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The One With All The Resolutions

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"The One With All The Resolutions" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of Friends, which aired on January 7, 1999. In it, the gang all make resolutions but they don't go well. Ross wants to be happy, Phoebe wants to pilot a jet, Chandler decides to not make fun of his friends for a whole week, Monica wants to take more photos and keep more memories of their friends, Rachel wants to gossip less, and Joey wants to learn an instrument.

Plot[]

At the end of a New Year's Eve party, the friends discuss their resolutions. Ross' resolution is to be happy in 1999 and to do something he hasn't done before every single day and make life better, and Phoebe's resolution is to pilot a commercial jet. After Chandler makes fun of them, Phoebe suggests that he make his resolution not to make fun of his friends, and Ross bets Chandler $50 that he cannot resist making fun of his friend for a whole week. And, Monica wants to take more pictures of the group, and buys a film camera she repeatedly uses throughout the episode.

Ross get the phone number of a woman named Elizabeth Hornswoggle, a name Chandler finds so ridiculous that he wants to tease him and laugh but cannot because of his bet. Ross also buys a pair of leather pants for his date with Elizabeth which also drives Chandler crazy when the rest of the friends compliment the pants in front of him to mess with him. During Ross' date with Elizabeth, he finds the pants highly uncomfortable, retreating to the bathroom to cool them off. However, he cannot pull them back up and with some of Joey's unhelpful suggestions over the phone he turns into a mess with cosmetic products all over his legs. The date ends when Elizabeth realizes the predicament he is in, but Ross is comforted by his son Ben drawing a picture of him as a cowboy with the leather pants, and promptly decides to get more leather pants, although this may have just been an attempt to provoke Chandler.

Joey wants to learn how to play guitar to actually have one special skill he lists on his resume be true and Phoebe offers to teach him. Phoebe's method to teach how to play the guitar is unorthodox as she won't even allow Joey to hold a guitar and she gets angry when Joey secretly studies the real names of the chords, which she also forbids, so Joey finds a qualified teacher who will also let him hold a guitar. When Joey apologizes and asks her to be his teacher again, she lets him hold her guitar, resulting in him dropping it on the floor.

Monica suggests that Rachel's resolution should be to gossip less about her friends and co-workers. Rachel manages not to gossip at all in the first two days after New Year's, but she soon finds out that Monica is secretly seeing Chandler from a phone message which is a sexual conversation between the two, leaving her frustrated as she can't gossip about it because of her resolution. She eventually learns that Joey knows, and both are relieved that they have someone they can talk to about it.

In the tag scene, Chandler, unable to hold back any longer, rushes into Central Perk and gives Ross the $50 and quickly makes fun of Phoebe's flying and Ross' leather pants and Elizabeth's name before sitting on the couch letting out a prolonged sigh of relief.

Cast and Crew[]

Main Cast[]

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

Supporting Cast[]

Sarah Peterson - Elizabeth Hornswoggle
Charles Thomas Allen - Ben Geller
John Christopher Allen - Ben Geller
James Michael Tyler - Gunther

Crew[]

Directed By:
Joe Regalbuto

Written By:
Brian Boyle & Suzie Villandry

Quotes[]

Joey: What's the matter?
Chandler: We wanted to kiss at midnight, but nobody else is going to, so, you know...
Joey: Alright... I'll take care of it.
Monica: Oh, no! Wait! Joey!
[Joey heads to Ross]
Ross: 33, 32, 31...
Joey: Ross, Ross, Ross, listen, who are you kissing at midnight, huh? Rachel or Phoebe?
Ross: What?
Joey: Well, you gotta kiss someone, you can't kiss your sister.
Ross: Well, who's gonna kiss my sister?
Joey: Chandler.
Ross: Oh, man, really?
Joey: Dude-dude, who would you rather have kiss your sister, me or Chandler?
Ross: That's a good point. Oh, well, since I have that whole history with Rachel, I guess Phoebe.
Joey: Okay, great.
Ross: All right.
[Joey goes over to Phoebe]
Joey: Pheebs, Pheebs. Ross wants to kiss you at midnight.
Phoebe: It's so obvious, why doesn't he just ask?
Joey: [Going over to Rachel] Rach, Rach. Listen, I'm gonna kiss you at midnight.
Rachel: What?
Joey: Well, everyone's gotta kiss someone, you can't kiss Ross, you got the history.
Rachel: So?
Joey: So, who would you rather have kiss you, me or Chandler?
Rachel: Oh, good point.
Joey: Yeah!
[Countdown is over and they all kiss]

Ross: I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, "No divorces in '99."
Rachel: But your divorce isn't even final yet.
Ross: Just the one divorce in '99. You know what? I am gonna be happy this year, I am gonna make myself happy.
Chandler: Do you want us to leave the room, or...?

