The One with Joey's Big Break

"**The One with Joey's Big Break**"
"The One with Joey's Big Break"
Friends episode
Episode no.	Season 5; Episode 22
Directed by	Gary Halvorson
Written by	Story by: Shana Goldberg-Meehan; Teleplay by: Wil Calhoun;
Featured music	"A Horse with No Name" by America
Production code	467672
Original air date	May 13, 1999
Episode chronology
← Previous; "The One with the Ball"	Next →; "The One in Vegas"
	Friends season 5
	List of episodes

"The One with Joey's Big Break" is the twenty-second episode of Friends' fifth season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on May 13, 1999.^[1]

Plot

When Rachel is complaining about her eyes, Monica tells her to see her eye doctor, but Rachel refuses due to an unnatural fear of having anything near her or anyone else's eyes. Rachel eventually visits the eye doctor after much persuasion by Monica. The doctor tells her that she has a minor infection in her left eye and gives her eye drops for it. Monica takes extreme measures to give Rachel her eyedrops, to no avail. Eventually, Monica and the others manage to hold her down and give her the eyedrops.

Joey is told by his agent that he is to play the lead role in an upcoming movie called Shutter Speed, which is being filmed in Las Vegas. After hearing the news, Chandler decides to go with Joey. While the two are on the George Washington Bridge on their way to Vegas, Joey reveals to Chandler that rather than getting a fixed salary, he would instead be getting a part of the movie's profit. This causes Chandler to inadvertently reveal that he does not think that this movie would be Joey's big break, causing Joey to kick Chandler out of the car.

In Vegas, Joey arrives at the film site where the director reveals that production is being postponed due to a lack of funds and tells Joey to stand by until filming can resume. Joey gets an extremely demeaning and humiliating job at Caesars Palace and hides it from his friends.

Meanwhile, Phoebe finds herself upset with Ross, but cannot remember why. Ross posits several reasons why Phoebe might be unhappy with him, but is unable find the right reason. He soon plays Phoebe's game with her in an effort to find out, and discovers that Phoebe believes that he called her boring. Ross cannot remember ever saying that she was boring, and Phoebe then realizes that it was a dream.

Reception

In the original broadcast, the episode was viewed by 21.3 million viewers.^[2]

Sam Ashurst from Digital Spy ranked the episode #106 on their ranking of the 236 Friends episodes.^[3]

Telegraph & Argus placed the episode at the same spot on their ranking of all 236 Friends episodes, and wrote that the best line in the episode was: (Phoebe apologises to Ross for an earlier insult) "I am sorry about the fat ass thing. You actually have a very sweet little heinie".^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b "Friends".
^ "Friends Nielsen Ratings Archive - Season Five". newmusicandmore.tripod.com.
^ Ashurst, Sam (January 1, 2018). "Every single Friends episode – RANKED". Digital Spy.
^ "The definitive ranking of all 236 Friends episodes | Bradford Telegraph and Argus". Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2019-01-22.

[auto-1] "Friends".

[2] "Friends Nielsen Ratings Archive - Season Five". newmusicandmore.tripod.com.

[3] Ashurst, Sam (January 1, 2018). "Every single Friends episode – RANKED". Digital Spy.

[4] "The definitive ranking of all 236 Friends episodes | Bradford Telegraph and Argus". Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2019-01-22.

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v t e Friends episodes
Season 1	"The Pilot" "The One with the Sonogram at the End" "The One with the Thumb" "The One with George Stephanopoulos" "The One with the Blackout" "The One with the Monkey" "The One Where the Monkey Gets Away" "The One with the Fake Monica" "The One Where Rachel Finds Out"
Season 2	"The One with Ross's New Girlfriend" "The One with Russ" "The One with the Lesbian Wedding" "The One After the Superbowl" "The One with the Prom Video" "The One Where Dr. Ramoray Dies" "The One with Barry and Mindy's Wedding"
Season 3	"The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy" "The One Where No One's Ready" "The One with the Flashback" "The One with the Football" "The One with the Morning After" "The One at the Beach"
Season 4	"The One with the Jellyfish" "The One with the Cat" "The One with the Embryos" "The One with Ross's Wedding"
Season 5	"The One After Ross Says Rachel" "The One Hundredth" "The One with All the Thanksgivings" "The One Where Everybody Finds Out" "The One with the Girl Who Hits Joey" "The One with the Cop" "The One Where Rachel Smokes" "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" "The One with the Ride-Along" "The One with Joey's Big Break" "The One in Vegas"
Season 6	"The One After Vegas" "The One Where Ross Got High" "The One with the Apothecary Table" "The One with Unagi" "The One with the Proposal"
Season 7	"The One with Monica's Thunder" "The One with All the Candy" "The One with All the Cheesecakes" "The One Where They're Up All Night" "The One with Ross and Monica's Cousin" "The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding"
Season 8	"The One After 'I Do'" "The One with Rachel's Date" "The One with the Halloween Party" "The One with the Rumor" "The One Where Rachel Has a Baby"
Season 9	"The One Where No One Proposes" "The One with Ross's Inappropriate Song" "The One with Rachel's Other Sister" "The One in Barbados"
Season 10	"The One After Joey and Rachel Kiss" "The One Where Ross Is Fine" "The One with Ross's Tan" "The One with the Birth Mother" "The One with Phoebe's Wedding" "The Last One"
Specials	Friends: The Reunion