Friends From A to Z

Rachel and Danny’s relationship sparks a debate about the best and worst couples of all ten seasons, which has some surprises of its own. There’s discussion of the reverse Dickensian theme in this episode and a lot of puzzling about why the Ross and Joey dynamic here is perhaps less successful than the Monica and Chandler storyline is echoes from a few seasons ago. 

**Note that this episode was recorded before the untimely death of Matthew Perry** We had one of our favourite things with this episode: seeing it in a new light and with more layers than before. We learn that the edit choices around Ross’ sandwich have resulted in a creative magnifier that unfairly taint the episode in our memories, there’s endless admiration for Joey’s masterful manipulation of...

**Note that this episode was recorded before the untimely death of Matthew Perry**  This is an easy favourite, with lots to love. There is also, though, a lot to forgive with several plot holes revealed through the discussion, but that doesn’t prevent this from being a classic. There’s surprise at Adele’s favourite joke, Friends-thru-a-lens makes an appearance with the OTT jokes about Monica being...

There’s a surprise in store for Zoe with a very special Epidimerick. There’s a lot of debate about possible explanations for very curious behaviour from Rachel, Zoe learns a new social hack and an iconic hand gesture takes the conversation from sitcom to psychology. 

Does Phoebe have any way of justifying wearing the fur coat? There's a discussion about a possible flaw in the Danny storyline - is Rachel really ready for this yet(i)? And Zoe blows Adele’s mind by spotting that Emily and Ross are Ross and Rachel in reverse.

We're off to a racing start in this one with a cracking cold open and, despite it having a title that Zoe really (really!) doesn't like, it's jam packed full of fantastic laughs and stuff to discuss; Does Monica have the wrong idea of what a perfect weekend away should be like? Even though the weekend went a bit wrong, are they in a better situation because of it afterwards? Does Ro...

Apologies to any US listeners who will cringe at our lack of knowledge about PBS, but hopefully that doesn't distract from the discussion too much! Adele wonders what the plan was for Emily if the actress hadn't got pregnant when she did (meaning Emily is not only written out but also filmed only from the neck up). Zoe on the other hand isn't sure it's credible that Ross's...

It's The One Hundredth and that's not the only landmark thing about this episode. Elsewhere, Zoe reveals an improvised moment by Lisa Kudrow that never made it to air (understandably, when you know what it is!), we discuss why a tiny bump in the road for Chandler and Monica is so significant and we marvel at how an actor can make repeatedly delivering one line so memorable!

Important turning points here when another Rachel and Ross chapter closes, Monica and Chandler's story develops and Phoebe's life is about to change. We discuss why it's the right decision for Rachel to tell Ross she loves him, we find out what prompted Zoe's three smiles in the margin of her notes and we as why Monica and Chandler decide to have a romantic bath with Joey in th...

We’re back for Season Five and what an opening episode - the resolution to one of the greatest end-of-season cliffhangers in television history. So much here to discuss including of course the big question of just what it *did* mean that Ross said Rachel at his wedding, what to make of Emily’s reaction and just why it is that we’re so happy to ship Monica and Chandler when everything about their r...

A feature length episode to cover everything that happened in The Reunion... and there was a lot! The memories! The tears! The surprises! The special guests! The table reads! The unseen footage! The list goes on... We discuss how much of the plan had been revealed and what was genuinely new to the cast. We figure out which guest star we liked the best and who or what was perhaps missing. Most of a...

Christmas is a time for giving and, to round off the year, we’ve got an extended episode to cover off both parts of Ross’ wedding and two episodes means two epidimericks! We break down why these episodes are so beloved, which celebrity cameo is the best, how our knowledge of what comes next for Monica and Chandler shapes our response to the big twist and whether this episode gave us the biggest cl...

Two episodes (well, one and a half) for the price of one here because we’ve wrapped up TOW The Invitation with TOW The Worst Best Man Ever, because The Invitation has very little original content. However, this does mean we’re double-epidimericking!  There is a brief but interesting discussion about the Invitation episode, including Zoe inventing the perfect word to describe what it’s composed of...

