Second Look: Friends Season 5, Episode 11 – “The One with All the Resolutions”

Friends Season 5, Episode 11 “The One with All the Resolutions”
Written by Shana Goldberg-Meehan
Directed by Dana DeVally Piazza
Aired January 7, 1999 on NBC

A flurry of New Year’s resolutions sets the table for the aptly-titled “The One with All the Resolutions”, one of but a few episodes of Friends where all six characters have their own individual goals and subplots, all stemming from the ancient Babylonian practice of making promises to the gods at the start of a new year – and as we’ve all experienced in life, failing immediately to keep them. Thanks to a script that never stops moving, and anchored by the best David Schwimmer performance in seasons, “The One with All the Resolutions” is not only a great post-holiday break return, but one of the best episodes of the season – especially when its third act kicks into gear, after Rachel becomes the second person to discover Monica and Chandler’s secret relationship.

Of course, all of the Central Perk Six’s individual goals fail by the end of the January 2nd (except Monica, whose plans to take more pictures is still alive and well by the end of “The One with All the Resolutions”) – but in lies the magic of the episode, in observing the cascading set of disasters that occur when everyone tries to upset their established routines. The most obvious of these, of course, is Chandler, who spends the episode being a silent punchline after betting Ross $50 that he couldn’t go a week without making fun of everyone in the group. And smartly, everyone else’s goals are explicitly designed to push his specific buttons: Joey’s attempts to learn guitar (through Phoebe’s descriptive hand position training), Phoebe’s goal of hijacking a commercial plane, and Ross’s attempts to live a happy life in 1999 all push Chandler to his absolute limit, allowing Friends to draw the usual amount of laughs out of his character, but with the explicit absence of punchlines, which give the episode’s jokes and interactions their own little unique rhythms (not to mention giving space for other characters to deliver Chandler’s punchlines for him, which is it’s own distinct little pleasure).

From the basis of Chandler squirming through every scene, “The One with All the Resolutions” quietly revels in the series of immediate failures each member of the group immediately experiences. The best of these, of course, is Ross’s disastrous attempt to wear leather pants, leading to one of the funniest scenes of the season: Joey encouraging Ross to try a series of liquids and powders to soak up the leg sweat shrinking said leather pants is absolute Friends gold, from Joey’s confident recommendation to Ross’s freakout crescendo, ending the scene with his pants around his ankles and a paste formed between his legs and fingers from the combo of sweat, lotion, and powder. It’s a hilarious moment, one that isolates its performers – but still works because of their inherent comedic chemistry, Joey’s subdued reactions and Ross’s big, physical bits of comedy striking the kind of balance that made Friends the iconic series it was.

Taken as a whole, and “The One with All the Resolutions” does feel a bit haphazard and weightless as it bounces from one person’s resolutions to the next – especially with Joey and Phoebe’s argument over his guitar training, which rachets up the weirdo stat on Phoebe a bit too far for its own good. But just as their conflict is reaching its head (after Phoebe discovers Joey went to a guitar store and played an instrument), “The One with All the Resolutions” kicks into high gear when Rachel picks up the phone to hear Monica and Chandler making plans to sneak off and have sex, a discovery that puts Rachel’s plans to stop gossiping in 1999 to a true test.

From there, “The One with All the Resolutions” is firing on all cylinders; and it does so by using Joey as the anchor for all of its stories, his reactions fueling both the comedy (especially as he tries to help Ross with his pants – “I think I’ve created a paste!”) and narrative of the final minutes. And in another highlight of the episode, Joey manages to combine both as him and Rachel react to the thing they know but don’t want to say out loud, as the number of people who know about Monica and Chandler’s secret lovemaking suddenly doubles, just as the episode comes to a close. In an episode full of great creative choices, this might be the best one: not only does it release a bit of tension in an episode full of unresolved internal conflicts, but it creates a new dynamic within the group, between those who know, those who don’t know, and Monica and Chandler, who still think only Joey knows.

It’s a clever bit of storytelling, and caps off an episode of big physical gifts with one last fun, dynamic bit, Rachel pacing around as she tests Joey’s resolve to keep his part of the lie going by asking him to go into Chandler’s bedroom (Chandler’s rant over the closing credits being its own, distinct pleasure, of course). And it’s also a smart signal to the audience that Friends is really committed to Monica and Chandler’s story, patiently opening their relationship to the group (and the show’s overall dynamic) over the course of multiple episodes, allowing each character’s realization to not only fuel intrigue in its story, but to reinforce the audience’s relationship with its characters, their excitement and bewilderment matching the studio audience’s tone to a perfect pitch. And, simply put, it just makes for a warm, even slightly exciting ending, an optimistic note in a half hour full of pessimistic reminders of reality; as everyone’s new selves and concepts fall to the wayside, the one truly new, special element of season five is as strong as ever heading into the new year (and subsequently, the second half of season five).

Grade: B+

Other thoughts/observations:

• The cold open is a solid one, and yet another Joey is the Best Friend Example in season five: Joey, arranging for Monica and Chandler to be able to kiss at midnight in front of everyone, engineers kisses between Ross and Phoebe, and himself and Rachel (“so that do anything for ya?”).
  
• Ross’s goal for no divorces in 1999 (or at least just the one divorce) … is not going to go well.
  
• “I am going to make myself happy.” “Do you want us to leave the room?”
  
• Hornswaggle is a funny name… I guess?
  
• Phoebe’s “Ok, fine – take his side!” reaction when Rachel walks in singing “Bad, bad Leroy Brown” is terrific.
  
• Chandler’s rant at the end is classic: “Flying a jet? Better make it a spaceship to your home planet…. Phone call for you today – Tom Jones wants his pants back!… And Hornswaggle? What are you, dating a character from Fraggle Rock?
  
• Extended thoughts: outside of a fun little bit where Monica calls out Rachel for her inabiility to stick to her New Years’ resolutions, there’s not a lot of extra material to discuss in this episode.
  
• Up next: Janice makes her annual appearance in “The One with Chandler’s Work Laugh”.