The b-plot is a very by the numbers sitcom storyline about Phoebe trying to drive a wedge between Rachel and Joey, so Rachel will come back and live with her. This is some good wholesome fun! There’s nothing bad here! The absurdity is then compounded when Chandler DOES turn up as Santa, and Joey arrives as Santa. Ross dolefully exclaiming “the Maccabees!” on repeat, but being interrupted each time, is perfect. It’s inherently good comedy - a bunch of adults trying to pass off a huge armadillo as an exciting Santa-substitute is wonderful. Ross also can’t get a Santa costume this close to Christmas, which seems fake, but sure - and in classic Ross style, tries to make up for this by wearing a huge armadillo costume, and passing himself off as a lesser known festive figure, the Holiday Armadillo. The contrast between Ben’s supreme excitement about the glitz and glamour of Christmas, and Santa, and presents, compared to Ross’s dour attempt at spicing up Hanukkah is done very well - I don’t know if TV has ever manifested such a glorious drip as Ross. The main plot of this episode revolves around Ross getting his son Ben (the future Riverdale star, Cole Sprouse) for the Christmas holidays, and deciding to use this time to teach him about the miracles of Hanukkah. It’s nice that Friends managed to be unproblematic and quite wholesome for a holiday episode. ‘The One With The Holiday Armadillo’ (Season 7, Episode 10) He ends up re-gifting a mixed tape from his ex, Janice (who, btw, is treated very poorly in this show) - which culminates in a very funny and awkward payoff. The other plotline seems like it’s going to be pretty annoying - Chandler and Monica have agreed to hand-make Valentines Day presents for each other, but of course Chandler has fucked it up. He believes that Unagi means a state of total awareness, but it’s actually freshwater eel.Īnyway - his absolute insufferability around the term grows and grows, until finally, his hubris brings him down - and it’s just a grand old time. Basically, the main plot is that Rachel and Phoebe do a self defence class, and Ross mocks them, using the absolute made-up term of “Unagi” as his main focus. Otherwise, this is a peak “everybody hates Ross” episode, which can be extremely cathartic, because Ross absolutely sucks. I’m not sure if Ross getting karate terms mixed up with sushi counts as subtle racism, but if it does, please feel free to strike this episode off the list. Remember when the western world discovered sushi all of a sudden, and absolutely lost their shit? I don’t, I’m young. ‘The One With Unagi’ (Season 6, Episode 17) It’s very funny, and one of the best uses of Friends occasional departures from realism.Ĥ. Seems fairly puerile humour, but they let the consequences of the action escalate from absurdity into utter melodrama, culminating in a big, over-acted reveal, like something pulled from a old timey movie. You pee on a jellyfish sting, and it helps. Chandler and Joey are the only two around, and it falls on them to provide the urine to fix the pain - which is a real thing, btw. While at the beach (isn’t it weird when they’re NOT in their apartment?), Monica gets stung by a jellyfish. This episode is knee deep in that tepid plot - but it’s worth trudging through it, because the B-plot is actual gold. Sure - the phrase “we were on a break” does sometimes make me laugh hysterically for almost no reason, but it’s more Stockholm Syndrome than actual humour. One of the worst storylines, that truly encapsulates the utter BULLSHIT of Ross and Rachel, is the “we were on a break” affair. ‘The One With the Jellyfish’ (Season 4, Episode 1) If you look at this list and thing “where’s *insert funny episode*” you just have to assume they fucked it up later somehow. So, without further fuckaround, here’s eight episodes of Friends you can safely watch. I could have missed something, and if so, I apologise. I started with a longlist of forty-three standout episodes.Īnd also, I have to point out, I am not the arbiter of wokeness - I only tried to filter out the obvious ones I could see.
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