The One With the Fake Monica

Thursday, 27 April 1995

Monica finds the woman using her stolen credit card, befriends her and starts living her bolder life, until the woman is arrested; meanwhile Ross learns he has to send Marcel to a zoo.

What happens

• Monica goes through a credit card bill and sees how much the thief has spent in her name.
• Monica, envying a stranger who is doing more with her life than she is, phones the school on the bill and enrols in the tap class the thief signed up for.
• At the class Monica is partnered with the thief herself, and gives her a false name rather than confront her.
• The vet tells Ross that Marcel has reached sexual maturity and will turn aggressive, so Ross has to give him away.
• Rachel and Phoebe reveal they took the thief to lunch instead of calling the police, and Monica defends her to Ross.
• Joey discovers that the stage name he chose already belonged to a Russian dictator, and asks Phoebe for a new one.
• A zoo in San Diego accepts Marcel, and the friends see him off at the airport while Ross says his goodbye.
• Monica comes home drunk, refuses to go to work, and then hears that the other Monica has been arrested.
• Visiting her in jail, Monica thanks her for the past weeks, and the woman tells Monica she will go straight back to being herself.
• Monica returns to the tap class alone and keeps dancing badly rather than quit.