Collider ranked it number 4 on their ranking of the ten Friends seasons, and cited "The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding" as its best episode. They also wrote that "The One with the Engagement Picture" and "The One with the Vows" were other highlights.[1]
The gang prepare to celebrate the engagement of Monica and Chandler. However, plans are upended when Monica walks in on Ross and Rachel kissing in the hallway, and she accuses them of stealing her thunder; Ross and Rachel had been planning a "bonus night", where two exes have a one-night stand. Meanwhile, Chandler has bedroom-related problems, Joey intends to audition for the role of a 19-year-old, and Phoebe wants to play her guitar at Monica’s and Chandler’s wedding.
Monica is devastated that her parents have spent her entire wedding fund to build their beach cottage. She soon perks up after learning that Chandler has just enough money to pay for her dream wedding. However, Chandler's refusal to use all the money on their wedding instead of saving it for their future causes an argument between the two. Joey teases Rachel after finding an erotic novel that she is reading. Phoebe temporarily moves into Ross's apartment and brings all her massage clients to the apartment, much to Ross’s dismay. However, when an attractive woman shows up for a drop-in appointment while Phoebe is gone, Ross pretends to be a masseuse, only to discover that the client is her father instead of her. Ross’s unprofessional behaviour during the massage costs Phoebe one of her loyal clients.
Phoebe offers to give her grandmother's secret cookie recipe to Monica as an engagement gift, but the recipe was destroyed in the fire. Monica obsessively attempts to recreate it, only to learn later that the recipe is Nestle Toll House’s. Rachel offers to teach Joey how to sail, but soon finds herself being verbally abusive to him for his lax attitude. Her abusive teaching style makes her realize that she is acting just like her nasty father back when he taught her sailing. Chandler's new eyeglasses fog up in the gym steam room, so he removes them and this causes him to accidentally sit on his future father-in-law's nude lap.
Rachel must choose between a hunky young guy, Tag, and an experienced and well-qualified woman to hire as her executive assistant. Joey is offered the part of Dr. Stryker Ramoray, the twin of his old character Dr. Drake Ramoray, on Days of Our Lives, but is offended when he is asked to audition for the part. However, when Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. is cancelled, Joey finds himself crawling back to the producers and eventually gets hired back onto the show as Dr. Drake Ramoray who is now recovering from his big fall down an elevator shaft. Monica, Chandler, and Ross reveal all untold secrets about one another: Monica tells Phoebe's secret about a massage employee getting fired, Chandler reveals about his trip to Disneyland where Ross ended up ill on a ride after eating road-side tacos, Ross tells Monica about an Atlantic City trip where Chandler accidentally kissed a guy, Fat Monica ate her macaroni diorama, and Ross slept with the cleaning lady back in college.
Chandler is unable to smile naturally for his and Monica's engagement photo, so Monica ends up taking a photo with Joey. Joey teaches Tag how to pick up women, much to Rachel's annoyance. Ross and Phoebe date a couple who are divorcing.
Joey and Ross accidentally take a nap together and, much to their dismay, find that they like it. Phoebe and Rachel compete to be Monica's maid-of-honor with the help of Joey and Ross. Chandler's breakup with a past girlfriend, due to her being overweight, places Monica in doubt about him being committed to their relationship.
Ross is excited that his dissertation has been published and is currently placed in the school library, but he soon learns that it is in an isolated aisle where students go to hook up. He then tries guarding the aisle (and effectively his dissertation) from more potential hook-ups, but soon finds himself jumping on the bandwagon when he encounters a woman there who admires his work, and the pair ends up getting caught by the library staff. Rachel and Phoebe believe that they have found the perfect girl (Kristin Davis) for Joey. When Janice invites herself to Chandler’s and Monica's wedding, the couple tries dissuading her from attending by convincing her that Chandler still has feelings for her.
Phoebe sneaks a dog into the apartment; Chandler reveals that he hates dogs. Ross becomes obsessed with naming all fifty U.S. states in order to earn his Thanksgiving dinner. After learning that Tag has broken up with his girlfriend and has nowhere to go for Thanksgiving, Rachel invites him to Monica’s and Chandler's apartment. She is hesitant to tell Tag that she has a crush on him.
Monica's plan to get to know her neighbours backfires when she is overworked. Phoebe finally gets her own bicycle, thanks to Ross, but has never learned to ride a bike. Rachel’s and Tag's relationship is nearly discovered at Ralph Lauren.
Ross wants to introduce his half-Jewish son to Hanukkah, but the latter loves Christmas, so Ross decides to dress up as the "Holiday Armadillo" in order to get Ben excited about the festivities of Hanukkah. Phoebe’s and Rachel's apartment has been repaired, but Phoebe fears that Rachel prefers living at Joey's. In order to get Rachel to live with her again, Phoebe presents Joey with various gifts: a spider that scares Joey more than Rachel and a drum kit that annoys Monica.
