The One with the Thumb

What makes this scene remarkable is the economy of it. Six people in a room, pointing fingers, and in ninety seconds the writers establish something that will define this group for ten seasons: these are people who will tell each other the absolute truth, usually at the worst possible moment, and somehow love each other more for it. Watch how each "annoying habit" callout is perfectly calibrated to the character receiving it — none of them are surprised, just defensive. They already know. That's what makes it land.

There's a quiet theme running through "The One with the Thumb" that you might not notice on first viewing because you're too busy laughing. Everyone in this episode is dealing with a gap between how something appears to world and how it actually feels within the character — and the writers play that gap for comedy repeatedly without once repeating themselves.

First up is Rachel, who is starting to feel a little more confident in her first adult job . . .

Well, she almost got the order right. At least she didn't forget anyone.

Next up is Phoebe. First, her bank mistakenly credits her $500. While many people would say, "Jackpot!" Phoebe insists that would be wrong, "If I keep it that would be like stealing!" and Rachel replies, "Yeah, but if you spent it, it would be like shopping!" This doesn't sway her but her bank apparently is on Rachel's side and credits her another $500 while gifting her a football shaped telephone. Phoebe decides the only thing she can do is to give it away . . .

The thumb in the can was a great pile-on by the writers, but they couldn't help taking it a step further and in doing so they once again highlight that enormous gap between appearance (how we expect a character to feel) and how the character feels (the driver in much of the humor in situation comedy). For Phoebe, her motivation in telling the company about the thumb in the can is altruistic, the company responds defensively with a check for $7,000. Another windfall and this time it feels legitimate, but for Phoebe, the universe is out of balance once again and when next she steps on a wad of gum she sees that misfortune as the universe trying to rebalance itself. The enormous gap in being gifted $7,000 and being annoyed by some gum stuck to your shoe is funny and makes us laugh, but also makes Phoebe and her unique way of looking at life more real for us. The fact that Phoebe sees and feels what we we don't — that her internal compass is so finely tuned to some frequency the rest of us can't hear — is precisely what makes her Phoebe. She's not naive. She's just operating on a different set of principles, and the show respects her for it.

Then there's Chandler. On paper, quitting smoking is unambiguously the right thing to do. Everyone agrees. Chandler agrees. He knows. And yet knowing turns out to be completely useless information . . .

This is a very specific kind of comedy — the comedy of self-awareness without self-control — and Matthew Perry plays it beautifully. Chandler isn't dumb, and he isn't weak exactly. He's just human in the way that's hardest to forgive yourself for: he can see the right answer and still not choose it. The writers will return to this well many times over the course of the series, and it never gets old.

The show opens and closes with dating, a common subject of Friends and Monica is the target in this episode. Alan is her latest boyfriend and by every available metric is perfect. He's handsome, he's funny, he asks the right questions, and he remembers the right things. When Monica brings him around, the group doesn't just like him — they love him. Joey is ready to follow him into battle. Ross calls him the best guy Monica has ever dated, which Ross would not say lightly. Even Chandler, who is constitutionally suspicious of people who seem too good, approves without reservation. Yet, Monica breaks up with him at the end of the episode.

She can't explain it. We as viewers as well as all of her friends can see that there's nothing wrong with Alan. He just doesn't feel right to her. The same internal compass that makes Phoebe give away $7,000 is at work here — only this time it costs Monica a perfectly good boyfriend and the approval of every person she shares her life with.

What the writers understand, and what makes this episode quietly sophisticated beneath all the thumb jokes, is that feelings are not obligated to make sense. You can look at something and know it's good and still not be able to make yourself want it. That's not a flaw. That's just being alive. Phoebe knows this intuitively. Monica is learning it the hard way.

The gang's reaction when Monica tells them she ended it? Worth watching with the sound on.