Monica runs into Richard, and they start a friends-with-benefits relationship. Joey and Rachel exchange each others favorite books, but then Joey ruins the fun with his spoilers. The guys are squicked out by Phoebe's new boyfriend who's privates are always visible in his wide shorts.
Tropes:
- Big "OMG!": Monica when she overhears Richard has returned home with a blind date.
- Bookends: The Rachel and Joey plot starts with Rachel finding Joey's copy of The Shining in his freezer where he put it because it was scaring him too much. During The Stinger Rachel offers to put Little Women in the freezer when Joey gets upset because Beth is sick and about to die.
- Cannot Spit It Out: No one in the group can muster up the nerve to tell Robert that he keeps exposing himself, as it's just that awkward. At Central Perk, Phoebe tries to delicately explain things when breaking up with Robert, but she really struggles with it. All of a sudden, Gunther matter-of-factly tells Robert to "put the mouse back in the house." Apparently, this is also the reason why many of Robert's previous relationships ended.
- Friends with Benefits: Monica and Richard attempt this arrangement, comparing it to playing racquetball together. Eventually they realise the situation isn't working and break things off for good.
- Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: Apparently Robert has lost a few girlfriends in the past because he was unknowingly exposing himself repeatedly.
- Ready for Lovemaking: Monica comes home from a hard day at work to find Richard waiting in her bedroom wearing a nice suit with a glass of wine and rose petals on the bed. She attempts to return the favor with a similar setup in his apartment...which is when he comes home with a blind date.
- Spiteful Spoiler: When Joey accidentally spoils a major part of The Shining for Rachel, she retaliates by deliberately spoiling a plot twist in Little Women. Joey tries to one up her by revealing what happens to Jack, only for Rachel to completely devastate him by saying Beth dies. Chandler and Ross encourage Rachel to say that's not true, so as not to ruin the book for Joey (at least until he finally gets to that part of the book).
- Spoiling Shout-Out: Joey and Rachel's discussions about The Shining and Little Women reveal major spoilers for both novels (and the film adaptation of the former).
- You Keep Telling Yourself That: As the other friends remind her of how hard she took the break-up, Monica insists she and Richard are just friends and that has nothing has changed about their priorities. Their resuming sleeping together doesn't shake either of them of this. In the last scene, Richard lampshades how such an attitude has brought them both back to exactly where they were when they broke up and that this just isn't workable since the disagreement over having kids still hasn't changed.
