TO: Without the Ski Trip

Ross and Rachel breaking up didn't do good things for the group.

Ross: fights with Rachel every time they're in the same room. The others try to keep them apart as much as possible, but it doesn't go well. Ross invites the gang (except Rachel) to hang out with him to see his new home entertainment system. At Ross's, he thanks everyone for being there for him, then asks if they want to spend the weekend watching movies and playing darts. He learns about the ski trip and is really upset that everyone's abandoning him. They all offer to stay, but Ross decides he doesn't want a pity stay. As the others leave for the weekend, he goes to Carol's to talk. Carol is preparing a romantic dinner for her and Susan to celebrate an anniversary. She tries to be nice, but just wants Ross to leave. Ross starts in on the break up story. His pager goes off, but he doesn't recognize the number. It's Phoebe, calling from a rest area where her grandma's cab ran out of gas. Ross doesn't want to help because they all left him to go skiing, but Carol intervenes. Ross told Carol that Rachel fell in love with Mark, leaving out any mention of his sleeping with Chloe. Phoebe tells Carol the truth and Carol's disgusted with Ross. To get him to leave, Carol lets Ross use her car to go find his friends. Ross shows up and Rachel is less than thrilled. They fight. Ross says that Monica agrees with him about he and Rachel being on a break, so it's okay that he slept with Chloe. Monica says that isn't exactly what she meant. Ross says Joey agrees with him. Joey plays dumb. Finally, Phoebe intervenes and gets Ross and Rachel to agree to try and get along. They all go their separate ways, but Carol's car won't start. Ross shows up at Carol's again. Carol answers the door in her bathrobe. Ross wants to talk about how he replaced her car battery and what happened with his friends. Since Carol's busy, she kinda pushes him out the door and shuts it in his face.

Rachel: can't get along with Ross. She goes to Joey and Chandler's when everyone (but Ross) is eating dinner. She invites them to the Calvin Klein lingerie show, but they can't go because they promised to spend that evening with Ross. Rachel handles it pretty well and leaves. She comes back a few minutes later to invite everyone to her sister's ski cabin for the weekend. Everyone's really excited and they agree to the plan. The trip goes pretty well at first, until they go to the rest stop. Rachel doesn't like to go in public restrooms, so she decides to stay in the cab. When everyone else gets out, she decides to as well, but inadvertently locks the keys in the cab, which is still running. Monica and Phoebe want to call Ross when the cab runs out of gas, but Rachel refuses to accept that as a solution. When Ross shows up, she's furious and she and Ross fight. Ross drags Monica and Joey into it and Rachel confronts them. The others feel bad that Ross isn't able to come skiing with them, even though he came to help them with the car. Rachel refuses to let him come and they fight some more. Phoebe breaks it up. Ross says the others should go on their trip and not worry about him.

Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, and Joey: aren't taking the breakup well. It's put a huge strain on the group. They try to keep Rachel and Ross separated, but it doesn't work out. Every time the two are in the same room, they argue. While everyone (but Ross and Rachel) have dinner at Chandler and Joey's, they see that Chandler's started smoking again. He's taken the breakup really hard because it reminds him of his parents divorce. He's not interested in giving smoking up. They try really hard to do stuff with Rachel and Ross, but they have to say no to Rachel's lingerie show invite and no to Ross's weekend of movie watching. Ross is really upset and they try to comfort him, but he's not really interested in being anything but wounded. On the drive to the ski cabin, Chandler wants to smoke, but Phoebe won't let him. He says he needs to go to the bathroom and that they should pull over at the next rest area. Joey ends up really needing to use the bathroom. They pull over and Rachel locks the keys in the still running car. Joey can get the door open, he just needs a long wire. He asks one of the girls for their underwire from their bra. No one wants to give up their bra, but Phoebe finally does. Joey unlocks the door and they continue their adventure. They go a few inches and the car stalls because it's out of gas. Phoebe calls Triple A, but no one knows where exactly they are, so Triple A can't help them. Monica and Phoebe want to call Ross, but Rachel refuses to be in a car with him. Phoebe sneaks and calls him anyway. Monica distracts Rachel by pointing out the one cent tampons in the restroom. Chandler and Joey try to walk to the highway looking for help, but Chandler collapses because he smokes too much. When Ross shows up and he and Rachel start fighting, Chandler looses it. Phoebe yells at Ross and Rachel to stop, pointing out what's happening to Chandler. Phoebe says that Ross and Rachel have to get along and stop putting everyone else in the middle. She says that if they don't get along, they won't all be able to hang out anymore. Ross and Rachel agree to try to get along.

