- 4 months ago
From London slip-ups to Vegas escapades, join us as we relive the magic of Friends' fifth season! This season had it all - Ross's disastrous marriage fallout, Monica and Chandler's secret relationship becoming the heart of the show, Phoebe's triplet delivery in the 100th episode, and iconic moments that still live in our collective vocabulary. Could this BE any more memorable?
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00:00She's my wife. Rachel is my wife. Emily! Emily is my wife.
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo. And today, we're looking at the unforgettable legacy of Friends Season 5.
00:14You were so great. I love you.
00:16From the relationships that defined it to milestone moments and the way it's both shaped and been shaped by pop culture.
00:23The one with the season recap.
00:24Where we last left the gang, Ross had just had a slip of the tongue at the absolute worst time.
00:30He tries to patch things up and it almost works.
00:33But Emily asks for the one thing he can't give her.
00:36Alright. I'll come to New York and we'll try to make this work.
00:42Oh, that is so great.
00:43As long as you don't see Rachel anymore.
00:47So how does Ross deal with his imploding marriage?
00:50In short, leather pants, sandwich, pivot, Janice.
00:54He also moves into Ugly Naked Guy's old apartment after overstaying his welcome with Chandler and Joey.
01:00However, he doesn't make the best first impression on his new neighbors.
01:03Oh, hey, Ross.
01:05Um, see, I was thinking maybe you two could switch apartments because Phoebe's more our kind of people.
01:11Something to think about.
01:12Meanwhile, also in London, Monica and Chandler took us all by surprise by hooking up.
01:17Get in this season, we get to see a one-night stand become something so much more.
01:21Really, this was a relationship by the fans, for the fans.
01:25If you want to know what we mean, check out episode four.
01:27It meant a lot to me because you're really hot.
01:35Is that okay?
01:36That's okay.
01:38And I'm cute, too.
01:42And you're cute, too.
01:45Friends hit a huge milestone this season, reaching its 100th episode,
01:49and celebrated by having Phoebe give birth to the triplets.
01:52Little high-fives.
01:55This is another big year for Phoebe,
01:59who almost takes a huge step forward in her relationship,
02:02but bigger still, she finally meets her dad.
02:04What about the girls?
02:09Well, Ursula is a waitress, and she lives in Soho.
02:12And Phoebe is on this couch.
02:20It also cemented itself as the series with the best Thanksgivings,
02:23with multiple blasts from the past.
02:25The gang also does that super relatable thing of making New Year's resolutions.
02:29Some of them can't even stick to it for the duration of the episode, let alone past it.
02:33Phoebs, flying a jet?
02:35Better make it a spaceship so you can get back to your home planet.
02:38And Ross, phone call for you today.
02:41Tom Jones, he wants his pants back.
02:44And Hornswoggle, what are you, dating a character from Fraggle Rock?
02:51This season also sees big changes in Rachel's career,
02:54with her finally getting her foot in the door at Ralph Lauren,
02:57despite quite a rocky beginning.
02:59Still, it's great to finally see her settle into a career
03:02that fits her like a classic Ralph Lauren polo shirt.
03:04Rachel, what do you think?
03:05Well, um, that one is pretty, but, oh, I just love this fabric.
03:11Sorry.
03:12Oh, don't be sorry.
03:13That's part of your job here to give your opinions.
03:15And then I take credit for them.
03:16I'm kidding.
03:17Joey hopes big things are happening in his career, too.
03:20But sadly, this isn't his big break.
03:23It does, however, bring the gang to Vegas.
03:25And ever since, we've all been looking for our own identical hand twins.
03:28This is Vegas, man.
03:30People will pay to see freaky stuff.
03:32You know, I mean, okay, how much would you pay to see this hand twice?
03:42You know, I can't really put a price on that, Joe.
03:45Monica and Chandler take a gamble on their relationship,
03:48and Ross and Rachel are about to find out that not everything that happens in Vegas
03:51actually stays in Vegas.
03:54The one after Ross says Rachel.
03:55We open season 5 with the fallout from Ross saying the wrong name at his and Emily's wedding.
