Although Chandler wouldn’t agree, Thanksgiving is an amazing holiday. When I was a kid, it was my most favorite holiday. Food was at the heart of it, how could it be bad? Well, for the gang, according to this episode, I guess, a lot can go wrong and it can easily be bad. One of my favorite episodes of Season Five, and my second favorite Thanksgiving episode – I love the one with the football, but I wanted to do a Season Five and Thanksgiving theme, so best of both worlds. Not to mention, all of the flashback episodes are awesome, despite their continuity issues…regardless, you’re welcome.
1978 – Chandler’s worst Thanksgiving. Chandler finds out that his parents are getting a divorce, because his dad is leaving his mom to be with the Houseboy. This flashback may win best line.
Houseboy: More Turkey Mr. Chandler?
And, of course, Chandler’s reenactment of the accent and tone of the houseboy is just what we wanted to hear.
1862 & 1915 – Phoebe’s worst Thanksgiving (from another life). Civil War and World War I Phoebe each lose their left arm. Blood spurts everywhere. That’s about it. Pretty random.
1992 – What Phoebe thought was Monica’s worst Thanksgiving. Joey wanted to scare Chandler by wearing a Turkey on his head, the turkey Monica was going to cook for her family, but it got stuck on Joey’s head. Joey did eventually succeed in scaring Chandler…but again, the turkey was stuck on his head…
1987 – Monica’s worst Thanksgiving. Monica meets Chandler for the first time. She instantly has a crush on him, but he is repulsed by her, because she is overweight. He actually calls her fat to Ross, and Monica overhears. She is devastated, but his cruel words motivated her to lose weight and get healthy.
1988 – Monica’s actual worst Thanksgiving. Monica and Rachel devise a revenge plot to get back at Chandler for being a jerk to Monica the previous Thanksgiving, but things don’t go according to plan, when she accidentally drops a knife and chops the tip of Chandler’s baby toe off.
I honestly believe that Monica’s best comedic moment of the entire show was when she got all hot and bothered over the box of mac & cheese, and well, whatever she was trying to do with those carrots…and the butcher knife turned toe slicer.
And now I recall my actual favorite line of the episode. When they take Chandler to the hospital and the doctors want to reattach his toe, they ask for the missing digit. Instead, Monica accidentally packed a baby carrot in ice, and her mother Judy comes to this realization:
Judy Geller: Oh my god. There’s a toe in my kitchen.
Her motherly disgust delivery is what really sells the line.
I know lots of people get excited about this episode also because it is the first time that Chandler tells Monica he loves her. He tells her when she is seeking forgiveness from him (complete with turkey on head) after he hears about the story behind the toe incident – which in my opinion, he totally overreacted. It was obviously an accident, and anyway, he was the jerk who called Monica fat in the first place. His anger seemed a little out of character and totally unreasonable for the situation. Anyway, Monica tried to make Chandler laugh with the turkey thing and he got caught up in the moment and said she was great and he loved her, which she took seriously, and he tried to take back. Classic Chandler.
