I’m in the mood to write another “Friends” walkthrough so let’s see what episode I’m up to. I haven’t watched many of them in the last two months since I wrote about S05E10 so it looks like I’m only up to Season 5 Episode 14 “The One Where Everybody Finds Out.” I remember this being a good one.

I did watch the “Friend’s” reunion show though. That was nice. I don’t have a lot to say about it besides that it was nostalgic but for the six actors involved the nostalgia was about working together all these years while for the rest of us the nostalgia was about watching the show. They even did some line readings from this very episode in the reunion show.

This episode is from February 11, 1999. So I’m going to check my calendar to see what I was doing that day. It looks like on that day I was working at Marvel Comics down in Manhattan. That week I also bought some comic books at Jin Handley’s Universe, some clothes at a local department store, and worked on a painting of a friend of mine. I remember I was trying to learn paint portraits and this was one of them. It was only okay. It takes a while to learn new skill.

I’m going to start the show now. It starts with them all in the girls’ apartment as they’re eating a takeout meal. Ugly naked guy is moving out of his apartment across the street! Ross should move in there. And we have the first plot line. Then a classic shot of them all looking through the window. Here comes the theme song.

Ross is now in the apartment and he loves it. I think this was a good move on the show’s part. Having Ross so close helped with the plots. As she’s by herself for a moment in the new apartment Phoebe sees Chandler and Monica across the street getting busy so she finds out that they’re together. Now everybody knows but Ross and as he’s Monica’s brother they still want to keep it from him. Funny hijinks in the rest of this scene.

Then it’s onto the coffee shop with Phoebe and Rachel discussing the situation and they fill in Joey that Phoebe has found out. Joey wants to stop pretending that no one knows but Phoebe wants hijinks. Joey is outvoted. He has to keep more secrets. Phoebe starts to come on to Chandler to mess with him. She’s really flirty with him.

Now we cut to Monica and Chandler in bed and having pillow talk. Chandler tells her about Phoebe and Monica is confused by the whole thing since she knows Phoebe well enough to know Chandler isn’t her type. It a short but amusing scene.

Morning comes and the three girls are in the apartment. They start to mess with Monica and Chandler. They know that “Doing laundry” is a euphemism for sex so Rachel give them her laundry to do and Phoebe has a big bag of quarters for just such and occasion. Ross walks in and there is more apartment talk. This is a prized NYC apartment so he’s going to have to woo ugly naked guy to sublet it. Then we learn that Ross’s wooing game isn’t that strong. Ross is upset and leaves. So do Phoebe and Rachel but on the way out Phoebe makes a pass at Chandler.

Monica susses out that Phoebe knows about them and is messing with them. A new scene happens as they storm into Joey’s and demand to know what he knows. He spills the beans about Phoebe and Rachel knowing. Now Monica and Chandler want Joey to keep quiet about them knowing so they can mess back. A classic sitcom setup. Joey just wants it all to be over.

A new scene in the girls’ place as Ross bemoans that he is not getting the apartment. Rachel tells him to learn what Ugly Naked Guy likes and use that to give him an edge. They got nothing so far. The scene moves onto Chandler and Monica starting to mess with Phoebe. He calls her up and hits on her. Rachel figures out that they know. Joey is there too and they get him to talk. Now the showdown is set up.

Here we go with Ross knocking on Ugly Naked Guy’s door. UNG is naked and drinking from a straw! Ross works the naked angle but we don’t know what he’s up to yet.

Meanwhile back across the street a game of romantic chicken starts to be played by the two sides as Chandler and Phoebe set a time for their “Date.” Then Joey calls them to the window. Ross is naked across the street with Ugly Naked Guy! Ross is drinking tea and eating muffins naked!

The romantic showdown begins between Chandler and Phoebe. Who will call it off first? This whole scene is good. No need to describe it. Just watch it. It ends with an “Awwww…” as everyone finds out that Chandler and Monica are not just fooling around but they’re in love.

The final scene has Ross moving into his new apartment and his boss is with him. Ross has been on a sabbatical from work because of a rage issue. Then, of couse, Ross sees Monica and Chandler though the window being romantic and it enrages him. That’s where we end. It was also the end of Ross’s career at the museum.

I’m looking at my ratings that I made for the show a decade ago and I gave this one four out of five stars. I’m surprised that I didn’t give it five out of five. I think this is one of my favorite episodes.

Now I’ll check the Uncut Friends website and see what was cut out of the current HiDef syndication episodes. They cut some Ugly Naked Guy jokes from the opening. The Chandler eating again part was funny. They cut out the first part of Joey’s Barbershop Quartet joke! I like that part. I bet they had to cut out the callback to it too. They cut a little of the pillow talk. The cut a Ross bedwetting joke. Yup, they cut the callback to the Barbershop Quarterbacked joke. A Ross apartment joke is gone. They cut a Joey getting frustrated with all the secrets joke. They cut the scene with naked Ross eating muffins! How could they! They cut the very beginning of the romantic showdown scene. Joey no longer gets the girls some wine. They cut the part where Chandler accidentally puts on scary music. And that’s it.

It seems like they cut a lot of good stuff from this one. Maybe it was one of those extra long episodes they used to have occasionally. Either way I’m glad to still have the old DVD versions of this show. It may not look as pretty but it’s the only uncut version out there.