Friends Watch Party Recaps (Season 5): 100th Episode, Mondler, What Happens in Vegas... | EPISODE 5
The One with the Season Recap
Where we last left the gang, Ross had just had a slip of the tongue at the absolute worst time. He tries to patch things up, and it almost works, but Emily asks for the one thing he can’t give her. So how does Ross deal with his imploding marriage? In short: leather pants, sandwich, PIVOT, Janice. He also moves into Ugly Naked Guy’s old apartment after overstaying his welcome with Chandler and Joey. However, he doesn’t make the best first impression on his new neighbors.
Meanwhile, also in London, Monica and Chandler took us all by surprise by hooking up. Yet in this season, we get to see a one-night stand become something so much more. Really, this was a relationship by the fans for the fans (if you want to know what we mean, check out episode 4).
“Friends” hit a huge milestone this season, reaching its 100th episode, and celebrated by having Phoebe give birth to the triplets. This is another big year for Phoebe, who almost takes a huge step forward in her relationship, but bigger still, she finally meets her dad.
It also cemented itself as the series with the best Thanksgivings, with multiple blasts from the past. The gang also does that super relatable thing of making New Year’s resolutions, some of them can’t even stick to for the duration of the episode, let alone past it.
This season also sees big changes in Rachel’s career, with her finally getting her foot in the door at Ralph Lauren despite quite a rocky beginning. Still, it’s great to finally see her settle into a career that fits her like a classic Ralph Lauren polo shirt. Joey hopes big things are happening in his career, too, but sadly, this isn’t his big break. It does, however, bring the gang to Vegas, and ever since, we’ve all been looking for our own identical hand twins. Monica and Chandler take a gamble on their relationship, and Ross and Rachel are about to find out that not everything that happens in Vegas actually stays in Vegas.
“The One After Ross Says Rachel”
We open season five with the fallout from Ross saying the wrong name at his and Emily’s wedding. To be fair, that’s a pretty hard thing to come back from. Worse still, she catches Ross about to head off on their honeymoon with Rachel. Still, Ross doesn’t give up and agrees to so many of Emily’s demands in the hope of making the marriage work. Unfortunately, Emily eventually asks Ross to give up the one thing he absolutely can’t, and with that, the relationship ends.
Emily wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and plenty of fans were relieved to see her go, but that wasn’t necessarily the plan. Helen Baxendale was meant to return for season five, but between seasons, she became pregnant. Since flying back and forth between the US and UK wasn’t on the cards, they opted to write her out. Some probably welcomed the decision, with director James Burrows calling Baxendale “nice but not particularly funny” and adding, “Schwimmer had no one to bounce off. It was like clapping with one hand.” At the time, she was also starring in the British dramedy “Cold Feet,” funnily enough, playing a character called Rachel. Too bad no one used that as an excuse for Ross’ Freudian slip.
Anyway, we’re not sure if Baxendale particularly minded having her run cut short. She later noted that the level of fame surrounding the “Friends” cast was more overwhelming than she was comfortable with, and she wasn’t particularly close with any of them anyway. With the Ross and Emily drama wrapped up, the Ross-and-Rachel will-they-won’t-they was back on the table. However, now we also had another couple to root for.
The One Where Monica & Chandler Become the Central Couple
If we rewind to London once more, perhaps the only thing more surprising than Ross’ slip-up was this moment. At the time, that’s all it was meant to be, but the audience’s reaction was so unexpected that the writers thought, hey, maybe there’s more to explore here. So it wasn’t just Monica and Chandler figuring out this thing between them, but the writers were on that journey too, developing the relationship as they went along. For a while, they had fun with Monica and Chandler desperately trying to hide things, and allowing the audience in on this big secret while the rest of the gang stayed mainly in the dark. With a group this tight-knit, though, how long could that last?
Amazingly, Joey is the first to find out. Yet it doesn’t take long for the secret to blow wide open in one of the series’ most beloved episodes—one that earned three Emmy nominations and a Writers Guild nod. In “The One Where Everybody Finds Out,” Joey knows, Rachel knows, and we’ve lost track of how many times the word “knows” gets used. Phoebe discovers the pair in a memorable and now highly quotable way, leaving only Ross to catch on. Eventually, he does, but more importantly, Monica and Chandler are pushed to confess. Marta Kauffman said the challenge was to pack in as many twists as possible, essentially before anyone got more confused than Joey. Lisa Kudrow was encouraged to lean into being “rhythmically challenged,” as she got her flirt on. Meanwhile, Matt LeBlanc had so carefully choreographed that bra reveal that it required intricate coordination with the costume team. Still, while the friends were scheming to make Monica and Chandler admit to hooking up, the confession they actually got was a huge surprise. Director Michael Lembeck recalled an “incredible charge that went through the audience” when Chandler made his big declaration.
After that, Monica and Chandler became the it couple of the series, the one fans could really see themselves in, the highs, the lows, and all the little moments in between. Before long, they were celebrating their anniversary, which took them not just to Vegas but almost down the aisle. We’ll get back to that later.
“The One Hundredth”
Chandler and Monica weren’t the only ones celebrating a milestone this season. Episode three of season five marked “Friends’” one hundredth episode. The producers wanted to go big, and what could be bigger than Phoebe giving birth to triplets? Interestingly, that meant the apartments and Central Perk, the show’s most iconic sets, didn’t feature in the celebration. As we know, the storyline was originally conceived to account for Lisa Kudrow’s real-life pregnancy, and having Phoebe carry triplets for her brother let the writers be as silly and outrageous as they wanted. And that silliness wasn’t ending just yet.
