The One With The East German Laundry Detergent

"The One With The East German Laundry Detergent" is the fifth episode of Friends. It premiered on October 20, 1994. It was written by Jeff Greenstein & Jeff Strauss and directed by Pamela Fryman.
==Plot==
The episode opens with the friends at Central Perk discussing advantages each gender has. Rachel points out that guys can urinate standing up, while Joey notes that women can see breasts whenever they want. Phoebe then wonders how guys can be mean and not even care about it. There is a brief silence while the guys try to top that. Ross then points out that women can have multiple orgasms, and this is the decisive point for the men.
The gang plans their Saturday nights. Chandler wants to break up with Janice, but he is reluctant to because he feels awkward and guilty. Phoebe offers to break up with her boyfriend, Tony, at the same time to make it easier on the both of them.
Rachel is annoyed because her father is ignoring the fact that she is independent now, as he has offered her a convertible if she comes home. She plans to do laundry that evening, and Ross, eager to spend time with her, pretends that the laundromat in his building is rat-infested so that he can join her. As Ross walks away, Rachel gives a knowing smile in his direction, hinting that she's developing feelings for him.
An ex-girlfriend of Joey's, Angela, comes into the coffee house. Joey, seeing her dressed sexily, decides to go over and talk to her. However, she tells him that she is now dating another guy named Bob. In an effort to get back together with her, Joey suggests that they go on a double-date, she and Bob, and him and his "girlfriend"—Monica. Joey tells Monica that Bob is Angela's brother, and that she will be the one on a date with him. At the restaurant, she discovers that Joey has never met Bob, and starts to panic about it being a completely blind date. However, when Angela and Bob arrive, she finds him attractive, so she forgives Joey.
Meanwhile, at the coffee house, Chandler waits for Janice and Tony to arrive and is increasingly anxious. Phoebe, however, is calm and composed as ever and remarks on how it is nice that they are doing something together. When he sees Janice, his anxiety turns to guilt, and things go from bad to worse when Janice tells him that her day has been "supremely awful". While Janice rambles on, Chandler watches in dread as Phoebe breaks up with Tony on good terms, saying goodbye to him with a hug.
At the laundromat, Rachel feels optimistic, until a nasty woman moves the laundry basket reserving Rachel's washing machine and begins to load her own laundry into it. Rachel is bewildered and upset. Ross stands up to the woman and helps Rachel get the machine back. He then teaches Rachel how to do laundry, furthering her new independence. Rachel's confidence continues to rise, and she tells Ross that if she can do her own laundry, there is nothing that she can't do. However, Rachel's mood plummets when they discover that a red sock got caught up in her white laundry and has turned everything pink. She feels like a failure. Later, the horrible woman steals Ross and Rachel's cart, but Rachel finally stands up to her on her own. Feeling victorious, she kisses Ross. In shock, he bangs his head on the door of a washing machine and falls over. Later Rachel comforts Ross in the coffeehouse while Phoebe admires Rachel's clothes which are all now pink.
Meanwhile, Monica is left confused when Bob and Angela tell her that they grew up in different places. Joey quickly changes the subject to prevent them from finding out his plan, then tries to subtly put Bob off Angela by mentioning the strange noise she makes when she eats. He then tries to get Bob interested in Monica by claiming that she is too much for him in bed. In the restroom, Monica's confusion increases when Angela tells her how good Bob is in bed. Angela then begins cozying up to Bob, making Monica uncomfortable. She realizes that they are not brother and sister and decides to leave, until Joey tells her the truth and convinces her to help him break Angela and Bob up.
Back at the coffee house, Chandler attempts to dump Janice. When he eventually manages to blurt it out, Janice is on the verge of crying. An over-energized Chandler, having consumed eleven espressos, accidentally flails his hand and hits Janice in the eye. Phoebe tries to calm him down, but she realizes that he can't break up with Janice, so she goes over and does it for him. Janice leaves Central Perk, but not before smiling and waving at Chandler.
Phoebe, Ross, and Rachel meet in the coffee house. Monica and Joey enter, triumphant because they successfully broke up Bob and Angela. Rachel asks where Chandler is, and Phoebe responds that he needed time to grieve, only to see Chandler running down the street, joyously yelling, "I'm free!" Phoebe notes that he must be done grieving.
==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===
Camille Saviola - The Horrible Woman
Kim Gillingham - Angela
Jack Armstrong - Bob
Maggie Wheeler - Janice
===Crew===
Directed By: 
Pamela Fryman
Written By: 
Jeff Greenstein & Jeff Strauss
==Trivia==
*The title refers to the German Democratic Republic, commonly known as East Germany, a Communist state that existed from 1949. However, in 1990 (four years prior to this episode), East Germany ceased to exist as it was unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) under the latter's flag. Perhaps because of this, Ross refers to the detergent as German as opposed to East German.
*This is the first on-screen kiss of Ross and Rachel in the series.
*In Friends: The Reunion, Jennifer Aniston states that the first time she and David Schwimmer kissed "was in that coffee shop", which occurs in "The One Where Ross Finds Out" (S2E7). However, they kiss in this earlier episode (even though it's arguably a friendly kiss) and then again (very romantically) in a daydream Rachel has in the 1st season finale.
*In this episode, Chandler suggests to Ross that he and Rachel are going on a date. When Rachel and Ross are preparing for their first date as a couple in "The One Where Ross And Rachel... You Know", Rachel initially says they're going on their first official date, suggesting she considers their time at the Laundromat also a date.