Rachel and Chandler get hooked on the home-delivered cheesecakes meant for another tenant. David (Hank Azaria), Phoebe's Scientist Guy, is in town for just one night and wishes to have dinner with Phoebe. However, she already has dinner plans with Joey. Phoebe has to decide whether to blow Joey off after criticising him for having done it to her the night before. Monica is upset that she is not invited to her cousin Frannie’s wedding. Monica goes as Ross’s plus-one anyway, only to discover that Frannie is marrying Stuart, who once slept with her.
The gang is awake for the entire night after trying to see a comet from the rooftop. Monica and Chandler are unable to sleep and decide to have sex, but she falls asleep mid-sex. Rachel and Tag go back to the office to search for a business file that she claims he has misplaced. Joey and Ross get stuck on the roof and try to escape. Phoebe's smoke detector goes off and will not stop beeping, leading to a run-in with a firefighter.
Rachel accidentally breaks Rosita, Joey’s recliner, while trying to shift it. When Rachel goes out with Joey to buy a new recliner, Chandler goes into Joey’s apartment and sits on the already-broken Rosita, causing him to think that he has broken his best friend’s favourite recliner. Guilt-stricken, he secretly swaps Rosita out for his own recliner. As a result, Joey believes that Rosita has been "healed", and Rachel gets to keep the new and luxurious La-Z-Boy for herself. Joey, who is jealous that Rachel gets the better chair, breaks “Rosita” once again in order to claim the new chair for himself. Ross and Monica visit their childhood home to collect old belongings before the house is sold. However, Monica learns that all the boxes that contain her childhood items were used to protect Jack’s Porsche during a flood in the garage; all her items were ruined, while Ross's were protected and completely intact. To mollify Monica, Jack gives her the Porsche, much to Ross’s dismay. Phoebe takes a telemarketing job selling printer toner and tries to save a customer named Earl (Jason Alexander) from committing suicide.
Rachel frets over turning 30, prompting everyone else to remember what they did when they reached the same milestone. When Rachel thinks about her future she realizes that Tag is too young and immature for her plans, so she breaks up with him.
Joey learns that his Days of our Lives character, Dr. Drake Ramoray, will be coming out of a coma by having the brain of a killed-off female character, Jessica Lockhart, transplanted into his body. In hope of learning more about Jessica’s motivation on the show, Joey visits the actress playing Jessica, Cecilia Monroe (Susan Sarandon), and accidentally tells her that Jessica will be killed off in favour of Dr. Drake Ramoray’s reintegration into the show, which infuriates Cecilia. Joey then charms Cecilia into working together to maintain Jessica’s legacy on the show, and the two end up sleeping together. Ross cooks up a special surprise for his sister’s wedding: dreadful bagpipe playing. After a cute guy accidentally leaves his phone in the coffee house, Phoebe and Rachel compete over who gets to keep it in order to start 'a fairytale for the digital age'. Later, an elderly gentleman drops by Phoebe's apartment to claim the phone, and much to Rachel's bewilderment, Phoebe happily goes to dinner with him as she finds him more attractive than the cute guy from the coffee house.
Rachel teaches Ben practical jokes, much to Ross’s chagrin. Meanwhile, Chandler becomes paranoid when he learns that Monica was actually planning to sleep with Joey the night they first got together, and Joey becomes ordained over the Internet in preparation to officiate Monica’s and Chandler's wedding.
163
17
"The One with the Cheap Wedding Dress"
Kevin S. Bright
Story by : Brian Buckner & Sebastian Jones Teleplay by : Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen
Monica beats another bride-to-be in a fight over a discounted wedding dress. However, her happiness is short-lived when she is forced to relinquish her prize after the other bride-to-be blackmails her into giving the dress back by booking Chandler's favorite band on the same day as her wedding. Meanwhile, Joey and Ross are interested in the same girl (Gabrielle Union) and go to drastic measures to win her.
164
18
"The One with Joey's Award"
Gary Halvorson
Story by : Sherry Bilsing & Ellen Plummer Teleplay by : Brian Boyle
Joey proves to be a sore loser after being nominated for a "Soapie" award. When he accepts an award from a different category on behalf of a co-star, he is unwilling to hand it over. However, he later keeps the award anyway when the actress who has won it considers it insignificant. Meanwhile, a male student in Ross’s class angles for a higher test grade by claiming that he loves Ross. Another student reveals that the guy is actually straight, and has used the same ploy on other professors. Ross then gives the student a failing grade, but ends up giving him a "C" after some of Ross's colleagues overhear a conversation which sounds like Ross and the student dated. Upon seeing Phoebe develop a relationship quickly with Jake, Monica panics as she realizes that she will never be able to experience the excitement of new relationship moments again now that she is marrying Chandler. When she talks to Chandler about her fears, he reveals that he was extremely anxious when they first started dating, but is now more excited about spending the rest of their lives together, which calms Monica down.
Ross’s and Monica's gorgeous cousin, Cassie (Denise Richards) visits, and Chandler, Ross, and Phoebe become attracted to her. Rachel and Phoebe throw a last-minute bridal shower for Monica. Joey auditions for a part which is perfect for him, apart from it calling for an uncircumcised actor (and Joey is circumcised). Upon finding out he lied about his 'downstairs' area, Monica tries to fix it so he can still get the part, using a variety of methods including Silly Putty and cold cuts.
