Originally aired 11/7/1996
Directed by Peter Bonerz (yes, that’s real)
Written by David Crane & Marta Kauffman
Friends‘ relationship with its own past is a tenuous one – that is, it is a show capable of delivering an episode like “The One with the Prom Video”, but also episodes like “The One That Could’ve Been” (one of my least favorite episodes in the series). Early in the series, it proves fertile ground for Friends‘ rather extensive worldbuilding, like Rachel’s original nose and Ross’s marriage (or, more unpleasantly, Fat Monica); later in the series, it would be an area for Friends to lazily retread the same jokes, often at the cost of its own characters.
“The One with the Flashback” falls somewhere in between the best and worst of Friends flashbacks; its proximity to the reality of Friends we were introduced to in “The Pilot” certainly helps, as it doesn’t feature any of the prosthetics Friends would often rely on for humor as its flashback episodes got lazier and more superficial. And it is built on an interesting premise, catalyzed by Janice prying the group about the times they must’ve come close to hooking up with each other, which draws a number of uncomfortable responses from the group before “TOW the Flashback” launches us back into its unexplored past.
To this point, the only sexual chemistry Friends had explicitly expressed was between Ross and Rachel, obviously, so Janice’s proposition offers an interesting gateway for the writers to explore the Central Perk Six with completely different dynamics, while also presenting a tantalizing alternate universe where Friends was a show about a friendly orgy.
Ok, maybe “The One with the Flashback” doesn’t go that far, but the idea of romantic entanglements developing within groups of close knit friends is an age-old one Friends explicitly avoids with most of its characters week to week (no, we are not going to talk about the whole Joey/Rachel arc). Sure, Phoebe and Joey flirt a little here and there, but Ross’s decade-long crush is literally the only bit of romantic connection between the group at the outset until Monica/Chandler surfaces and saves the series’ middle seasons.
In that sense, “The One with the Flashback” makes a lot of sense for Friends, as a way to extinguish any potential noise around chemistry between cast members. It also allows the writers to use the episode as a playground of sorts, a no-stakes environment where they can test out these various pairings, disguising their creative curiosity around humorous nods towards established character traits. In that sense, the cross-stitches of the pairings in “The One with the Flashback” makes for really interesting material.
“TOW the Flashback” takes place in 1993, exactly one year before “The Pilot” – an explicit choice to allow it to act as a hypothetical prologue, rather than a twin pairing to the high school flashbacks of “TOW the Prom Video” and other episodes. “Flashback” needs to exist in the early 20’s of its characters, a time where they’re more used to hanging out at a bar, taking romantic risks, and coming face to face with the realities of adult life. Setting the episode here not only gives it a comfortable proximity to “The Pilot”, the audience’s establishing point with these characters, but it also takes place where its characters live a bit more freely, and are allowed to.
Since Ross and Rachel don’t interact in this episode, the real love story teased in “The One with the Flashback” is of Joey and Chandler, a classic meet-cute tale of how they ended up as roommates. Again, there really aren’t any stakes here given we know the ending, but it answers the question of how a neurotic office dude could’ve ended up such close friends with an airheaded (and very broke) actor – and does so in humorous fashion, as Mr. Heckles scares off Chandler’s initial choice for a roommate (a photographer with a porn star sister) and leaves Chandler desperately taking in Joey, the Italian stereotype he dismissed but a few days earlier.
The other love story teased, strangely enough, is Monica and Chandler; given the writers had no idea they’d put them together at this point (and have said so), the True Couple of Friends are only given a moment of tension in “TOW the Flashback”, because this episode explores every possible avenue and combination of heterosexual tension available to it (except Joey and Phoebe, because… well, I mean c’mon). But their moment, especially with the few extra seconds it is given in the extended version, is surprisingly tender, with Chandler gently hugging Monica in a towel, reminding her that she’s a wonderful person who is more than deserving of someone’s love.
