What The Phalange?! | A Queer Feminist Friends (TV Show) Podcast

02.09 The One Where The 90s Are Fashionably Relevant but Millennials Aren't

June 22, 2021 Season 2 Episode 11
What The Phalange?! | A Queer Feminist Friends (TV Show) Podcast
02.09 The One Where The 90s Are Fashionably Relevant but Millennials Aren't
Show Notes Transcript

We're BACK! And were talking about Season 2 Episode 9 of FRIENDS : The One With Phoebe's Dad! (good timing for Father's day, right?!)
In this episode we look at fashion through the ages (and how it continues to repeat itself), the bigger meaning of Phoebe's new discovery, and how tipping culture is a strange world that to navigate and in reality just a way to offload an employers responsibility to pay their employees fair wages.

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Emilie Brunet
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www.emiliebyoga.com

Quinn Brunet
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www.quinnkbrunet.com

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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to state that this podcast was recorded in part 'Montreal', or Tiohtiá:ke, which we recognize is unceded indigenous land of the traditional territories of the Kanien’kehá:ka, 'Mohawk', Anishinabeg, 'Algonquin', and other peoples. This podcast was also recorded in part in 'Toronto', which we recognize is the territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit. We recognize the indigenous peoples as the rightful custodians of this land and are grateful and respect every which way they have taken care of and fought for this land.

WORKING TO BE BETTER
Though we continuously are working to use this podcast as a platform to address and unpack systems of oppression we also recognize our whiteness, that we are able bodied, our class privilege, and, in addition, our newness at attempting to create this media. We welcome any insight, feedback or resources on how we can do this better, or if we are doing it wrong. You can email any feedback you have to wtphalange@gmail.com

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Quinn (they/them):

hi! And welcome to What The Phalange?!. The podcast, where we watch every episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S discuss it, deconstruct it, and fan over it, one episode at a time.

Emilie (she/her):

My name is Emilie, pronouns she/her.

Quinn (they/them):

And my name is Quinn, pronouns ze/zir or they/them. This week, we're talking about season two, episode nine, the one with Phoebe's dad,

Emilie (she/her):

this episode aired on December 14th, 1995. It was written by Kevin S. Bright and directed by Jeff Astrof and Mike Sikowitz.

Quinn (they/them):

according to IMDB, this episode is where Phoebe tracks down her father, but isn't sure whether she should meet him. Ross asks Rachel to make a list of pros and cons about him.

Emilie (she/her):

This is also the one where the radiator is broken. Everyone is very, very hot tipping. Culture is pretty weird and Phoebe's dad is not a famous tree surgeon, bump, bump all.

Quinn (they/them):

Bomb bomb bomb.

Emilie (she/her):

The IMDB description is medium at best, really?

Quinn (they/them):

It really, really is also, I really can't wait to talk about tree surgeons.

Emilie (she/her):

Oh my God. Tell me, you looked up what tree surgeons are. I did not.

Quinn (they/them):

No, no, I didn't.

Emilie (she/her):

Oh, darn our tree surgeons, actually a real thing. Now I need to know, tell us, are you a tree surgeon? Let us know.

Quinn (they/them):

welcome back.

Emilie (she/her):

hi everyone. Welcome back to us, I guess. We appreciate your patience for this episode. Oh, wait, no, wait, actually, technically

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. So let's, let's just do full disclosure. We're actually recording this episode before the reunion episode and the reunion episode is going to come out before this one. but we just felt there was a lot to deconstruct in the reunion episode and some things to look up. And so you're going to be hearing that one, even though we've recorded it second,

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, exactly.

Quinn (they/them):

Thank you for your patience, everyone. for, um, you know, Quinn getting sick and things kind of being put off a little while. So Emilie

Emilie (she/her):

Yes.

Quinn (they/them):

first, first impressions of the episode.

Emilie (she/her):

First impressions of the episode. All right. Well, for me, this is, I think one of. I don't know if it's like one of my favorites, but it just feels like a pretty iconic, friend's episode. You know, like Gunther has this verse line in this episode, you know, there's like a few things that are a little bit kind of firsts in this episode. We got Treeger that comes back. I think we get like a pretty good level of emotional support from Chandler and Joey, something we don't get very often, which is really nice to see in this episode. Um, we learned more about Phoebe's backstory and honestly, while we were watching this episode, I was thinking that it would be so fun to like create a timeline from start to finish of the entirety of he was life. And now that I'm saying this out loud fandom probably has already done this, but it would just be really interesting to read the entirety of Phoebe's life and fill in the blanks wherever needed. Um, yeah. I also want to say that, I think it's kinda cute that we're recording this episode. The one with Phoebe's dad on father's.

Quinn (they/them):

oh, that's so true.

Emilie (she/her):

father's day and also while having holiday belated. Cause you're going to get this episode in like f***ing weeks, but I'm also happy, not father's day to all the deadbeat dads out there.

Quinn (they/them):

I find this episode really interesting because this time when I was watching it, I don't know. I don't know if like I'm completely out to lunch or something, but something really dawned on me in this episode that that I has never before. And I think this kind of comes out of like very intentionally, like we're very intentionally watching one episode at a time, you know? And so, um, really sort of really intentionally seeing that like the storylines of the characters grow. And so what you're saying, where it's interesting, there's a first, you know, going through has this first line, um, you know, we meet Phoebe's grandmother for the first time. Phoebe's grandmother's taxi for the first time. And it's like this episode, they really kind of opened up a lot of things. Um, but, and they also like are expanding the relationship with like the superintendent, um, you know, and like trigger, um, which I find very interesting. But, what really kind of dawned on me in this episode is that like, this is the first episode where Phoebe realizes that her life hasn't just been this really convoluted, difficult time, but she actually doesn't know the full truth about it. Like up until this point, she's known what her life has looked like. Right. And this is the first episode where she starts to realize. There's like, like moving forward, she's just going to discover like a shit ton of lies about her life and how no one has really told her the truth. And I find that I never have actually realized that this is, this is the episode where that starts, you know?

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. Phoebe's had a pretty f***ing traumatic life. Like it's I find it, I find that the line from Rachel where she's like, how have you never been on an Oprah? Is like, I'm just like,

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. And it's, it's been like traumatic enough as is. And then to find out that you've been lit on a whole variety of things and you don't actually know what's true. Like that's like a whole other level and you know, and over the next little while we're gonna go through like the we're going to like join Phoebe on this very like intense journey of her. Like figuring out like, who is family? What is family does it exist? And like for her. And, um, and I find that really kind of interesting.

Emilie (she/her):

Hmm. Gaslight. That's a big word. Yeah, but you're right. I guess like

Quinn (they/them):

it's,

Emilie (she/her):

that's exactly what it is Yeah. And I didn't even think about it. I didn't even realize

Quinn (they/them):

like people who are intentionally like her, like people who know more than her and have more details about her, like were purposely hiding these things from her,

Emilie (she/her):

but not just like purposefully hiding them, but like telling her a different story too. On top of

Quinn (they/them):

yeah, totally. Yeah. Which like, you know, like can vary drastically, like stories that very drastically change your identity and relationship to your sense of self and family um, I mean, okay. Let's, let's save some of this cause I have, I want to let go into this more,

Emilie (she/her):

All right. Well, yeah. I don't know if I have really three things this episode, like, there's kind of a more general conversation. Like I do want to talk a little bit about tipping culture and like there's, but it's more like, I just want to ask questions so much. Like I just find tipping culture is just such a weird thing. Um, and then, yeah, I always want to talk about. About Ross being needy. Um, and yeah, I, I think like Phoebe's dad in general is definitely a topic I want to talk about. Um, but also specifically like Chandler and Joey, um, kind of going on this ride, literal ride with Phoebe, and, and what that looks like and stuff like that. I think it's interesting. But anyways, that being said, let's get into the cold open.

Quinn (they/them):

So we're in Monica's apartment and, um, we have first a comment about ugly naked guy.

Emilie (she/her):

Classic

Quinn (they/them):

And to be honest, I don't actually remember exactly what it

Emilie (she/her):

something about as Christmas balls. If I remember correctly,

Quinn (they/them):

um, sorry. I think it's funny balls. Um, uh, and then tipping, there's like a whole thing on tipping, every everyone. And I, I kind of, it's interesting. Cause I kind of vaguely remember this. Like I remember mom talking about like tipping the mailman when we were kids. Is that a thing that still happens?

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. See, that's something that I just, I don't know, like a tipping, the mailman, I've never tipped a mailman in my life.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah.

Emilie (she/her):

can't even imagine. Like, that just sounds, that just is so weird to me. Like maybe to be in the newspaper delivery guide, but like the mailman is, I don't know, like it's also just like, okay, so tipping, the super like tipping, the guy who manages your building. Like it's like, I guess I just like tipping culture

Quinn (they/them):

To me. I'm like, that's bullshit.