Phoebe: [The gang is deciding their New Year's Resolutions] Mine is to pilot a commercial jet.
Chandler: That's good one too, Pheebs, now all you have to do is find a plane load of people whose resolution is to plummet to their deaths.

Phoebe: [teaches Joey playing guitar] Okay, lesson one, chords. Now, I don't know the actual names of the chords, but, um, I-I-I made up names for the way my hand looks while I'm doing them. So then, this is Bear Claw. Okay, um, Turkey Leg and Old Lady.
Chandler: What an interesting approach to guitar instruction. You know, some might find it amusing, I myself find it regular.

Ross: [Monica is taking pictures of Ben with a flash] What are you doing?
Monica: It's my New Year's resolution!
Ross: What? To blind my child?

[Rachel hears Monica and Chandler talking on the phone.]
Monica: I can't wait to be you. I'll sneak over as soon as Ross picks up Ben. I'll just tell Rachel I'm gonna be doing laundry for a couple of hours.
Chandler: Laundry. Huh. Is that my new nickname?
[Rachel is shocked]
Monica: Awww. You know what your nickname is, Mr Big...
Rachel: AHHHHH! [hangs up]

Rachel: Hey, uh, Joe, would you mind going over to Chandler's bedroom and get me that book back that he borrowed from me?
Joey: [Suspicious] Now? You want me to go over there now?
[Rachel approaches him suspicious too]
Rachel: Yeah.
Joey: Do you know something?
Rachel: Do you know something?
Joey: I might know something.
Rachel: I might know something too.
Joey: What's the thing you know?
Rachel: Oh, no, I can't tell you until you tell me what you know.
Joey: I can't tell you what I know.
Rachel: Well, then I can't tell you what I know.
Joey: Okay, fine. [They stare each other in silence] You don't know!
Rachel: Alright, how about I go over there, and I will walk into Chandler's bedroom and I will see if the thing that I think that I know is actually the thing that I think that I know!
Joey: [gasps] YOU KNOW!
Rachel: AND YOU KNOW!
Joey: Yeah, I know!
Rachel: Chandler and Monica?! Oh, this is unbelievable! How long have you known?
Joey: Too long! Oh my God, Rach, I've been dying to talk to someone about this for so long! Listen, listen, we can't say anything about this to anybody, they're so weird about that! Listen...
[Phoebe returns and interrupts them]
Joey and Rachel: Hey!
Phoebe: Hey! It's raining. I don't want to fly in the rain. So...
[Pause]
Joey: Oh, I am going to go for a walk in the rain.
Rachel: Oh, yeah, me too.
[They both exit]
Phoebe: That's weird. [Pause] I bet they're doing it.

Chandler: [giving up on his resolution not to make fun of his friends] I can't take it any more! So you win, okay? Pheebs? Flying a jet? Better make it a spaceship, so that you can get back to your home planet! And, Ross, phone call for you today - Tom Jones, he wants his pants back! And Hornswoggle? What? Are you dating a character from Fraggle Rock?

Trivia[]

  • The song "Bad Leroy Brown" was previously referenced in "The One With The Chicken Pox" (S2E23).
  • In the uncut DVD version of the episode, when the gang are making their resolutions, Monica says that she wants to obsess less about things being neat and clean. Rachel then throws some food from the party on the floor, and Monica screams in protest.
  • In the visual effects comparison version of the episode, when the gang are making their resolutions, the 4:3 and 16:9 widescreen formats, the episode title card and the texts of: "ORIGINAL" and "HD EFFECTS" fade out and transition to the next scene.
  • This was the first episode to air in 1999.
  • This is the second and final New Years Eve party the gang host; the first was shown in "The One With The Monkey" (S1E10).
  • Rachel finds out about Monica and Chandler. As of this episode, only she and Joey know until everyone finds out in "The One Where Everybody Finds Out".
  • Chandler tells Ross at the end of the episode "Tom Jones wants his pants back". Sir Tom Jones is a Welsh pop singer best known for the songs Delilah, The Green, Green Grass of Home and a cover version of the Prince song Kiss. Tom frequently wears black leather pants, similar to those worn by Ross, while performing. He's also a judge on the British singing competition The Voice.
  • This is the first kiss between Joey and Rachel but this was only to allow Monica and Chandler to kiss, Ross also feeling it would be awkward for him to kiss Rachel.
  • Monica's kitchen aid mixer was black instead of its usual yellow.
  • After the opening credits, Ross announces that "Just the one divorce in '99". Ironically, this ends up being false, as Ross and Rachel get a divorce in 1999, after they accidentally get married in Vegas.
  • Joey's New Year's resolution is to learn to play guitar and in "The One With Ross' Grant", Joey is seen playing a guitar in a commercial.
  • When Ross is struggling to pull his leather pants up, his hand slips and hits him in the face. This was unscripted and left in the episode.