Note: The sub-plot where Joey auditions for the role of an uncircumcised man was originally written for "The One with Barry and Mindy's Wedding", but the story was changed on the advice of network censors, who thought it was inappropriate.[37][page needed]
Rachel runs into Melissa (Winona Ryder), a former sorority sister with whom she once had a passionate kiss. However, Melissa denies it ever happened. Phoebe disbelieves that Rachel is capable of kissing a woman, so the latter recreates the kiss with surprising results: Melissa does remember and has feelings for Rachel. Meanwhile, Chandler is excited when he rents the same tuxedo that Pierce Brosnan had worn as James Bond, but feels outdone when Ross claims to have tried on the same tux that Val Kilmer had worn in Batman Forever. However, Ross’s tux turns out to be the one Val wore at a different movie.
Chandler and Monica struggle to write their wedding vows. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang reminisces the couple’s journey over the past few years via flashbacks.
Note: This is a clip show and was the lowest-rated episode in the series with 15.65 million viewers.
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22
"The One with Chandler's Dad"
Kevin S. Bright & Gary Halvorson
Story by : Gregory S. Malins Teleplay by : Brian Buckner & Sebastian Jones
Chandler tries to reconcile with his estranged gay father (Kathleen Turner), at the behest of Monica: the couple goes to Vegas to attend one of Mr. Bing's drag shows, where the father and son finally reconcile, and Mr. Bing agrees to attend the wedding. Rachel, who is an irresponsible driver, takes Monica's Porsche for a spin with a fearful Ross, and ends up getting caught driving without a valid license. She then flirts with the officer to avoid getting a ticket. Later, Ross is pulled over for driving too slowly on the freeway and attempts to flirt his way out of getting a ticket as well, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Joey takes Phoebe's advice about his masculinity, which results in him trying on women's underwear.
Joey gets an important role in a major movie about WWI, learns the art of enunciation (and therein spitting) from his famous co-star (Gary Oldman), and later discovers that he is supposed to work on the day of Monica’s and Chandler's wedding. Chandler's fear of commitment overwhelms him and he runs away before the wedding. Phoebe finds a positive pregnancy test in Monica's bathroom trash, and assumes it is Monica’s. Joey is relieved that he only has to shoot one scene before he can leave to officiate the wedding, but his co-star turns up drunk and ruins his chances of making it to the wedding on time. Chandler is eventually found hiding in his office, but disappears again upon overhearing Phoebe and Rachel discussing Monica's assumed pregnancy. Luckily, he turns up again and starts accepting that he is going to be a father. Joey arrives just in time to perform the ceremony while still wearing his WWI movie costume. Chandler and Monica finally become husband and wife while marrying to the tune of the song "Everlong" by Foo Fighters. At the end of the episode, Chandler announces to Monica that he knows about the baby. Monica is surprised and denies the fact that she is pregnant which brings up the question about who is. The camera then zooms into Rachel's face suggesting that the pregnancy test is hers.
^† denotes a "super-sized" 40-minute episode (with advertisements; actual runtime around 28 minutes).
Home media
The seventh season was officially released on DVD in region 1 on April 6, 2004, as a 4-disc DVD Box Set. The release includes the extended versions of every episode with footage not seen on their original NBC broadcast. Special Features include 3 audio commentaries, a video guide to season seven's guest stars, a trivia quiz and Easter Eggs about the next season.
For region 2, the release included the original NBC broadcast version of the episodes, and not the extended versions unlike the region 1 release.
Season 7 was released on Blu-ray altogether with the rest of the series on the Complete Series releases; in this releases the episodes are presented in their original NBC broadcast versions and does not include the extra deleted scenes and jokes that were included in the DVD version. Although, the set did include the original "super-sized" broadcast versions of several episodes of seasons 7, 9 & 10 as part of the special features; however, only the episodes of Season 7 are not presented in High Definition and are instead included in Standard Definition. Additional audio & subtitle tracks are also included with this releases.
Friends: The Complete Seventh Season
Set Details
Special Features
23 episodes (1 double-length episode)
4-disc set (DVD)/2 Discs (Blu-ray)
English (Dolby 5.0 Surround) (DVD)/English (Dolby Digital 5.1) (Blu-ray)
English, French & Spanish subtitles
Audio Commentaries
576 minutes (DVD)
548 minutes (Blu-ray)
Over 51 minutes of Never-Before-Seen footage included on every episode (DVD Only)
Monica's Wedding Book Challenge: Trivia Quiz (DVD Only) [b]
Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season: Season 8 Easter Eggs
"The Ones with More Friends" - 4 Original Broadcast "Super Sized" Episodes: "The One Where They All Turn Thirty", "The One Where Rosita Dies", "The One with Joey's New Brain" and "The One with the Truth About London" (Blu-ray only)
^These episodes originally aired as a single double-length episode but are sometimes split into two episodes for syndication, reruns and DVD presentation.
^Not available on the 2019 re-release of the DVD's
