The One With Frank Jr.

"The One With Frank Jr." is the fifth episode of the third season of Friends, which aired on NBC on October 17, 1996. Phoebe invites her half-brother Frank Jr. to visit. Ross makes a list of famous women he'd like to date.

Plot[]

Phoebe is excited that her newfound half-brother Frank Jr. is coming to visit in town, and hoping to bond with him since she doesn't have much of a family. Frank arrives however Phoebe's attempts to connect with him seem to be fruitless - they spend most of their time sitting in silence and her attempts to strike up conversations just lead to inane discussions about the fact that she can't roll her tongue and his love of melting stuff. She gets called in to work at the massage place and asks Frank if he wants to come along telling him he can have a massage if he wants. Frank misunderstands what she does and interprets "massage parlor" as a place to get a hooker, and as a result propositions Phoebe's friend Jasmine. A frustrated Phoebe states that it's the "perfect ending to a perfect weekend", but Frank, not picking up on her sarcasm, reveals that he thought it was perfect; he enjoyed the talks they had and feels like he can open up to her since she's his sister. Phoebe, happy that she did actually establish a connection with her brother, tells him this is her favorite part of their weekend.

Joey's desire to build a mail cubby for him and Chandler has expanded into his intention to build them an entire entertainment unit. Although Chandler initially gives his blessing, he soon regrets he had as he suffers from the work; his bedroom door is sawn in half, he gets a hot place stuck to his trousers and even nearly has his head drilled into by Joey. The work takes even longer when Joey gouges a hole in Monica's bathroom floor and she forces him to re-tile the entire room immediately. Although Joey does eventually get the unit finished, Chandler is annoyed to find it is so long it partially blocks both his and Joey's bedroom doors.

The gang discusses which five celebrities they would put on their "list" of people they're allowed to sleep with and their significant other can't get mad. While the others quickly rattle off names (except Monica, who explains she needs a boyfriend first before she can have a list), Ross puts serious thought into his. Eventually, after a suggestion from Chandler, he bumps off the list Isabella Rossellini who is out of the country most of the time, for Winona Ryder who is "more local". He prints up and even laminates his list, only to run into Isabella at the coffee house. Rachel lets him flirt with Isabella anyway, which naturally ends in comical rejection from her.

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[]

Giovanni Ribisi - Frank Buffay Jr.
Cynthia Mann - Jasmine
Isabella Rossellini - Herself
James Michael Tyler - Gunther (uncredited)
Doug Benson - coffee shop customer (uncredited)

Crew[]

Directed By:
Steve Zuckerman

Written By:
Shana Goldberg-Meehan & Scott Silveri

Trivia[]

General[]

Giovanni Ribisi (Frank Jr.) also appeared in "The One With The Baby On The Bus" (S2E6). However, he is a stranger on the street who had dropped a condom in Phoebe's guitar case when she was playing "Smelly Cat" on the street. He comes back for the condom because he needs it "for an emergency". The characters seem to portray very similar characteristics (such as mockingly naive behavior, much like Phoebe), which makes it likely they are, in fact, the same character.
Phoebe tells Frank Jr that her birthday is on February 16. This would have been consistent with "The One With Two Parts, Part 2" (S1E17), when Phoebe's birthday party takes place some time after Valentine's Day. However, in "The One With Phoebe's Birthday Dinner" (S9E5), the guys celebrate Phoebe's birthday on Halloween, three months before.
This is the second time Phoebe's apartment is seen; and the first time without her grandmother Frances being present in the living room. Phoebe explains that Frances has been sleeping a lot lately.
Phoebe's birthday being on February 16 means it's 8 days after Rachel's birthday. Frank's birthday is on October 25, seven days after Ross' birthday.
In the end of this episode, Joey bets Chandler he could fit into one of the compartments of the new entertainment unit. When he does fit, Chandler locks him in the unit. In "The One With The Cat" (S4E2), Joey does this same thing with a potential unit buyer, who, like Chandler, locks him in the unit. He then proceeds to steal everything in the apartment except the storage unit and the big white dog.
Chandler's door is never completely repaired or replaced following this episode. Although Monica adjoins the two halves in season four, Joey's cut is still visible for the remaining seven seasons.
On Ross' list of celebrity freebies, one of the names listed is Winona Ryder. She later guest starred as Rachel's old sorority sister, Melissa Warburton, in "The One With Rachel's Big Kiss" (S7E20).
Chandler chose "Jessica Rabbit" for his list, who was voiced by Kathleen Turner - She later played his father Charles Bing (a.k.a. Helena Handbasket) in later seasons.
The "freak" in the coffeehouse whose order was overly complicated was actually Wil Calhoun, a writer for the show.
Matt LeBlanc originally wanted to be a carpenter, as he attended a technical vocational high school and specialized in carpentry, before switching to acting.
This is the third appearance of Jasmine, Phoebe's co-worker. She first appeared in The Pilot where she was seen working in Central Perk. She then appeared in "The One With The Dozen Lasagnas" (S1E12) as a masseuse. She later appears in "The One With The Morning After" (S3E16), finding out about Ross sleeping with Chloe and at Phoebe's baby shower in "The One With The Worst Best Man Ever".
The names that are printed on Ross' celebrity freebies card are Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder, Elizabeth Hurley, Michelle Pfeiffer and Dorothy Hamill; one of the actresses on the list, Elizabeth Hurley, would work with Matthew Perry, who plays Chandler in 2002's Serving Sara.
Included on Rachel's list is Sting, former lead singer with The Police (whose song played in the background to "The One Where Underdog Gets Away") and whose wife, Trudie Styler, appears later in the series.
Uma Thurman, one of Ross' freebies, was previously married to Gary Oldman (1990-1992) who appears in the war film Joey shoots during "The One With Monica And Chandler's Wedding, Part 2".
Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon starred together in The Witches of Eastwick (1987). Susan appears in "The One With Joey's New Brain" and was considered by Ross as a freebie until put off by Chandler.
Chandler mentions Yasmine Bleeth, a star on Baywatch, his favorite show and whom Matthew Perry dated for a time.
Isabella Rossellini starred in Death Becomes Her (1992) alongside Bruce Willis (who appears in season 6 as Paul Stevens) and with Catherine Bell ("The One With The Baby On The Bus") as her body double. Debra Jo Rupp (who plays Alice Knight, Frank Jr.'s future wife) also had a small part in it.
Isabella is the name Ross initially chooses for his and Rachel's daughter in "The One Where Rachel Has A Baby, Part 2".