It’s (another) one with the lockdown, which means we’re back on Zoom for our recording of this discussion (and the sound quality is a teeny bit affected by that). There’s a debate about whether the wedding dress storyline stands up to 2020 scrutiny and whether it retains its humour with multiple viewing. Questions are raised about what’s going on in Ross’ unconscious and whether the writers are pl...

This episode’s easy to love for so many reasons: echoes of TOW The Embryos, Joey and Chandler solid bromance moments and significant storyline progress. Despite that, it does raise many question: Is Rachel counter-intuitively the reason why Ross proposes to Emily so quickly? How long does it take to pack up and move an entire apartment? And has Zoe spotted a sinister plan that Chandler plots from...

There is one standout storyline in this episode which is undeniably great for a number of different reasons. Beyond that, there’s plenty of debate about ‘that’ dress - not just the dress itself but several questions about the set up and the outcome of that storyline. Elsewhere, how do we feel about Ross’ paranoia 20 years on and why did no one have such a psychological insight into Ross when it co...

Interesting trivia right off the bat with this one and its main storyline, which also leads to a mass debate trying to make sense of a group of friends sitting around watching this particular type of TV channel. What does this tell us about how TV has changed in the intervening years? Elsewhere, which is better, Relaxitaxi or Relaxicab? Is there a candidate for an iconic line and is Ross the Hugh...

This one might contain a fake party, but it’s the real deal when it comes to Friends episodes. There’s a lot of appreciation for the quick-fire funny lines and for Jennifer Aniston’s tour-de-force performance. There are also lots of questions to debate: why does the public at large not feel the same way about this episode? Just how many times has Phoebe kissed the other male Friends? And why on ea...

There’s plenty to discuss about why this one gets the IMDB rating it has. Is it because 15 Yemen Road, Yemen is so iconic? Is it because Janice is back? Is it the shape-shifting accents that Emily’s rugby pals seem to have? In Friends Thru a Lens, we ask who would have thought that Toxic Masculinity would be so prolific in 22 minutes of television from 23 years ago? Why is the Yemen Road joke so f...

It’s fair to say this isn’t a favourite episode of Season 4 for Adele or Zoe or indeed the audience at large. That said, this is a really important one because we meet for the first time one of the most disruptive and memorable characters of all ten seasons. It does raise a number of questions though: why does Emily sound like she has a fake British accent, even though the actress playing her his...

Not the most popular episode of Season 4, but given the real life trivia around this one, there’s a great deal to discuss. There’s an in-depth exploration of Joshua’s background and a hypothesis that Joey might have unwittingly helped us understand the chemistry (or lack of) between him and Rachel. That’s not the only storyline that doesn’t really feel like it hangs together credibly: Why does the...

Is there such a thing as 22 perfect minutes of television? Not only do we think so, but, arguably, THIS IS IT! This is not just a good episode of Friends, this is one of if not THE best episodes of Friends ever made. All of the many (many) features that earn it this mantle are explored, but how can we possibly pick a favourite joke? Well we have to! Is there anything we don’t like? Doubtful! And p...

Another one where the rankings differ between the people at large and the hosts - this time totally inexplicably because this is a great episode! All three storylines are not just funny but play a role in raising issues into mainstream culture that were interesting and brave, so we get our Friends Thru A Lens all over that. There’s an interesting discussion around how the writers might have decide...

There’s a lot packed in to this one with four storylines and three of them scoring big points for great jokes (one not so much). We wonder whether the title of this one might explain the difference between our rating and the one on IMdB and Zoe has an idea for how to improve the summaries for all the episodes. There’s a lot of admiration for a classic pairing, an iconic song from Phoebe and Zoe so...

There are very mixed feelings about where this one ranks amongst the episodes of Season Four but no such disagreement with another favourite joke snap. Zoe’s initial insight into Rachel’s promotion storyline is surprising to Adele to say the least. There is an epiphany about the choices made by the writers when Monica and Phoebe don’t get to see out what could have been a future with lots of poten...