All ten seasons of the classic comedy are currently available on Netflix.

Friends is a well-known television sitcom for a reason, but what are the best episodes of friends? What are the key episodes for understanding and encapsulating what makes Friends so great? That was no easy undertaking, but we were up for it.

With all ten seasons of Friends now available on Netflix’s newly launched streaming service, this seems like a good time to revisit the Emmy-winning series’ best episodes of friends.

Friends has something for everyone, whether you watch it for the laughter, the tears, or the will they/won’t they of Ross and Rachel.

Friends will always be on your side. Even though things have been difficult for many people recently, the adventures of Ross, Rachel, Joey, Phoebe, Monica, and Chandler have managed to keep us smiling throughout. It’s the equivalent of comfort food for many: turn on an episode (or 20) of Friends and soak in the same wonderful gags you’ve been reciting for decades. It’s like noodle soup for your soul.

But which are the best episodes of friends? Could it become any more difficult to respond? Using the powers of unagi – and more than a few workplace debates.

We’ve compiled a list of the 11 best episodes of friends from the show’s 10 season run.

All of your favorites are included, including the conclusion, Ross, and the prom video.

The One with the Blackout 

gum is perfection, chandler, the one with balckout

This episode takes everything that made early Friends so fantastic — a large ensemble episode, Phoebe’s (Lisa Kudrow) songs, moody Ross (David Schwimmer) — and adds Chandler (Matthew Perry) off on possibly the best solo side story of the show’s entire existence. While the majority of the gang is hanging out at Monica’s apartment trading sex stories — and, in the process, ratcheting up Ross’ love on Rachel, who obliviously goes for handsome neighbor Paolo that night.

Chandler is (now) stranded in an ATM vestibule with Jill Goodacre. Matthew Perry’s first real opportunity to show his stuff came when he was separated from the rest of the ensemble and had only Victoria’s Secret supermodel to play off of.

The end effect, like the piece of gum Goodacre, gives Chandler, is perfection. “Gum would be perfection.”

The One With The Embryos

friends best episode, best episode of friends, friends trivia episode

This is a serious candidate for the best Friends episode of all time. If you’re puzzled by the title, this is the episode in which Chandler, Joey, Monica, and Rachel play Ross’ handmade trivia game and wind up moving residences.

No, this should be titled “The One With the Contest Show,” since it has the finest rapid-fire comedy set-up in Friends history: Joey and Chandler fighting against Rachel and Monica in a quiz game about each other, with the greatest stakes: occupancy of Monica’s massive illegal sublet.

It’s some of the finest comic writing on television, with the extra advantage that we all get to weep a bit at the end when Phoebe breaks up everyone’s dispute by announcing that she’s pregnant.

She might be a transposnter 

The One Where Everybody Finds Out

my eyes my eyes, phoebe my eyes, the one where everybody finds out,
We can hear this image right now

Phoebe and Chandler’s game of sexual chicken was the perfect method to play out this situation, especially as it culminates in his yelling out, “Because I’m in love with Monica!” which is a heart-stopping moment.

Phoebe goes with Ross to check it out and sees the undercover lovers having sex through the window. Instead of telling the new pair that the game is over, Phoebe and Rachel opt to play with them. Phoebe flirts with Chandler, which finally alerts Monica to the fact that Phoebe is aware of her. What follows is a hilarious game of sexual chicken between Chandler (coached by Monica) and Phoebe (coached by Rachel).

While the sight of Phoebe’s bra isn’t enough to deter Chandler, he can’t bear kissing her and declares his love for Monica.

Also, Ross spotting Chandler having sex with Monica from across the alley is hilarious: “GET OFF MY SISTER!”

Also Read, Friends Reunion: Everything you must know

The One With the Rumor

the one with rumor, brad pitt friends, brad pit friends episode

Friends geeks and celebrity news seekers will recall Season Eight’s Thanksgiving episode as the first and only time Jennifer Aniston and her then-husband Brad Pitt appeared onscreen together. Pitt portrayed Will, another Lincoln High alum who, like Monica, used to be overweight. He shows up to the day’s events remarkably chiseled, bearing a pie and eager to remember – until he meets Rachel. “Look at her there with those yams,” he murmurs. “My two greatest foes, Ross, are Rachel Green and complex carbohydrates.”

Rachel subsequently discovers that Ross and Will created an “I Hate Rachel Green Club” in high school, where they propagated rumors about her being a hermaphrodite. Despite the uproar surrounding the prank, the show entrenched Pitt as one of the series’ most cherished guests.

The One Where Ross Got High

the one where ross was high, friends meme, i wanna go joey

Thanksgiving, also known as Truth Day, devolves into chaos when Monica and Ross make humiliating admissions about each other to their parents (Christina Pickles and Elliot Gould). Ross stole his father’s Playboy magazines as a youngster, tried marijuana in college, hasn’t worked at the museum in a year, and married Rachel drunkenly in Vegas! Monica, who is presently living with Chandler, broke the porch swing, not Hurricane Gloria. Furthermore, Rachel unintentionally adds meat to the trifle. Joey wants to skip dinner for Janine, and Phoebe is certain she loves Jacques Cousteau.

What follows is a comical family breakdown that highlights the Geller clan’s acute insecurity and competition. There’s a lot of shouting, but this is ultimately a happy episode that strengthens Monica and Chandler’s bond. Oh, no! It’s also the famed trifle fiasco. As Mrs. Geller points out, That’s a lot of information in 30 seconds, but it all adds up to the series’ best Thanksgiving episode, hands down.

The One With All The Resolutions

ross predicted 2020, the one with leather pants, ross leather pants

Friends’ David Schwimmer seldom receives the credit he deserves for his funny performance. Schwimmer’s bland divorced father serves as the straight man to everyone else’s comedic flailing.

