Joey receives numerous unfavorable critiques for his theatrical performance. Monica rekindles her relationship with Bobby, who struggles with alcohol abuse. Rachel, on a date, asserts she no longer harbors any romantic sentiments for Ross, though she is also no longer upset with him. Her date, Russ, bears a striking resemblance to Ross. Bobby resolves to become sober for Monica, yet this transformation renders him dull and uninteresting. Facing the challenge of Bobby’s newfound sobriety, Monica turns to alcohol. However, Bobby ultimately ends their relationship, believing he cannot sustain a romantic involvement with another individual battling alcoholism. Joey is offered a role in a television series, contingent on his willingness to engage in a compromising relationship with the casting director, a decision that perplexes him. Despite her initial interest, Rachel terminates her relationship with Russ upon realizing his striking similarity to Ross. Meanwhile, when Julie visits to return some belongings to Ross and meets Russ, a connection blossoms between them.
Did you know?!
• David Schwimmer plays Russ, yet the character is credited as being played by “Snaro”, apparently as a tribute to a friend.
• First use of Phoebe’s catch phrase, “Oh, no.”
• In this episode Joey begins his acting job on Days of Our Lives. Jennifer Aniston’s real life father, John Aniston, has been starring on the actual Days of Our Lives since 1984, playing the character of Victor Kiriakis.
• This is the first episode that mentions Joey’s character on Days of Our Lives, “Dr. Drake Ramoray”.
• The first use of Monica’s drink “scotch on the rocks with a twist”.
• Lauren Tom (Julie)’s final appearance in the show.
• When Ross & Russ are doing the crossword puzzle with Chandler they disagree on whether the correct word is Card Shark (Russ) or Cardsharp (Ross). They are actually both correct terms with Cardsharp predating and giving rise to the term Card Shark.
• Final appearance of Vincent Ventresca as Fun Bobby.
• Vincent Ventresca and Lisa Kudrow also co-starred in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997)
• At the beginning, on the newspapers the gang is thumbing through for the review of Joey’s play is a headline for Mark Messier scoring his 500th NHL goal. This happened on Nov. 7th 1995. The episode aired in January 1996. However, this episode was probably filmed in November, thus the “late” headline.
• With 14 letters and 17 characters, it is the shortest episode title of the entire series excluding the two-part episodes.