Emilie (she/her):

like landlord

Quinn (they/them):

no superintendent in Toronto deserves that

Emilie (she/her):

Well, like, even if you're the best superintendent in the world, if you are the best superintendent in the world, well, then the landlord should be paying you a fair wage in which you don't rely on tipping to the point where like, you're literally pissed. If you don't receive something, you know what I mean? Like, like you see that with so many, like in this episode, you know, the mailman crushes, Monica's ornaments, you know, the delivery guy like crushes their newspaper. Like, I just feel like that's such an unrealistic thing to happen. And like, obviously it's F.R.I.E.N.D.S, his comedy, blah, blah, blah. But like, tipping is, I don't know, like tipping culture, maybe it's just different. Maybe it's different in the states. Maybe that's what it is. Maybe it's just different in the states and that's just not what we do here. But, um, you know, like tipping is definitely a, uh, by country sort of thing. It's

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah, actually, I'm very curious because we've been getting more and more of an audience in the U S so. Please write in and let us know, do you guys tip your mailman and your newspaper delivery person? Like part of me is like, does anyone still get newspapers delivered these days? Um, but yeah, I'm just like, I'm very curious if this is a thing that people very commonly go through at, Christmas time and when the new year comes around, that people like tip absolutely everyone. Do you tip your superintendent? That's just, or you're like, I guess apartment manager or

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. I don't know. I think that one's weird. That's that's weird to me.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. And like, I kind of wonder if some of these are like, like this is kind of dated. I kind of wonder, like I said, you know, like I remember mom tipping, like. The look in the newspaper delivery person and the, maybe the mailman when we were kids. But like in recent years, I can't even remember her ever doing that. So,

Emilie (she/her):

but, and also like to clarify, like, um, like I do think. As someone who used to work in the service industry to being is like a huge part of, um, our wage. So like, and I know in the states, that's the case as well. Um, you know, like you get paid actually technically less than minimum wage, because it's expected that you're going to get tips. So like whenever, you know, someone goes out to a bar, every client that you have that doesn't tip you, you're actually technically getting paid less money, um, than minimum wage in order to serve that client. So like tips are integral to so many people's living. Um, but the issue with that is the fact that the owner of the business is putting the pain of their employees. Putting the onus on the client themselves rather than paying their employees, you know, a living wage. And, and that's why I use the term tipping culture, because it's not like one single business that is doing this. It's the fact that we've created this tipping system to being culture, um, in which like we've normalized, not paying employees, a full wage and putting that onus on the person who's buying the food or whatever the drink, whatever it is. Um, and if you go to like, you know, I'm sure, you know, people listening in Europe will, will vouch for this too, is that tipping in Europe is a lot less of a thing you don't really tip in europe.

Quinn (they/them):

Do you remember when we were in? I think it was Italy and,

Emilie (she/her):

yeah, they chased us down and gave us money back. It was like, an insult.

Quinn (they/them):

and it was like more than once that it was sort of like, no, don't, don't give us this money. And it was just like, wow, that's very, very different. Then, and I want to point out that the, his, can I, can I talk about the history of tipping in like the restaurant industry? So, um, okay. There's different like stories and, and obviously it's interwoven into history and in a variety of different ways. Um, but. What I have read as of late of what was the actual initial beginning that like made that like switched everything to tipping as a standard in the restaurant industry was, um, I think it was the second world war that happened, or it was the great depression dammit. Now I forget. But essentially it was like some very large event where, a lot of people were getting laid off because there was no ability to pay them. And so in the restaurant industry, what they decided to do was that restaurants had to lower. The prices are food, which made it so they couldn't really pay, um, their servers as much. And so what they decided to do instead of firing people, um, and to keep the whole restaurant up a float was that they started implementing that the servers would either get paid, less or not at all, but then people would come in, pay for their food and then leave what they could to support the servers. Um, and so it kind of like you could make an argument that it was sort of like originally made in like a point in history where like sliding scale was almost like necessary for things to happen. Um, but we are not in. Place in the world anymore. And it's gotten to the point where it's like led down the line of, um, being able to offset the responsibility like Emilie was saying of being able to like offset the responsibility from like the owners and the employers, of having to actually pay and support their employees in a real way, um, to making it so that it was like on it's on the patrons, you know, which is really. Upsetting in so many ways. And there is a large movement in the states, that exists within the restaurant industry to try to eliminate that. And there are certain restaurants that, do you just pay their servers on salary? And there's a lot of studies showing that it actually benefits the restaurant and the servers so much more to just have servers be paid on salary if anyone knows the show, Adam ruins everything. They do an episode on that. So I'm going to leave a link to that in the show notes. And, as someone, like Emilie, you were, in the realm of tipping by being a bartender and a server, I'd been a server in the past as well. Um, but also now that I'm in like the massage therapy industry, it's like this very strange, I guess intersection, because in Ontario, you get trained and you become registered as a healthcare practitioner, but there's still a very large tipping culture that exists,

Emilie (she/her):

and you don't, you don't take tips, right?

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. I personally refuse to take tips. I don't let anyone tip me because I'm am not getting paid a server's wage. also there are people within the spa and wellness industry that like are not getting paid enough. That like tipping does really make sense for,

Emilie (she/her):

It's also different per province too, because right in Quebec, you don't have the same amount of training to be a massage therapist. And a lot of people like, because you're not a registered medical, whatever, whatever you said you are, um, you, you know,

Quinn (they/them):

healthcare

Emilie (she/her):

there you go. Um, like your you're not, it's all, it's all like spa kind of massage. Most people who are trained in massage, they're being Quebec, because it's the difference between having to take a 400 hour course in Quebec versus an in Ontario? What is it? Like

Quinn (they/them):

a three-year college

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, exactly.

Quinn (they/them):

It's 2200 hours in total. Yeah.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. Like you could get trained to become a massage therapist in two months in Quebec, basically. So, um, but anyways, all that to say that, um, And that it's just

Quinn (they/them):

Not to say that there aren't really good massage therapists in Quebec.

Emilie (she/her):

of course not. It's just a totally different ball game. Of course. I see, I see a lot of very good massage therapists and come back. Um, but like, it's just a different ball game. It's a different world. And therefore there's like a different expectation behind, like, it becomes like viewed as a different way. One is more of like a luxury service. Whereas one is like, uh, a, like an actual medical need, you know, I think. And so like, you know, you don't tip your doctor and yet you tip, you know, it's just weird. Like we tip our mechanic, we tip our cab driver, but we don't tip, um, you know, the guy who, I don't know, there's just like, there's just so many things where like, it's just always a question. Like I find like, I'm always like, wait, was this something that I should have tipped someone on? Like I don't actually know. Like, and then you sometimes think you're like, oh, if I try to tip this person, is this actually like, insulting? Like, am I like, like, am I like. Looking down on them and the work that they do by trying to tip them. Do you know what I mean? Like it's like, it's just such a weird, weird concept. So anyways,

Quinn (they/them):

And it's so often in the realms where it's like, again, it's like where employers are not like these we're tipping with folks who are in an employment situations where their employers are offsetting their responsibility to ensuring a like satisfactory wage to someone and it's being offset to the patrons. And so, and it's, it kind of comes down to the idea that like, we need to stop making like the initial, like the cost that we see be low so that more people will like show up for it. And then sort of like create this need for tipping. That is like a cost that you don't actually see. And instead make sure that everyone is being paid correctly and. Just asking for exactly what the service costs and making it more point blank, you know, like just this is as it

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. In less words, in less words, just smashed capitalism really is the answer.

Quinn (they/them):

I mean, this is less of a smash capitalism, but, and more of a, you know, it's true.

Emilie (she/her):

Um, can we move on from this topic?

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah, totally. Let's because yeah, it's been awhile. Um, okay.

Emilie (she/her):

okay. So we get it. Um, so yeah, so anyways, that's kind of the first scene. You basically get a little bit of a setup here. They're having a Christmas party, um, tipping the newspaper it's kind of comes up multiple times in the episode and then yeah. Uh, that's, that's basically it for this opening scene. Um, and then we ended up in central perk and Ross walks in and

Quinn (they/them):

Sorry. I'm already laughing, thinking about this scene. Um,

Emilie (she/her):

maybe we're thinking of two different seats. I just find it funny that

Quinn (they/them):

no, no, no. Where Ross

Emilie (she/her):

slinky.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. He tries to give Rachel a slinky. Just it's so random. Like why

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. Do you, do you, you obviously remember slinkies, like that's such a stupid question for me to ask, but do you remember the slinky we had as, uh, as kids?

Quinn (they/them):

didn't we have more than one?

Emilie (she/her):

I just know, I specifically remember we had like one of those multicolor ones.