04:00Boy, a bad time to say the wrong name, huh, Ross?
04:06That's true. Thanks, Dad.
04:08To be fair, that's a pretty hard thing to come back from.
04:11Worse still, she catches Ross about to head off on their honeymoon with Rachel.
04:16Still, Ross doesn't give up and agrees to so many of Emily's demands
04:19in the hope of making the marriage work.
04:21Unfortunately, Emily eventually asks Ross to give up the one thing he absolutely can't.
04:26And with that, the relationship ends.
04:28Look, this marriage is never gonna work if you don't trust me.
04:34You're right.
04:36So, can you trust me?
04:44No.
04:45Emily was in everyone's cup of tea, kind of giving us a bad name,
04:49and plenty of fans were relieved to see her go.
04:52But that wasn't necessarily the plan.
04:54Helen Baxendale was meant to return for season 5.
04:57But between seasons, she became pregnant.
04:59Since flying back and forth between the US and UK wasn't on the cards,
05:03they opted to write her out.
05:04Well, I guess that's it.
05:06What happened?
05:09My marriage is over.
05:11What?
05:12Some probably welcomed the decision,
05:14with director James Burroughs calling Baxendale, quote,
05:16nice, but not particularly funny.
05:19And adding,
05:20Schwimmer had no one to bounce off of.
05:22It was like clapping with one hand.
05:24At the time, she was also starring in the British dramedy Cold Feet.
05:27Funnily enough, playing a character called Rachel.
05:30Too bad no one used that as an excuse for Ross's Freudian slip.
05:33I discovered that Ross forgot to take his brain medicine.
05:38Now, without it, in the brain of Ross,
05:40women's names are interchangeable.
05:44Through no fault of his own.
05:45Anyway, we're not sure if Baxendale particularly minded having her run cut short.
05:50She later noted that the level of fame surrounding the Friends cast
05:53was more overwhelming than she was comfortable with.
05:55And she wasn't particularly close with any of them anyway.
05:58So, who am I saying hello to?
06:00Well, uh, I don't know about who's here,
06:04but I can tell you for damn sure who's not here, and that's Rachel.
06:09Well, I should hope not.
06:11Ross knows better than that by now.
06:12With the Ross and Emily drama wrapped up,
06:15the Ross and Rachel will they, won't they was back on the table.
06:18However, now we also had another couple to root for.
06:21The one where Monica and Chandler become the central couple.
06:24If we rewind to London once more,
06:27perhaps the only thing more surprising than Ross's slip-up was this moment.
06:30You think you knew I was here?
06:31At the time, that's all it was meant to be.
06:34But the audience's reaction was so unexpected that the writers thought,
06:37hey, maybe there's more to explore here?
06:40That was the end of the season,
06:41so we had time to really ruminate and think about it.
06:44But it was such a powerful moment that we knew we had to explore it more.
06:50We expanded it from just a one-night-in-London thing to this could be a thing.
06:56So it wasn't just Monica and Chandler figuring out this thing between them,
06:59but the writers were on that journey too,
07:01developing the relationship as they went along.
07:04For a while, they had fun with Monica and Chandler desperately trying to hide things,
07:08and allowing the audience in on this big secret
07:10while the rest of the gang stayed mainly in the dark.
07:13We still, at that point, didn't quite realize how far it would go.
07:16We still thought maybe it'd be fun with them doing it in secret and hiding it,
07:20which did give us a lot of funny stuff.
07:22With a group this tight-knit, though, how long could that last?
07:26Amazingly, Joey is the first to find out.
07:29Yet it doesn't take long for the secret to blow wide open
07:31in one of the series' most beloved episodes,
07:34one that earned three Emmy nominations and a Writers Guild nod.
07:37Oh, look, there's Monica and Chandler.
07:39Hey!
07:40Hey, you guys!
07:42Hey!
07:43Hey!
07:50In the one where everybody finds out,
07:52Joey knows, Rachel knows,
07:54and we've lost track of how many times the word knows gets used,
07:57Phoebe discovers the pair in a memorable and now highly quotable way,
08:01leaving only Ross to catch on.
