I don’t know about you, but in my house, no Thanksgiving is complete without football and Friends Thanksgiving episodes on re-run. These episodes are some of the show’s most iconic, and I personally believe they were the birth of the term “Friendsgiving.” So in honor of that time of year being upon us yet again, here are all of the Friends Thanksgiving episodes ranked from worst to best:
- season 2, episode 8: “the one with the list”
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This episode has to be last because it is the only Thanksgiving episode with no real depiction of Thanksgiving. The episode revolves around Ross’s pros and cons list between Rachel and Julie, which just elongates Ross and Rachel finally getting together. In the background, Monica tries to make her disgusting Mockolate taste good, but that’s the closest anyone in this episode gets to a Thanksgiving dinner.
- season 9, episode 8: “The one with rachel’s other sister”
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Amy, Rachel’s other younger sister, makes my blood boil, and the way she acts and treats the other characters is absurd even for the comedic Friends universe. On the Thanksgiving table, she kept asking questions about who would get Emma after Ross and Rachel died, which ended with breaking all of Monica’s fancy china. I understand the need to portray the familial fighting normally associated with Thanksgiving, but all the death talk and weird catfights makes this episode a buzzkill.
- season 10, episode 8: “the one with the late thanksgiving”
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I didn’t really understand this one because the writers knew this would be the last Thanksgiving episode with all the friends together, but they decided to make sure they were split up. The subplots with the basketball game and baby beauty pageant seemed so insignificant with Monica having a whole Thanksgiving spread prepared for everybody. At least Joey’s stuck head and the call for Monica and Chandler from the adoption agency slightly made up for it.
- season 7, episode 8: “the one where chandler doesn’t like dogs”
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I will forever be indebted to this episode for introducing me to the 50 States Game, but it didn’t really do much else. I was upset that they made my favorite character in the show a dog-hater, and Rachel was being very annoying about her boyfriend-assistant Tag, who she should not have even been dating in the first place. At least the dog Phoebe was sneaking around was adorable.
- season 3, episode 9: “the one with the football”
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The writers switched up the setting in this episode and took the characters outside for once for one of the fakest games of tag football I have ever seen. Luckily, the episode was carried by the Geller Cup, Monica’s unnecessary competitiveness, Phoebe’s wacky strategies and Rachel’s sheer obliviousness. It definitely had me thinking about my Thanksgiving football tradition in a whole new way.
- season 5, episode 8: “the one with all the thanksgivings”
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The writers tried to change things up again with this Thanksgiving episode by making it all in flashback. I did enjoy learning more about the characters’ pasts, but I was also left wondering why no one brought up Chandler’s sliced off pinky toe in the four seasons prior. This episode contains Chandler saying “I love you” to Monica for the first time, but just thinking about the humid dampness of the turkey her head was in while he said that just ruins the moment for me.
- season 8, episode 9: “the one with the rumor”
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Two words: Brad Pitt. Today, this episode is a little sad, considering the fact that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are no longer together, but knowing they were when it was filmed just makes the “I Hate Rachel” club that much funnier. Joey trying to eat an entire Thanksgiving turkey in Phoebe’s maternity pants in the background is just icing on the cake at that point.
- season 1, episode 9: “the one where underdog gets away”
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This episode has to be high on the list because it is where the Thanksgiving episodes started. Even though everyone has other plans for Thanksgiving, for some absurd reason (I’m looking at you, Joey’s VD poster) or the other, they don’t work out. And when they all plan to have dinner together, they get locked out of the apartment. It was just really heart-warming to see them all come together and still be happy when everything else that could have gone wrong did. I guess that’s what friends are for.
- season 4, episode 8: “the one with chandler in a box”
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For all you Chandler lovers, this Thanksgiving episode is the one for you. Even though you can’t really see him for the most of the time, he seems to just get funnier in the box. More importantly though, when he needs to take things seriously to prove how important Joey is to him, he does, even when Kathy breaks up with him. On a whole different note, things get even weirder because Richard’s son joins Monica for Thanksgiving, and that makes me feel all types of icky.
- season 6, episode 9: “the one where ross got high”
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I don’t even know where to begin with this episode. Whether it’s Rachel saying she wasn’t supposed to put beef in the trifle, or Mrs. Geller’s inability to process all the information Ross and Monica threw at her, this episode just seems to top the list of Thanksgiving wholesomeness and comedic timing. It also features Phoebe dreaming about Mr. Geller and Joey wanting to go see hot dancer girls while still somehow liking Rachel’s abysmal trifle. And even though Chandler started the episode with the Gellers hating him, he scored a lot of brownie points by the end when they realized he was the only person that would deal with their crazy kids.
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It’s really hard for Thanksgiving to feel like Thanksgiving without the laughter and love Friends provides, and now you know which ones in particular to watch when you need to get into the holiday spirit.