There’s a certain uncomfortable nature to “The One with the Boobies” I still find quite enjoyable – and not just because its an episode that has heaps of references to Jennifer Aniston’s chest. No, it’s the character of Roger that makes “The One with the Boobies” so fun to watch – that is, until the end reveals him to be a complete asshole, which undermines the entire episode. But I’ll get to that later; what really makes “The One with the Boobies” fun is how it challenges each of the six friends to step back and examine their own lives and personalities, be it Ross marrying a lesbian or Chandler’s intimacy issues. Yes, these are all quite obvious Freudian traits that aren’t really explored, but it is a rare example of Friends challenging the status quo of its characters in a meaningful way – especially for Joey, the one character who is separated from Roger’s analysis.
At some point in every comedy, the male womanizing character has to come to terms with the behavior he exhibits, and how it reflects on himself/other people (a great example is Barney on How I Met Your Mother, who has been going through this over and over and over again with the on-Robin, off-Robin crap for six seasons). More importantly, the show doesn’t try to have him rationalize his behavior or explain the reasons why he does what he does. Instead, ‘Boobies’ smartly pits Joey in the mirror against himself, wondering if he’ll ever be able to become his father, the guy he thought he wanted to be. While talking to Chandler, he says something along the lines of “when the right time comes, I always assumed I’d be able to be a stand-up guy,” revealing a layer of character we don’t get to see very often with Joey.
Too often on Friends is Joey the butt of bad actor/dumb guy jokes, and the only episode that prominently features his parents (in fact, his huge family only play into two other episodes of the show, both revolving around his many sisters) is predictably one that finds more meaning to his character. For once, Joey is challenged by his own beliefs and views of the world, which leads to a great scene between him and his mother about marriage, love, and how much of a gray area “doing the right thing” can be, especially when it involves your parents (Freaks and Geeks did a similar story line with Neal and his philandering father a few years later on NBC). Most importantly, the scene where him and Chandler share a bed isn’t used as a cheap gay joke (re: last episode), but as a way for them to share an important emotional conversation about Joey and his life style.
The rest of ‘Boobies’ treads lightly, with the ‘sneaking a peek in the shower’ recurring jokes and Joey playing father to his dad and Ronnie. Unfortunately, the show goes too far in its jokes when it paints Roger as a cartoonish asshole, simply to give Phoebe a reason to break up with him (that, and nobody in the group liked him). He makes a great point when he says their friendships are a little weird – considering how much they will coddle each other’s life fantasies over the years, Roger’s point about them being dysfunctional is really interesting. It would be an easy problem to solve: instead of making Roger a dick, allow him to share that thought in front of the entire group, and then everybody (including Phoebe) could tell him off without having to characterize him as a completely irrational, over emotional dick. Because he isn’t, and a lot of what he says to Monica & Phoebe ring much truer than their many self-exploration plot lines over the next ten years would.
Other thoughts/observations:
- Chandler: “That’s a relatively open weave, and I can still see your … nipular area.”
- along with the line above, the King of Bing also nails some physical humor with his demonstration of being between a rock and a hard place.
- watching them eat a huge pizza makes me miss NY pizza so much.
- Up next: It’s Valentine’s Day in the NYC in “The One with the Candy Hearts”.