So, episode one. Where it all began.
Basic Gist of the Episode:
Rachel runs out on her wedding and into high school friend Monica's life. Monica has a date with "Paul the Wine Guy", and has sex with him on the first date. Ross is sad and getting divorced, his wife having moved out and left him for a woman. Chandler wants to be a lesbian, Joey wants to go to a strip club, and Phoebe pulls out four eyelashes... we'll find more for them to do later...
And so we begin in Central Perk. Monica, Phoebe, Chandler and Joey are sitting around on a rainy Sunday, discussing Monica's upcoming date. Monica is wearing a mustard coloured jacket with high-waisted trousers and suspenders, and it's both the greatest and worst thing ever.
Meanwhile, Phoebe is concerned at the possibility that Monica's date might eat chalk.
The writers really didn't know what to do with Phoebe in the beginning, did they? Basically, Phoebe doesn't do anything this whole episode except spout extremely weird non sequiturs like this. Eventually they manage to get her to a place where she's the quirky one but still a somewhat realistic person; but here she's sort of weird for the sake of weird, and it's confusing as to why everyone else is friends with her. Love that denim jacket, though.
Time lapse, and Chandler is recounting the story of his dream. Everyone says they've had a similar dream.
I've never had that dream. It seems to come up a lot in TV and movies though. Is it really that common, or is it just a dumb trope that's trotted out all the time because it's so familiar, having seen it talked about so often in other media?
Another time lapse. Enter Ross, miserable about Carol moving out. There's something really weird about David Schwimmer's voice in this episode. I don't know if it was him trying to sound sad, or if it was nerves, or something else, but thank God he sounds normal following this episode.
Okay, so can we talk about how in 1994 we had a show that (spoilers for the next episode, but come on, if you don't know this you must be living under a rock) was going to depict a lesbian couple raising a child together like it was no big deal? And even if they were side characters, and lines like the one above get huge laughs (and you know its a childish "he said a dirty word!!!" response from the audience), I still like that Friends overall decided to treat it as a normal part of life.
Also, Joey's hair in Season 1. WHY???
Moving on to one of my favourite jokes from this episode:
And so we meet Rachel Greene. Jennifer Aniston has a case of the strange voice in this episode, and again its unclear as to whether this was an intentional choice on her part or if it was beyond her control. I think it's more likely that it was beyond her control because it takes a little while for her to sound more normal, compared to Ross who sounds like himself in episode 2.
My favourite thing about Rachel's story of running out on her wedding is her realisation of who Barry resembles:
It bothers me to no end how obvious it is that those mugs are empty. Especially later in the scene when Ross pours the sugar into Rachel's mug, and starts stirring nothing.
Also of note in this scene: Cynthia Mann as a waitress. She later appears as Phoebe's co-worker Jasmine on a recurring basis.
The gang then goes back to Monica's to watch a telenovela.
And we get to see more of Monica and her suspenders:
Good Lord, just look at those things!
Chandler says this about the woman in the telenovela, but I like to think he's talking about Monica.
Meanwhile, Rachel calls her dad to explain herself. Check out the phone - oh, 90s...
Following this phone call, Rachel panics and starts breathing into a paper bag. Phoebe consoles her with a rendition of "My Favorite Things", with altered lyrics:
Monica's date arrives, and the gang discovers that it's "Paul the Wine Guy". Phoebe's confusion about what this actually means is great:
One last look at Monica's pants before she changes out them for her date:
Paul the Wine Guy is played by some guy called John Allen Nelson, who doesn't appear to have done much with his career apart from guest start in random TV episodes, and look like a poor man's Patrick Swayze.
And look! Monica lives in apartment 5 apparently! Look out for the change in a few episodes' time.
I'm still wholly perplexed by the writers' idea of what they can do to tell us Phoebe is the kooky one. Like, when they came up with the characters, did they really think "yeah, and Phoebe's the strange one who just says random shit whenever there's space to fill, people will love it!" I'm forever grateful that they worked out how to integrate Phoebe's eccentricity into the plot and make it believable that the rest of them would be friends with her.
It's a lot like New Girl in that respect, where I initially couldn't stand how hard they were trying to force "Jess is weird and awkward, LIKE YOU!!!", because in the first few episodes it wasn't relatable at all, it was stupid. Thankfully, they managed to tone it down and find a way to make it believable, and the show is actually watchable and not eyeroll-inducing anymore. The same thing happens with Phoebe, and a lot has to do with her being given storylines to base her weirdness around, not just observing everyone's life and saying strange things off to the side. Chandler doesn't have much to do in some of the early episodes either, but whenever he's observing from the sidelines, his sarcastic wisecracks work. Phoebe blurting out nonsense just doesn't.