This episode also packed in two B-plots: one throwing a spanner into Monica and Chandler’s still-secret relationship, and another with Joey suffering kidney stones in parallel with Phoebe’s labor. The writers even joked that researching the condition led them to some “really disturbing stuff.”
But back to the main storyline: Phoebe arrives at the hospital only to learn her doctor had an accident, leaving her with a choice between one who looks barely out of med school and another who is obsessed with Fonzie. She also realizes how hard it will be to give up the babies she’s grown so attached to and even ropes in Rachel to test whether Frank and Alice might let her keep one. Early drafts leaned into this struggle more heavily, with Phoebe being more insistent. However, they ultimately changed their minds to add some contrast to the overall tone of the episode.
Any scenes with real babies had to be filmed in advance, with a nurse on standby with a stopwatch to ensure they weren’t under the studio lights too long. For scenes shot in front of a live audience, they used dolls, both to protect the babies from noise and because studio life just isn’t suited to such little ones. Unsurprisingly, Lisa Kudrow has called this her favorite episode. In the US, it ranked second only to ER for NBC that week, while across the pond, 2.17 million tuned in, the biggest audience for any Sky program that week.
“The One with All the Thanksgivings”
Since season one, “Friends” has been as much a part of Thanksgiving traditions as the turkeys on our tables. But this year, the show took a slightly different approach. This year, everyone shared their worst Thanksgiving (in this life or another, apparently). The writers had seen how well flashbacks played before, so they leaned on that again, while being careful to keep a wide berth from clip-show territory, which audiences don’t always love. The idea of everyone gathered in one place, spinning off into mini-stories of disastrous Thanksgivings, gave the episode structure and kept it rooted in the present.
It did mean, however, that they couldn’t film everything in front of a live audience. Between special effects and constant costume changes, there was just too much going on. That was tricky, since so much of “Friends’” appeal came from feeding off the audience’s reactions, which often inspired last-minute rewrites. Without that input, maybe no one flagged the overuse of fat-shaming jokes, or that Rachel and Chandler meet for the first time for what, like the third time (so far)? Needless to say, the “they looked different, so they forgot” excuse didn’t exactly convince anyone. So you could see that in some ways, both the writers and actors felt the lack of that usual energy.
Maybe that’s why they leaned so heavily into physical comedy and pop culture references. Ross and Chandler’s outfits apparently winked at “Miami Vice,” while the music that plays when Monica drops the knife pays homage to “Psycho.” Phoebe’s past-life injury reportedly came from this classic “SNL” sketch. Funnily enough, some people called out “Mr. Bean” for copying the turkey-on-the-head gag from this episode. However, “Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean,” the so-called offending episode, aired in 1992, while “Friends” only premiered in 1994. If anything, it shows just how deeply the show had become ingrained in global pop culture, which leads us neatly to our next point.
The One Where “Friends” Cements Its Place in Pop Culture
“Friends” has been woven into pop culture from the start. The characters became our style icons, the dialogue slipped into everyday conversation, and the catchphrases live rent-free in our heads. We’ve even done a list on the “Top 10 Friends Lines We Use All the Time.” When you’re done here, you should totally check it out. For now, let’s zero in on season five. Are you even a “Friends” fan if you haven’t dramatically shouted “My eyes!” like Phoebe, or announced your sandwich for the whole world to hear? Or been able to move anything around a corner without screaming “PIVOT” at the top of your lungs?
We already knew the cast had razor-sharp comedic timing, but what made the whole “PIVOT” thing so unforgettable was how it doubled the laughs with physical comedy. Since “I Love Lucy,” sitcoms have thrived on taking everyday tasks and escalating them into complete mayhem. What Lucy and Ethel achieved with practically no dialogue, Ross pulls off with a single word, repeated again and again. The humor snowballs through frantic, physical movement, with every moment dragging the characters deeper into absurdity. It’s a classic sitcom formula, simple premise, character flaws, and mounting mess, which is why scenes like this still feel timeless.
The Ones in Vegas
Season five began in London and ended in Las Vegas. The gang heads to Sin City after Joey travels there, convinced he’s on the verge of his big break, only sadly, it's not to be. Monica books tickets for herself and Chandler as an anniversary gift, and because Joey is still mad at Chandler and refusing to take his calls. Phoebe, still haunted by her London FOMO, insists on joining, so why not just make it a group trip, right?
The two-part arc juggles several storylines, like Phoebe versus a lurker and Joey discovering his identical hand twin. Ross and Rachel sink into hilariously petty antics, and a chance encounter with Richard threatens Monica and Chandler's relationship. Shockingly, the writers originally planned for Chandler to cheat on Monica with a hotel employee, and it even got as far as rehearsals. But Matthew Perry pulled the plug, knowing Chandler’s character would never recover with audiences if he crossed that line. He was absolutely right. Instead, the arc gave Monica and Chandler exactly the push their relationship needed. Plus, the actress hired to play that employee can still be seen as an air hostess in the episode.
The season seemed destined to end with a wedding, and it did, just not the one anyone expected. With that cliffhanger, we’d have to wait for season six to see what came next.
In what ways has “Friends” infiltrated your everyday lexicon? PIVOT down to the comments and let us know