Goofs[]

  • When Phoebe finally allows Joey to touch her guitar in Central Perk, she holds a magazine in her hands and then places it in her lap. It suddenly disappears and ends up on the table, with her hands crossed a split second later.
  • In this episode, Phoebe says she doesn't know the actual names of the chords. However, in "The One With The Baby On The Bus" (S2E6), she asks Stephanie if she knows some chords, mentioning their names.
  • When Rachel finds out about Chandler and Monica, she screams. However, she screams before she hangs up the phone. Either Monica or Chandler should have her heard her.
  • When Rachel and Joey are discussing if "they know", there is a silence and Joey's hands are set by his sides. When the shot changes, his right arm is over the back of his chair.
  • When Ross first enters Elizabeth's bathroom, the lotion is first in line on the top shelf, then something else, and then the powder. Later, the powder is first in line on the top shelf. The powder also changes position on the shelf.
  • When Ross comes out of the bathroom with no pants on, Elizabeth walks to the edge of the frame. After she turns around, she can been seen lifting up her hands, but in the next frame, she repeats her actions.
  • When Phoebe opens the door to go to the airport, Rachel is sitting at the coffee table with her arms resting on the table. Cut back to Rachel and she's standing behind the chair with her hands on her waist. There's no way she could change position that quick.
  • Phoebe returns to the apartment saying it's raining and Rachel and Joey then say they're going for a walk in the rain but looking out of the apartment window during this scene, it's obviously not raining. If it was just light drizzle, then it may not show on the windows. If you look closely at the windows in a high-resolution version of the episode (such as on Netflix or HD-remastered DVDs), there does indeed appear to be rain droplets on the windows and faintly visible rain out on the balcony.
  • When Joey enters Central Perk to apologize to Phoebe, she takes a piece of paper out of her magazine and puts it on the table but it disappears in the next shot.
  • When Ross walks away to say goodbye to Ben, in the wide-screen version you can briefly see the top of a camera on the right side of the screen.
  • When Rachel asks Joey if it would be ok if he found out on his own, the juice in front of him becomes less than it was before, without anyone having touched it.
  • It is weird that Pheobe didn't react much when she thought Joey and Rachel were doing it, but freaked out when she found out about Monica and Chandler.
  • After Chandler loses the bet to not make fun of anyone, he says to Phoebe, "Pheebs, flying a jet? Better make it a spaceship so you can get back to your home planet." Chandler wasn't in the room when she said she was going to the airport to wait for someone to leave a plane unattended.
  • Ross is standing when talking about leather pants with fringe all down the sides. In the reaction shot of Chandler, he is sitting down. Then when they cut back to Ross, he is standing again.
  • At the start of the episode, the time between the moment Ross calls out "thirty-one" and everyone calling out Happy New Year is actually thirty-five seconds on screen.
  • At around 6 mins, when Rachel is bragging to the group about resisting gossip, the camera is out of focus. It re-focuses a few seconds later.
  • When Rachel is trying to get Joey to tell her about Chandler and Monica, she sits down at the table and when the shot pans down, you can see the reflection of the camera and a light in the kitchen window pan down a second or two after.
  • When Rachel and Joey are loudly sharing that they know about Chandler and Monica, Ross is just in the other room with Ben, yet he didn't hear them.
  • Joey (Matt LeBlanc) is trying not to laugh after saying "You don't know" to Rachel (Jennifer Aniston). After saying it, he smirks, and then puts his hand to his mouth.

Photos[]

External links[]

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 With The Inappropriate Sister" 		"The One With All The Resolutions" Followed by
"The One With Chandler's Work Laugh"
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