Friends: A Baby, A Thumb, and a Broken Nose (S1: E2-4)

"The One With the Sonogram at the End"
I feel like this episode is loaded with important plots that could have been spread out a bit more.  Ross finds out he has a child, we get some important information about Ross and Monica's childhood, and Rachel needs to give the ring back to Barry (the last is more important, character-wise).

This show opens with the friends talking about how boys and girls like sex.  This is pretty weak actually.  It's not really that clever or original.  (Wow so boys think the kissing isn't important and girls do!!)  This is the kind of humor that's really broad and none of the humor is character-based.  I could see the scene in literally every sitcom ever made.

Then Carol, who changes actresses the next time we see her, tells Ross that she's pregnant.  They meet at Ross' work to show he's an archaeologist.  Ross talks with his co-worker and that part of the scene kind of falls flat.  Oh she hates men and transfers that over to the not real caveman?  Again, the show is suffering from not being original at all with their humor.

Then Ross, in a bit of a stretch for comedy's sake, breaks off the caveman's arm - Ross is many things, but he's not stupid.  But I did enjoy the visual of the fake hand hugging Ross when he hugs Carol.

Then Ross and Monica's parents come over for dinner.  They really toned down Monica's fear of her parents later on, and the evident disdain that Judy Gellar had for her daughter.  I understand harsh criticism, but that was just straight up cruel.  I will say that Jack's speech which was trying to make Monica feel better, but actually made her feel worse was well-done.  It's the type of thing I could see a parent saying unlike "Spaghetti?  That's.... easy" (And I do know what they were going for - my grandma is like that - but then again, I do have a grandma like that and it didn't really feel realistic).  And despite my doubt that it would ever actually happen, Judy's "And you knew about this?!" to Monica worked nonetheless. (I have too much to talk about in this post so I'll post about Christina Pickles and Elliot Gould specifically at a later date)

Then the episode basically splits into two stories.  Rachel needs to give back her ring to Barry.  Her leaving the ring in the lasagna actually makes sense - it's a very sitcom thing to do, but her inexperience with cooking makes this very plausible.  But what was not so plausible is that Monica would let her take care of the lasagna when she wants everything to go right with her parents.  Hell, she barely let Rachel make the dessert for Thanksgiving in one of the later seasons (the dessert with meat).  And that was a grown up Rachel who had six years to improve upon this one!

Then they overcompensated by making Barry into the biggest douchebag imaginable.  Some of that scene worked - such as the little kid getting his teeth done randomly interjected into them talking - and some of it didn't - such as when Barry says that Mindy won't settle for that ring.  Really?  There's no way he's that much of an asshole that he would say something like that.  Nonetheless, it is important in the development of Rachel Green.  So far, my estimation that it was a gradual change is correct as this is the kind of scene that subtly changes a person.

Lastly, Ross goes to meet with Carol and Susan - I suppose back then it was just funny that they were lesbians, because that shit would be under the microscope nowadays.  So that has dated.  Their arguments about the baby name and the last name were both good questions and good for the humor in the scene.  Again Ross acts like a bumbling idiot again, but I suppose this makes more sense given the situation than the first scene.  Then the episode ends with seeing the baby on the monitor - then the various friends react to it in the post-credits sequence.

Overall, this was a mediocre episode of television heightened above the average sitcom just because of the amount of laughs it provides.  I don't know how it works for other people, but Friends actually makes me laugh out loud a few times an episode, which other shows don't do.  I don't know if this is normal mostly because the things I hear about the show aren't totally positive.  But I'm fairly certain in saying that this show is much better than a show like The Big Bang Theory now, because it doesn't rely on stereotypes and not believable characters.

Grade - B-

"The One with The Thumb"
Despite the fact that this episode is a really sitcom-y episode, this episode works really well.  Part of that is that it does the sitcom-y portions about as well as you can.  Also, the audience finds out more about the main cast.  The show uses the central characters arguing with each other by pointing out their weaknesses for the first time.  The show runners were really good at doing this and making it funny.

The open of the episode is basically just the friends talking about relationship jingo that is incredibly out of date now.  That's not really a big problem with me, because it leads to Ross finding out his childhood dog didn't really go on a farm.  I don't really care if this is plausible or not, it's hilarious and makes the entire beginning worth it despite having aged.

Phoebe, previously a side character, gets her own story here, which is mostly self-contained.  She carries a story that involves literally no other people.  Her bank deposits an extra $500, which she cannot accept because it's not her money.  She then writes to the bank, who proceeds to give her a football phone and another $500.  Then she gives all her earnings and the phone to a homeless woman.  Phoebe reluctantly agrees to let the woman buy her a soda, which ends up having a thumb in it, which she receives $7,000 for.

This for the most part works.  The idea of trying to get rid of money and ending up with more and more than you originally got in the first place is a solid concept.  And the payoff to that story line was pretty great too with Phoebe offering $7,000 so Chandler will never smoke again.  "Yeah, alright" - which I list in the quotes, but which is only funny if you know what preceded it - a monologue about how he is weak and needs to smoke. (But Chandler paid her back right?  Because he did smoke again.  I've watched way too much Friends)

Speaking of the Chandler smoking story line, this doesn't work as well for me.  He can smoke outside if he really wants to hide it and most of the comedy of this is because he tries to hide smoking.  Interestingly enough, the way that they got Chandler to start smoking was surprisingly organic.  Joey's an actor - is this the first time the audience finds this out? - and needs to smoke for a role.  So of course Chandler will show him how to smoke.  And later seasons fill in Joey and Chandler's history - Joey I don't believe had lived with Chandler for three years, when Chandler had stopped smoking.  So Joey presumably knows that Chandler used to smoke, but not the experience of trying to get him to quit.  I know the episode didn't say this, but it didn't really say Joey was there three years ago either.

