A 'Friends' Episode Sampler

One episode for each of the friends.

This year, Friends is celebrating the 30th Anniversary of its premiere and the 20th Anniversary of the show's conclusion, a decade that brought some of the most popular and influential situational comedy in television history. 

Between years and years of reruns and a presence on the front page of streamers, the show is still ever in our public consciousness. 

But if you're one of the few who never got into the show (or, God forbid, have never even seen it), it's time to remedy that with this episode sampler representing each of the friends. Minor spoilers ahead, but nothing you wouldn't already know from your time out from underneath that rock. 

Ross - “The One with All the Resolutions” (Season 5, Episode 11 )

I have a vivid memory of being a young babysitter-less boy, maybe four or five, hanging on the periphery of my mom and my aunts as they played Friends Trivial Pursuit. If it wasn't Trivial Pursuit exactly, it was that kind of thing. One round of charades had my Aunt Kiki reenacting the iconic moment from this episode where Ross can't get his leather pants back on, as the baby powder-lotion concoction he's created has made his legs too goopy. They howled with laughter. I'm sure they don't remember that, but I will never forget it. 

Are there more important Ross storylines? Sure. But if you're looking for something to represent Ross as a character, all bottled in a single episode, look no further. This is a man who spends a lot of time trying (and failing) to look cool. Trying to look cool in front of his son (the Holiday Armadillo appearance comes to mind), trying to look cool as he enters his 30s (who can forget the red sports car that he couldn't even drive?), and just plain trying to look cool (like his spray tan gone wrong or his glow-in-the-dark white teeth.) 

Usually, this is an attempt to look cool in front of the ladies. After his second divorce, Ross is back on the market and ready to reinvent himself. After picking out a pair of leather pants (that Rachel describes as "awful, absolutely awful") he tries them out on his date with Elizabeth Hornswoggle. Unfortunately, he gets his horn swoggled when he can't get the too-tight pants pulled back up in her bathroom. Sweat, lotion, and an impressionable game of charades follow. 

Monica - “The One with the Stain” (Season 8, Episode 7)

I think it took a while for Monica to become the character we think of her as now. For much of the series, she played the straight man to others' antics or ongoing storylines (like being the middle man of the Ross and Rachel debacles.) Aside from her time with Richard, she didn't have any particularly memorable partners either. It wasn't until her relationship with Chandler that she got an important through-line and someone to play off of.

As a result, it took a few seasons to see the strength of Courteney Cox's comedic chops. I think they shine in this episode, where Chandler hires a maid (following up on one of her most notable traits, her clean-freakery), prompting Monica to respond, "I hope by 'maid' you mean 'mistress', because if some other woman was here cleaning..."

But yes, it is true, Chandler has hired the recognizable Arden Myrin to clean their apartment. Hilarity ensues, as they say, when Monica follows her around the apartment, judging her work, and even going as far as accusing her of stealing.

Even though this one does feature A-lister Sean Penn in Phoebe's storyline, it's still not one of the show's most important or influential episodes. But it did give Courteney Cox room to shine in a way that she usually didn't.

Joey - “The One with the Butt” (Season 1, Episode 6)

Joey's character also took some time to develop into the knucklehead he became. In the later seasons, Joey was a complete idiot (like when Phoebe tries teaching him French and he turns "Je m'appelle!" into "Me poo poo!"), but early Joey was just kind of a ham. 

In of the show's earliest episodes (even though they are quite different from the rest of the series, I had to include at least some Season 1 or 2 representation as I've probably seen them the most, thanks to my childhood DVDs of only those seasons), Joey’s working on a play called Freud: The Musical!, which looks as bad as it sounds. But he still manages to stick out from the rest (this is before he was a terrible, melodrama-fueled soap actor) and he meets Estelle, who would go on to be his longtime agent, popping up here and there throughout the rest of the series. 

And right away, she gets him a role in the new Al Pacino movie! The only problem is...he's Pacino's butt double. Honestly, I think it's a great gig for him. I'm sure he looks the part. 

Although there are more iconic Joey stories (I considered Season 8's "Bamboozled"), this is my preferred version of the character, sharper and more believable. 

Phoebe - “The One With Princess Consuela” (Season 10, Episode 14)

Phoebe, on the other hand, was Phoebe from the jump. She needed no time to ruminate. Hell, she sings "Smelly Cat" in Season 2!

But my favorite period for the character is when she meets Mike (I thought of choosing their wedding episode for this slot, but I tried to steer away from monumental events like weddings and births - just know that it was one of my late grandmother's favorites), largely because Lisa Kudrow and Paul Rudd have such great chemistry together.

It's a wonder, then, that I would choose an episode where they spend most of the airtime frustrated with each other. After their wedding, Phoebe learns that she doesn't have to change her name to Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan, but that she can change it to anything. In a moment representative of her character's spontaneous and absurd tendencies (or, as Mike puts it in his wedding vows, how she is "so wonderfully weird"), she changes it to Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock. Mike responds by changing his to Crap Bag - "First name Crap, last name Bag" is a line that is only fun because Paul Rudd delivers it.

They kiss and make up, of course, but not before Phoebe finds out what a banana hammock actually is.

Rachel - “The One With The Morning After” (Season 3, Episode 16)

This is not to say that the show was nothing but goofy. In fact, the main reason behind the show's longevity was the fact that the audience truly cared about these people, seeing themselves and their own friends on television, (aside from the huge apartment, which I must mention.) And yes, that means following the on-again, off-again, on-off-on-off relationship of Ross and Rachel.

Therefore, my pick for Rachel is actually one of the darker moments of the series. Jennifer Aniston was a strong comedian, but easily the best dramatic actor of the bunch, and this episode where she finds out that Ross had sex with another woman was one of her finer acting moments. As the other four are locked inside an adjoining room (they needed some comedy to relieve the pressure) and listening in, Ross and Rachel go at it in one of their biggest fights. Aniston gets one of the show's most breathtaking moments when she responds to Ross' plea of, "This can't be it," with the knife-turning line, "Then how come it is?"

Ouch. 

Plus, to lighten the mood some, she's still rocking her famous and therefore trendy haircut, "The Rachel." That's essential Rachel and essential Friends. 

Chandler - “The One With the Embryos” (Season 4, Episode 11)

Chandler was always my favorite character, so in honor of the late Matthew Perry, let's pick one of the very best from the show's entire run. I know I said I wanted to avoid notable milestones, but this is one of the show's most famous episodes without really mattering too much in the long run of the plot. 

Attempting to settle a bet about who knows who better, Monica and Rachel team up against Joey and Chandler to play a Ross-created quiz show. It all ends with huge stakes: If the girls win, the boys have to give up their pet birds (don't ask.) If the boys win, the girls give up Monica's (rent-controlled!) apartment and swap sides of the hallway. 

All five of the characters shine (poor Phoebe is left out to continue the carrying-her-brother's-baby plot - don't ask), but Chandler gets the most backstory and most character-building. We learn that Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance scares the bejeezus out of him, that his weekly TV Guide is addressed to Miss Chanandler Bong, and that his father's Las Vegas all-male burlesque show is called Viva Las Gaygas. 

And no, he does not work as a transponster. 

The boys are victorious and enter their new apartment riding in on their ceramic dog statue, their arms extended like superheroes. It's a fan-favorite moment, and episode (TV Guide ranked it #21 on their list of Top 100 Episodes of All Time), for a reason. It's one of the best. 

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