The One With Ross' New Girlfriend

"The One With Ross' New Girlfriend" is the second season premiere of Friends, which aired on September 21, 1995.
==Plot==
Having decided to tell Ross that she loves him (continuing from the cliff-hanger ending in "The One Where Rachel Finds Out"), Rachel goes to the airport to wait for him with a bunch of flowers for him. But Ross is not alone - he has a new girlfriend, Julie, a woman he met in graduate school and reconnected with while in China. Rachel is crushed by the sight of her and tries to leave the airport, but falls and draws the attention of Ross and Julie, who greet her. Out of embarrassment, Rachel tries to make nice with Julie by pretending that her flowers are for her, to make her feel welcome into the country, although she informs Rachel that she is American.
Back at Monica's, the guys are waiting for Rachel and Ross to arrive from the airport. Monica notices the guys' new haircuts, which Phoebe did for them. Rachel arrives out of breath, visibly distressed, and alerts them about Ross and Julie before they enter. Knowing her intentions when she left for Ross' arrival, the friends could not help but empathize with the difficulty of Rachel with the new situation.
Later at Central Perk, Rachel asks Chandler to talk with Ross to get an explanation of how everything happened and how it's going with Julie. Chandler's talk with Ross fails to console Rachel, as Ross confirms that he's having a great time with Julie. When he starts receiving lovey-dovey phone calls from her at Monica and Rachel's apartment, Rachel can't deal with it and leaves to go somewhere unknown.
The next morning, Rachel reveals what she "did" last night - Paolo. The friends aren't too happy to see Paolo, especially Ross, who is even less amused to hear what he was doing ("I do Raquela").
Meanwhile, Monica talks Phoebe into doing her hair. Phoebe is initially reluctant since she is worried that she won't live up to Monica's strict standards. Monica asks Phoebe to cut her hair like Demi Moore. However, Phoebe messes up the hairdo by confusing Demi Moore with actor Dudley Moore, giving Monica a short, mannish cut. Phoebe describes what she did to her to the guys, and makes Ross see her first to try and comfort her. With Ross out of the room, Joey takes the opportunity to talk to Rachel about how she's feeling and makes her see sense by making her go for Ross. He points out that Ross had loved her for a decade, while he's only been with Julie for two weeks.
Chandler, who needs some new pants, goes to Joey's tailor, Frankie, who inappropriately grabs Chandler by the crotch to "measure the inseam". Chandler becomes uncomfortable with this and tells Joey about it, describing Frankie as "a very bad man" who "took advantage of [him]." Joey laughs Chandler off by telling him that that's how tailors measure pants, but Chandler and Ross make Joey realize that isn't the case, shocking him.
Rachel finally talks to Ross about Paolo and how last night was just a fling. Ross gets his feelings for Paolo, specifically that he's "scum", off his chest. He talks to Rachel how he thinks she should be with someone who considers himself lucky to have her - like he is with Julie. When she hears this, Rachel has nothing more to say to him, realizing that Ross is truly happy with Julie. Ross comes in to find Joey telling his father "that's not how they measure pants!"
At Central Perk, Phoebe agrees to cut Julie's hair to look like Andie MacDowell. Not wanting to make the same mistake she did with Monica, Phoebe decides to ask Rachel who Andie MacDowell is, and Rachel decides to make Julie look bad by informing Phoebe that Andie MacDowell was "the guy from Planet of the Apes".
==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===
Lauren Tom - Julie
Cosimo Fusco - Paolo
Buck Kartalian - Frankie the Tailor
Tony Sagastizado - Airplane Passenger (uncredited)
===Crew===
Directed By:
Michael Lembeck
Written By:
Jeff Astrof & Mike Sikowitz
==Trivia==
*This is the last appearance of Cosimo Fusco as Paolo.
*This is one of the few episodes to not feature a cold open; instead the opening theme plays then goes directly to the first scene.
**The DVD versions however have Phoebe doing a recap of previous episodes at Central Perk, making her the first of two characters to do so (the other being Joey, in the premiere of fourth season, recapping the highlights of the previous season's finale)
*This is the first episode to have Ross' name in the title.
*This is the first time Ross is picked on for his hairstyle. This would become a running joke over the years.
*This is the first time Monica shrieks out her notorious catchphrase "I know!" (just after she's had her botched haircut).
*Rachel asks Ross if he and Julie are getting a cat together; which they almost do in "The One Where Ross Finds Out" (S2E7).
*This is the only season premiere that picks up immediately after the last episode where the writers bother to explain the different looks of the actors, in this case the shorter hair of Matt Le Blanc and Matthew Perry. In future seasons, such continuity was ignored.
**Ross is the only one whose hair stays the same; all the other friends have shorter hair.
*This is the first episode to be shot from the larger Stage 24 at Warner Bros. Studios, which was renamed "The Friends Stage" after the series finale.
