Rachel was promoted by Ralph Lauren, in person, to head a division and subsequently can hire a personal assistant. Joey has received a call from the producers of Days of our Lives, recommending him for the role of Dr. Drake Ramoray's twin, Stryker.
In Rachel's office, she has just finished interviewing a woman named Hilda, who has all the relevant qualifications and plenty of experience. As she is on the verge of hiring her, a young, handsome man named Tag Jones appears and Rachel is smitten with him. Despite Phoebe's misgivings, and that fact that Tag has no experience, Rachel hires him, and spreads lies around the office that he is gay, to keep other girls away from him. However he is more interested in Phoebe.
Joey visits the casting director of Days of Our Lives, Terry, and is outraged when Terry asks him to audition for the role. Overconfident about Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E., Joey tells Terry what to do with the comeback role, and storms out. Later that night, however, he receives a call from the producers of Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. who tell him that the series has been cancelled. Joey halfheartedly begs Terry for help, and he is allowed to return to Days of Our Lives as Drake, albeit in a coma.
Meanwhile, Monica tricks Chandler into telling her an embarrassing "Ross at Disneyland" anecdote, in which Ross had an accident in his pants riding Space Mountain after eating tacos (although Ross claims he had food poisoning). Ross finds out and retorts, starting a series of spilled secrets the three use against each other, like when Chandler wore Monica's underwear to work and when Chandler accidentally kissed a guy.
==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===
Eddie Cahill - Tag Jones
Michael Kagan - Terry
Jean St. James - Hilda
Cody Tucker - Kathy
Cynthia Graham - Nurse #1
Renee Rogers - Nurse #2
Eric Rutherford - Stryker
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
===Crew===
Directed By:
David Schwimmer
Written By: 
Brian Boyle
==Trivia==
* Ross mocks Chandler for having unintentionally kissed a guy at a bar while drunk, but Ross eventually kissed a guy, Joey, when the latter wanted to practice kissing for a role in "The One With Barry and Mindy's Wedding"; moreover, while drunk Chandler unintentionally kissed Ross in "The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister".
* The secrets exposed were as followed:
**Ross used to wear leg warmers in college.
**Chandler and Ross entered a Vanilla Ice look-alike contest. Chandler won, while Ross got 4th place and cried.
**One time, Monica was sent to her room without dinner, so she ate the macaroni off her jewelry box.
**Ross stayed up every Saturday to watch Golden Girls.
**Monica couldn't tell time until she was 13.
**Chandler once wore Monica's underwear to work.
**Ross got drunk and slept with the cleaning lady from college, which he tried to say that Chandler did it.
*This is the first appearance of Eddie Cahill as Tag Jones.
*This episode was used as "T is for Tag" in the Nick at Nite Friends A-Z Event (January 2023).
== Goofs==
* In this episode, Chandler says that Ross got drunk and slept with the cleaning lady at college. It was previously established that Ross only slept with Carol before the start of the series.
**With it being intended to be a secret, Ross might not consider that his 'first time'.
*When Rachel shows Phoebe the Polaroid of Tag, you can see the stage lighting in the background of the photograph. 
*While Rachel is talking to Phoebe in her office, Rachel's right bra strap can be seen but when Rachel's colleague enters, it's back under her sweater.
* When Tag first comes into Rachel's office to interview, there is no plant to the right of the doorway, but when Tag returns to bring Rachel a potted plant, a large plant appears next to the door, which she says was there during the interview.
==External links==
* Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
* "The One with Rachel's Assistant" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
Category:Friends Episodes
Category:Season 7
Category:Episodes with Rachel's name in the title
Category:Episodes
Category:Season 7 Episodes