305 "TOW Frank Jr."
Still yearning for real family, Phoebe hopes to bond with her half-brother Frank Junior, who's impressed by Monica & Rachel's beauty, but he believes that everything in the city is sleazy. Meanwhile, Phoebe learns that both her parents could roll their tongues while she can't, yet fails to pursue the genetic significance of this, and Frank's hobby is melting stuff.
Monica explains to a despairing Phoebe that Ross was a horrible brother to her when they were kids, and it took them years to become close. Even so, Phoebe dare not leave him when she goes to the massage parlour - but Frank doesn't know it's a respectable establishment, so he wrongly thinks that her colleague Jasmine is a hooker. However, when confronted with his sins, Frank tells Phoebe that their weekend together was perfect, and she really enjoys making up with him.
Chandler & Janice each list five celebrities they are allowed to have sex with, so Rachel has a go, while Ross agonises over every name. However, he takes Chandler's advice to delete Isabella Rossellini, on the grounds that she's too international. Of course the actress just happens to walk into Central Perk, to be insulted that Ross bumped her for Winona Ryder.
Joey starts building a music centre with lots of cupboard space, sawing Chandler's bedroom door in half, almost drilling into his skull, and then sticking the varnish lid to his trousers - but Chandler's really annoyed when Joey drops everything to retile Monica's bathroom floor. In the end the new furniture is erected, but it is so big it overlaps both bedroom doors - so Chandler bets Joey he can't climb in, then locks him inside.
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Phoebe's story was a heartfelt amusing drama, but Isabella Rossellini turning up was a bit of a clich� in a weak plot. However, the best buds provided splendid entertainment, especially when Chandler had to slam his bedroom door in two parts - and Monica was wonderful as she gasped at her dingy floor, forgot all about it to admire Joey's arse, and then angrily threatened to stick her loo brush up it!
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If only Phoebe had thought the tongue-rolling incident through, she would have realised a year earlier that she had been deceived about her parents.
She told Frank that she could roll her tongue: so because she can, but her mother couldn't, she had figured that was something she'd inherited from their father. Frank tries, and he does it - but Phoebe fails. She recalls that in fact her mother could, but she can't.
Saddened that she & Frank have even less in common, Phoebe lets it go, but of course this proves that either Lily or Frank Senior was not her parent, and then she would have questioned Frances again more thoroughly.
Another interesting thing about this is the long range plotting that the writers must do, since we didn't learn until 325 "TOA the Beach" that Lily was not Phoebe's mother. Other examples include mentions of Chloe at the start of the season, and the realignment of Ross's character & back story.
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The final versions of the freebie lists were...
Chandler Rachel Ross
Kim Basinger Chris O'Donnell Uma Thurman Cindy Crawford John F.Kennedy Jnr Winona Ryder Halle Berry Daniel Day Lewis Elizabeth Hurley Yasmine Bleeth Sting Michelle Pfeiffer Jessica Rabbit Parker Stevenson Dorothy Hamill
..but John F.Kennedy Jnr has since died in a plane crash (in the sea off Phoebe Abbott's beach house) so there is now a vacancy on Rachel's list. Meanwhile Dorothy Hammel is a famous American ice skater. Anyway, when we first see Ross's laminated list, it looks a bit like this...
1 ### #######
2 ######## ##########
3 ######### ######
4 ####### ########
5 ####### ######..so when the prop was made (misspelling "Michelle" with one L), the script did not have Winona Ryder in second place - in fact the list might well say Isabella Rossellini, so did they originally plan to have Susan Sarandon show up in Central Perk? When Miss Rossellini holds up the list later on, the prop has been put right.
In 723 "TOW Monica and Chandler's Wedding (part 1)", we will learn that Jack & Judy Geller also have freebie lists - his includes Rita Moreno, while she added Gunther to hers, (not that he's a famous person).
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Frank is played by Giovanni Ribisi, who was the lad that left a condom in Phoebe's guitar case in 206 "TOW the Baby on the Bus", and it could well be that this bit part helped him get the larger role. But can we assume that he *was* Frank on an earlier trip to New York? After such a brief encounter, the half-siblings probably wouldn't remember each other about six weeks later in 209 "TOW Phoebe's Dad" - but when we see how Frank is so ignorant about life in the big city, does this have to mean that he has *never* been there before?
We learn that Phoebe was born on 16th February. Her character is typical for an Aquarian, which may be why the writers chose that date.
When Phoebe suddenly has to go to work, look at the back wall where you can clearly see Gladys, the ghastly appliqu� portrait she'll give away in 1006 "TOW Ross's Grant" - back then, her dress was red. And as Frank gets up to ask Phoebe about the massage parlour, he is standing by the purple chair which Rachel will lust after in 710 "TOW the Holiday Armadillo".
We finally saw where Phoebe works: "HEALING HANDS INC, Licensed Massage Therapists" - shame it's not Heeling Hands, which would have been cuter.
Jasmine is played by Cynthia Mann, who was first seen as a waitress in the pilot. Since in 316 "TOT Morning After" we'll learn that Jasmine is Gunther's roomie, there's no difficulty in assuming she was helping him out at Central Perk, for they were short-handed enough to hire Rachel.
Frank touching Jasmine's fanny is not as bad as it sounds in Britain, since in America it means a less intimate part of the body. This also explains how Frank could have a fanny for Jasmine to touch first.
Ross asks Rachel to hold his cruller, a tasty treat which Phoebe had described as a phallic-shaped man-cake in 219 "TOW Eddie Won't Go".
If you look carefully, another two hinges have been added to the door, otherwise the two halves would never be able to swing like that. The saw-cut can still be seen years later (up to the end of the show).
Note that Monica is not as obsessive about cleanliness as is often assumed, nor is Joey as slow as people think - for he observed that her bathroom floor was dingy long before she did.
Keep an eye on the laundry hamper, which jumps back against the wall.
Phoebe shows her intelligence by beating Monica at the shadow game.
Spackle is a compound used for filling cracks & small holes in walls, in Britain it's called Polyfilla. It's not really suitable for floor tiles, but maybe Chandler doesn't know that.
When Joey bets that he can fit in the cupboard, you can clearly see that there's plenty of room to climb out of the back.
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And finally, some things we wish we'd seen...
Joey losing his temper with a forest. The power saw getting away from Joey, and running wild. Joey putting extra hinges on Chandler's door instead of fixing it. Chandler making Jessica Rabbit's eyes pop out of her head. Phoebe & Frank in Times Square picking up some ninja stars. Joey making a spring-loaded laundry hamper for Monica. Monica's view of the Sergio Valente pants. A furious Monica impaling Joey on a toilet brush. Phoebe realising that she's been lied to about her parentage. Frances telling Phoebe that she was named after her mother. Susan Sarandon's reaction to being bumped off Ross's list. Frank Junior melting art. Frank & Ross in a fake karate contest. Little Ross giving little Monica an atomic wedgie. Little Monica and little Ross playing the shadow game. Dorothy Hammel spinning around on Ross. Frank excitedly touching Jasmine's fanny. Monica/Joey/Phoebe's freebie lists, and Rachel's new #2.
Tennant Stuart