This episode is a call back to awful Thanksgivings past, beginning with Chandler’s flashback to 1978 when his mom (Morgan Fairchild) tells him that his father would rather sleep with their “house boy” than with her.
Phoebe recalls one of her past lives, when she was an army field nurse and lost an arm. Chandler, Phoebe, and Monica tell the story about Joey getting Monica’s turkey stuck on his head so he could scare Chandler, and there’s a lot of time spent looking back at the friends when they were awkward in the ‘80s.
You'll also remember this episode as, "the one where Monica put a turkey on her head, complete with a fez and some glasses and Chandler blurt out that he loved her."
Special guests: Morgan Fairchild as Nora Tyler Bing Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles as Jack and Judy Geller
In which Monica’s boss is trying to push the terrible mockolate and she's tasked with coming up with Thanksgiving-themed recipes using the foaming fake chocolate with a lingering aftertaste. Phoebe says it best, “This is what evil must taste like!”
Ross breaks up with Julie, finally declares his love for Rachel (they had just kissed in the previous episode). Of course then she discovers the pros and cons list Ross, Chandler, and Joey made about her and Julie. After Chandler sweats through some terrible improv writing, Ross and Rachel have a fight, he attempts to win her back with a rainy pro list on the balcony. But even dedicating U2’s “With or Without You” to her on the radio doesn't do the trick.
Special guest: Michael McKean as Leon Rastatter, Monica’s boss
AKA "The One with Rachel's Trifle and Pheobe's Crush on Jack Geller." Monica’s parents join the gang for Thanksgiving dinner, but she hasn’t told themshe’s dating Chandler - much less living with him. They think he's a pothead because Ross let him take the blame for smoking pot during spring break in college. When Monica outs Ross about this, it sparks a rat-a-thon where the siblings reveal all of their past misdeeds. The Gellers deem Chandler a wonderful guy.
Special guests: Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles as Jack and Judy Geller Elle MacPherson as Janine
It' Geller Bowl time! As the girls make Thanksgiving food, the guys watch football and the idea of playing some (a little more than) touch football in the park comes up. Monica and Ross tell the gang they aren’t allowed to play football because of their extremely competitive past behavior in The Geller Bowl. But, as Monica says, it’s been 12 years so what could go wrong? The past is in the past (plenty).
Meanwhile, Joey and Chandler get distracted by a Dutch lady who’s walking her dog and compete for her affections and Rachel, though a terrible player, finally gets her moment and catches the pass from Monica, scoring an almost touchdown.