Moving on, the guys are now at Ross' place helping him assemble furniture. Apparently Carol took everything with her. Chandler and Joey seem to think Ross got screwed, but I mean at least he got the apartment. Maybe she could have left some furniture for him - was it really necessary to take all of it? Anyway, Ross: how are you sitting like that? Why would you voluntarily sit like that? You aren't even actually sitting!
The guys clothes are pretty unremarkable for the first half of the episode. They're all very 90s, but nothing as outrageous as Monica's pants. I am intrigued that Chandler put on a hat to help with furniture assembly. I guess it's also somewhat notable the he's wearing a bowling shirt, which I'd call a super 90s thing if Charlie Sheen hadn't warn them in every episode of Two and a Half Men. And is he wearing Converse?
Back at Monica's, Rachel tries calling Barry. I must assume these are Monica's clothes because it's doubtful Rachel would have been home to get changed. And she's tied the shirt at the waist, which was all the rage in '94.
Also, Barry Finkel? Every other episode following this, he's Barry Farber. Why did they change it?
We don't see much of Monica's date outfit, because she's hidden behind the table the whole time, but I think we can rest assured she did not go out in those pants.
Back at Ross', we hear how long it's been since Ross "grabbed a spoon" (asked someone out). And wow, this is a dated reference. I'm pretty sure this was a dated reference in 1994. Apparently it's a reference to this song from 1974. I've never heard that song outside of researching because of this episode of Friends. Ross would have been 6 years old when the song was released (he says he's 26 in this episode) - was this really a popular enough song to be a recognizable reference in the early 90s?
The next morning, we find out Paul the Wine Guy stayed the night, and Joey and Chandler are over for breakfast. I picked this shot because we can almost see everyone's clothes. Monica's wearing an ugly beige floral dress with a sweater tied around her waist. Joey's wearing hideous vest that appears to be some sort of trademan's uniform. And I assume Rachel is wearing Monica's pyjamas. We can't see Chandler's clothes here, we'll see them later in the episode again. They're pretty unremarkable, just your standard brown 90s office wear.
Monica tells Rachel about her night, and says that she can't stop smiling. Rachel responds with the above line. The audience laughs, but there's one guy in the audience that laughs way louder than everyone else. I'm don't think there was any intended sexual innuendo with that line, but it makes it more amusing (to me anyway... and that one guy in the audience).
I'm a little confused by Monica's timeline this morning. We see her exit her room fully dressed with Paul the Wine Guy, and then she sees him off, talks to Rachel and then leaves for work. Did she even shower? And if so, how early did she get up if she wasn't aware Joey and Chandler were there? How is she ready to got to work? Why is she even leaving for work this early - she's a chef and it's a Monday, surely she shouldn't need to leave for work at the same time as Chandler. And it's autumn and it was raining the previous day, does she not need a coat? Am I overthinking this from having watched this episode too many times?
Any way, at work, Monica tells co-worker Franny about her date with Paul the Wine Guy. It turns out he told Monica the same story about his divorce leaving him impotent to Franny. Franny is played by Clea Lewis, who played Audrey on Ellen DeGeneres' sitcom Ellen.
After work, Monica goes to Central Perk to complain about Paul the Wine Guy, and men in general. Here's Chandler's work clothes, and another look and Monica's beige ensemble. Joey's switched up his hideous vest for... another hideous vest. Monica says, "I hate men!" and Phoebe responds with:
Which are some words we could all stand to take on board. Is she drawing with Crayola felt pens, though? I also think her hair looks really cool in a way only someone like Phoebe could really pull off.
Rachel returns from a day out with no job, but a new pair of boots. Monica wants to know how she paid for the boots, but the real question is how was she laughed out of twelve interviews? Were walk-in interviews really that commonplace in 1994 that you could attend 12 on the same day? And if they were jobs that required qualifications or experience, why were they even having walk-in interviews? I'm sorry to be nitpicky about this, but I just can't comprehend how this is even possible. Maybe it was different in 1994, but this is nothing like my experience with trying to find a job.
The gang forces Rachel to cut up her credit cards that her dad pays for. She cuts one, and asks if she can leave it at that, but Monica tells her it was only a library card. Why did they lay out a library card for her to cut up?
Ross and Rachel talk about how Ross had a crush on her in high school, and that he wants to go out with her some time. And honestly, for all my nitpicking, I do really love this show, and the early Ross and Rachel stuff is just so well done. David and Jennifer have great chemistry, and this scene is a great example of that.
We end the episode with Rachel waitressing at Central Perk, and Chandler telling the story of another dream wherein he was Liza Minnelli. And Rachel has her shirt tied at the waist again.
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