10 ‘Friends’ Episodes You Have to Rewatch (Even Though Its Not Leaving Netflix)

Friends spawned dozens of imitators immediately after its success, imitators that still make it to primetime schedules today. That’s why it’s hard to believe that when Friends debuted, it was kinda dismissed as a knockoff… of Seinfeld. Sure, it was younger and definitely hipper than Seinfeld could ever hope to be (not that it wanted to be young or hip), but it was about a group of singles doing a bunch of nothing in New York City. Friends found its own groove right away (the show’s perfect pilot could easily have made this list), but you can still see a Seinfeld spark in this episode.

When a blackout hits New York, the gang all pass the time by swapping saucy sex stories, flirting with the handsome Italian from down the hall, and–in Ross’ case–surviving a cat attack. Meanwhile, Chandler gets stuck in an ATM vestibule with Jill Goodacre. If you’ve seen this episode, then you know exactly what Matthew Perry’s muffled delivery of that description sounds like.

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This episode from late in Season 1 shows exactly how Friends differentiated itself from Seinfeld. This episode is about nothing (the gang all gets obsessed with poker for one week and one week only), but the characters all care about each other deeply. That camaraderie (director James Burrows made the cast hang out together and play poker off-camera during Season 1) is on full display here, as the girls try to become card sharks and take on the guys. Not only is this episode packed with some all-time great zingers (“That’s ‘joincidence’ with a ‘c'”), it features one of the first truly great, truly swoon-worthy Ross and Rachel moments.

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You know what makes Friends one of the greatest sitcoms of all time? The way it married absolutely goofy comedy with legit tear-jerking, emotional character moments. “The Prom Video” is maybe the series’ best examples of that, what you might call “peak Friends.” At this point, Ross and Rachel are both single and they’ve kissed, but Rachel’s still furious with Ross for (ugh) making a pros and cons list about whether he should be with her. All that changes when a VHS tape from a decade earlier gets popped in the VCR.

This is the first time we see high school Rachel and Monica and college freshman Ross, a well the show would return to on a seemingly annual basis for the rest of its run. But it’s here that the setup works best. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and David Schwimmer all excel at playing these kids, and the way this awkward video immediately resolves the Ross and Rachel drama in the present–it’s magical. “He’s her lobster!”

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Easily the best bottle episode in Friends‘ entire run and quite possibly the best bottle episode in TV history, “The One Where No One’s Ready” unfolds in real time as a harried Ross tries to herd his five scattered friends into a cab so they won’t be late for, I don’t know, some dinosaur/science banquet thing. This one might just be the Friend-iest episode of all, as it delivers exactly what you want from this show: all six performers in a room together, riffing and reacting. Every character shines, from Monica’s answering machine panic (“Old or new old or new?!”) to Joey’s baffling revenge scheme (“Could I be wearing any more clothes?”) against Chandler (“The cushions are the essence of the chair!”) to Phoebe contracting “the hummus,” Rachel going commando, and Ross nearly drinking the fat. When you think of Friends, you should think of this episode.

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Friends does not get nearly the credit it deserves for the straight-up risks it took, especially in its early season when it was arguably the hottest show on TV. Friends could have coasted and gotten comfortable, especially when they finally got Ross and Rachel together in Season 2. But Friends was a comfortable show that somehow never managed to rest, and you get that in the Ross and Rachel breakup two-parter.

The actual break-up occurs in “The One with the Morning After,” which features a long, sometimes painful two-person scene between Schwimmer and Aniston that quite frankly should have won both of them Emmys. This is Friends at its realest, as it captures the desperation and exhaustion that comes in emotionally trying times like a painful breakup. It’s still riveting, all these years later. And also, while they’re trapped in a bedroom eavesdropping, the other four friends eat leg wax.

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The only thing that keeps this episode from being the greatest Friends episode of all time is that Phoebe is kept separated from the rest of the cast as she goes through in-vitro fertilization. Lisa Kudrow still slays, though, particularly her hilarious and touching monologue to a little dish of embryos.

The rest of the cast get embroiled in a super high-stakes quiz contest to see who knows the most about their neighbors. Every single line is legendary to Friends fans (“Space cowboy!,” “That’s Ms. Chanandeler Bong,” “Sandwiches!,” “Fancy, guest, fancy guest,” “Transponster!”) and the whole thing culminates in one of the most silly and shocking moments in Friends history. Just look at the image up there. You can hear Courteney Cox’s guttural howl, can’t you? It’s that iconic.

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By the Season 3 finale, Friends really figured out how to leave audiences hanging for a long, long summer. But no finale in Friends history, maybe even in all of the ’90s, compares to three little words that shocked [checks Wikipedia] 31.6 million people. Those words? “Take thee Rachel.” The London two-parter is Friends on a grand scale, the equivalent of when a family sitcom packs the kids up for Disney World. There are guest stars, huge reveals (“Do you think he knew I was here?!”), and the aforementioned game-changing vows slip-up that’s gone down in TV history.

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You can’t keep a secret for long in sitcom-land, but Monica and Chandler sure tried. After spending half a season hooking up when the others weren’t looking, all the deception finally comes to a head when Phoebe spies them doing it up against a window (“My eyes, my eyes!”). Then the messers become the messees as the seldom paired Phoebe and Chandler engage in one of the funniest showdowns ever. This episode, a farce of the highest order, is over on the polar opposite end from the sobering “The One with the Morning After”–and the fact that Friends excelled at both is what makes it great.

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Halfway through the series, Ross went from unlikely hunk to a total disaster person whose mishaps fueled episode after episode (the leather pants, the spray tan, his “sound”). His misadventure with moving a new couch in Season 5 is one of the first truly great Ross screw-ups, as he, Chandler, and Rachel struggle to get the cumbersome piece of furniture maneuvered up, over, and around a flight of stairs. This is the reason why “piv-aaht” has become the most unlikely of Friends catchphrases.

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