Then the best story line of the episode that ties the entire episode together is Monica's relationship with Alan.  They take this to the logical extreme of your friends liking your date more than you do.  It was reasonably funny and it was obvious where it was heading up.  The final scene with Monica breaking the news to the friends about how she will break up with Alan was just hilarious.  The friends went through the various breakup stages together and it just works.  It obviously wasn't meant to portray real life, but it went far enough into parody to work for me.

Overall, the three stories end up seamlessly connected with one another - you can't remove one of the stories or another story is negatively affected.  I think this was the show firing on all cylinders.  Chandler's story didn't work for me, but Matthew Perry salvages the scenes with his comedic talent.  The best episode so far.

Grade: A-

"The One with George Stephanapoulos"
This episode is about the two main conflicts the show started with: Ross getting over his relationship with Carol and Rachel accepting her new life.  They are pretty necessary developments for these characters.

Rachel needs to run into an area where she assesses her new life and how far she has come.  Somewhat understandably, especially given her past, she's not exactly happy with the outcome.  I mean she had a cushioned, sheltered life and now she's on her own, working as a waitress - and she's quite bad at it too.

The arrival of her rather obnoxious and one-note friends brings about that assessment.  It says a lot about her character that she spent time with these brainless dimwits.  But she's different now - not a lot different, but different enough for an audience to sympathize with her.  It helps that Jennifer Anniston plays her, as she's a somewhat underrated actress with some poor movie choices on her resume.

Phoebe is staying at Monica's, which means they have a slumber party.  The scene portrays years of friendship with how well they interact with each other.  Rachel's gloominess about how her life will turn out inevitably impacts the moods of the other two - It's not exactly like Monica or Phoebe are having terribly great lives planned out ahead of them at that moment.

Then they order a pizza which the pizza delivery boy got wrong because that's usually what happens when everything seems to be going wrong.  It was supposed to go to George Stephanapoulos, and that's where the episode loses me a little.  They talk about how attractive he is and then they talk about the guys.  This relates to me not even a little, which is fine I guess.  The only purpose of it is to juxtapose their statements about the guys with the guys doing something stupid.  It doesn't really work, especially since the guys' actions seems forced in order for comedy.

However, I'm surprised at two things.  Phoebe commenting on Joey being surprisingly tender, which is kind of true in that Joey is surprisingly sensitive for... well for being such a manwhore.  Then the comment where Monica thinks Chandler can surprise you was odd because Monica ended up with Chandler.  It's only odd because the writers had no intention of bringing them together.  This isn't the first foreshadowing that wasn't really a foreshadowing at the time for Monica and Chandler.

The other story line involves Ross getting over Carol.  There's a dumb joke about it being Ross' birthday, which was actually seven months ago.  Look, these guys are best friends and hang out all the time.  Are we supposed to believe that they wouldn't take Ross to a hockey game and would pick one of them to have a date instead?  That's weird.  One of the friends on a date and then a third wheel?  Why not just get to the point and say "We have three tickets and we want Ross to go."  It's actually plausible and not stupid.

In fact this entire story just misses.  Haha the emergency lady is fat and is complaining about a candy bar!  And really she's spending the notoriously busy work day of a nurse calling a company about her candy bar?  Then there's Ross getting hit by a hockey puck at the game and then fighting with a little kid and the puck hitting the nurse at the hospital.  Swing and a miss.

But we do find out that Ross has only been with Carol in his whole life, something that doesn't really jibe with Ross' dating profile after this episode.  But hey, at the time this was kind of important information.

Then the episode ends with Rachel getting a call from the credit card company and telling them she's fine.  And she means it.  This is important simply because the show wants to establish that Rachel would rather be here than be spoiled rich with someone she doesn't love.  With all the problems that Rachel goes through, it's important that the audience knows she's at least happy, if worried about her future.  (Or at least happier with these friends than her former life)

Grade - C+

Overall, that's now two important character-driven episodes that aren't terribly strong and one sitcom-y episode that is.  Wonder if that's going to be a trend.

Quotes
"Remember when life was simpler and she was just a lesbian?" (Ross) --- "Ah, those were the days" (Chandler) - Perry's delivery makes this line

"I'm not going to tell you what she spent on that wedding.... but $40,000 is  a lot of money." - Jack Gellar

"Well, you see what these people are doing.  They know what they're doing, they take their time, they get. the. job. done." - Ross about parents

"Hello Susan.  Good shake, good shake" - Ross

"Oh my God, Chi Chi" - Ross' reaction to finding out his dog wasn't sent to a farm

"You know what I like most about him though?  The way he makes me feel about myself" - Ross

"Oh you do, do you?" - Joey mocking Ross

"Joey ate my last stick of gum, so I killed him!" - Chandler

"If you never smoke again, I'll give you $7,000! (Phoebe) "Yeah, alright" (Chandler)

"Joey, what would you do if you were omnipotent?" (Monica) "Probably kill myself" (Joey)

"Hey that woman has an ass like Carol's!  What?  I thought we were trying to find stuff." - Joey

"She's going for the pizza - HEY THAT'S NOT FOR YOU BITCH" - Phoebe

"Ha you're going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life, palewaleeee I'm so very sorry.  Can I..... sign you?" - Ross upon seeing a man in a wheelchair after his original comment

Playlist
1. "Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson
2. "Hurricane" - MS MR
3. "Moving at the Speed of Life" - Living Legends
4. "Time of Season" - The Zombies
5. "Normal Person" - Arcade Fire