**To benefit from this location change, a new Central Perk set was built, complete with a real outside street. In the previous set, the street was nothing more than a painted backdrop, and tinted windows and potted plants were used to disguise that fact. With the new set, the windows were made clear and such amenities such as neon sign doors and a newspaper stand as well as the inclusion of more background extras and cars were added to provide extra realism.
*Matthew Perry stated in 2017 that the line "Okay, you have to stop the Q-tip when there's resistance" was his favorite Chandler quip of the series.
*Joey's personal tailor is Celestino Custom Tailor, located in Madison Avenue in New York.Demi Moore and Courteney Cox are considered celebrity doppelgangers.
*Ross says he gives Monica's hair a "10", the name of the film which starred Dudley Moore who Phoebe confused with Demi Moore, and then Chandler quotes from the film's theme, Arthur's Theme by Christopher Cross.
*Demi Moore was married to Bruce Willis, who plays Paul Stevens in three episodes of Season 6, until 2000.
*Chandler cannot bring himself to admit to Rachel that Ross claimed he got with Julie since he (and Joey) suggested it. In "The One With The List", he still is unable to tell Rachel it was his idea.
*Rachel hurriedly leaves the apartment after she can't take any more of Ross on the phone. Ross did the same after learning that Rachel had sex with Barry in "The One With The Evil Orthodontist".
*In the tag scene, Rachel mentions Four Weddings and A Funeral when discussing Andie McDowell. This film also starred Hugh Grant who was in the film the gang (minus Ross and Rachel) saw in "The One Where The Monkey Gets Away".
*Rachel gets Phoebe to ruin Julie's hair in the tag scene. In "The One At The Beach", she persuades Ross' girlfriend Bonnie to shave her head.
*Lauren Tom pitched the joke where Rachel says to Julie "Welcome to our country!" slowly and loudly, and Julie replies "Thank you, I'm from New York!" in the same manner. This was based on Tom's own experience where people would approach her and react in a similar manner, believing she was a Chinese immigrant.
*In the tag scene when Phoebe asks Rachel about Andie McDowell, Rachel mentions Planet of the Apes. Buck Kartalian who plays the tailor in this episode appeared as an ape in the film series. Charlton Heston, the lead actor of that series, also makes a cameo later in the series.
*The woman next to Rachel and who she almost crashes into when she tries to flee has previously been seen as a customer in Central Perk. She also is seen in the tag scene of "The One With Phoebe's Husband".
*This is the first time the 'reserved' table sign is visible at the friends' table.
* Incorrectly regarded as a goof: Monica's watch seemingly switches from her right wrist to her left during the scene where Phoebe is cutting her hair. In fact the shots where it appears on her "right" wrist are actually a shot in the mirror, meaning it is actually on her left wrist.
*This episode was used as "Q is for Q-Tip" in the Nick at Nite Friends A-Z Event (January 2023).
*On the uncut DVD version, the commercial break is just before Joey and Chandler are discussing how old the former is, but on the TV versions,[especially on the Nick @ Nite one] the commercial break is just as Paolo is revealed.
==Goofs==
*Rachel is wearing a similar, but different dress than the one she wore in the previous episode (which was supposed to be the same day).
*The woman behind her at the airport keeps changing: on close shots, it's the one from last episode, but on other shots it's another actress with the same clothes and haircut.
* While examining Rachel's cut, Ross smears some of the blood. In the next few shots, the blood is no longer smeared.
* When Monica is trying to convince Phoebe to cut her hair, she says that the last time Paolo was around her hair was "much shorter and cuter". However, Paolo was last present in "The One With The Dozen Lasagnas" when Monica's hair was considerably longer.
* When Paolo appears from Rachel's room, Phoebe stands up and walks away. A second later, viewed from another angle, Phoebe stands up again (this is visible in the wide-screen version of the episode).
* Rachel says she'll use the flowers to stop the bleeding but when she puts them on her forehead, almost none of them touch the cut.
* In the unedited version, when Ross, Joey and Chandler are discussing how to measure pants, Chandler turns towards Ross while Joey is still speaking and then back to Joey before turning back to Ross, suggesting he turned too soon.
* As Ross goes to talk to Rachel on the balcony, Monica's bedroom door can be seen starting to open by itself.
* In the scene in Central Perk the lemonade Rachel gives Ross is already on the counter before Rachel deliberately gets him the wrong drink.
== Photos ==
RossGirlfriend.jpg
Rachelwatches.jpg
That's how tailors measure pants.jpg
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
* "The One with Ross' New Girlfriend" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
Category:Friends Episodes
Category:Season 2
Category:Episodes with Ross' name in the title
Category:Friends
Category:Season 2 Episodes
Category:Episodes
Category:Season Premieres