The One With The Truth About London

"The One With The Truth About London" is the sixteenth episode of the seventh season of Friends, which aired on February 22, 2001. This is one of the 10 episodes directed by actor David Schwimmer.
==Plot==
Chandler and Monica try to choose a minister but can't find one so they promise Joey that he can marry them. Joey gets his minister certificate on the Internet and writes his speech including the story how Chandler and Monica got together. Chandler finds out that Monica actually wanted to sleep with Joey when she knocked on the door, but Chandler was the only one there. Chandler is really upset and doesn't want Joey to be the minister of the wedding anymore. Joey talks to him about how Chandler and Monica are meant for each other and nothing could take that away and Chandler is happy to let Joey do the wedding. Phoebe then wonders what would have happened if Monica did sleep with Joey. We then see Monica cooking dinner and shouting to Joey to come over. He is overweight and he tucks into his food.
Rachel watches Ben for an hour and is a little scared because she's never been alone with him before. Rachel teaches Ben practical jokes to entertain him, from general ones like scaring people and repeating what others say, to specific ones like marking the edges of a quarter and daring someone to roll it down their face without taking it away, leaving them with a line down their face, and putting Saran Wrap on the toilet seat so the pee goes everywhere. Ross confronts Rachel after suffering the Saran Wrap prank, though he's oblivious to the line on his face from the quarter prank. Rachel then goes to see Ben at Carol's, who also has a line down her face but hasn't noticed. Rachel tries to talk Ben out of the pranks, but Ben only sticks to repeating her like she taught him. She eventually gets him to agree to stop playing pranks, while also getting him to accept that she and Ross were not "on a break". Ross comes in and confronts Rachel about finding out about the line on his face from one of his students. Rachel stands firm on wanting to be known to Ben as his "Fun Aunt Rachel", to which Ross acquiesces. Ross leaves Ben with Rachel again, where Rachel tells Ross about the "poop" sign taped to his back. Ross then chases Ben out of the apartment and up the stairs where he apparently falls down screaming. Rachel observes and freaks out until she sees that it's a dummy, revealing it to be a prank by Ross to get even with Rachel.
==Cast and Crew==
===Main Cast===
Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene
Courteney Cox Arquette - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller
===Supporting Cast===
Jane Sibbett - Carol Willick
Cole Sprouse - Ben Geller (credited as Cole Mitchell Sprouse)
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
===Crew===
Directed By: 
David Schwimmer
Written By: 
Brian Buckner, Sebastian Jones & Zachary Rosenblatt
==Trivia==
===General===
*This was the fourth and final of the 4 "super-sized" episodes (40 minutes long with ads) this season that was longer than usual as a promotional stunt by NBC in order to counter-program against Survivor: The Australian Outback.
**The DVDs present these episodes as first aired, however, the Blu-ray presents them in their edited syndicated cuts (though the original versions are available as a special feature).
*As of this episode, Joey has kissed all 5 of his friends.
**He kissed Chandler on New Year's Eve in "The One With The Monkey" (S1E10).
** He also kissed Rachel on New Year's Eve in "The One With All The Resolutions" (S5E11)
** He kissed Ross when he was trying out for a gay role in "The One With Barry And Mindy's Wedding" (S2E24).
** He first kissed Phoebe in "The One With Two Parts, Part 2" (S1E17) and also in "The One Where They All Turn Thirty". (S7E14)
** In this episode he kisses Monica, although it is in a what-if scene. 
*This is the final appearance of Jane Sibbett as Carol Willick in the series.
*Jane Sibbett was either pregnant or had just given birth when filming this episode, as her third child (daughter Violet) was born in 2000.
*Jennifer Aniston wasn't told by the cast or the director (David Schwimmer) that Ross would fall down the stairs, as such, her reaction is genuine.
*In the uncut DVD version of the episode there is an extra storyline involving Phoebe taking painkillers (hexadrin) for a headache. At first she loves them but when she reads the information leaflet she becomes paranoid, thinking all the side effects will happen to her. In the end she learns the effects wear off after six hours and she is clear, but she starts showing symptoms of temporary euphoria.
*Joey's penguin Huggsy appears in this episode, but is only seen sitting next to Ben, and is not mentioned.
*Ross claims to have said "I'll be revenged" when pranked in school. This is reference to Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', as these are the final words of the character Malvolio.
*This is the first time that Ross and Rachel do not share any scenes with the rest of the gang. The second time is in "The One With The Home Study" (S10E7).