This episode should have been dubbed “The One With Ross’ Leather Pants” because no one else’s 1999 New Year’s goal yields as memorable — or tragic — outcomes. Ross buys elegant leather trousers for his date with Elizabeth Hornswoggle to try something different every day (much to the chagrin of Chandler, whose resolution is to not make fun of his friends). But the opulent material gets him so heated in her Apartment that he needs to dash to the toilet and take his trousers down for comfort… only to realize, horrifyingly, that no amount of lotion or baby powder he applies can help him bring them back up.

The One with the Morning After

the morning after, ross and rachel breakup

The morning after Rachel stated they needed a break, she wakes up ready to work on getting back together – and Ross is wasted in bed with Chloe, the copy girl; Joey and Chandler warn him that word will follow ‘the trail’ of women blabbering to Rachel. He’ll be too late to stop it at every step. The other friends don’t dare to leave the bedroom where Monica and Phoebe had been waxing when she bursts in for an unending round of denial that there’s still love between them, no matter what he attempts.

“The One With The Morning After” is the sixteenth episode of Friends’ third season, airing on February 20, 1997.

The One Where No One’s Ready

the one where no one was ready, joey all cloths, could i be wearing anymore cloths
Trust me, We can hear this image too

The drama occurs fully (except for a brief epilogue at the awards night) in real-time within Monica’s Apartment. Ross is worried about being late for a huge function. Monica obsesses over a voicemail left by Richard, making matters worse with each attempt to resolve the issue. And Joey and Chandler have a fight over a chair, which results in Chandler taking all of Joey’s underpants and Joey putting on all of Chandler’s clothing at once, sans underpants (a.k.a. “going commando,” a phrase coined by this episode) and making lunges.

Ross’ fury and natural sense of superiority nearly spoil everything. Still, his willingness to sip a glass of chicken fat to apologize to Rachel is maybe the most sentimental thing he performs on the show.

Because the plots are restricted, there are no recurrent characters or guest stars to muck things up. The writers can chisel the program down to its most basic parts. Bottle episodes may occasionally compel TV series to produce some of their greatest work. This is one of the best bottle episodes in the history of comedy television.

The One with the Football

friends episode, the one with football

What would Thanksgiving be like if there was no football? Or Friends without the quirky eccentricities of the Geller siblings? Fortunately, we were never exposed to a world that provided solutions to such issues. The crew agrees to play a casual game of touch football. Still, the stakes rapidly rise when Monica and Ross reenact their childhood “Geller Bowl” feud and battle to the death for a musty, handcrafted troll-doll trophy known as the coveted Geller Cup. 

Joey and Chandler, who are less interested in the Geller Cup, compete for the attention of a Danish model, eventually driving her away with their foolish behavior. The moral of this one-of-a-kind episode: Why count your blessings when you can count your scorns?

Also read, The 6 F.R.I.E.N.D.S who became Friends of the world

The One Where Ross is fine

ross is fine

Ross isn’t feeling well. Joey and Rachel’s relationship has been slowly eating away at him. Things reach a climax when Ross invites the duo home for a dinner party and ends up becoming roaring drunk — so intoxicated, in fact, that he takes a dish straight out of the oven without gloves. 

Meanwhile, in another terrific, cringe-inducing storyline, Chandler and Monica visit the home of a couple who have adopted their kid to learn more about the adoption process. In his worst gaffe yet, Chandler mistakenly informs the youngster he’s adopted, which he didn’t know before. His follow-up remark regarding Santa Claus is priceless.

The Last One

the last one, last friends episode,

Finales are typically difficult, especially for popular sitcoms. How can you say goodbye without losing the spirit that made it work in the first place? The Friends two-parter delivers on all fronts (pun intended). Erica (Anna Faris) gives birth to the (surprise!) twins Monica and Chandler are adopting. At the same time, television’s biggest will they-won’t they finish on “will,” as Rachel abandons a new job in Paris to rekindle her relationship with Ross. And it includes old-fashioned shenanigans like Joey sending Monica and Chandler a chick and a duck as housewarming gifts… which quickly get caught in a foosball table.

Even the show’s seventh character, the Apartment, is given a heartfelt send-off: As Monica and Chandler prepare to go to the suburbs with their children, the six Friends give in their keys and go out for one last cup of coffee. “Whither?” Chandler cracks a joke. As if there was any question.

You had to conclude a binge with the series finale, which was a pretty excellent farewell to the series. Did anyone care about Ross and Rachel by this point? Probably not, but you knew they’d end up together, so you just had to accept it as part of the plot. But the last sequence, in which the friends leave Monica’s Apartment together, is a lovely way to close the program.

2 Bonus Episodes 

The One With All The Cheesecakes

friends cheesecake

Chandler and Rachel devour a cheesecake that was delivered to their home by mistake… It’s also the finest cheesecake they’ve ever tasted. So begins their illegal passion, which culminates in devouring the crumbs of a cheesecake from the floor. For every Friends fan, this is an iconic moment. Meanwhile, Monica isn’t invited to her cousin’s wedding. She insists on Ross taking her instead of a date, only to find out that it’s because she used to date the groom. The situation makes for some hilariously awkward television.

The one with Ross’ tanned skin

ross tan, the one with ross tan

“The One With Ross’ Tan” is filled with funny slapstick and body humor. Ross is envious of Monica’s fake tan and resolves to get one himself. Still, the application goes wrong, and he ends up looking comically mahogany. There’s also some emotion to this story, as Rachel and Joey struggle with their increasing physical bond. On the other hand, the episode is largely about laughing at Ross because of his ridiculous tan. Sometimes that’s all you need.   

What do you think of these episodes? We know each episode is best, but it was excruciating in removing the episodes and selecting these. 

If you have any more suggestions write em up in the comment sections.