Rachel is maid of honor for her friend Mindy, who is marrying Rachel's ex-fiance Barry. At the wedding, Rachel embarrasses herself, and Richard and Monica reach an impasse in their relationship.
Chandler has an online girlfriend, who turns out to be Janice. Meanwhile, Joey auditions for a role that requires him to kiss another man and has trouble finding someone to practice with.
Tropes
- Ambiguously Bi: Joey spends his entire plotline looking for a guy who might kiss him as "practice". He's a little too eager and borderline molests Ross, Chandler and even Richard in order to achieve that goal. When Ross finally kisses him he's pretty enthusiastic about it, calling it "one hell of a kiss".
- Baby Fever Trigger: Monica and Richard are having a disagreement about their future while they dance at the reception. Monica wants kids, but Richard is much older and already has kids, he doesn't want to go through that again. Monica loves Richard and starts to question her desires, rationalizing it away as merely indoctrination by her mother. Then she sees two cute little girls dancing with each other and has to admit to herself that she wants that someday. She has to break up with Richard.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Chandler uses Janice's, upon seeing she's the online girlfriend. When he embraces her, the other friends also say it (albeit in more annoyed tones).
- Call-Back: Phoebe agrees to kiss Joey to help with his audition, saying, "I've kissed him before, I can do it again" as a call-back to when they kissed while she was pretending to be Ursula.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: Rachel goes to the bathroom just before the wedding and accidentally tucks the back of her skirt into her underwear. She ends up walking down the aisle this way, adding even more embarrassment to her day.
- Differing Priorities Breakup: Richard and Monica break up because he does not want to have kids again at his age.
- Didn't See That Coming: Chandler and Janice's shared reaction to learning they've been dating online.
- Fanservice Extra: While waiting for his online girlfriend to show up at Central Perk, Chandler spots one of these entering and wonders if it could be her. Ross snarks that his luck isn't that good.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Chandler's use of Borrowed Catchphrase comes right before we see the mystery woman is Janice.
- For the Evulz: Barry humiliates and bullies Rachel merely out of his own amusement.
- G.I.R.L.: Phoebe raises the possiblity that the "woman" Chandler is dating online might actually be a man. He insists that his date is a woman and is ultimately proven correct when she turns out to be Janice.
- Good News, Bad News: Chandler confirms his online girlfriend is indeed a woman, but only by learning that she's already married.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: The bridesmaids' dresses at Barry and Mindy's wedding are neon pink monstrosities complete with Giant Poofy Sleeves topped with a wide-brimmed hat. Rachel claims it's "the color of something you drink when you're nauseous" while Chandler calls her "Princess Bubble-Yum" and compares her to Little Bo Peep. Mindy's extremely dated, short-front wedding dress isn't much better.
- Rimshot: The drummer in the wedding band does one after Ross makes a comment in his toast about Rachel not having syphillis as people were led to believe. Ross has to point out that it wasn't a joke. The guy then misses Ross' actual joke about how Rachel leaving Barry worked out well for Ross. The drummer finally redeems himself by doing this after Rachel's crack about making it through one of Barry's weddings.
- Running Gag: Joey's constant efforts to get a practice kiss from one of his male friends.
- Side Bet: When Rachel tries to leave the reception early Barry stands up and reveals there was a pool running on how long she'd stick around this time. After hearing this Rachel decides to stay and gets a dig at Barry during her toast.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Of the Pay Cheating Unto Cheating variety. Janice's husband is fooling around with a secretary, so she has no trouble trying to cheat on him. Before learning her identity, Chandler is torn over this, as he feels uncomfortable being with a married woman but also like he has a real connection here. At Phoebe's suggestion, he at least agrees to meet her in-person to hash this all out. He embraces Janice almost immediately.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Mindy was not a great person previously, what with sleeping with her best friend's fiancée, but at least she felt bad about it. Now she is straight up gleeful about spreading the story that Rachel went insane from syphilis.
- Wham Shot: Janice walks in, revealing to the audience and characters that she is Chandler's online girlfriend.