*Rachel states that Ben has no brothers or sisters. He'll gain a half-sister when Emma is born at the end of next season in "The One Where Rachel Has A Baby."
*In the opening shot of the London bus crossing the bridge, the service number is shown as 53. The original footage used for the London wedding episodes used a bus of the same design but with service number 109 on the front.
*When Joey talks to Chandler in the coffeehouse, he says "you two should be together". Joey will have a similar conversation with Ross regarding Rachel in the hospital in "The One Where Emma Cries".
**Joey and Phoebe will also have a similar conversation regarding Ross and Rachel in "The One With The Blind Dates".
*Originally Monica and Joey were supposed to be the main couple before changing to Monica and Chandler. 
*In the scene where Chandler and Monica are in bed together, they agree that they "weren't that good friends anyway." When Rachel and Joey decide that their relationship is hopeless, they agree that "Monica and Chandler weren't as good friends as we are." ("The One With Ross' Tan")
*This is the only episode in which Matt Leblanc wears the fat suit.
*Before Rachel opens the door to let Ross in, she puts down a book. The book is "To Kill A Mockingbird". This book is used as a prop in other episodes but with Monica using the book.
*Phoebe says Robin is gay despite Dick Grayson having a girlfriend in Barbara Gordon.
**There has always been lots of theories about Batman and Robin's sexuality, and in 2020 current Robin (Tim Drake) came out as bisexual.
**Batman and Robin's hypothetical homosexuality is mentioned again four episodes later ("The One With Rachel's Big Kiss") when Chandler is jealous of Ross' tuxedo.
===Goofs===
*Rachel states that Ben is 6 years old, though since Ben was born in May 1995, he would have been 5 years old.
*In this episode, we see that Joey took all but one of Chandler's condoms the night Chandler and Monica first slept together in London, however in "The One After Ross Says Rachel" (S5E1), Chandler said that they had sex 7 times that night. However, it's possible that Chandler had a second box of condoms in his bag—we saw him put a red box of condoms into his bag in "The One With Ross' Wedding, Part 1" (S4E23), yet the box Joey leaves the hotel room with in the flashback in this episode is blue.
* When Chandler and Monica first get into bed they are both dressed. Chandler takes off his PJ's really quickly prompting Monica to say "Wow, you are really fast." But she is already undressed when she says it. Not only was she so much faster than Chandler that the dress was off in an instant, the dress just disappears. When the camera pans out as Joey comes in, Monica's shoes and Chandler's PJ's are on the floor but the dress is nowhere.
** Since Monica was wearing a dress, it would have been as easy as unzipping and slipping off all her clothes. Her reaction to Chandler being fast could have been considering he was wearing shirts and pants and yet they finished undressing in almost the same time.
*When Joey is reading his speech about all the giving and receiving, Chandler has his legs on the table at the coffee shop. You can see his shoes on the table when they show Joey, but when they change the shot to Chandler his legs are on the floor and crossed.
* In the flashback when Monica first kisses Chandler she puts her arms around his neck yet in the third shot her right arm is under his left and the shot right after that it is back around his neck. Also in the first, second and third shot her nose is on the left of his yet in the final shot it is on the other side.
*When Joey comes into Chandler and Monica's apartment to convince them to let him marry them you can see the microphone swinging from the ceiling.
*At the end of this episode, in the "what if" segment, Joey is seen picking up a piece of food with his fork, however he never actually eats it. He simply just holds the fork up to his open mouth for a few seconds as the credits come up. 
* When Rachel talks to Ben about the pranks, she puts her purse on her shoulder and it falls down to her arm, then she says to Ben "Remember all that stuff I taught you yesterday" and Ben repeats it. In the next shot her purse is right back on her shoulder again. Then a couple shots later, it's back on her wrist again and the next shot later she says "Seriously, your dad doesn't like pranks" and Ben repeats it and it's back on her shoulder again.
*Chandler says to Joey, "I finally fall in love with this fantastic woman and it turns out she wanted you first!" However, it's revealed in "The One With All The Thanksgivings" during their then-secret relationship that Monica had a crush on Chandler when she first met him and didn't know Joey yet.
**Chandler's statement clearly references Monica wanting Joey in that specific moment.
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
* "The One With The Truth About London" at iMDb
==Episode Navigation==
Category:Friends Episodes
Category:Season 7
Category:Episodes
Category:Season 7 Episodes
Category:Super-Sized Episodes