It’s an extremely palpable moment, one that feels lot more tactile than the Joey/Monica and Ross/Phoebe pairings bookending the episodes; those are fleeting moments of attraction, awkward and easily extinguished in a way most intersex friendships have at some point in time. In reality, those moments don’t involve making out on pool tables (or in Joey’s case, exposing himself to Monica within two minutes of meeting her); but that idea, that moment where you suddenly see an attractive friend from an angle you’ve never considered before and let your mind wander, is a relatable one, and how Friends pushes each pairing into those positions makes perfect sense.
But holy shit, does the Monica/Chandler moment work, even without the hindsight of knowing how the show’s story would play out. The writers, whether consciously or not, can feel it, too: none of the other scenes teasing possible alternate realities last longer than a few seconds before they push into a joke, or cut away to another scene. Save for an awkwardly-edited cutaway to Ross, Chandler and Monica’s embrace in her hallway is kinetic in a way Friends often isn’t, even when it is trying to be romantic.
It’s so powerful, in fact, it deafens most of the rest of “The One with the Flashback” – which is fun, if mostly unremarkable in its delivery. Perhaps the strangest part of the episode is how it just ends; just as soon as Friends brings its dystopian pairings to the blue balls-ian edge, it backs away and ends, killing any momentum immediately in its tracks. It’s a strange choice, one that almost feels like it was scripted as an longer episode with the third act cut out; just when it is getting interesting and asking the hard questions about its characters (and more importantly, their levels of horniness for each other), it backs away, almost as if it’s afraid to hear its own answer – or worse, tease its audience into a frenzy of harassment for stories they weren’t interested in pursuing.
As a whole, it makes for an interesting, and worthwhile, experiment; it is not one with a particularly strong emotional pull, however, given how quickly it ejects itself from its most challenging moments. It leaves the audience begging for more, to see how these characters would react and reconcile their relationships in the wake of such moments; Friends is neither interested in the conversation, or any farcical fun to be had around it, which ultimately limits its impact across its trio of stories (as fun as it is to watch Phoebe pretend she’s still living in Monica’s apartment, it is not a story with any kind of dramatic traction).
However, it is the rare episode of Friends that flashes back to the past without a bunch of gaudy, borderline offensive prosthetics; instead, “The One with the Flashback” relies on some really phenomenal costuming to set back the clock, and throws its characters into a pheromone-laced petri dish, one lacking in the kind of dramatic (or comedic) gravitas one might expect from the moment. The lack of that oomph isn’t a disappointment, however; “The One with the Flashback” doesn’t need to be anything more than it is, an intriguing creative exercise that doesn’t need to carry the weight of the series, or take itself too seriously as some definitive statement of the season as a whole.
Grade: B
Other thoughts/observations:
- Joey introduces Chandler to Baywatch, a bit that is funnier than you’d expect for two guys staring off-screen.
- Sad Ross telling Phoebe why his marriage is over: “Carol’s a lesbian, and I’m not one.”
- “I want to live in a land where people can spill!” Preach it, Phoebs.
- Chandler’s goatee looks… strangely good?
- Ugly Naked Guy is Cute Naked Guy 3 years ago… the dialogue in the cold open suggests that what has changed in the time since is he got fat. Friends hates fat people.
- Who tries to hug someone when they’re in a towel???! I love that scene, but it is such a strange proposition when considered out of context.
- Giovanni Ribisi’s sister Marissa (who was also Cynthia in Dazed and Confused) has a brief appearance as Betsy, one of Rachel’s WASP-y friends.
- The premise of Chandler and Rachel is very funny here; the next time the show would visit the idea, however, it would not be.
- Extended Thoughts: not a lot of changes here; the most noticeable change is the aforementioned extension of the Chandler/Monica shot, which is but a few lingering seconds (that said a lot… it is not surprising that scene was cut down for broadcast).
Up next: The Mattress King appears, and Joey hits a new low in “The One with the Race Car Bed”.
I personally never really liked this episode. The flashback is a neat idea, but so much of it is just references to what’s going to happen at the start of the series’ official timeline. Also, Rachel is a total jerk in the flashback!