*This is the first appearance of Janice in the show.
*At the very beginning of the episode, we learn that Ross is amazed by women taking off their bra through their sleeve. Phoebe will do so in "The One Without The Ski Trip" and Rachel will try twice, failing once ("The One With The Fake Party") but succeeding the second time ("The One With Ross' Tan").
*Ross' detergent Überweiss is German for "above white".
**The packaging for the detergent itself contains English text. Actual German detergent packaging would have virtually all of its text solely in German.
*The executive producer credits are moved to the end of the opening sequence, with the creator credits preceding them.
**This also happens in "The One With The Sonogram At The End".
*When Chandler tries to break up with Janice in Central Perk, Maggie Wheeler talks about shopping, she speaks in Janice's original voice, but then speaks in the voice Janice has for the rest of the series.
*This is the final episode with Rachel before "The Rachel" haircut.
*Angela is presumably Angela Delveccio who, it's revealed when Joey's dating Kathy, was his girlfriend for three years prior to The Pilot .
*The laughter which follows Ross saying "yes there is a laundry in my building" stems from David and Jennifer getting the giggles during the scene, especially after a studio light blew during a take.
* Janice gives Chandler "Bullwinkle" socks and says he can mix and match them with his "Rockys". Rocky (a flying squirrel) and Bullwinkle (a moose) are characters from an American animated television series that ran from 1959–1964.
*This episode was used as "L is for Laundry" in the Nick at Nite Friends A-Z Event (January 2023).
===Goofs/Continuity===
*A sign in the laundromat reads "lost cloths" not "lost clothes", though a surprising number of laundromats have the same spelling error.
** Although it's possible that they actually do mean cloths and it is not a spelling error, assuming that people wash more than just their clothes
*When Joey is counting "one Mississippi, two Mississippi" the color of the cups either side of his green mug change from yellow to pink. The colors stay the same, but the handle on the dark yellow mug shifts position.
*Rachel tells Ross that she can't even send back soup, but she sends back a drink in "The One With The Flashback" (S3E6), which chronologically was a year earlier. However, Rachel's personality changed drastically since then - she used to be very outgoing and extremely snobby and girly, but when she came to New York, she became more down-to-earth and shy.
*When Ross is singing the laundry song, Rachel's right arm is resting on the washing machine but when it cuts to Rachel her arm is in the air.
*In the tag scene either Ross or Rachel are holding the damp cloth on top of his head. It changes several times with each different camera shot.
*In this episode, Monica says she sees Ugly Naked Guy laying kitchen tiles. However, it is impossible for Monica to see into his kitchen. As we see in Season 5 when Ross gets that apartment, the kitchen is in the upper right of the screen and later, after Ross moves in, has a door, and in "The One Where Everybody Finds Out" (S5E14), when Phoebe finds out about Chandler and Monica, a straight on shot of the window in that apartment shows it is impossible to see the kitchen.
*Janice leaves the coffeehouse without her shopping bags and never goes back to get them.
*When Rachel yells to the horrible woman and says "You're gonna have to take me with it", Ross is mouthing the line with her. Ross is grimacing but not mouthing the line.
*You can see that the horrible woman has her right foot on the bottom of the cart when Rachel's climbing in. (This is likely to stabilize the cart in order to prevent Aniston from falling.)
*Monica, confesses to Angela (Joey's ex-girlfriend who he's trying to get back with) in the ladies room, "Wow. My brother never even told me when he lost his virginity." However, in the previous episode, "The One With George Stephanopoulos", Ross clearly says that he told "Everyone" about his first time of being intimate with Carol, which we later find out was his "first time ever" with a woman. Monica, especially remembers this fact and the date (October the 20th). This means that he did tell her about when he lost his virginity. It's later revealed (in "The One With The Rumor") that he made out with the librarian and its also revealed he slept with the college dorm cleaner before Carol, so Monica was telling the truth.
*When Ross and Rachel are sitting in the coffeehouse only Rachel's laundry basket can be seen. It's possible however that they stopped at Ross' apartment on the way from the laundromat.
*Although Ross removes the laundry bottle from his washing basket, he doesn't remove his dirty underwear as Chandler suggested.
*Ross' bedroom in his first apartment is seen in this episode and the exit door is to the left of the bed. However when Rachel is preparing to get into bed with him in "The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy", the bedroom has a different layout with the exit door on the right.
*Monica tells the story of Underdog having problems at the parade, although this doesn't happen until 4 episodes later, in "The One Where Underdog Gets Away".
*You can see the microphone box on the Horrible Woman's back under her shirt.
*The Horrible Woman is about to start her laundry but never put in detergent.
*Ross and Rachel take the clothes out of the after the washing cycle finishes and they are dry.
==Quotes==
:Horrible Woman: Hey, hey, hey, there aren't any clothes in it!
:Rachel: Hey, hey, hey, hey, quit making up rules!
:Rachel: It was horrible! He called me "young lady."
:Chandler: Ooh, I hate when my father calls me that.
==Images==
TOWTEastGermanLaundryDetergent-Ross&Rachelkiss.png 
TOWTEastGermanLaundryDetergent.png 
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode, including deleted scenes
* "The One with the East German Laundry Detergent" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
ru:Эпизод с восточногерманским стиральным порошком
Category:Season 1
Category:Friends Episodes
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