The One With The Lottery

"The One With The Lottery" is the eighteenth episode of season nine of Friends. It aired on April 3, 2003.
==Plot==
Joey reveals that the jackpot for the 24 state lottery has been upped to $300 million leading to everyone except Ross to pool in for tickets, with Joey and Monica traveling to Connecticut to get them. Ross continuously plays down their chances until Monica convinces him to join in on it. Meanwhile, Chandler's internship is coming to an end, and he is up for one of the three assistant positions available at an advertising company and is receiving updates from his work colleague, Charlie, for the final slot (although Charlie has the advantage due to his father is the boss). Also, Emma is set to say her first words and stays at Rachel's mother's for the night.
The gang get together that evening for the drawing of the lottery, as Chandler anxiously awaits news of the job only to learn that his friend Charlie has got it. Chandler accidentally reveals that Monica had bought extra tickets leading everyone to fight about who should get extra. Phoebe takes the bowl with all the tickets in and hangs it over the balcony, threatening to drop it unless they said friends was more important than money (Monica claimed she didn't care if they unfriended her after she would win). Phoebe says she wouldn't have done it anyway but a pigeon swoops down leading her to accidentally drop the bowl, breaking it and forcing the six to run around the street getting the tickets, losing half of them. They don't win the jackpot (though Phoebe wins $3) but over the phone, Emma says her first word as 'Gleeba' leading Ross to believe she's going to be a scientist. Phoebe also fakes a phone message from the pigeon apologizing for scaring her and not to blame her.
Chandler gets a call telling him that the reason he didn't get the job was because he outshone all the other candidates to the point the company believed it was a waste of his skills to relegate him to just running around doing errands; instead, he is offered the better position of junior copywriter. Joey admits that when he and Phoebe split a wish bone earlier, he had wished for Chandler to get the job, and not for them to win the lottery (with both agreeing not to tell Monica). The following day in Central Perk, Joey reveals that nobody won the jackpot. Gunther overhears and tells them that although no one won the jackpot, someone found a ticket in the street outside (presumably theirs) and won $10,000. They glare at Phoebe who pretends to be the pigeon again.
==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 Conley - Emma Geller-Greene
Athina Conley - Emma Geller-Greene
Phill Lewis - Steve
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
===Crew===
Directed By: 
Gary Halvorson
Written By: 
Brian Buckner, Sebastion Jones, Sherry Bilsing-Graham & Ellen Plummer
==Quotes==
Monica: (about Emma) How do you know she's gonna start talking?
Rachel: Well, when I talk to her I almost feel like she understands what I'm saying.
Chandler: Kind of like Joey...
Ross: Although if we're gonna do that, we should probably call me "Daddy" too.
Phoebe: [sexy tone] Oooh, I like that, "Daddy".
Ross: I-I was just talking about Rachel.
Phoebe: Oooh, is Daddy getting angry? Is Daddy gonna spank me?
Ross: [trying to be sexy] Well that depends, have you been a baad g- no, I can't.
(Rachel is going to look up Emma's first word, "gleeba")
Ross: While you're at it, she said another word a few days ago. Could you also look up (makes spitting noise)?
==Trivia==
=== General ===
*Chandler says "I'll get it, I'll get it, I'll get it" just like Monica back in "The One With Chandler In A Box".
*The fact that Chandler probably didn't wash his hands after been in the bathroom is mentioned again. The first time was in "The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs".
*The "I never get picked!" line Rachel uses refers to "The One With The Football" (S3E9), where she's picked last in the football game.
*This is the final appearance of Phill Lewis as Steve.
*This is the final appearance of Alexandra and Athina Conley as Emma Geller-Greene. Although Emma appeared in 21-22 episodes of Friends, Alexandra and Athina only played her in 3 episodes.