Quinn (they/them):

The rainbow

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. So like the bottom starts as like purple and then you, you rotate all the way up and you get to like orange, you know? So you get like this whole rainbow, it was the best. Yeah. It's like, but

Quinn (they/them):

I think it was yours too.

Emilie (she/her):

it must've been mine, but it was like made out of plastic. It wasn't like made out of metal. Um, and I just find it funny. Cause like, first of all, you would never see slinkies nowadays. Like what the hell no one is using slinkies anymore. Um, but even still even like when it was our age, why were we even using slinkies? Like there's such a weird toy. Like I'm never gonna forget. Like, it's just like one of those, like we just have such different levels of entertainment now.

Quinn (they/them):

Well, no, it's also like, kind of like, they were the fidget spinners of that time,

Emilie (she/her):

interesting. Interesting.

Quinn (they/them):

you know, like it's like every once in a while there was like this random toy and like, realistically, it's kind of like the enjoyment of the mechanics that somehow seem to satisfy or very universal human aspect of a brain. And like, this is my theory, you know, that like, you know, like Slinkys at the time were like the thing and then it, it it's, you know, and then more recently it was like the fidget spinners, which like kind of have disappeared and are not really much of a thing anymore.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. That's very weird.

Quinn (they/them):

um, but also I wanna point, like, can we just like, talk about Ross's choices of gifts, at The moment

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, he is. He is questionable at best when it comes to his choice of gift. And then like he gives Ross and Joe, uh, Joey, and Chandler's such a hard time later on for their, for the gifts he gives. And he's like, dude, like you could have picked up that slinky at the gas station too. Like. Like, I think that he's just trying to be cute. You know what I mean? But like, doesn't he know Rachel at all, like Rachel is not like Rachel needs good gifts. Like what the hell?

Quinn (they/them):

Aye. Aye, exactly. Right. Like you can't return that. Um, and then, but then on top of that, like, like we're going to skip Gunther for a second here, but like then he sits down and they're like, show us the gifts that you're buying. And like, he has like a picture frame, which I'm like, okay. And then he w what is that, that blouse that he gets for his mom.

Emilie (she/her):

rough. That's really rough.

Quinn (they/them):

who, who even like, did you not get that at a costume store? I don't understand. I mean, like, it's definitely a shirt, but maybe prince or Michael Jackson would wear, but like,

Emilie (she/her):

I also, like, I really just want to know who in the outfit department or whatever it's called, like was the one who found this sweater and decided that it was going to be part of it. Like someone had the job of finding this shirt and, or making this shirt. And both are ridiculous. Either. Some, either the shirt already existed somewhere, which means someone really actually thought this was a good looking shirt. Or they had to literally create this shirt for the show, which is even more hilarious.

Quinn (they/them):

Oh, my God. Uh, I bet you, it was something like Armani or something. I don't know. Some, you know, like some brand like that, maybe it was a real shirt.

Emilie (she/her):

but honestly we're millennials. So maybe gen Z thinks this is cool. Like who the f*** knows, you know, like.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. It's so true. Like how often is it that you see like, like gen Z or not gen Z? Cause technically it's not gen Z making up the trends right now, realistically. I mean, it's the people who are in fashion who are probably millennials our age. But like, if you see like what it is right now, that's fashionable. It's pretty much everything that everyone in F.R.I.E.N.D.S wears. That is what is in

Emilie (she/her):

That's true. It's true. It's like the oversize. Um, yeah, you got like the, the, like one of the, Rachel's a, you know, like Jean overall outfits that she wears like a hundred percent in style right now. There's a lot of things like oversized, baggy sweaters and things that we used to wear in the nineties. Yeah.

Quinn (they/them):

ShoreTel's are back in

Emilie (she/her):

Thin those thin sunglasses instead of like big round sunglasses. Yeah. Yeah. Everything's but honestly, literally trends are just like, because when we were millennials, like we were bringing back the eighties, like we did a lot.

Quinn (they/them):

when, when we were the millennials,

Emilie (she/her):

Sorry, when we were like, cool, we're not really cool anymore. We're not the cool

Quinn (they/them):

when we were relevant.

Emilie (she/her):

exactly. But like, remember legwarmers was a thing, you know, and like wearing leggings and legwarmers, like, which is super eighties, you know? And hoop bracelets were a thing, which is eighties, you know, like off the shoulder shirts, fashion is just constantly recycling itself. that's just what fashion is. It's just, it's like stealing from other cultures and recycling.

Quinn (they/them):

I mean, I haven't seen anything from the 18 hundreds anytime recently, but

Emilie (she/her):

Uh, I beg to differ. Do you not remember the goth era in which everyone was wearing frickin like corsets? Uh, yeah.

Quinn (they/them):

True. I spoke too quickly.

Emilie (she/her):

But going back Gunther says his first line.

Quinn (they/them):

his first line, um, what is it?

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. line is one word and I don't think he speaks again for several episodes.

Quinn (they/them):

it's like when Nora says her first word, it's like,

oh my God, Gunther:

it's it's yeah.

Emilie (she/her):

So funny though that like that's his and I, is that the first time we hear his name too? Maybe I don't. I don't remember,

Quinn (they/them):

um, I think so. Yeah. So we have, we talked about Gunther much at all. Like have we, you know what, we should just talk about it again.

Emilie (she/her):

yeah, because yeah, we can't talk too much about Gunther right now. We don't have enough information about Gunther.

Quinn (they/them):

Well, no, no, no. W we're we're not going to talk about, so what turned him into being an actual character that had a line slash will have lines in future, um, is the fact that, so apparently I forget the actor's name. He

Emilie (she/her):

Tyler,

Quinn (they/them):

Michael Taylor, um, Tyler St. James Michael Tyler had, um, basically got cast for, to be in just like the background of the show and just to like work in the background as an extra. And then the night before his friend is like a hairdresser and wanted, or was learning how to become a hairdresser and was like essentially wanting to experiment on him. And then he was like, sure, I don't care. It doesn't matter. And ended up completely bleaching his hair to the point of it being yellow. And he was like, kind of like, oh shit. You know, I have to go in and I'm going to get filmed this way. And that apparently when he went in, they liked like the essence of like the character that sort of brought. And so over time they just sort of were like, okay, no, come back in. But like re re bleach her hair every time. And then, um, you know, now he has, he has his first word.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. And it's crazy because he like, he, he actually, so he ends up, like, if you've watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S before, you've probably noticed Gunther in the background just as like there, because you know, Gunther, but if you've never watched, um, F.R.I.E.N.D.S before, like if you go back and rewatch, Gunther has been in a whole bunch of episodes beforehand, but has just never said anything. He's just been there. Um, and he's actually, like, he obviously continues to show up in the show, but he's actually the only. Like he is the character who appears the most often in the series, except for obviously the six main characters he shows up in 93 episodes out of the 236 episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Like, he's like, that's like almost half, you know, like, I guess a third or so, like, it's crazy. Like, he's really like, he's, he shows up in F.R.I.E.N.D.S and, uh, and this is his first line and season two episode nine, you know, it's crazy.

Quinn (they/them):

So I super wonder, like, so we've talked before about how the show makes over $1 billion in syndication revenue every, every year and how the six main actors, make about what is it, 20 million a year, of that syndication revenue. But just for the fact that. Had been in the show, uh, which is like the same amount that they were getting paid in the last season of recording. And I kind of wonder, like, you know, Gunther, like, I wonder how much he's making off of this, you know?

Emilie (she/her):

All right. So I looked it up cause I needed to know. Um, so he only earned $5,000 per episode in the first season. in the second season he earned $10,000 per episode and seasons three and four. He earned $20,000 per episode, a season five and six year $30,000 per episode. And then the rest of the series here in $40,000 per episode. So in total, it added up to 4.6, $5 million playing gun thrown fronts. That was probably the most amount of money. Like a quote unquote extra character has ever made from a TV show.

Quinn (they/them):

Oh my God. Yeah. But does it say anywhere how much he's making and syndication revenue like, uh, of the syndication revenue

Emilie (she/her):

I didn't look that up, but maybe let's see syndication he currently has a net worth of 4 million. So I don't think very much,

Quinn (they/them):

Okay, interesting.

Emilie (she/her):

He only got, um, syndication revenue for the first year after it was sold or whatever.

Quinn (they/them):

huh? Well,

Emilie (she/her):

I don't know, wait, this one says that he has this, he has a net worth of $120 million. Oh, whatever, who cares anyways? All that to say that it's crazy, how he just like is barely in the show barely is relevant. Um, and he just like, made so much money off that show. Like he just, he got like the break of a lifetime on that show in terms of like fast that's

Quinn (they/them):

It's interesting though, because a show is also very much made up with all the, of sight of all the side characters. You know what I mean? Like

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. I know. But like, in some, in some episodes he has like one line, like this episode, like he got paid $20,000 to say, yeah, like, have you gotten paid $20,000 to say, yeah, no, And that was $20,000 in 1996. Probably a lot more now. 25 years later.

