"The One With The Flashback" is the sixth episode of the third season of Friends, which aired on NBC on October 31, 1996. After the friends reminisce about a time three years ago where the original cast; Monica, Ross, and Phoebe, meet poster boy Joey for the first time as Chandler's new roommate. At this point, the friends hang out at a bar that will later be turned into Central Perk. The news of the conversion of the bar is revealed during the episode.

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Plot

The episode begins with the friends sitting in the coffeehouse talking to Janice. Janice asks whether any of the group have slept together, and if so, with who. When they deny that any of them have, she asks if any of them have "almost...", leading to the flashback.

The flashback takes place three years ago, exactly one year before the premiere. Phoebe has just moved out of Monica's apartment, but has not told her because of how she might feel. She has been sneaking out every night and sneaking back in every morning, spending the past week at her grandmother's apartment. Chandler is trying to find a new roommate with little luck. Ross and Carol are having problems in their marriage. Ross thinks that this is because Carol does not have any other friends, but he is optimistic because she just met a woman at the gym, Susan Bunch, and they bonded well.

The gang discovers that the bar is being turned into a coffee house. Rachel enters the bar for drinks with her friends. They celebrate the fact that in a year she will marry Barry. Rachel feels hesitant, saying that she wants one last fling with the next guy that she sees. Chandler overhears this and immediately interrupts her conversation by dropping a pool ball next to her table but Rachel shows no interest in him. Monica and Rachel briefly catch up, and make vague plans to get together in the future.

Chandler interviews Eric, a fashion photographer who informs Chandler that models would be at the apartment from time to time if he was to move in, and that his sister is a porn star. Chandler decides that Eric will be his new roommate and rushes through his interview with Joey after the latter believed him to be gay until Chandler tells him otherwise. Mr. Heckles shows up and when Eric informs Heckles that he is moving in with Chandler, Heckles claims that he is Chandler's roommate and sends Eric away. Chandler thinks he just never showed up, being angry with him and reluctantly accepts Joey as his new roommate, which Monica approves of. They bond over Baywatch and beers.

Monica is attracted to Joey and invites him into her apartment for some lemonade. Joey misinterprets her invitation, and strips naked.

Monica notices that Phoebe's bed is missing from her bedroom. After a poor attempt to cover her tracks, Phoebe admits that she has moved out. She says that Monica is too uptight about being neat and that she needs to "live in a land where people can spill". Phoebe says that she loves Monica and wants the two of them to stay friends, but she does not think it will be possible if they continue living together.

Chandler goes to Monica's apartment to get beer when he sees a slightly depressed Monica wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her body. He asks if everything's doing okay, and she responds that Phoebe moved out. She then asks Chandler if she is so hard to live with and if that's the reason why she doesn't have a boyfriend. Chandler says he doesn't know why and that she should have a boyfriend. Chandler then comforts Monica by hugging her, which is only interrupted when he asks Monica if her towel's a 100% cotton.

Ross meets up with Phoebe at the bar. Ross reveals to Phoebe that Carol is a lesbian. Phoebe consoles him, and they start kissing which leads to them attempting to have sex on the pool table. After a few obstacles, they realize that it would be a bad idea and laugh about it. The gang then walks in and they act like nothing had gone on.

Ross tells the rest of the group that Carol is a lesbian. Having never met Ross before, Joey responds with, "Cool!". Chandler then introduces Ross and Joey.

The episode ends with Rachel driving a car with her friends in the back seats. She is fantasizing about going back to the closed bar and having sex with Chandler. After missing the exit, one of her friends asks her what she was thinking about, and she responds with, "Barry."

Cast and Crew

Main Cast

Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene

Courteney Cox - Monica Geller

Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay

Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani

Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing

David Schwimmer - Ross Geller

Supporting Cast

Michele Maika - Kiki

Leslie Grantham - Chris

Marissa Ribisi - Betsy

John Lehr - Eric

Christy L. Medrano - Waitress

Maggie Wheeler - Janice Litman-Goralnik

Crew

Directed By:

Peter Bonerz

Written By:

Marta Kauffman & David Crane

Quotes

Phoebe: No, no, Mr Heckles, no one is making noise up here.

Mr Heckles: You're disturbing my oboe practice.

Phoebe: You don't play the oboe.

Mr Heckles: I could play the oboe.

Phoebe: Then I'm gonna have to ask you to keep it down.

Trivia

Goofs

Although it is seen in this episode that Joey moved in with Chandler in 1993, a year before the show began, in "The One With All The Thanksgivings" (S5E08), it is shown that Joey was with the rest of the gang back in 1992.

The photo of Ross and Monica's parents shows them as they are three years later.

When Rachel comes back into the bar at the end of the episode, although he's in shadow you can see that Chandler has shaved his beard. Although technically as it's a day dream it could be what Rachel prefers.

In this episode, Joey says that he's "okay with the whole gay thing" when he meets Chandler. However, in "The One Where Nana Dies Twice" (S1E8) Joey says he didn't think Chandler was gay when they first met. This is not necessarily a continuity error, as Joey could have been lying to Chandler when he told him he'd never thought he might be gay.

Ross is not wearing a wedding ring in any of the flashback scenes despite being married to Carol at the time.

Rachel and Chandler had met several times in the past before this episode's story, such as shown in "The One With All The Thanksgivings" and "The One Where The Stripper Cries". Except since they live very different lives and haven't seen each other in a very long time it is reasonable that they don't remember each other.

When Joey is supposed to be naked when Monica has invited him in for lemonade, you can clearly see that he is wearing underwear. In "The One With The Boobies", which is set after the events in this episode, Monica acts as if she's never seen Joey naked.

Monica acts as if she's never seen Joey naked. In this episode Ross finds out that Carol is a lesbian a year before the show technically starts. However in The Pilot, Ross is incredibly bummed because Carol had just moved her stuff out. If their marriage was over a year before the show started, it says something about them being together for 7 years. Adding further on to this, this would also mean that Ross and Carol maintained a sexual relationship after Carol discovered her homosexuality, otherwise she could not have become pregnant with Ben Geller. Ross says in one episode that he and Carol had sex once after she discovered she was a lesbian.

Ross tells Janice at the beginning that none of them have ever slept together, but he and Rachel have been dating for 9 months at this point and have had sex on numerous occasions. Ross presumably meant apart from him and Rachel. In a line that was cut out of the broadcast episode Rachel also says she'll change him for someone who "puts out if the situation doesn't change". This can only be meant as a joke by Rachel as she and Ross had sex 298 times while they're dating as revealed by Ross when they're moving a couch to his new apartment later in the series.

In the scene where Ross goes behind the bar and reaches some glasses out, he only reaches four glasses out but there are six when the angle changes.

The engagement ring on Rachel's finger is different to the one she returned to Barry in "The One With The Sonogram At The End".

Right before Chandler enters the bar, in the wide-screen version of the episode, the waitress can be seen standing still with the drinks she will bring to Rachel and her friends. The waitress is waiting in a spot outside of the TV frame but revealed in the DVD version.

In the tag scene, the view through the rear window of the car shows it rounding a bend but Rachel doesn't turn the steering wheel.

In shots of the hallway, the radiator is under the little window but it should be by the step where it was in season one.

A transition shot shows a yellow taxi passing by but this model wasn't available in 1993.

Photos

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