• I like and dislike this episode all at the same time. It's very confusing.
  

• The aftermath of the breakup is handled nicely, and, I think, realistically. Rachel is furious with Ross for going to bed with Chloe. Ross is enraged that Rachel won't agree they were on a break, so he wasn't actually cheating. It puts a significant strain on the group, which is somehow good to see. It wouldn't be as true to life if everyone acted like nothing'd happened between Ross and Rachel.
  

• Why I hate this episode:

He's a self-righteous prick.

• When Rachel learns her friends can't go to the Calvin Klein lingerie show, she's disappointed, but handles it with class. Ross just about goes to effing pieces when he learns about the ski trip. He's mad at everyone for leaving him, like they aren't Rachel's friends, too. I think the real issue is that he expects them all to side with him, and basically cut Rachel off. Whatever, Ross. Grow up.

• The stress of all the fighting makes Chandler take up smoking again.

It's really quite sad.

• I get that Ross is really hurting, but he completely disregards the fact that Carol has plans.
  

And eats the food Carol makes for Susan.

• I can't believe Ross tells Carol that Rachel feel in love with Mark! That's so far from the truth it's jaw dropping. And he never mentions that he slept with someone else. I'm guessing it's because he knows it was wrong he slept with Chloe and he doesn't want Carol to side with Rachel. Which she does.
  

• In fairness, Rachel is quite unreasonable, too. When the cab runs out of gas, the best solution is to call Ross. If they'd have done it in the first place, the issue would've been solved much faster.
  

• Poor Chandler

He totally loses it when Ross and Rachel fight at the rest area. He does a running-in-place, dance...thing. Apparently, it's an impression of Shelly Winters in The Poseidon Adventure. Oookay.

• I gave Phoebe a mental standing ovation when she finally calls Ross and Rachel out on their behavior. I always kinda see it as being more of Ross's fault than Rachel's. Ross is the one who drags Monica and Joey into the fight. He also makes the ski trip a choose-between-me-and-Rachel situation, when it really isn't.
  

• This episode is titled TO: Without the Ski Trip, but I'm pretty sure they do still go. Maybe it's called this because we don't get to see the trip? I don't know.
  

Oh. My. God.

"Man, I hope Ross doesn't try to kidnap me after Cub Scouts." -Chandler, comparing Ross and Rachel's breakup to his parent's divorce.

"Closer than here?" -Rachel, to Monica, who wants to leave Central Perk when Rachel wants coffee.

"Well, actually, yesterday I was smoking again. Today, I'm--I'm smoking still." -Chandler, explaining his smoking.

"I'm tellin' ya something, that first smoke after nap time..." -Chandler, who started smoking when he was nine.

"Him? Him, Ross?"
"Nope, hymn 253, His Eyes are on the Sparrow!" -Phoebe and Chandler. I totally didn't get Chandler's reply, because I didn't realize he was saying hymn. Heh.

"No! We're gonna have fun! We can make fudge!" -Monica, talking about staying home from the ski trip to be with Ross.

"What does the sign say?"
"Beam me up, Jesus." -Phoebe and Chandler, when Chandler tries to smoke in the cab.

"Oh, I do! Oh, no, wait a minute, I took it out of my shirt when I put it on this morning."
"So, if you're parents hadn't got divorced, you'd be able to answer a question like a normal person?" -Chandler and Monica, after Chandler sarcastically replies to Joey's request for a hanger.

"Well, I thought if I littered, that crying Indian might come by and save us." -Chandler, to Phoebe, after being scolded for littering.

"Then why are you answering?" -Phoebe, to Monica, when Monica tries to guess what town they're near.

"I have the lung capacity of a two year old." -Chandler, after collapsing on the way to the highway.

"We were on a break!" -Ross, to Carol, when she learns he slept with someone else.

"You slept with another woman?"
"Oh, you're--you're--you're one to talk." -Carol and Ross. He does have a point.

"What's 'pleh'?
"That's 'help' spelled backwards so that the helicopters can read it from the air!"
"Huh. What's doofus spelled backwards?" -Monica and Joey, when Joey forms the word 'help' out of twigs.

"Oh no! Now it's not gonna make any sense!" -Chandler, to Joey, after Ross walks through Joey's stick sign.

"Y'know what, I can handle it. Handle's my middle name. Actually, it's the uh, middle part of my first name." -Chandler, letting the others know he can take Ross and Rachel's arguing.

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you speaking to me or sleeping with someone else?" -Rachel, to Ross.

"I was being Shelly Winters from The Poseidon Adventures." -Chandler, explaining his strange dance thing.