Quinn (they/them):

damn. Yeah. That's so true,

Emilie (she/her):

Okay.

Quinn (they/them):

man. Do you know how many times I say yeah, in a day.

Emilie (she/her):

exactly you pay me money for that. Um, where's my $20,000 every time I say. Yeah. So then, I just, want to point out that they mentioned Carol and, Susan, cause I can't not talk about Carol and Susan Ross got them, hers and hers towels, which to me is just, it's really cute and I love it, but it's also not very practical if you were actually trying to like do something with the hers and hers towels, if the sole purpose was like, I'm recognizing your queer relationship, then I think this is very cute. But if the purpose is like to differentiate, this is my towel and that's her towel, then that's just confusing.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah, it doesn't work. Mallory was like, Mallory is my roommate to, um, let everyone know, but she said it would be really funny if we got hers and there's towels

Emilie (she/her):

Oh, that's so cute.

Quinn (they/them):

because

Emilie (she/her):

That's so do they make there's towels? Probably

Quinn (they/them):

no, I don't think so, but we should totally start that.

Emilie (she/her):

some for sure. Some like queer Etsy page has there's towels. So then this is also when we find out that Phoebe's dad is the guy in the picture frame.

Quinn (they/them):

right. Yes. And everyone has to explain to her that this is just a guy in the picture frame, and then obviously she runs home. I also want to point out that like, this is when. You know, Jennifer Aniston or Rachel is like, I thought your dad was in prison. And Phoebe is like, no, that's my stepdad. My real dad is a tree surgeon in Burma.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, we never find out what's the Phoebe's stepdad did. Well. Maybe that's a spoiler. The fact that we never, we never found that out.

Quinn (they/them):

never find out. I don't know.

Emilie (she/her):

Um,

Quinn (they/them):

Look at you giving away spoilers now. It's not all my fault.

Emilie (she/her):

okay. It's one anyway. No, we're not doing this again.

Quinn (they/them):

I almost got a rise out of you.

Emilie (she/her):

No.

Quinn (they/them):

Okay. So then we switched over to Phoebe's place where her grandmother is updating the phone book by crossing off the people by cross-referencing phone book, with the obituary page in the newspaper, which is

Emilie (she/her):

Like I conic, I don't know if they did this already in another show or like the writers wrote this, but like, this is one of, I think the most witty, like things that they could have done. Like, just

Quinn (they/them):

To also like introduce a character

Emilie (she/her):

so good. And it really just explains Phoebe so much.

Quinn (they/them):

That's exactly what I was thinking. I was like, this explains Phoebe.

Emilie (she/her):

And so yeah, we can start getting into Phoebe's dad, the whole thing there.

Quinn (they/them):

well, yeah, so, so the grant, so she confronts her grandmother. Her grandmother continues to try to lie, and then it's pulling pictures out of the box and it's like, this is your dad flying a kite with some boy. This is your dad at a graduation, another graduation, another graduation,

Emilie (she/her):

That's great.

Quinn (they/them):

classic. And it's also such a universal joke because like, It's such a good thing to pick out because there is that weird thing about like fake photos and photo frames, and it's just like so weird. But anyway, I just, I find this very, very witty joke in general.

Emilie (she/her):

Stock photos. Photography is so interesting to me. Like it's just, it's just what an interesting job to get into like stuff like your job is to do the opposite of realism, basically like your job is to, but like at the same time it is realism. Like it's like you have to look super, super happy in this photo in a very unnatural way, but also make it look natural. It's a, it's a very weird, it's so interesting. Like that kind of photography. Yeah. And it's

Quinn (they/them):

And then also to be

Emilie (she/her):

everything. Yeah.

Quinn (they/them):

like that model that is now in like every

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah.

Quinn (they/them):

I wonder if like you commit to that, like, you're just like committing to being like, I don't know if it's actually considered this, but like, I feel like it's a very specific type of model and that you would be like type careering yourself, like tight modeling yourself, you know, like I don't see that, that model, like being a different type of model leader.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. I don't.

Quinn (they/them):

I know nothing about modeling

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, I was going to say, I don't think we know enough about modeling to like, have this conversation.

Quinn (they/them):

but anyone who wants to inform

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. Please tell us how modeling works.

Quinn (they/them):

um, okay. Enough of that.

Emilie (she/her):

It's I feel like models and actors go hand in hand a lot, but I don't know maybe who knows. Okay. Anyways, let's still get into that. Um, so yeah, so she finds out that, um, her father is not a famous tree surgeon and it's very tragic. Um, and he's actually a pharmacist somewhere upstate. Um, and the grandmother says something which I find is kind of like weird where she's like, it was your mother's idea to lie about this. I want to get a psychologist on this show to like diagnose all of Phoebe's family. W like, like, I know that sounds sounded very heavy, but obviously I've been doing a lot of therapy work on my own, but, um, I just, yeah, I just find it interesting, like this idea of. I, I wanna like imagine Phoebe in therapy, having to go through all of this childhood trauma she dealt with and like, you know, specifically her mom lying completely about who her father is, but, and like doing it out of like what, like, I don't, I don't really understand because it's like, she's saying that he left, right. He's saying she, he was, what was the reasoning behind why his, her dad left to begin with,

Quinn (they/them):

I think, okay, so this is kind of

Emilie (she/her):

to go save people or something like safety.

Quinn (they/them):

so, okay. This is what I was sort of thinking about again, for the first time with my revelation of like this being like where Phoebe realizes that she's been lied to and what it sort of seems like is that like before the story. Was that it sort of seems like, or is implied that it was like her father is this famous, extremely important, very needed person. That's on the other side of the world . So at this point she was told that her dad left before she was born. And so essentially, I think there's almost like this implying that there could be a story there, like a comforting story to her, children, like as the mom being kind of like, um, your dad didn't know that you were, that you exist. And he had to go off to somewhere where we can't communicate him doing very important work and he's an amazing person. And that, like, there's sort of like this idea that like, if he knew you were you existed. He would love you and, and, taking away that, like, you know, like that possibility that he left. Yeah. That sense of abandonment, because he, you know, like he just never knew you existed. And if he had the chance to like, he would love to be in your life kind of thing. Um, whereas like the finding out this, that like, actually, it's this person that lives locally, like that is like a huge 180,

Emilie (she/her):

It's also interesting. Like, do we ever find out when, um, when Phoebe's mom died, like how old Phoebe was? I don't think we know at this point, but like

Quinn (they/them):

who's in her early teens, or maybe they do talk

Emilie (she/her):

like 14 or something, I think they say. Yeah. Yeah. And I just, I do find it interesting that like, her grandmother makes this choice. Like, I understand telling, not telling a young child like that her father just like left. I can understand that that would be pretty damaging to your psyche, but I just feel like as a child grows up and goes into like their teens, like having. Like the responsibility to correct your lie, knowing your child would probably be mad at you for lying in the first place, but accepting that and like, saying, like knowing that, you know, you made this decision in the short run for your child's like emotional health at the beginning. And, you know, I, I don't know. Like I just can imagine it would be a really tough decision, but I do feel like her grandmother like kinda like scapegoats her mom a little bit. Like, she's like, oh, well, your mom didn't want me to do this, but it's like, like I just do feel as though like her grandmother had that responsibility to do that. Um

Quinn (they/them):

Oh, yeah, for sure. And it's like, it gets to a point where it's like extremely selfish to like, not tell this person, you know, like, like the reason that you're not is because it's easier for you

Emilie (she/her):

yeah. Yeah. It's also, it's also interesting though, because we do find out later. Or no, we found it in season one, actually that like she was living on the streets for a while, et cetera, et cetera. We know she was living on the streets. So when, like, what was the timeframe between when she was living on the streets to when she like reconnected with her grandmother? Like, is that what we can do imagine happened? You know, we don't, we don't actually get a lot of backstory and understanding of all of that, you know?

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. And I think that's like kind of how they've written the character is that like she has so like such a convoluted story that like it's hard to actually keep track of it all. Um, but yeah, it, it, yeah, it sort of seems like, yeah, there was a good time, I guess there was a time that like her grandmother wasn't involved and then like down the line. Yeah. It's so strange. Yeah.

Emilie (she/her):

It's yeah. Anyways, we can go on about this for a while. Maybe we go to the next scene and we can keep talking about it. Um, so yeah. Uh, so we go back to Monica and Rachel's apartment, they're all decorating the tree. Speaking of childhood trauma, Chandler tells another story about one of his parents and then being an alcoholic and everything that kind of goes with it. And, and this kind of tragic story made humorous because it's Chandler he's, he's a fan of making tragic stories, humorous, um, as a coping mechanism, honestly, I just want a psychologist on who can like, imagine. What it would be like to like, have any one of these F.R.I.E.N.D.S characters in therapy, um, and like tell us what kind of advice they would give them

Quinn (they/them):

oh my God. If you work in, if you are a psychologist,

Emilie (she/her):

who was a fan of F.R.I.E.N.D.S? Obviously, if

Quinn (they/them):

who's a fan of F.R.I.E.N.D.S and wants to be on our show. You know, you

Emilie (she/her):

that?