08:03My eyes! My eyes!
08:05Phoebe! Phoebe! Oh!
08:07It's okay! It's okay! It's okay!
08:08No! They're doing it!
08:09I know! I know!
08:11I know!
08:12You knew!
08:12Yes, I know! And Joey knows!
08:14But Ross doesn't know, so you have to stop screaming!
08:16Eventually, he does, but more importantly,
08:19Monica and Chandler are pushed to confess.
08:22Marta Kaufman said that the challenge was to pack in as many twists as possible,
08:26essentially before anyone got more confused than Joey.
08:29They don't know that we know they know we know.
08:31And Joey, you can't say anything!
08:36Couldn't if I wanted to.
08:37Lisa Kudrow was encouraged to lean into being, quote,
08:39rhythmically challenged, as she got her flirt on.
08:42Meanwhile, Matt LeBlanc had so carefully choreographed that bra reveal that it required
08:47intricate coordination with the costume team.
08:49Oh, okay. Show him your bra. He's afraid of bras. Can't work him.
08:55Wow, you didn't rip off any buttons.
09:04Not my first time.
09:05Still, while the friends were scheming to make Monica and Chandler admit to hooking up,
09:10the confession they actually got was a huge surprise.
09:13Director Michael Lembeck recalled, quote,
09:15an incredible charge that went through the audience when Chandler made his big declaration.
09:19Because I'm in love with Monica.
09:21You're what?
09:25Love her.
09:25That's right. I love her. I love her.
09:29After that, Monica and Chandler became the it couple of the series,
09:33the one fans could really see themselves in.
09:35The highs, the lows, and all the little moments in between.
09:39Before long, they were celebrating their anniversary,
09:42which took them not just to Vegas, but almost down the aisle.
09:45We'll get back to that later.
09:46You roll another hard eight, and we get married here tonight.
09:55It just got interesting.
10:03The 100th.
10:04Chandler and Monica weren't the only ones celebrating a milestone this season.
10:08Episode 3 of Season 5 marked Friends' 100th episode.
10:12The producers wanted to go big,
10:13and what could be bigger than Phoebe giving birth to triplets?
10:16Now, which of you is the father?
10:17No, none of them are the father. The father is my brother.
10:22Okay.
10:22I am so gonna miss watching you freak people out like that.
10:26Interestingly, that meant The Apartments and Central Perk,
10:29the show's most iconic sets, didn't feature in the celebration.
10:33As we know, the storyline was originally conceived to account
10:36for Lisa Kudrow's real-life pregnancy,
10:38and having Phoebe carry triplets for her brother
10:40let the writers be as silly and outrageous as they wanted.
10:43This one doesn't hurt either.
10:44Oh, yes it does.
10:45Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!
10:49Ooh!
10:49Ooh, I was kind of hoping that was it.
10:54And that silliness wasn't ending just yet.
10:56This episode also packed in two B-plots,
10:59one throwing a spanner into Monica and Chandler's still-secret relationship,
11:03and another with Joey suffering kidney stones in parallel with Phoebe's labor.
11:07The writers even joked that researching the condition
11:09led them to some, quote, really disturbing stuff.
11:12Nothing is going up, okay? Up!
11:15Up is not an option.
11:16What's a urethra?
11:17Are you crazy?
11:22But back to the main storyline.
11:24Phoebe arrives at the hospital only to learn her doctor had an accident,
11:28leaving her with a choice between one who looks barely out of med school
11:31and another who is obsessed with Fonzie.
11:34Oh, you know, these babies are very, very lucky.
11:36They are? Why?
11:37They have the honor of being born on the Fonz's half-birthday.
11:43Happy birthday!
11:44Just, just to clarify, I'm not Fonzie.
11:48She also realizes how hard it will be to give up the baby she's grown so attached to,
11:53and even ropes in Rachel to test whether Frank and Alice might let her keep one.
11:57Early drafts leaned into this struggle more heavily, with Phoebe being more insistent.
