The friends reflect on previous events: Joey moves in with Chandler, and Monica develops an affection for him. Rachel, engaged to Barry, contemplates a fleeting encounter with another man. Monica and Phoebe face challenges with their living arrangement. Ross discovers that Carol is a lesbian.
Did you know?!
- There’s a scene where Joey thinks that Monica is attracted to him. This is a partial nod to what the show’s creators had planned before all of the casting of the roles had been completed. They had originally planned on Joey and Monica being the first couple to emerge from the group; but when Jennifer Aniston was cast to play Rachel the idea was changed to Ross and Rachel being the first couple.
- This episode was partly the idea of the cast to see how audience responded to certain couplings, the main one of these being Rachel and Chandler. The audience didn’t like seeing these two together, so they never were.
- Marissa Ribisi portrays Rachel’s friend Betsy in this episode. She is the twin sister of actor Giovanni Ribisi who portrays Frank, Jr (Phoebe’s half brother), in the previous episode The One with Frank Jr. (1996).
- Mr. Heckles appears for the last time in this episode, as his character had already died in the second season.
- While Phoebe and Ross are making out on the pool table, Ross says “ow” and pulls an 8 ball and the 4 ball from near his waist. A few seconds after Phoebe begins laughing, you can hear her say softly, “I can’t” through her laughter.
- When watching the entire series in strict story chronology, this episode is the one that can be watched before the pilot episode, also known as “The One Where It All Began”, The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate (1994), and “The First One”).
- The necklace that Joey is wearing in the flashback is a cornicello necklace, an Italian talisman that is worn to protect against the evil eye. It’s interesting to see something that is related to his heritage that isn’t meant to be funny or stereotypical (his love for food/meatball subs, a big family, etc.), or even recognized at all.
- Rachel only has four and a half minutes of screen time in this episode.
- When Monica asks Phoebe why her bed is missing, Monica is vacuuming with a “Rainbow” vacuum. This is a very expensive vacuum sold primarily via home demonstration, much like “Kirby” vacuums.
- This episode takes place September 1993
- A subtle difference in this flashback episode points out an oddity that fans of the show have rarely noticed. In Monica’s kitchen is a different table, a more normal looking round wooden table with four *matching* chairs. In every other episode during the ten year run, there was a different table, with four very different mismatched chairs, like something from a rummage sale. Given Monica’s persnickety perfectionism, she normally would have kept this set and would have never allowed the other table and chair set in her kitchen. Yet few people have ever noticed the mismatched chairs.
- When Monica and Chandler are talking about how the bar is going to be turned into a coffee house, you can see the My Goodness My Guinness poster that winds up in Joey and Chandler’s apartment.
- Thanks to Mr. Heckles, Joey ended up living with Chandler.
- Its revealed that Monica’s place was actually owned by her and Ross’ 87 year old grandmother and that Monica got to live in when their grandmother moved to Florida. Actually, she doesn’t own it. “Gramma” had lived there for many years and would still be paying the old rent-controlled amount that would be much lower than what Monica should be paying as a new tenant. This point is emphasized in The One with the Ballroom Dancing (1997) where the building’s Super (Mr. Treeger) threatened to evict Monica because she had no legal right to live there under the grandmother’s old lease.
- Ugly naked Guy lived in his apartment for at least 5 and a half years. In here, in late 1993, he already lived in front of Mónica (albeit, he was thin). And he moved out in early 1999.
- The episode starts with Janice asking “Who of the six have slept with each other”, shows Ross and Phoebe, and Monica and Joey, almost doing so, and ends with Rachel fantasizing about her and Chandler making out.