Quinn (they/them):

up. We would love you to guest. It would be great. We can deconstruct all the characters together.

Emilie (she/her):

I promise we won't ask anything about our own mental health.

Quinn (they/them):

Speak for yourself.

Emilie (she/her):

so then we get a, really one of my favorite lines. I think we're like they, uh, Monica finds out that Chandler and Joey haven't purchased any of their Christmas gifts yet. And she's like, what are you going to do? It's great. It's like, tomorrow's Christmas Eve. And the Chandler goes, do we have to be Claymation to say stuff like that? And I just think it's such a great line.

Quinn (they/them):

It is an excellent line. This episode really made me want it to be Christmas

Emilie (she/her):

Mm. Interesting. Yeah. I don't feel that way. It's June 20th. Tomorrow's like the longest day of the year. I'm looking forward to,

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah, that'll be very

Emilie (she/her):

I'm looking forward to summer. Um, except you're listening to this in the past or in the future. Ha um, anyways, uh,

Quinn (they/them):

So then Rachel is still being, uh, but to, to Ross. And so then Ross makes the suggestion that Rachel make a list about him so that

Emilie (she/her):

is Rachel being a butt to Ross? Is that, is that what's that.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah, no, I don't mean it in the sense that she's like, like, I mean, she's been a, but in that, like, like, it doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to be treated

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. I don't know, because like last episode, we kind of both you and I concluded that. Like, we don't actually think that Ross did anything wrong. It was just like this really massive miscommunication. But like, to me, it feels like this big, massive miscommunication that like, no one's fixed yet. And like, it feels as though it should have been fixed. Like even if Rachel didn't want to date him after all of this, like I do think that there should have been some form of like explanation of the fact that. Look, I didn't write this. Like, I didn't even actually see it until it was printed out. And you read it out loud to me. Like, I didn't write it this way. This is not what I said. Like, I will tell you what I said, but like the fact that she doesn't give him the, maybe she never give him the space to explain. Maybe like, it's just, yeah, it's a weird

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. Oh yeah. It's, it's really hard. Cause like, kind of like what we were saying last time is that like you can't, un-see certain things. Right. And it's like, like it could, like, it would lead to a certain, very large sense of betrayal and distrust and.

Emilie (she/her):

Mistress distressed. Right?

Quinn (they/them):

I kind of like really respect her in a lot of ways, like, first of all, her ability to like stay angry at someone and be Curt with them long after like the center of the issue has passed. I'm like very impressed. I have no ability to do that at all. And like, to the point where I think it's a fault, you know, like, like I just, my uncontrollable gut reaction to people is to be kind and accommodating. And I don't know how to not be that.

Emilie (she/her):

I don't think that's a bad thing.

Quinn (they/them):

But like when there's someone that you like don't want to be around, or if you want to be angry with someone, because it is valid to be angry with people at times, it's just, it's, it's inwardly frustrating when you're angry at someone. And then your gut reaction is to be kind and you can't help

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. That's fair. That's fair. Cause then it comes off as like passive aggressive, which is obviously not what you're trying to do, but it's just kind of comes off that way. Yeah, for sure.

Quinn (they/them):

Exactly.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. I feel like a lot of my passive aggressivity aggressivity, passive aggression, passive aggression is aggressivity. I like that word though. Um, I feel like a lot of my passive aggression is like accidental, passive aggression, just because I'm such a people pleaser. And so it's like, I'm actually not trying to be passive aggressive. It's just coming off that way because I'm upset with you. And I don't know how to actually be mad at you.

Quinn (they/them):

Oh my God. Okay. Wait, let's take a second to like acknowledge this because like, I was two people who were raised in like female culture raised to have like with expectations and socialized to be like good women of the world, quote, unquote, like, like this is such a thing that we embed in, you know, people who are, we are raising to be women, right? Like. We, we raise them to be like, you know, good citizens that are like kind and accommodating and, you know, have so much capacity for emotional labor and like, um, you know, like there's no space for them to be able to be angry or like, you know, stuff like that. And it's, it's interesting because it's like, I kinda, and that's kinda why I respect Rachel for being able to like, hold on to her anger for an extended period of time. Because I think that that's something that like doesn't really actually exist all that commonly, you know? Um,

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. That's interesting.

Quinn (they/them):

and, how like passive aggression can kind of like this being in part, like why passive aggression is so common within the realm of like,

Emilie (she/her):

femmes and.

Quinn (they/them):

women and other people who are raised to be women or femme identifying folks, you know?

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, it is interesting. It's like, yeah. It's Hmm. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, we, we don't need a psychologist where we're being so good right now at doing this on an analysis, except I can't even say the words. So clearly we do need a psychologist.

Quinn (they/them):

Okay. Yeah, this is, yeah.

Emilie (she/her):

also this is like pop, pop psychology anyways, um, literal pop. Um, okay. So that being said, um, uh, basically Ross asks Rachel to then make a list about him and she gets right into it. And she names all of these things that we all know about Ross. Um, he's whiny, obsessive insecure gutless. You never seize the day and you have too much gel in your hair. So, uh, The last one's a little mean. Um, but no, I'm kidding. all kind of mean.

Quinn (they/them):

It's a, it's a low blow at the last one, you know,

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. Like I do think that she's not wrong. Um, but I also think that like,

Quinn (they/them):

which makes it like even harder to

Emilie (she/her):

yeah, and I think that that's why she also had a hard time with it because the things that he said about her might not have been wrong either. You know what I mean?

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. But that's exactly what she said. She's like, what about like, these are all the things that I think poorly of myself about. And that like, you're going to write them down as reasons to not date me and like oof, like harsh, you know? Um,

Emilie (she/her):

yeah. And the, and then this is the list that she makes for him and yeah, it's the same.

Quinn (they/them):

yeah, I mean, it's not comparable because she didn't write a list to be like, oh, these are the reasons why I wouldn't date you. She's just is like, these are your, these, these are some issues that you have. And you know, of course Ross is like very upset about it all, you know, and it's not in the same context. So it's like, there is no betrayal that happens with her telling him these things, you know? Um, but you know, he gets super like obsessed and like uncomfortable and, you know, whiny about these things, which is kind of half the joke.

Emilie (she/her):

yeah, yeah. For sure. It's also, it says something that's like really valid. She's like, you know what you like liked me for over a year and you never told me, you know, and like, I do think that, like that, that is a very good point that she makes in that sense of like, Like yay. You had a year and you didn't tell me, and now we're here, you know, like, but obviously it's more complicated than that. It's not always easy to tell someone you're in love with them. Right. Um, okay, so

Quinn (they/them):

So then we're at Phoebe's place and her grandmother walks in on Phoebe trying to basically like find her dad through information. Does that even exist still?

Emilie (she/her):

yeah. 411 a lot of people who exist on this planet or not even on this planet who exist in Canada, who are not very good at internet. Um, so having phone service things is like super important.

Quinn (they/them):

You make an excellent point, Emilie. Um, so, okay. I have a question for you. Um, so Phoebe's grandmother is like, basically saying that she doesn't like Phoebe's dad and to her, "he will always be the person who locked up your mom and stole her gremlin".

Emilie (she/her):

Yes. Okay. Do you remember, uh, look, I'm going to go from my interpretation of it because maybe I'm wrong. Um, but do you know the movie gremlins?

Quinn (they/them):

vaguely I've don't think I've ever actually seen it

Emilie (she/her):

gremlins was like an eighties kind of horror film, but really it was like, it's kind of like cult Horry. It takes place at Christmas. Um, and it's basically about like this weird demon, like creature that, wreaks havoc I don't know, like on the town sort of thing. So, um, it's yeah, it's, it's just supposed to be like an, but the thing is that like, it's, it looks like a toy. So the idea is like you could buy a gremlin and it looks like a toy and then it, like reeks, reeks, horror, whatever it's called it. This is a perfect movie for November, which is the international Christmas horror movie watching month.

Quinn (they/them):

Is it officially now? Or is that just what we declared last year?

Emilie (she/her):

It's what we declare last year. It's the one month of the year in which it's not October. So you are not watching the Halloween movies. It's not December, so you're not watching Christmas movies. It is November. So you have to watch all of the Halloween Christmas movies, which if you are wondering, there is a

Quinn (they/them):

Quinn is definitely watching

Emilie (she/her):

Yes, you're right. You are. But if you are ever wondering, uh, for an excellent list of Halloween or horror, Christmas movies hit me up. Uh, I've got a lot. It was a great way to spend my November this year. Um, some are better than others, I will say

Quinn (they/them):

But I still don't understand the expression of like stole her gremlin and also locked up your mom. Like this just sounds, I just don't get it. Like I get the reference to the movie gremlins, but I don't understand.

