The One With Mrs. Bing

Thursday, 5 January 1995

Ross gets drunk at dinner with Chandler's visiting mother and kisses her, then confesses to Chandler, while Monica and Phoebe compete over a comatose stranger and Rachel starts writing a romance novel.

What happens

• Phoebe goads Monica into whistling at a man on the street, and the man ends up in a hospital coma.
• Monica and Phoebe keep visiting the nameless man, inventing a personality for him and treating themselves as responsible for his condition.
• Chandler's mother, the erotic novelist Nora Tyler Bing, promotes her book on a talk show and announces her New York trip on the air, which is how Chandler learns she is coming.
• Rachel turns up late to the dinner with Paolo, and Ross reacts by starting on the tequila.
• Mrs. Bing works out that Ross wants Rachel, tells him Paolo is a disposable minor character, and assures Ross that he is the one worth choosing.
• Ross kisses Mrs. Bing, Joey walks in on them, and Joey refuses to treat it as nothing.
• Monica and Phoebe discover that each has been visiting the coma patient alone, and their shared vigil turns into a rivalry.
• Ross confesses the kiss to Chandler, who is furious with Ross for doing it and with Joey for hiding it, and walks out.
• Rachel begins writing a romance novel of her own, inspired by Mrs. Bing.
• The patient wakes with no interest in either woman, so Monica and Phoebe abandon him.
• Chandler finally tells his mother what he thinks of her mothering rather than only the kiss, feels better for it, and makes peace with Ross.