The One Where the Monkey Gets Away

Thursday, 9 March 1995

Rachel loses Ross's monkey Marcel while babysitting him, and the hunt through the building brings in an Animal Control officer the women snubbed in high school, right as Ross is preparing to confess his feelings.

What happens

• A country club newsletter tells Rachel that her former fiancé Barry is now engaged to her old maid of honour, Mindy.
• Rachel tells Ross she wants a man who is both her best friend and a source of passion, and Ross is starting to suggest such a man might be nearby when Monica walks in.
• Ross tells Joey and Chandler that he will bring wine to the apartment that evening and finally make his feelings clear to Rachel.
• Marcel soils one of Monica's shoes, and when Rachel carries the mess out as a spiteful engagement gift for Barry, she leaves the door open and the monkey slips away.
• Rachel confesses to Ross that she has lost Marcel, and when she mentions calling Animal Control he tells her that Marcel is an illegal exotic pet who will be seized if they find him.
• The officer turns out to be Luisa, a classmate Monica and Rachel ignored for four years, and she refuses to help and claims the monkey for herself if she catches him.
• Monica and Phoebe find Marcel in the building, but Luisa's tranquiliser dart misses him and hits Phoebe instead.
• Ross and Rachel follow a delivery of bananas to Mr. Heckles, who insists the monkey is his own pet named Patti, and Luisa arrives and locks Marcel in her cage.
• Rachel pleads with Luisa and then threatens to report her for shooting Phoebe, which wins Marcel back.
• Ross apologises to Rachel, dims the lights and begins to explain how he feels, and Barry walks in to announce that he cannot marry Mindy because he still loves Rachel.