Emilie (she/her):

up. Her, mom.

Quinn (they/them):

Um, but then still her gremlin is that like her sense of adventure and like ability to wreak havoc on the world. Is that it like,

Emilie (she/her):

No. I thought the idea is like, it's actually like, oh my God, whoa. Oh my God. The internet is telling me something totally different. And now I am overwhelmed. Wait for it.

Quinn (they/them):

tell me,

Emilie (she/her):

for it. Wait, wait.

Quinn (they/them):

okay. I'm waiting.

Emilie (she/her):

No, this, this is crazy. This can't be it. I have,

Quinn (they/them):

Oh my God.

Emilie (she/her):

Am I building suspense? This is good.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. I want to know what this is

Emilie (she/her):

So apparently there is something called a vagina gremlin.

Quinn (they/them):

Oh,

Emilie (she/her):

Uh, yeah. Uh, vagina. Gremlin is a little creature that in habits, a woman's vagina and the vagina gremlin often steals condoms off the woman's unsuspecting partner to use as a sleeping bag. This can result in an accidental pregnancy. Yeah.

Quinn (they/them):

What,

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. What the f***? What have we encountered?

Quinn (they/them):

what,

Emilie (she/her):

Urban dictionary is a weird place. If you type into Google vagina gremlin, which actually, maybe you don't want to type that into Google because I don't know what kind of ads you're going to get afterwards, but it's a weird thing. Um, this can't be real. This is just one person's opinion. The internet is a weird place.

Quinn (they/them):

Okay. Okay. Well, it's giving us more context for Phoebe's grandmother's statement.

Emilie (she/her):

yeah, but they

Quinn (they/them):

I still don't fully understand it, but let's just, I just, I'm scared to go any further with this one. So can we just keep

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, I agree. I agree. Uh, agreed.

Quinn (they/them):

you should close that tab.

Emilie (she/her):

did. I did. It's gone. It's gone. It's back into the abyss slash my history. Um, all right. So internet, world, or people listening to this podcast, please let us know what you think this line meant. Um, if you've ever heard of a vagina gremlin, really just send us an email as Emilie always says, because I just really want you guys to

Quinn (they/them):

I kind of wonder if this is another, um, kind of more like UK expression, because like the one that, you know, you've like checked out the talent. That was like a few episodes. Yeah. Um, but like our new patron Allie kind of wrote us back that it's like a UK expression. Um, I wonder if this is something along those lines, so Allie, if you're listening to this, please inform us if this is, you know, a UK thing,

Emilie (she/her):

Or something

Quinn (they/them):

um, both English, but yet two different worlds.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, that's wild.

Quinn (they/them):

So then baby's grandmother just tells her the exact address, which is just, I would have been so freaking angry at my grandmother,

Emilie (she/her):

no f***ing

Quinn (they/them):

Because she was still withholding it. And then Phoebe runs out of the room to go to this address and says goodbye to a frame that has a picture of Einstein and says goodbye, grandpa.

Emilie (she/her):

yeah, that one's rough. That one, that one is like, I'm sorry, but that one's a little on Phoebe.

Quinn (they/them):

I mean, she doesn't have a high school education and,

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, you're right. You're right. I know it was pre-internet and pre Einstein memes. You're correct. You're

Quinn (they/them):

Pre Einstein Einstein means, so who knows? Um,

Emilie (she/her):

But yeah, that's, that's rough. That's missing. Um, but the grandma's reaction is like, oh gosh, I'm going to have to address that next our day. Um,

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. And then it just like, sort of like shows the audience that it's like, it's like, I almost feel like it's like a little bit of like foreshadowing in a sense of like, being like, there's so much that Phoebe does not know, you know? Um,

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah.

Quinn (they/them):

uh, anyway,

Emilie (she/her):

So she brings a cab around, she borrows her grandmother's cab, Chandler and Joey are ready to go to go into her cab with her, find the dad and Chandler series that they're going to spend two hours with Phoebe's dad and then go to the outlet malls. It just kind of feels weird to plan shopping after like your friend you're like after your friend is going to be going through a very likely triggering and or trauma. Encounter with her, her father, like, it just feels like a really like weird way to plan your day. Like, why don't you go shopping first,

Quinn (they/them):

yeah. I have a feeling that they're going to wear, like they're driving two hours out of the city and I have a feeling like they're talking about the outlet malls. So I think that they might be like going to the same area.

Emilie (she/her):

right?

Quinn (they/them):

Does that make sense? Like they're using this opportunity to go to outlet

Emilie (she/her):

No, I get that. But it just, it just, feels like a weird, like they sh they shouldn't have made that decision on how they were planning their day. Like, you know, you don't know what's going to happen in it. And we obviously see that we, they didn't know what was going to happen. Um, but anyways, and Phoebe's grandma's cab is hella sketch.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. And also Phoebe's driving knowledge is hella sketch with her cheat sheet for what is it? Right, right. Oh my goodness. Right? No, it's the other way around.

Emilie (she/her):

Well then her teaching was

Quinn (they/them):

Oh, no,

Emilie (she/her):

I wrote it down. Don't you drive?

Quinn (they/them):

is it? I do drive, but now I can't picture it. I just, I just do it and it goes, okay. You know what? Let's not, let's let's move on from this.

Emilie (she/her):

No, this is too embarrassing. If we don't actually know the answer, this is too

Quinn (they/them):

well, Maybe it's different in the UK.

Emilie (she/her):

Obviously it's different than UK gas is on the right.

Quinn (they/them):

Is it different on the UK, in the UK though?

Emilie (she/her):

I don't f***ing know. I feel like an idiot now. I don't want to, I want to cut all this out,

Quinn (they/them):

Also, my point was the completely pointless cause they're in New York, I'm just trying to, confuse you.

Emilie (she/her):

It worked now I'm like thinking like was Ray was not I'm thinking like, was she even on the right side of the car? she was, she was

Quinn (they/them):

no, she's on the left

Emilie (she/her):

I mean right. As a

Quinn (they/them):

is, oh, she was on the right left side.

Emilie (she/her):

man. Okay. Yeah. So the brake pedal is located to the left of the accelerator. Um, so this is your, we should get like some fancy theme music and be like embarrassing moment with Emilie and Quinn who are very much adults. One of whom drives one of whom does not, Hey, I have way more of an excuse. I medium drive. I don't on my license drive. Um, that makes it sound like

Quinn (they/them):

Emilie and I got into a very severe car accident when we were, what, like I was, we were in our teens and, um, it took us both a very long time to get our licenses, but I do know how to drive.

Emilie (she/her):

Wow. Way to bring up a traumatic event during our podcast Quinn.

Quinn (they/them):

Didn't know where that, not over it.

Emilie (she/her):

why do you think I still don't drive anyways, moving on. Um, okay, so then we're back in Monica's apartment. Um, Monica says for the 16th time, no, I do not think you're obsessive to Ross who is clearly obsessive. And then he goes to turn off the radiator. He breaks the radiator. Uh, we got a couple of excellent lines between Monica and Ross, like this excellent, sibling banter, where he goes, I forgot about your ability to fuse metal with your hands. And then, she says, Hey, it's funny's cousin not so funny. and it reminds me of the line from, uh, the episode with fun Bobby, where Chandler says, Hey, look, it's, like don't you can't call him a fun Bobby anymore. It's like ridiculously dull Bobby and I always get these two jokes mixed up. So I always say like, it's fun, Bobby, not so fun, Bobby or whatever anyways.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah, no, it's it. His, how does it go on the episode? It's it's it's fun. Bobby's cousin. Isn't it ridiculously dull Bubby? No, I don't know.

Emilie (she/her):

I think you're getting it mixed up too, because I don't think they mentioned a cousin. Yeah.

Quinn (they/them):

It's interesting. Um, okay, so then,

Emilie (she/her):

they're having a party with, I dunno what F.R.I.E.N.D.S, but F.R.I.E.N.D.S, a bunch of

Quinn (they/them):

uh, well we did, we did Passover, so a quick little scene where Phoebe and like arrives in front of her dad's place and she's struggling to get out of the car,

Emilie (she/her):

yeah,

Quinn (they/them):

but we'll come back to that in a moment. So, uh, but then we're back in Monica's apartment. Um, and there is a full, um, now kind of, um, tropical themed, uh, Christmas party happening where people are very loosely dressed,

Emilie (she/her):

They tried calling trigger the superintendent and told him that like, they're radiator broke in the last scene. Um, and he basically like made a comment about the cookies and said they couldn't get a part until Tuesday. And obviously they all thought that like, he was just being sarcastic and like kind of f***ing with them the way that everyone else f***ed with them after they didn't tip them. but yes, back at the tropical Christmas party.

