Recap / Friends S 5 E 8 The One With All The Thanksgivings

After Thanksgiving dinner, when Ross brings up that this may be the worst Thanksgiving ever for him due to his recent divorce and eviction, it leads to the gang bring up each of their respective worst Thanksgivings:

• Thanksgiving 1978: The infamous Thanksgiving where Chandler's parents announced their divorce to him.
• Thanksgiving 1862: Phoebe's past life where she was a nurse during the Civil War and ended up losing an arm.
• Thanksgiving 1992: Joey ends up putting the turkey over his head to scare Chandler, only for it to get stuck.
• Thanksgiving 1987: The Thanksgiving where Monica and Chandler met for the first time, and he ended up unknowingly humiliating her when he called her fat behind her back.
• Thanksgiving 1988: Monica's worst Thanksgiving, where one year later she attempted to get revenge on Chandler for calling her fat, only for it to go horribly wrong.

Tropes:

• '80s Hair: Ross and Chandler sport ridiculous A Flock of Seagulls haircuts in the 1987 flashback, and Miami Vice ones in 1988.
• Accidental Declaration of Love: Monica and Chandler had been secretly dating since Ross's wedding at the end of Season 4, and here in this episode, Chandler accidentally declares his love for Monica after she sticks her head inside a turkey and does a funny dance, he denies having said anything.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Chandler insisted that Monica's apology turkey gesture wasn't going to work, but once she started dancing, he couldn't help but laugh.
• Agony of the Feet: The 1988 flashback involves Monica dropping a carving knife point-down onto Chandler's foot, cutting off the tip of his little toe.
• An Arm and a Leg: Phoebe's past lives as wartime nurses had her losing an arm.
• Artistic License – Medicine: Even if Monica was able to lose all that weight in a year, having been that overweight for as long as she was, she would not have looked the way she does. The excess skin would have sagged and would've been not only noticeable but unable to fit in a dress that tight. Though since Rachel got plastic surgery on her nose, she could've helped Monica afford plastic surgery to lose that excess skin.
• Big Eater: In 1987, Monica has to put in a lot of effort to refuse the pies offered to her by her parents who fully expected her to eat them so they could save some space in the fridge, and this was after an already hearty Thanksgiving feast Monica enjoyed.
• Brick Joke: Twice:
  • Monica puts a turkey on her head like Joey did in 1992 in order to cheer Chandler up. Joey walks in on her with it and runs away screaming in terror.
  • Phoebe has another flashback to one of her past lives during another Thanksgiving set during a war. She once again ends up losing an arm.
• Call-Forward: In 1988, Ross tells the folks about Carol and how she plays two sports. He says she "plays for both teams."
• Calling Parents by Their Name: After overhearing Rachel say she wants to date "men" Ross calls to his parents by their first names to make himself seem more mature. Monica immediately undercuts him
  Monica: Call them "Mom and Dad", you loser!
• Camp Gay: "More turkey, Mr. Chandler?"
• Crappy Holidays: The current Thanksgiving is actually going pretty welll (aside from Chandler and Monica briefly falling out). The stories the gang tell of previous Thanksgivings on the other hand definitely fit the bill.
• Deadly Prank: Downplayed. Monica's attempt to humiliate Chandler involved her holding a knife at one point in a rather pathetic attempt to make herself look sexy, only to end up accidentally dropping it and causing the blade to cut off the tip of one of Chandler's toes.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Chandler is indignant that he lost the tip of a toe just because he called Monica fat; while she didn't intend to do that, her original plan to humiliate him was excessive when he never even meant for her to know he'd made such a comment in the first place.
• Dude, Not Funny!: When Chandler makes the crack about Monica's weight Ross reacts with an annoyed "Hey!" indicating that he doesn't like his sister being mocked that way.
• First-World Problems: Phoebe uses this to argue that her Thanksgiving story about her past life losing an arm is worse than Chandler's story about his parents divorce.
  Phoebe: Oh, did the little rich boy have a problem with the butler? Yes, mine's worse!
• Food Coma: The episode opens with the gang exhausted after finishing their Thanksgiving dinner. Phoebe is so tired she can't even lift the remote to turn the television on.
  Rachel: Monica that was the best Thanksgiving dinner ever! I think you killed us.
• Funny Flashback Haircut: Chandler and Ross in the 1987 and 1988 flashbacks. In the former, Ross has a toned-down version of his perm and Porn Stache look from "The One With the Prom Video", while Chandler has an A Flock of Seagulls haircut. In the latter, they are both dressed like Crockett and Stubs in Miami Vice, making fun of how they used to look last year.
• Gag Nose: Along with Fat Monica in the 1987 flashback, we also get to see Rachel with her old nose.
• Heh Heh, You Said "X": In the 1992 flashback, Joey can't help giggling when Monica tells Phoebe to "spread the (turkey's) legs as much as you can."
• Help, I'm Stuck!: Joey gets his head stuck inside a turkey in 1992.
• Hilarious in Flashback: Chandler tells Monica she should be a chef after trying her macaroni & cheese to be polite, needless to say Monica took that advice. Interestingly enough, he still remembered it a year later despite having just developed an interest in her, so it's safe to say he did actually mean it.
• Hospital Gurney Scene: After Monica accidentally drops a knife on Chandler's foot, the next shot is him being wheeled down a hospital hallway, getting his foot hurt when they push him through the door.
• The "I Love You" Stigma: While watching Monica dancing with the turkey on her head, Chandler says "You're so great. I love you." While Monica is delighted, Chandler panics and tries to take it back.
• I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Ross and Chandler in The '80s. In the second flashback they acknowledge how bad their outfits were the previous year, not realizing how ridiculous they look now.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Both of Phoebe's past lives involve her losing an arm during a war; in both she ends up being more annoyed than anything else.
• Misery Poker: Chandler objects to Ross claiming this is the worst Thanksgiving ever because he has a much worse story. The gang quickly start trying to one-up each other with their "Worst Thanksgiving" stories.
• Naked People Trapped Outside: Invoked in the 1988 flashback. Monica and Rachel's plan to get revenge on Chandler was to seduce him into having sex, wait until he gets naked, and then lock him outside. Unfortunately, it never gets past the seduction stage before Monica accidentally mutilates Chandler's toe.
• Noodle Incident: Phoebe attempts to bring up a Christmas story where a dwarf ended up getting broke in half, but the gang chooses to finally hear what happened on Monica's worst Thanksgiving instead.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Monica resolves on the spot to lose weight and become skinny after Chandler calls her "Ross's fat sister", and when her parents ask her to eat two pies, she refuses. This shocks her parents who fully expected her to eat them like a light snack.
• Parental Favoritism: Judy immediately disregards any talk of Monica's significant weight loss to talk about Ross dating someone.
• Past-Life Memories: Phoebe recalls Thanksgiving 1862. Joey says this is cool and wishes he could remember his past lives, to which Phoebe says he can't because he's "brand new." During the end credits we see another of her past lives, this time a French nurse in 1915.
• "Psycho" Strings: Plays as Monica drops the knife on Chandler's foot.
• Retcon: This episode establishes that Chandler and Rachel knew each other before the events of the series, ignoring the pilot where it was treated as if the two were meeting for the first time. The 1992 flashback retcons the date Joey and Chandler first met from 1993 to sometime prior.
• Shout-Out:
  • 1992 involved the gang getting their heads stuck in turkeys.
  • Phoebe's past lives both have her losing an arm and regarding it as just a minor inconvenience.
• Unusual Euphemism: Monica refers to her virginity as her "flower". By 1988, Rachel is sick of hearing it.
  Rachel: If you keep calling it that, no-one's ever going to take it!