Phoebe discovers an old acquaintance of her parents, Phoebe Sr., and decides to seek information about her father. The group of friends plans a beach trip to find Phoebe Sr., but Ross’s girlfriend, Bonnie, is unable to join them. During Phoebe’s absence, Rachel flirts with Ross, Chandler attempts to prove to Monica that he is boyfriend material, and Joey suggests a game of strip poker, which ultimately turns into a strip Happy Days game. Phoebe Sr. is unable to provide information about Phoebe’s father but reveals that she is Phoebe’s biological mother. Meanwhile, Rachel persuades Bonnie to shave her head and confesses her feelings to Ross, leaving him to choose between the two women.
Did you know ?!
• The term “BFF – Best Friends Forever” which Phoebe says in this episode went so viral that it was added to some international dictionaries’ databases such as Cambridge and Oxford, and it is still used widely.
• When Matthew Perry was shown a scene from this episode (Chandler making fun of Rachel’s hat) during a 2022 interview with Diane Sawyer (he was promoting his autobiography), he started to tear up. He explained that looking at himself during that point in his life made him want to go back in time and “help that guy”. He went on to say (while referring to his former self as a different person) “In a weird way I feel so sorry for that guy. That’s a guy that’s out of control. I didn’t know what was going on with me. I weighed 155lbs on my way to 128lbs. I feel too sorry for that guy. He’s going through too much and…..it’s me. And I remember that. And I didn’t understand what was going on. Ya, and I’m sorry and I’m so grateful to not be that anymore. (sighs) It’s hard….it’s hard to watch that.”
• Shots of Teri Garr walking are carefully avoided as she had a noticeable limp. She would later reveal that she suffered from multiple sclerosis.
• The second of three episodes in the series where there are chairs and tables outside the front of Central Perk. The first was in “The One with the Breast Milk” (S2:E2). The third was in “The One with the Jellyfish” (S4:E1)
• According to Teri Garr, series creator/producer Marta Kauffman asked her to play Phoebe Sr. as a nudist because of her free-spirited lifestyle (obviously it would only be implied through careful camera angles). Garr agreed to do the erotic pottery and suggestive dialogue but refused to imply total nudity.
• The first time in the series in which the audience sees what’s in front of the couch in Central Perk – a brick wall corner.
• Christine Taylor’s character, Laura, in The Craft goes bald after a spell is cast on her for being a bully.
• When Rachel is chasing Ross inside the beach house and they flatten a sandcastle near Chandler while he and Joey sitting on the floor, Chandler exclaims, “Big bullies!”. This is a reference to ads that traditionally appeared in comic books for “muscle builder” gimmick pills.
• Lisa Kudrow and Christine Taylor share the same birthday, but not the same year.
• When Chandler and Monica are sitting outside the coffee house, she says “Well I’d be scared with the guy using the fake voice.” She starred in the movie series Scream, where the killer Ghostface is known for disguising his voice to kill victims.
• In all of Bonnie’s scenes in which she has her head shaved, she is always shown wearing a towel around her neck. The towel hides her real hair, which otherwise would be visible coming out of the back of the latex bald cap she’s wearing.
• This is the last time that Rachel tells Ross she loves him until The One with All the Kissing (1998), even though he’s married to Emily at that point. Likewise, this is the last time Ross openly admits he’s still in love with Rachel until the series finale, though it is hinted at in other episodes. Most notably, in The One with the Stripper (2001), Ross tells Rachel’s father that he loves and cares about her when he confronts Ross about not marrying Rachel when she’s pregnant with Emma. Furthermore, in The One Where Rachel Has a Baby: Part 2 (2002), Ross also admits to Phoebe that he still loves Rachel after Emma is born.
• Chandler makes a joke that he can’t have kids because he was abducted by Rachel’s big hat. In The One with the Fertility Test (2003), this turns out to be prophetic when it is revealed that both he and Monica really are infertile and cannot have biological children.
• In the first scene that shows Phoebe Abbott, the subtle mannerism clues are there in plain sight for exactly who she is in relation to Phoebe.
• At the end of the episode, when Chandler knocks on the front door the second time and Monica opens, he is on his knees and says his name is “Dorf”. This is a reference to Dorf, a character by comedian Tim Conway.
• This is the second time Rachel confesses her feelings to Ross while he is dating another woman. The first time, when he’s with Julie, Rachel tells him, “Do you think it’s easy for me to see you with Julie??” And when she and Ross are talking at the beach house about Bonnie, she says very similarly, “You think it’s easy for me to see you with someone else?”
• This is the second time that Chandler brings up the possibility to be with Monica. The first time was in The One with the Birth (1995), when Chandler suggests to Monica they be each other’s back-up spouses. A year later, they sleep together for the first time marking the start of their relationship. They marry in five years’ time in The One with Monica and Chandler’s Wedding: Part 2 (2001).
• In this episode Phoebe sees a picture of what her father, Frank Sr. would look like now, but when he walks in at Phoebe’s grandmother’s funeral (S5E13), she doesn’t recognize him until he says his name.