Goofs[]

When Ross holds up the card of his five celebrity freebies, the names that are actually printed on it are, Uma Thurman, Isabella Rossellini, Elizabeth Hurley, Vanessa Williams and Dorothy Hamill. This is very easy to see on the Blu-ray. Yet moments later when Rachel reads the names, they are Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder, Elizabeth Hurley, Michelle Pfeiffer and Dorothy Hamill. It appears that the props department accidentally made out the card with Ross' original list.
In the cold opening while Joey and Chandler are talking, the bathroom door goes from open to closed in one shot.
Rachel asks Ross who would be on his list, Rachel is sitting on the arm of his chair holding his hand. Phoebe brings Frank Jr in and Rachel has leapt across the coffeehouse to the far side by the counter.
When Frank Jr and Phoebe are in her apartment, Gladys can be seen on the wall but unlike later in the series she's red; later in the series when Phoebe wants Rachel to have her, Gladys is blue.
At the end of this episode when Chandler locks Joey inside the entertainment unit, he supposedly gives Joey a five dollar bill, confirmed when Joey says "Hello Mr. Lincoln!" However, when Chandler takes out the bill from his wallet, it is clearly a one dollar bill.
When Chandler trips over the bottom of his bedroom door after Joey saws through it, the part he trips over never moves. The bottom part should move because it is not latched to the door frame at all.
- The cut door has 4 hinges, two for each half. In the previous episode the door clearly had only 2 hinges (visible when Chandler gave a drawer to Janice).
When Frank Jr. holds a white sheet around himself, while talking to Phoebe at the massage parlor, the gathered sheet in his hand keeps changing repeatedly throughout the scene.
When Phoebe is talking to Monica while Frank Jr. is doing karate on the balcony, the blue cup in front of her switches to the other side of her plate and then back when the camera angle changes. Also at one point when the camera focuses on Phoebe, Monica is slightly out of focus.
When they show the inside of Monica's bathroom, the toilet is in the middle of the bathroom, and it looks out of place. In "The One With Chandler And Monica's Wedding, Part 1" when Phoebe finds Rachel's pregnancy test, the toilet is right next to the sink.
In the scene where Joey and Monica discuss changing her bathroom tile, Joey moves the hamper to the middle of the doorway and when he kneels down to measure, the hamper is back against the wall.
When Frank is trying to melt a spoon there's one shot where he holds the spoon high above the table, then the angle changes and he's pressing the spoon against the plate.
It's odd that Monica, well established now as a "clean freak" would never move her laundry hamper when cleaning the bathroom floor and thus never see the difference in colour of the floor tiles.
When the gang is lifting the entertainment unit up, Joey's hands start holding on the top which changes 2 shots later to his left hand being under and his right arm staying the same with no time to switch.

External links[]

Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
"The One with Frank Jr." at the Internet Movie Database

Episode Navigation[]

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Preceded by "The One With The Metaphorical Tunnel"	"The One With Frank Jr."	Followed by "The One With The Flashback"


<< Season 2		Season 3				Season 4 >>
#01	"The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy"		#10	"The One Where Rachel Quits"	#19	"The One With The Tiny T-Shirt"
#02	"The One Where No One's Ready"		#11	"The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister"	#20	"The One With The Dollhouse"
#03	"The One With The Jam"		#12	"The One With All The Jealousy"	#21	"The One With A Chick And A Duck"
#04	"The One With The Metaphorical Tunnel"		#13	"The One Where Monica And Richard Are Friends"	#22	"The One With The Screamer"
#05	"The One With Frank Jr."		#14	"The One With Phoebe's Ex-Partner"	#23	"The One With Ross' Thing"
#06	"The One With The Flashback"		#15	"The One Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break"	#24	"The One With The Ultimate Fighting Champion"
#07	"The One With The Race Car Bed"		#16	"The One With The Morning After"	#25	"The One At The Beach"
#08	"The One With The Giant Poking Device"		#17	"The One Without The Ski Trip"
#09	"The One With The Football"		#18	"The One With The Hypnosis Tape"