Quinn (they/them):

tropical Christmas party, um, and, Ross is obsessing now to a different stranger, about the fact that he uses the appropriate amount of gel in his hair. It's what is written on the bottle.

Emilie (she/her):

woman.

Quinn (they/them):

I know. Right. Um, and then Tieger comes by who? I just, I love trigger. He's so cute. Um, but he comes by and he's like, you told me there was a party. So I thought I'd come by, which is like gutsy, you know?

Emilie (she/her):

It's bold.

Quinn (they/them):

what if it was like a small intimate party, you know, like I have a hard enough time going to a party when I'm actually invited to

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, you're right. That is pretty gutsy.

Quinn (they/them):

like, it's one thing to like, just show up at a random other person's party.

Emilie (she/her):

Wow. Uh, it's

Quinn (they/them):

and yeah, it's so cute. This is where Ross is now like trying to be like, get them to fix it and decides to seize the day and prove it to Rachel that he can and. It does the, the, the, like giving money. He does a thing where it's like, he puts it in the, in the Palm of his hand and then like, wait, no, no, he just directly gives it to him. Right.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, he does.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. Okay. Um, and, uh, and it turns out a trigger actually, really?

Emilie (she/her):

After Ross spends a hundred dollars.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. I spent a hundred dollars. Um, and of course, you know, like Rachel's there kind of like egging him on to like do it because, well, she has no pity for him right now and kind of wants to see him humiliate himself as much as possible. And, uh, you know, so he does it a second time and then finally trigger is like, um, no, like, you know, the, the part is only like, it only opens on Tuesday, this store that I can get the part.

Emilie (she/her):

Which is like super valid and they should have assumed that like they're having a party on Christmas Eve. Like what did you think like this, like, place to get like, like, no, this is not practical.

Quinn (they/them):

And then he says that he really likes the cookies and he thought that they were very personal,

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. It's so cute.

Quinn (they/them):

show that they cared, which is just like, so heartwarming,

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. Ah, it's very cute.

Quinn (they/them):

he, just, to me, he comes across as a very like wholesome person, you know,

Emilie (she/her):

But like also kind of creepy when he like, does the like mistletoe thing.

Quinn (they/them):

right. Yes. In the very next moment he's hitting on Rachel. That's very true. Um,

Emilie (she/her):

It's like, it's kind of a mixed bag of, of feels that I have around this moment where like, I think if he was like a really good looking superintendent and like was, you know, what you like, you know, in the way that F.R.I.E.N.D.S portrays good-looking people is like thin and you know, well, white while he is. But like, and it's just like, I think that there, the joke is more the fact that like, oh, she, Rachel would never kiss someone as gross as Treeger, you know what I mean? Like, as opposed to, um, you know, like, as opposed to the, the more like PR aspect of the fact that like, he's kind of hitting on her sort of thing, you know, I don't know.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah.

Emilie (she/her):

It's mixed, it's mixed.

Quinn (they/them):

It's it's mixed. But then also like, yes, I feel like that's how F.R.I.E.N.D.S would serve it, but then also we would have an issue with some douchey dude on Rachel. So,

Emilie (she/her):

that's true. And actually knowing Rachel and the energy that she has this entire episode, she wouldn't appreciate any douchey dude hitting on her. So I think that even if he was good looking, she'd probably be like, man.

Quinn (they/them):

or actually, no, I disagree. What she would probably like is for some douchey do to hit on her so that Ross can make, like, see her make out with someone else or something, or be hit on at the very least, you know?

Emilie (she/her):

I dunno. It's hard to know. Rachel is also like really bad at flirting when she needs to.

Quinn (they/them):

uh, I know we'll know it's when she likes the person that she's really bad that she just like the most useless thing.

Emilie (she/her):

She's so embarrassing.

Quinn (they/them):

God. I have to skip certain episodes because of that. But anyway, any who,

Emilie (she/her):

That's funny. I'm going, are

Quinn (they/them):

um,

Emilie (she/her):

episodes?

Quinn (they/them):

like the cheerleader episodes.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah, I skip it every time. I literally cannot watch

Emilie (she/her):

my God. That's so funny. Oh my God. Okay. That was a little spoiler moment. Maybe we should take that out, but who knows? Um, it's not, it wasn't really spoiler. It was more like if you, if you've already watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S you get it

Quinn (they/them):

yeah. If you've already seen F.R.I.E.N.D.S that you totally get the episode we're talking about and man, I just, I can't, I can't

Emilie (she/her):

cringy.

Quinn (they/them):

Um,

Emilie (she/her):

Um, okay, so moving on. Um, so we're back in the cab with Phoebe, Joey, and, uh, Uh, and Chandler, obviously sun's gone down, um, like it's clearly very late. She's done this a couple of times where she's run out of the car and then come back in, um, you know, getting a little closer every time, which also if there are people at home while this was happening and they were like looking out the window wouldn't they have seen her by now.

Quinn (they/them):

It's all very strange.

Emilie (she/her):

strange. Um, but I do find that this moment is quite, uh, it's quite sad, but also like they're very well done. I think, where, like, she just kind of has this realization that she's like, I've already, like I've had this idea of who my dad is in my mind for so long. Like I'm not ready to face the fact that he's probably not actually a great guy, like, and I need more time. Like I need time to process the fact that the person who I thought was not was my dad is actually not my dad before I can even imagine like, creating a new vision of who my dad is and meeting that person, you know? So I do think that that's really, really well done. And I also think the way that Chandler and Joey turned around and like give her this like really good support and you know, like they, they say like, you know, he'll be lucky to have you, when he meets you. Like, you took a really big step today. Like they just say really, really good supportive things where they're like, look, you didn't have to go in. You don't have to go in. We got you. We'll be here for next time. Like, I just think it's really good.

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah. Yeah, totally. I really love the scene. And I think that it's just like, so genuine, as much as Phoebe's story is made to be like this very like elaborate like wild thing, you know, like that, that is almost like so out, out there, you know, at the same time, it's, it's very, there are so many aspects of it that are so like relatable or just like, you can really like get it, you know, and this moment where it's like, she's completely reassessing, like this would just be such a big, like, like scary thing to your, your sense of self and. Like, it'd be such a big shift to just suddenly have to adapt to. And like what she says where she's like, what if he's not a great guy? Like what, like she's had this image in her mind that like, if things were different, she would be able to tell her dad that this guy, who's like, some famous tree surgeon, that's doing good things and obviously has a good heart. And just doesn't know that she exists. That like, you know, like that he would just find out that she exists and then he would want her in his life. And then she would have this beautiful life with this person. And who's a great person and who wants her there, but just doesn't know that she exists. And then like, you can sort of see how she like, shifted and like projected that onto this situation. But then it's kind of like coming to the realization that what if this ability of like being able to like go to the pharmacy and everyone would treat me nice because it's like, I'm this person's daughter. It's like, what if that's not real? Like, this guy is just a dirt bag and then your dad is just a dirt bag. And it's like, oh, I don't know. It's just, it's a lot. I feel for Phoebe.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. exactly

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah.

Emilie (she/her):

through.

Quinn (they/them):

Because she told you.

Emilie (she/her):

Exactly. Um, I obviously didn't like, I hope people understood that that was aligned from that episode.

Quinn (they/them):

I think, think everyone

Emilie (she/her):

Okay. Anyway, whatever I had to explain the joke. Okay. Um, anyhow.

Quinn (they/them):

just like Joey would have had to.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, Joey. Um, but speaking of Joey, he, he definitely is a bit of a different character. This episode at first is like, actually Joey's always been supportive to F.R.I.E.N.D.S. That's not the

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah, I know Joey is like a very good like support person. Like he like, especially outside of like men having sex with women. I think that he's always a very loving person that like gives some really good advice to people. And if anything, I think it's Chandler who's like it is nice that he was able to come down and not be completely sarcastic for a period of time, because I think, that changes over time throughout the season. Um, but, but I think that, like, this is one of the first times that he's able to be supportive in a real way and give, give real support.

Emilie (she/her):

Okay. Before we, before we cut to the rest of the episode, I think that I already have my nomination for best friend of the episode. I definitely vote and Chandler as a unit

Quinn (they/them):

Oh, interesting. Um, okay. Let's get there when we get there.

