“The One Where Nana Dies Twice” feels a lot like a Seinfeld script re-written for Friends. From the episode’s tone to the various jokes surrounding death, ‘Nana Dies Twice’ is a softened version of a typical Larry David script – and being penned by series creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman, this could either be the case, or it could’ve just been an episode with a shit ton of notes from the network execs. Either way, it’s a funny episode, and there’s enough Friends personality thrown in to keep it from mirroring its successful counterpart.
What sticks out in this episode of course, is the ‘everyone thinks Chandler is gay’ storyline – it hasn’t aged very well. There are moments where it reeks of the typical gay jokes we STILL see on TV; when Lowell from finance talks about “having a type of radar”, or with everyone agreeing he has a ‘quality’. But nobody ever really tries to nail down the reasons why, until Chandler says “My, don’t we look nice all dressed up” before they head off to Nana’s funeral.
However, this is kind of typical of the gay humor on Friends, which was never very consistent on the show. Let’s not forget, Friends showed a lesbian wedding on tv in 1996 (in the aptly-titled season two episode “The One With The Lesbian Wedding”) but it’s also the show that farms Joey and Chandler’s relationship constantly for gay jokes through its run. I suppose this was the nature of television (kind of still is, in many ways) then, with a well-known gay co-creator pushing a network to be progressive in their thinking. I think it speaks to both the reasons why the writers aren’t really willing to concede any reasons to why Chandler might have a ‘quality’ except the broad generalization that he’s sensitive, but also Chandler kind of embraces the idea, at least in the theoretical: the “If I wanted a Brian, I could get a Brian” line in the tag is still one of my favorite moments of the episode, although its preceded by the painful “we have a kind of radar” line that’s met with the laugh track, where the audience was audibly uncomfortable reacting in any fashion.
The real meat of the episode is dedicated to Nana’s two deaths and the funeral after it. The Larry David influences are heavy here: Ross’s aunt and mother put way too much thought into Nana’s funeral garb (even though her wake is closed-casket), Nana croaks twice (“this almost never happens,” says the nurse at the hospital) Joey’s line “when you’re dead, you’re dead! You’re gone – you’re worm food!”… and of course, Jack’s reaction to the Giants losing the football game at the reception: “Now I’m depressed.” Thankfully, Friends doesn’t really try to reach for any deeper meaning and get all preachy about life and death: instead, they use the emotions around the funeral for meaningful moments.
Ross finding Nana’s collection of sugar packets is the only ‘showy’ of these big moments. Him opening the box and having a quiet moment of reflection was a nice cathartic moment for him, a moment many of us have had as kids and adults (although the ‘raining of sugar packets from heaven’ bit was way overdone and religious-feeling). Monica pointing out how history repeats itself to her mother certainly wasn’t subtle, but it is one of the first great character moments for the show: “TOW the Sonogram at the End’ established the Ross/Monica dynamic already, and the badgering Judy dealt with establishes their relationship even further in their conversation at the funeral reception. In season one, Monica is a character seeking validation, and getting her mother to recognize her shortcomings (even for a second) is a small victory we can enjoy along with her character.
The best moment in the episode comes at the end, when they’re looking through old pictures Ross found, presumably in Nana’s massive closet. In between the baby penis jokes, they find a picture of Nana in her mid 20’s, hanging out with “her crew” in Java Joe’s. Sure, it’s a very ham-handed moment, topped off by Ross saying “looks like a fun gang,” but it ties back into Monica’s conversation with her mother about life and how we all go through the same experiences. Not only is a moment where we feel like the writers have the characters embracing each other (and the audience, in a way), but its a moment that reaches beyond that to say something about life. Life is cyclic for the billions of us on earth: but its the friends and experiences we have with them that create the parallels between groups of people, and generations: it’s not only what makes us unique, but what brings us together on a deeper level, that mutual recognition of human nature.
Those moments are what eventually made Friends so popular – but unlike the fan-servicing moments of later seasons, the closeness of that group (both physically and emotionally) on that couch captures Friends at its very best: a portrait of seven young people trying to understand the world together.
Other thoughts on the episode:
- Switch the characters in this episode with Seinfeld, and ‘Nana Dies Twice’ is about Jerry losing his grandmother, everyone thinking George is gay at work, and Elaine dealing with her insufferable mother. Give Joey’s line about being “worm food” to Kramer, and bam, you’ve got a Seinfeld episode, minus the final scene. Look at how many times Judy and her sister talk about “a day shoe”, or Chandler says he can get “a Brian” for more examples.
- Every show in the 1990s has an episode with someone fucked up on painkillers: its mostly cheap humor here, except when Rachel tells Ross he’s her favorite and he throws up his arms in disgust, screaming “I don’t get it” and passing out in her lap.
- that bit was also the only time Schwimmer’s insistence on using his hands constantly to express the ‘humor’ in his jokes. Feels too staged and practiced, as it has in episodes past.
- Phoebe’s deadpan delivery to Chandler is great: “Yes, you have homosexual hair.” That’s one of her four or five lines in the episode – her, Joey and Rachel are relegated to one-liner status in this episode, except to remind us that Rachel is dating that Paulo guy, which brings the snark out in Ross.
- Up next: Friends celebrates its first Thanksgiving with “The One Where Underdog Gets Away”.
Actually, Terry reappears in the Season 2 episode TOW The Baby On The Bus. He hires a professional musician to replace Phoebe at Central Perk.