The One Where Chandler Can't Cry

"The One Where Chandler Can't Cry" is the fourteenth episode of the sixth season of Friends, which aired on February 10, 2000.

Plot

Joey, Phoebe and Monica discover that Chandler can't cry no matter what the circumstances. Joey tells him that he's dead inside and Monica makes repeated attempts to elicit some emotion from Chandler. Rachel asks Ross to stop seeing her sister, Jill. Ross agrees to cancel their date, but when he tells Jill she doesn't take it very well. Rachel admits to Jill that it was she who asked Ross to stop seeing her because of their "history" together. Jill gets mad at Rachel for trying to control her life, so she goes over to Ross's apartment to use him get back at Rachel. She uses the pretext of being upset over a fight with Rachel and wanting to see more of Ross' slides. He works on preparing them and brings out wine while Ross fields a phone call from Rachel and tells her he can handle it. She kisses him, but he asks if she's just using him to get back at Rachel.

She readily admits to this and he breaks it off. He later reveals she broke his slide projector in her indignation. Later, when Ross tells Rachel that Jill kissed him, Rachel is furious. He then admits that he stopped the kiss because he didn't want to ruin the chance of them getting back together someday. After witnessing this encounter, Chandler is finally able to cry, asking why Ross and Rachel can't work it out. In Central Perk, a man recognizes Phoebe and asks for her autograph, saying he's her biggest fan. She signs a napkin, then leaves, but tells Joey to take care of him because he's a fan. Joey thinks the man is a fan of his, but he reveals he's seen all of Phoebe's porn movies. Joey talks to Gunther, who also has seen some of these movies. At Monica's apartment, Joey has some of the movies in a bag. Joey insists it would be wrong to watch them because Phoebe is their friend, but the others do anyway. As the movie begins, Rachel notices a heart tattoo and realizes that it's not Phoebe but Ursula using Phoebe's name. Phoebe enters, cries "What am I doing?" and they tell her the story. Phoebe confronts Ursula, who is in the middle of making another movie. She tries to get Ursula to stop using her name and says, "Shame on all of you." In the end, her solution is to pick up all of the checks Ursula accrued under her name and yells at someone who recognizes her for all of Central Perk to hear.

Cast and Crew

Main Cast

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

Supporting Cast

Reese Witherspoon - Jill Green
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
Larry Joe Campbell - The Fan
Douglas Looper - The Vampire

Crew

Directed By:
Kevin S. Bright

Written By:
Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen

Trivia

General

• This is the final appearance of Reese Witherspoon as Jill Green in the series.
• In The One With The Worst Best Man Ever, Chandler cries in contrast to this episode where he claims he doesn't cry, also in "The One Where Everybody Finds Out" (S5E14), Rachel said Phoebe made him cry with her words. Chandler later cries at the news in The One With Rachel's Going Away Party. Also in The One With All The Candy, after Ross gives Phoebe a bike, she says on the way out that "Oh, and Chandler is about to cry" and Chandler replies "Am not!" with emotion.
• The porn movies Ursula stars in are parodies of known works: Buffay the Vampire Layer (the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Inspect Her Gadget (the animated series Inspector Gadget), Sex Toy Story 2 (the 1999 animated film Toy Story 2) and Lawrence of A Labia (1962's Lawrence of Arabia).
• Ross saying "I don't know if anything is going to happen with us again...Ever. But I don't wanna know that it never could", to Rachel foreshadows the fact that they get back together 4 years later. It also shows that Ross still has feelings for Rachel.
• After Ross explains why he broke things off with Jill, Rachel nudges him on the leg with her foot. This is a reminder of The One With A Chick And A Duck (S3E21) when Ross drops his chances to be on TV to take care of her broken rib and she playfully nudged him with her foot while he helped her change.

Goofs

• Continuity error: This episode picks up almost immediately where the previous one left off, with Rachel by the window and Monica still in her bathrobe. However, at the end of the previous episode, Monica was sick with a distorted voice. Now she seems miraculously cured.
• In the beginning of the episode while Joey is talking to Rachel next to the balcony window, a camera man is visible behind him.
• In the beginning of the episode, Monica and Chandler's TV, entertainment set and ferns are gone. The wall is bare except for the French Poster. 
• In this episode, Joey says that he was mad at Chandler for ten years when he fooled around with his sister, only for Chandler to correct him that it had only happened five years ago. However, The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister took place only three years before.
• When Monica grabbed the photo album with childhood pictures of Chandler, the TV is off, while in the previous shot they were watching a movie.
• In "TOW Old Yeller Dies" (2.20), Phoebe talks about how when her mother was still alive, she would turn off the TV during sad endings of movies, and then tell Phoebe some alternate happy ending. In that episode, "Bambi" was one of the examples which she mentioned which had a happy ending to it. In this episode, however, part of the gang (including Phoebe) is watching "ET" and they're crying and talking about how sad it is. Then, Phoebe mentions that "Bambi was sadder because she was crying "for three days after that movie [Bambi]. No, wait, two 'cause on the third day, my mother killed herself.
• When Jill come into Central Perk to tell Rachel that Ross blew her off there is a woman and man sitting at the table by the door and the window. When Jill first comes in a waitress brings the table their drinks. The camera switches to Rachel who says two sentences and when the shot moves back to Jill there is no one at the table and just a red coffee cup sitting there. In the final sequence of the scene two different women are in sitting at the table and one of them is in front of the same red cup.

Quotes

See also

• The One Where Chandler Can't Cry/Transcript

Episode Navigation

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Preceded by "The One With Rachel's Sister"

Series Six Episodes

Followed by "The One That Could Have Been, Part 1"

<< Season 5		Season 6					Season 7 >>
#01	"The One After Vegas"		#10	"The One With The Routine"		#19	"The One With Joey's Fridge"
#02	"The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel"		#11	"The One With The Apothecary Table"		#20	"The One With Mac And C.H.E.E.S.E."
#03	"The One With Ross' Denial"		#12	"The One With The Joke		#21	"The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad"
#04	"The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance"		#13	"The One With Rachel's Sister"		#22	"The One Where Paul's The Man"
#05	"The One With Joey's Porsche"		#14	"The One Where Chandler Can't Cry"		#23	"The One With The Ring"
#06	"The One On The Last Night"		#15	"The One That Could Have Been, Part 1"		#24	"The One With The Proposal, Part 1"
#07	"The One Where Phoebe Runs"		#16	"The One That Could Have Been, Part 2"		#25	"The One With The Proposal, Part 2"
#08	"The One With Ross's Teeth"		#17	"The One With Unagi"
#09	"The One Where Ross Got High"		#18	"The One Where Ross Dates A Student"