*In this episode, Rachel is wearing an MC5 t-shirt, which refers to the rock band MC5 (Motor City Five). MC5 was a popular Detroit based American rock band from the 1960s and 1970s known for such songs as "Teenage Lust" and "Kick Out The Jams."
*Ross mentions that he would like to solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and also set many aviation records. She mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific during a circumnavigational flight in 1937.
*Rachel hears the first word spoken by her and Ross' daughter Emma. Seven years earlier she was the first to hear Ben, Ross and Carol's son speak.
*Apart from the opening and closing scenes, which occur in Central Perk, the entire episode takes place in Monica and Chandler's apartment.
*This is the second time this season Rachel impersonates Ross as she previously did so in "The One With Rachel's Phone Number" when Rachel and Phoebe were discussing why they hadn't told each other how they felt about each other.
*At the time of this episode's airing Powerball tickets were not sold in New York however in 2010 the New York lottery started selling Powerball tickets meaning residents would no longer have to travel to another state.
*When Rachel is on the phone to her mom, Rachel states that she's having trouble understanding her because of her new lips. In "The One With Rachel's Other Sister", Amy states that she had her lips done. 
*Phoebe tells Monica and Ross "get a room". She previously said the same thing in the tag scene of "The One With Chandler In A Box" when the gang saw Chandler and Kathy kissing and during "The One In Vegas, Part 2" after Monica and Chandler made up.
**Rachel is the one who gets to say it one last time in the series, in "The One Where Chandler Gets Caught".
*Joey says he'll buy Steffi Graf. Stephanie "Steffi" Graf is a German-born former professional tennis star and winner of numerous opens and grad slams. Steffi is married to fellow former professional tennis star and grand slam winner Andre Agassi. Agassi previously dated Barbra Streisand, ex-wife of Elliott Gould and was previously married to Brooke Shields who played Joey's crazy fan in "The One After The Superbowl, Part 1".
=== Goofs ===
*When Phoebe and Joey are holding the wishbone, the position of Joey's thumb changes between shots.
*At the start of the episode when the camera zooms in on Central Perk, you clearly see a man in a white t-shirt in the window. However when the camera changes it is an old man in black with a hat on, sitting next to a woman. In the same shot, the orange sofa is empty but when the shot changes the gang are sitting there.
*Similarly at the end of the episode, a young woman is sitting in the window on the left of screen but she isn't there when the shot changes to an interior view of Central Perk. 
*When Phoebe runs out to the balcony with the lotto tickets and the others chase her, the window between Chandler and Monica moves up and down in between shots.
*When Chandler is on the phone to find out if he got the job, he then hangs up and rolls up one of his sleeves. In the next shot of him both sleeves are rolled up. Then you can see his sleeves slip down again, but when it cuts to a closer shot, you can see they're rolled up again.
*When Rachel and Ross are discussing whether gleeba is a real word, the position of Ross' water bottle changes between shots even though he doesn't touch it.
*While Chandler is talking about Monica buying extra tickets, Joey puts his hands in his pockets but the next close-up shot shows his arms folded, then the wider shot shows his arms by his side but in the next shot focusing on Monica again, his arms are folded again.
*When Chandler sits down after speaking with Steve, a close-up of Chandler shows Joey parting his hands in the right foreground but in the next wider shot, Joey parts his hands again.
*After Phoebe drops the bowl from the balcony, after a pause the gang run out of the apartment without coats but when they return a little later, everyone is wearing coats.
*When Joey asks Ross and Rachel where Emma is, Ross' next line is cut off as all he says is "look" before Joey speaks again. 
*The sound goes from the TV several seconds BEFORE Monica presses the mute button on the remote.
*When Ross asks Rachel "what time's the draw, Mommy?", as Phoebe is about to put the bowl on the table with her left hand she pauses before turning towards Ross. Instantly we get a wider shot and Chandler says "I'll take this one too" and Phoebe is repeating her movement in the closer shot but the bowl is now in her right hand.
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode
* "The One with the Lottery" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
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