12:01Phoebe, no, this is, this is insane.
12:04Oh, just ask him.
12:05What?
12:06Me?
12:07I can't ask him.
12:08Do you have any idea how inappropriate that would be?
12:11However, they ultimately changed their minds to add some contrast to the overall tone of the episode.
12:16Any scenes with real babies had to be filmed in advance,
12:19with a nurse on standby with a stopwatch to ensure they weren't under the studio lights too long.
12:24Everyone said labor was the hardest thing I'd ever have to do, but they were wrong, this is.
12:28For scenes shot in front of a live audience, they used dolls,
12:31both to protect the babies from noise and because studio life just isn't suited to such little ones.
12:37Unsurprisingly, Lisa Kudrow has called this her favorite episode.
12:40In the US, it ranked second only to ER for NBC that week,
12:44while Across the Pond, 2.17 million tuned in,
12:48the biggest audience for any Sky program that week.
12:50The one with all the Thanksgivings.
13:01Since season one, Friends has been as much a part of Thanksgiving traditions
13:04as the turkeys on our tables or heads.
13:07But this year, the show took a slightly different approach.
13:10This year, everyone shared their worst Thanksgiving,
13:13in this life or another apparently.
13:14You're not going to tell the whole story about how your parents got divorced again, are you?
13:17Oh, no, no, no, come on.
13:20I want to hear it.
13:23It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without Chandler bumming us out.
13:26The writers had seen how well flashbacks played before,
13:29so they leaned on that again,
13:31while being careful to keep a wide berth from clip show territory,
13:34which audiences don't always love.
13:37The idea of everyone gathered in one place,
13:39spinning off into many stories of disastrous Thanksgivings,
13:42gave the episode structure and kept it rooted in the present.
13:45Of all people, you do not want me to tell this story.
13:48What is that supposed to mean?
13:49It did mean, however, that they couldn't film everything in front of a live audience.
13:53Between special effects and constant costume changes,
13:56there was just too much going on.
13:58Chandler, we've got plenty of food, so I hope you're hungry.
14:00Oh, Mom, no, Chandler hates Thanksgiving and doesn't eat any Thanksgiving food.
14:05Oh.
14:06Oh, I'm so glad you brought him here then.
14:08That was tricky,
14:09since so much of Friends' appeal came from feeding off the audience's reactions,
14:12which often inspired last-minute rewrites.
14:15Without that input, maybe no one flagged the overuse of fat-shaming jokes,
14:19or that Rachel and Chandler meet for the first time for, what, like the third time so far?
14:24Everyone, this is Chandler, my roommate and lead singer of our band.
14:31Needless to say, the they-looked-different-so-they-forgot excuse didn't exactly convince anyone.
14:36So you could see that in some ways, both the writers and actors felt the lack of that usual energy.
14:41Okay, you know what, Thanksgiving's over. Let's get ready for Christmas.
14:43Who wants to go get a Christmas tree?
14:45Maybe that's why they leaned so heavily into physical comedy and pop culture references.
14:49Ross and Chandler's outfits apparently winked at Miami Vice,
14:52while the music that plays when Monica drops the knife pays homage to Psycho.
14:56Phoebe's past-life injury reportedly came from this classic SNL sketch.
15:13Bandages! Please, can I get some more bandages in here?
15:18This man is talking to you!
15:24Oh, no.
15:25Funnily enough, some people called out Mr. Bean for copying the turkey-on-the-head gag from this episode.
15:31However, Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean, the so-called offending episode, aired in 1992, while Friends only premiered in 1994.
15:39Hey, did you get the turkey baby-
15:41Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
15:44Who is that?
15:45It's Joey.
15:47What are you doing? Is this supposed to be funny?
15:50If anything, it shows just how deeply the show had become ingrained in global pop culture,
15:54which leads us neatly to our next point.
15:58The one where Friends cements its place in pop culture.
16:01Friends has woven into pop culture from the start.
16:03The characters became our style icons,
16:06the dialogue slipped into everyday conversation,
16:08and the catchphrases live rent-free in our heads.
