"Friends" The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance (1999)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Gary Halvorson

Writers:

David Crane (creator) &
Marta Kauffman (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Friends" (1994)

Original Air Date:

14 October 1999 (Season 6, Episode 4)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Ross gets a part time job as guest lecturer at the university. Joey's health insurance expires because he wasn't paying so he goes to see his agent...

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Paleontologist | Roommate | Musician | New York City

US TV Schedule:

Wed. July 22

11:30 PM

CW

The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance

#6.4

Cast

Jennifer Aniston	...	Rachel Green
Courteney Cox	...	Monica Geller (as Courteney Cox Arquette)
Lisa Kudrow	...	Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc	...	Joey Tribbiani (as Matt Le Blanc)
Matthew Perry	...	Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer	...	Dr. Ross Geller
June Gable	...	Estelle Leonard
Ron Glass	...	Russell
Christopher Darga	...	The Director
Kim Harris	...	Casting Director #1
Joe Everett Michaels	...	Casting Director #3
Rick Fitts	...	The Professor
Ian Meltzer	...	Alex
Michael Naughton	...	The Student
Matt Bellner	...	The Crew Member

Runtime:

22 min | Argentina:30 min | 22 min (approx.)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Certification:

Netherlands:AL | Mexico:B | USA:TV-PG | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Dijon Street, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: When Rachel and Monica fight for the "candle holders", the "holders" change positions between shots. First the bottom parts are towards Rachel, next shot they are towards Monica

Quotes:

[Joey has a bad hernia and is in massive pain]
Phoebe: Hey! Maybe you'll die!
Joey: [voice cracks] Chandler, I'm scared.
Phoebe: No, we can go together. Just don't wait too long, because I'm outta here sometimes before Friday.
Joey: But I don't wanna die.
Phoebe: No, no, it'll be fun. We'll come back and haunt these guys!
Joey: Wait, could I come back and haunt Monica and Rachel when they're in the shower?
Chandler: That's my girlfriend!
Joey: Hey, I'm dead!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Friends: The One with All the Other Ones: Part 2 (#10.18)" (2004)

The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Pre-Viewing Comments: This is another episode in the rather tedious Ross-Rachel divorce arc, but luckily, there seem to be some good sub-plots to distract the viewer away from this.

The Good: - Joey's entire sub-plot. The real comic meat from this episode, featuring an abundance of great moments, such as: - - Joey walking into a door. Slapstick pratfall #2, but timed to perfection. - - Chandler: "shouldn't you be on the toilet right now?". A brilliant Chandlerism. - - Chandler: "Joey's suffering from a really bad hernia, but it's nothing a little laser eye surgery can't fix". Probably the best one-liner from the episode, encapsulating both the sub-plot and Joey's dimness in one succinct phrase. - - Joey: "Timmy, I've got a surprise for you". The coup de grace. Fantastic stuff from LeBlanc, successfully blending the boundary between pain and pleasure to great comic effect. - Other highlights include: - June Gable as Estelle Leonard, scene-stealer extraordinaire. Fantastic as always, and manipulative. - Ross's embarrassing attempts to present his lecture to the gang, culminating in... - Ross: "I'm going to do it by myself, with no naked chicks." Chandler: "That's the way I did it 'til I was 19."

The Bad: - Monica and Rachel fighting over the candlesticks. A very pointless little subplot written in just to continue the theme of Chandler moving in. Bland. - Phoebe's "death" prediction. One of four sub-plots going on in this episode, which seems to drown under its own weight, and this is clearly the worst. I'm not a big fan of Phoebe at the best of times, and this episode takes her kookiness up to 11. The end of this plot is just poor. - Ross's fake accent. I'm British, and that's not. I don't know what it is, just weird. Also, Ross has been nervous before and since, and has never slipped into an accent except here. Another case of lack of continuity. - Rachel's fake accent. How can she pass for Indian? There must be some dozy Palaeontology lecturers to believe that.

The Ugly: - The last scene. What's going on here? Joey's encouraging people to beat him up just because he got his insurance back? Strange stuff, and a downer for the episode.

Final Thoughts: A decent episode that only really survives because of the Joey/Chandler double-act. This episode drowns under the weight of too many plots, but Matt LeBlanc's comic skills just about save the day.

7/10