Emilie (she/her):

oh, well I

Quinn (they/them):

Um,

Emilie (she/her):

switch it up Quinn, but I guess not. Um,

Quinn (they/them):

well, cause we still have two scenes to go. Okay. So the next scene, they arrive back at the apartment very late. And my favorite thing. So we talked about this episode and this moment season one. So yeah, we did. Okay. Here I'll, I'll explain the connection. So they walk in and you know, Joey's like, oh, I'm going to turn off the heat. And then Monica is like, Of course, we didn't think of that all sarcastic. And then he comes back later and he sits down and he's like, okay, Monica, like the handle was broken. So I just turned it off from underneath. Okay. And so in season one, there is an episode where they're like the one where the monkey gets away, where Chandler and Joey knock on the door of like an apartment and two very beautiful sweaty women opened the door and they're like, our radiator's broken. Like, can you fix it? And he's like, uh, well, did you turn off the knob? And it sounds like he's mansplaining, but I feel like with this episode, it's actually, he's not, it's like, he actually knows a secret way to turn off the radiator that no one else seems to know. No.

Emilie (she/her):

And I'm also at the same time, realizing that this f***ing building has a problem with the radiators and they've got to fix something.

Quinn (they/them):

I know.

Emilie (she/her):

a

Quinn (they/them):

I know.

Emilie (she/her):

hazard, but like actually, oh man, on, at another time, on another day, I'll tell the audience about that time that my radiator stopped working and we had to call the fire department and it was a whole big shit show. Um,

Quinn (they/them):

oh, right. That was a big thing.

Emilie (she/her):

yeah, anyways, but we are all out of time folks. So let's get to the final scene.

Quinn (they/them):

in the credits, um, go ahead.

Emilie (she/her):

Oh, sure. Okay. Yeah, sure. Um, so yeah, we basically just find out that Chandler and Joey obviously got all of their gifts at the gas station. Um, while Phoebe was filling the cab with gas, um, including giving Rachel wiper blades. And I just feel like at a gas station, there's just way better options than that. Like, I feel as though, like maybe a magazine, how about a chocolate bar? You know, like, uh, like sometimes they have that like really shitty jewelry that they sell. Like, like I just feel as though they could have been a little bit more creative for Rachel's gift.

Quinn (they/them):

Okay. Although, best line of the episode and a lemon lime

Emilie (she/her):

know. So good. They're ribbed

Quinn (they/them):

unison. Okay. What I noticed this time, watching the episode that I've never noticed before is like, they hand Monica the condoms and she's like annoyed by it. And then like, as though this is like, it's like an unspoken thing between Ross and Monica. They like very, like, as though it's like the most obvious thing to do. Ross gives Monica the lemon lime soda, and she gives him the pack of ribbed condoms. And he like looks at them seriously and like starts like reading the back of them. I'm just like,

Emilie (she/her):

what conversations have they had in the past in which that was just

Quinn (they/them):

Like that was the obvious, like I was like, oh right. He's with he, you know, he has a partner he's with Julia and then I was like, wait, no, he's not with Julie. And like, I'm just like what happened

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah. Maybe she just wanted the Coke and she just was like, like, it was an unspoken thing where she was like, I'll give you this for that, you know? Um,

Quinn (they/them):

Yeah.

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, it's great. And I do have to say that I like it took me a very, very long time obviously. Cause I started watching the show when I was like quite young to like, they never actually say the word condom in this. And so like, I never actually knew what ribbed for your pleasure meant in any way, shape or form. Um, until obviously I was like, you know, no longer 12 or whatever, watching this show. Um, but I just remember like the day I remember like the moment in which I was like, oh, I was like, oh, that's what that means. You know? Um, like that's that joke. I get it now. Uh, but I thought that was really funny. Um,

Quinn (they/them):

I, when I see rubbed condoms, I pretty much only ever think of F.R.I.E.N.D.S,

Emilie (she/her):

yeah, me too actually now. Yeah. It's funny. Um, anyways, so getting into who you

Quinn (they/them):

best friend

Emilie (she/her):

of the ups.

Quinn (they/them):

Um, I probably agree with you

Emilie (she/her):

Wow. We could have done this seconds ago or two minutes ago.

Quinn (they/them):

yeah, but then we wouldn't have a beautiful thing to wrap up the show.

Emilie (she/her):

Fine. Whatever

Quinn (they/them):

I agree with you. I think that, that, yeah, I think Joey Chandler situation makes the most sense.

Emilie (she/her):

a unit. Yeah, they're good. Um, okay, cool. Great. So then that being said, but wait, now I realized like I have to assess to see if either one of them did anything really.

Quinn (they/them):

I know, that's what I, that's why I went quiet. I'm like, Hmm. Did we miss something? I mean, like, they were kind of shitty at the end of the episode when they were like tipping people and made fun of Joe, um, Monica and Rachel, but I don't

Emilie (she/her):

Whatever making fun of your F.R.I.E.N.D.S doesn't make you a bad friend. Well, she sounded funny, but I mean like teasing your friend doesn't make you a bad friend. Like they weren't, like, I dunno, I don't think like they said anything particularly harmful or anything, you know? Um, uh, yeah. Anyways, whatever. I think it's good enough. I think, I think, I think I'm happy with both Chandler and Joey as our, as our contenders. Um, all right. So that is our episode, uh, as always.

Quinn (they/them):

our episode.

Emilie (she/her):

We would like to remind you that if you are not already a patron that you can do. So by going to our website and clicking, what can they click Quinn affiliate? Is that what it is?

Quinn (they/them):

Uh, no, there's just a support us button at the top. Right. Also, if you haven't checked out our website, like go take a look at

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah.

Quinn (they/them):

cute. Okay.

Emilie (she/her):

What the Phalange Podcast dot com

Quinn (they/them):

We put so much effort into it and also, you know what, it makes me really happy because like, like Emilie and I completely designed our logo completely on our own chose all of those, like kind of colors to like create the essence of this podcast. And I just want to say that I'm really, I'm really like proud of us for it. Like, I dunno if anyone who was there at the very beginning will probably remember what our original. branding looked like, and it wasn't bad, but it just definitely, you don't remember, you know what, we should put it in our patron so that it, if you become a patron, you can look at what we used to have as it were covers and stuff.

Emilie (she/her):

Interesting.

Quinn (they/them):

So full circle around, go check out our website, click on the, become a patron and become a patron to support us. Um, and you can support us with any amount of money per month. Uh, we really appreciate it. And, it's really what is, helping us keep this podcast going. And, when you become a patron, you get a sticker. From us in the mail after three months of subscription. Um, but that is only if you give us your address. So that is like, uh, maybe passive, aggressive, little poke at all of our patrons who have not yet given us their address. And so we can't send them their exclusive patron sticker. Um, so anyway, go do that, please. Um, and then also when you become a patron, you have access to a bunch of like little things in the background. Like we have an alternative season, one episode, one episode of the podcast, that's right. We recorded two of them. Um, and, uh, we also have some like unedited longer versions of certain episodes. Um, we don't do a lot of editing these days, but certain times we like we'll pull out a certain chunk of, uh, an episode where we're like, we talked for like two hours instead of, you know, the more appropriate hour and 20 minutes. um, we also do

Emilie (she/her):

Except right now, we're at an hour and 27 minutes. So there will be probably things cut out of this episode.

Quinn (they/them):

Right. Possibly, possibly. Um, and then, um, uh, what else? Um, yeah, the more people that we get in our community, then the more things we'll be able to do. Um, so that's, that's, that's the dream guys build ourselves a little smelly cat community. go be a smelly cat

Emilie (she/her):

Yeah, can come hang out and support us. It would be amazing. Um, I'm ours. And so, so, that being said, um, thank you. Uh, my name is Emilie. You can find me at Emilie, uh, B yoga, uh, for now,

Quinn (they/them):

You sound so confident

Emilie (she/her):

because I'm wondering if by the time this episode comes out, if my new Instagram's going to be launched, but I don't want to say that because then I do have to have it launched by then. So, um, for now Emilie be yoga. Um, and you can also find me on my website, except it's not currently live it's under construction. Um, Emilie B yoga.com.

Quinn (they/them):

Cool. You can find me at Quinn K. Brunet dot com. Um, and, uh, you can also find me on Instagram, but my handles might change. So look at us.

Emilie (she/her):

Really you can't find us, but go to our W. T. Phalange, Instagram, um, and follow us there. W T Phalange pod, um, on Instagram. And we got, I actually remembered this time, so proud of

Quinn (they/them):

isn't it podcast?

Emilie (she/her):

f***. Is it, ah, I don't

Quinn (they/them):

It's W T Phalange podcast. You know, that is our handle on Instagram. And then from there you will find connections to both of our current Instagrams. So go do that. Okay. Now we're just babbling on and we've had Kayla tell us that we babble on way too long at the end of episodes before. So

Emilie (she/her):

embarrassing. All right. Well, this this episode is dedicated to Kayla. This Babel is dedicated to Kayla. Um, all right. Uh, thank you all for tuning in and we will talk to you soon. Bye. Keep,

Quinn (they/them):

I keep deconstructing

Emilie (she/her):

and diversified.

Quinn (they/them):

the media you consume.

Emilie (she/her):

It's been a while since we've recorded an episode.