16:11What's up, Joey?
16:12How you doing?
16:16We've even done a list on the top 10 Friends lines we use all the time.
16:20When you're done here, you should totally check it out.
16:22For now, let's zero in on season 5.
16:25Are you even a Friends fan if you haven't dramatically shouted,
16:27MY EYES, like Phoebe?
16:29Or announced your sandwich for the whole world to hear?
16:32My sandwich!
16:34My sandwich!
16:36Or been able to move anything around a corner without screaming PIVOT at the top of your lungs?
16:41We already knew the cast had razor-sharp comedic timing,
16:45but what made the whole PIVOT thing so unforgettable
16:47was how it doubled the laughs with physical comedy.
16:49Since I Love Lucy, sitcoms have thrived on taking everyday tasks
17:01and escalating them into complete mayhem.
17:04What Lucy and Ethel achieved with practically no dialogue,
17:07Ross pulls off with a single word, repeated again and again.
17:11PIVOT!
17:14PIVOT!
17:15Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!
17:17The humor snowballs through frantic physical movement
17:21and every moment dragging the characters deeper into absurdity.
17:24It's a classic sitcom formula, simple premise, character flaws, and mounting mess,
17:29which is why scenes like this still feel timeless.
17:32Okay, I don't think it's gonna pivot anymore.
17:34You think?
17:36Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
17:38and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
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17:52The Ones in Vegas
17:53Season 5 began in London and ended in Las Vegas.
17:57The gang heads to Sin City after Joey travels there,
17:59convinced he's on the verge of his big break.
18:02Only sadly, it's not to be.
18:03Would you rather be too wet or too dry?
18:05Too dry.
18:05Do you believe in ghosts, yes or no?
18:07No.
18:07Is this movie gonna be my big break?
18:09No.
18:09What?
18:12Yes.
18:14Dude, you said no.
18:15Well, I also said yes.
18:17Monica books tickets for herself and Chandler as an anniversary gift,
18:20and because Joey's still mad at Chandler and refusing to take his calls.
18:24Phoebe, still haunted by her London FOMO, insists on joining.
18:28So why not just make it a group trip, right?
18:30Hey, you guys.
18:31Listen, this weekend we're all gonna go to Las Vegas to surprise Joey.
18:36Including me.
18:38The two-part arc juggles several storylines,
18:40like Phoebe versus a lurker and Joey discovering his identical hand twin.
18:44This hand is your hand.
18:48This hand is my hand.
18:51Oh, wait, that's your hand.
18:55No, wait, it's my hand.
18:57Ross and Rachel sink into hilariously petty antics,
19:01and a chance encounter with Richard threatens Monica and Chandler's relationship.
19:04I ran into Richard yesterday, and he asked me if I wanted to go for a bite, and I did.
19:10And the only reason why I didn't tell you is because I knew you'd get mad,
19:13and I didn't want to spoil our anniversary.
19:15Shockingly, the writers originally planned for Chandler to cheat on Monica with a hotel employee,
19:20and it even got as far as rehearsals.
19:22But Matthew Perry pulled the plug.
19:24Knowing Chandler's character would never recover with audiences
19:27if he crossed that line.
19:28He was absolutely right.
19:30Instead, the arc gave Monica and Chandler exactly the push their relationship needed.
19:34That could be a four or a five.
19:38It's your call.
19:43It's a four.
19:48I think so, too.
19:49Plus, the actress hired to play that employee can still be seen as an air hostess in the episode.
19:55The season seemed destined to end with a wedding.
19:57And it did, just not the one anyone expected.
20:00With that cliffhanger, we'd have to wait for season six to see what came next.
20:04Hello, Mrs. Bryce!
20:06Hello, Mr. Rachel!
20:08In what ways has friends infiltrated your everyday lexicon?
20:18Pivot down to the comments and let us know.
20:20How are we doing?
20:21How are youowing j твоer data?
20:24Good morning.
20:25Have fun.
20:25Bye.
20:29Bye.
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20:31Bye.
20:32C't have ał.
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20:48Bye.
20:49Bye.
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