Monica continues to face challenges in securing employment, leading to financial strain. Ross persuades her to consider seeking financial assistance from her parents. Meanwhile, Joey’s gesture of gifting Chandler a garish gold friendship bracelet backfires when Chandler expresses his dislike for it to Phoebe, unknowingly within earshot of Joey. Despite Phoebe’s belief that Rachel is Ross’s destined partner (“lobster”), Rachel unequivocally indicates otherwise. However, a rediscovered home video capturing Monica and Rachel’s prom reveals Ross’s enduring affection for Rachel.
Did you know?!
• When Courteney Cox wore her fat suit for the first time in this episode, Matthew Perry walked by her without knowing who she was.
• David Schwimmer’s favorite episode.
• Considered by many critics and fans to be the best episode of the series.
• During the prom video everyone notices that Rachel’s nose was different in high school, and she says that she had an operation for a deviated septum. Some time after this Jennifer Aniston would herself get a nose job, which she publicly explained was because she too had a deviated septum.
• When Chandler goes over to the woman who was checking him out she almost falls off of her chair while laughing but then catches herself.
• In 1997, the TV Guide ranked this episode number 100 on its “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time” list.
• This is the first episode to hint at a friendship between The Geller family and the Green family, with Jack commenting that he wasn’t surprised at Rachel’s parents splitting up and making reference to an incident in Hawaii. This friendship, however, is never shown onscreen, and only mentioned a few times in the whole series. In fact, the Geller parents never share any scenes with Rachel’s parents.
• In the prom video, Ross is seen playing the keyboard. The song he is playing is “Axel F” by Harold Faltermeyer.
• In the prom video, Ross tells Rachel he is going to work on his “music.” Chandler acts surprised and says “music?” as if he didn’t know. However, it’s referenced several times that while they were in college, Ross and Chandler were in a band together. Their band was called “Way No Way.”
• In the establishing shot, just before Monica and Ross’ parents enter the apartment, a silver Porsche with a black top is seen driving down the street, which looks very much like the one Monica’s dad gives her for ruining her childhood stuff in The One Where Rosita Dies (2001).
• In this episode, Joey gets his first paycheck and pays Chandler back for everything he has provided for him, including his head shots.
• This episode is included on the 2000 DVD release The Best of Friends Volume 1.
• While at Central Perk, Chandler approaches a girl and introduces himself as Dave Thomas (founder of Wendy’s), in real life there’s a writer named Adam Chandler that did an interview about Dave Thomas on the History Channel’s show “The Foods That Built America”.
• In The One Where Joey Moves Out (S02E16), Monica refers to her parents’ sex tape at the end of the prom video by mentioning “that video that I found of mom and dad that one time”.
