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"The One After The Superbowl" is a double-length episode of the second season of Friends, which aired on January 28, 1996, immediately after NBC's telecast of Super Bowl XXX. The main plot of both episodes has Ross searching for his former pet monkey, Marcel, and discovering him working on a film set in New York.

It is the most-watched episode of Friends, drawing 52.9 million viewers.

Susie Moss

Plot

Chandler meets attractive make-up artist Susie on Marcel's set, and he starts reminiscing about elementary school, and unfortunate incidents of an age long past, including one where Chandler lifted Susie's skirt in front of an entire auditorium in fourth grade. When she implies directly to him to ask her out, he does.

Apparently, Susie is crazy over Chandler and very sexually aggressive, asking him to do it in all kinds of public places such as elevators. The two prepare for a big night, when Susie asks Chandler to wear her underwear (revealing that she may be wearing none). Chandler agrees to this weird deal. Meanwhile, Ross has prepared Marcel's favorite food, as the monkey is spending the evening with him, but receives a phone call that the monkey's busy and won't make it.

Monica and Rachel meet Jean-Claude Van Damme on the set. Monica, who is a huge fan of his, is too intimidated to go talk to him, so she sends Rachel in her stead. But when Rachel takes this opportunity to go out on a date with him, Monica gets mad at her best friend, which she does not fail to point out to Rachel.

The two girls end up fighting over him, requiring Phoebe to break them up. Monica makes Rachel relinquish Van Damme to her so that she may go out with him. Rachel does this, but tells Van Damme that Monica is doing this so as to have a threesome with him and Drew Barrymore. The two girls end up fighting again, this time taking it to an even more personal level (Monica rips Rachel's favorite sweater and Rachel pours a jar of marinara sauce in Monica's purse, which unbeknown to Rachel, has a pair of her gloves in it). When spirits calm down, the two realize that they might do better without him, and neither keeps pursuing him for dates.

Joey takes Ross out with him and Cathy, assistant to the director, and Chandler and Susie. Joey's plans to try and get in the movie are quickly blown off, as Cathy reveals that she has nothing to do with casting. Chandler's and Susie's plans, however, seem to take a huge step forward, when she goes waiting for him in the bathroom in a very lusty mood. Chandler obliges, and the two start making out in a cubicle. When Susie asks to see him in her own underpants with his eyes closed, he obeys. What he doesn't notice is that while undressing, Susie has taken all of his clothes. This is no pleasant surprise for him, and when he asks for the reason behind such a thing, she reveals that this was just a ruse for her to get him (almost) naked in revenge for her embarrassment in the fourth grade.

Some time later, Joey enters the bathroom, whistling. He's surprised to hear another whistle in reply to his whistle, which turns out to be Chandler from the cubicle. Joey loses no time in finding out what happened to his friend. And when Ross enters the bathroom and finds Joey looking down at the cubicle, he finds out for himself what Chandler is wearing. Chandler can't take it anymore and asks Joey for his underwear, but Joey can't help him out as he's not wearing any. He then turns on to Ross for his underpants, when a man enters the bathroom to witness the scene. Chandler ends up leaving the restaurant, partly covered by the cubicle door he's unhinged and taken with him to save him uselessly from the embarrassment. Unfortunately, the word spreads to the girls too, who take the opportunity to make fun of him.

Cast and Crew

Main Cast

Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green
Courtney Cox - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller

Supporting Cast

Lisa Roberts Gillan - Cathy
Seth Isler - Monkey trainer
Steven M. Porter - Security guard
Julia Roberts - Susie Moss
Jean-Claude Van Damme - Himself

Crew

Directed By:
Michael Lembeck

Written By:
Jeff Astrof, Mike Sikowitz & Michael Borkow

Reception

Entertainment Weekly rates the episode "C", calling it "fragmented, poorly paced, and only sporadically funny. Cramming the already crowded ensemble with celebs may have been a ratings grabber but the results are forced sitcomedy and stilted acting" specifically citing Van Damme. The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends write of the second part, Julia Roberts was "a fine guest-star", and Van Damme was "embarrassing".

This episode was the highest rated episode of the series, recording 52.9 million viewers. Director Michael Lembeck won the 1996 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Comedy Series for this episode, the only Emmy won by the series in that year.

Trivia

Marcel's

Marcel's Menu

  • The first date between Chandler and Susie take place in a restaurant called Ernie's.
  • During this episode, Ross is upset because Marcel's agent blows him off. Incidently, the restaurant he, Joey, Joey's date, Chandler and Susie go to is called Marcel's, visible by the menu.
  • Susie says that one actress has a mustache that makes her looks like Gabe Kaplan. David Schwimmer did not want to wear the afro wig and mustache in episode The One With The Prom Video because he thought he would look like Gabe Kaplan in Welcome Back, Kotter.
  • In the dubbed Spanish and Italian versions of this episode, Susie says Burt Reynolds instead of Gabe Kaplan, because Reynolds' mustache is better known in Spain and Italy than Kaplan's.
  • In the scene where Joey tries to get the film director's attention by shaking Phoebe, the director is surrounded by show creators Kevin Bright, David Crane and Marta Kauffman posing as film crew.

Goofs

  • When Chandler says to Susie "what I had planned will take 2-3 mins tops" Susie replies, "200 seconds of passion". 2–3 minutes in seconds is 120–180 seconds meaning 200 seconds is outside the bracket.
  • When Chandler's walking out the restaurant with the toilet door you can catch a glimpse of the boxers he's wearing.
  • Chandler is talking to Susie (Julia Roberts) and a man is standing behind Chandler in a doorway. There is a cut to Susie, but when the camera goes back to Chandler the man is not there. Then he appears again.
  • When Susie is asking Chandler to wear her panties, her hand is on his neck. In the next shot it is gone, and then it is back again.

Memorable Quotes

  • Rachel: "And the Jean-Claude took me to that place Crossroads and that's where we hung out with Drew Barrymore."
  • Joey: "Oh man, She's so smokin'. She's got the greatest set of- no guys around huh?"

Episode Navigation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Preceded by
"The One After the Superbowl, Part 1"
"The One After The Superbowl, Part 2" Followed by
"The One With The Prom Video"

Quotes: Chandler: Joey, give me your underwear. Joey: Sorry, I'm not wearing any. Chandler: How can you not be wearing any? Joey: I am getting the heat from the guy in the hot pink thong.

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