The One With The Hypnosis Tape

"The One With The Hypnosis Tape" is the eighteenth episode of the third season of Friends, which aired on March 13, 1997. In it, Phoebe's brother reveals he's marrying someone twice his age and having kids, while Chandler uses a hypnosis tape to stop smoking, with unfortunate results.

Plot[]

Phoebe's brother Frank Jr. drops by and pays a surprise visit to his sister. Thrilled to see him, she asks him what's new, and he announces to her that he's getting married. Phoebe is excited about his fiancée, until she sees it's Alice, a woman who is 26 years Frank's senior. Notwithstanding this, Frank and Alice dig deeply into each other and want to have kids right away. Phoebe finds the whole thing sick and wants to talk sense to Frank, but doesn't as she doesn't want him to hate her. She ends up asking Joey and Ross to talk to him about it, but they end up best man and ring-bearer for the wedding respectively. As she has to take matters into her own hands, Phoebe chooses to face Alice and tell her about her problem. Alice seems to understand and tries to talk to Frank, but their deep attraction prevents her from finishing her speech. Phoebe has no choice but to accept the marriage.

After freaking out about the only two guys she went out with in a whole year (Richard and Julio), Monica is asked out by a customer at Moondance named Pete. Monica is not really interested in him until Chandler reveals to her that he's a computer engineer, creator of worldwide-used software Moss 865, and a millionaire. Having a check worth $20,000 (Peter gave it to her at the diner) is no small thing to Monica but also a source of suspicion, so she faces Pete about the check thing to see if it's a ruse of his to get women to go out with him. Pete tears the check apart and reveals that he likes her and would really love to go out on a date with her. After she consents, he picks her up at the apartment, and the two head for their first date - in Rome.

Rachel can't stand Chandler smoking anymore, Rachel hands him a hypnosis tape her friend used to play which helped her quit smoking. Chandler starts playing it every night and the results are successful, as he stops smoking. However, as the woman on the tape keeps repeating to him that he's a "strong, confident, woman", he starts turning into one. Joey notices how Chandler is becoming more and more effeminate until he wakes up one night and hears the tape. He overdubs the tape by recording himself in a message for Chandler to "make him a cheese sandwich every day" and buy him "hundreds of dollars worth of pants". Chandler wakes up after.

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[]

Jon Favreau - Pete Becker
Giovanni Ribisi - Frank Buffay Jr.
Debra Jo Rupp - Alice Knight
James Michael Tyler - Gunther
Jeff Brooks - Trent
Marta Kauffman - voice on tape (uncredited)
Peter Andre - coffee shop customer (uncredited)

Crew[]

Directed By:
Robby Benson

Written By:
Seth Kurland

Quotes[]

Monica: Don't you think he's a little young to get married?
Phoebe: What, he's 18.
Ross: Exactly. It'll be illegal for him to drink at his own bachelor party
Joey: Yeah. Or, to get a hooker.
Chandler: Always illegal, Joe.

Joey: Come on, think about it. You're 18, okay. She's 44. When you're 36, she's gonna be 88.
Frank Jr.: You don't think I know that?

Trivia[]

It's in this episode that it's revealed that Gunther (as was the real-life actor James Michael Tyler) is a smoker.
In the cold opening, its noticeable that Ross and Rachel are trying to be civil to each other.
The scene where Ross scrapes the cream off Rachel's coffee is a call-back to when Rachel sipped the cream off Joey's coffee when she worked there.
Rachel reveals that Ross got hypnotized when they were dating.
The scene where Monica and Pete are in Rome marks the first time a location outside the United States is seen.
The Magna-Doodle board hanging beside the door of Joey's apartment was introduced in this episode.
Frank Jr. is revealed to have a punctured lung in this episode, along with a criminal record.
When Frank Jr. is sitting down in front of the television set in Phoebe's apartment, before she comes in with Alice, he is watching an episode of Davey and Goliath; a stop motion Christian themed children's show, from the creator of Gumby.
This episode marks the first appearance of both Alice Knight and Pete Becker.
Nine years after this episode, Jon Favreau would team up with Jennifer Aniston and her then boyfriend Vince Vaughn in The Break-Up.
Debra Jo Rupp appeared in All My Children, the series Gunther claimed to have appeared in as Bryce. Debra also co-starred with Lisa Kudrow in the 1997 film Clockwatchers.
Bill Clinton was mentioned in this episode, who was the president of the United States at the time this episode aired. The next time he was mentioned was in a talk with Doug, Kara, Chandler and Monica in "The One With Chandler's Work Laugh" (S5E12).
Alice and Frank get married several months after this episode on the spur of the moment, informing Phoebe in "The One With Phoebe's Uterus" (S4E11), rather than having a planned wedding.
Chandler displays feminine behavior in this episode. In three years time, Joey will display similar traits when Janine lives there.
The music which plays when Monica and Pete are in Rome is "That's Amore" by Dean Martin.
Rachel mentions the TV series Walker, Texas Ranger. This series originally ran on CBS from April 1993 to May 2001.
During nick@nite airings, the part where Gunther smoking a cigarette was cut off.

Goofs[]

When Chandler shows to Monica the magazine where Pete hugs Bill Clinton, the page that Chandler holds changes between shots.
When Pete goes to switch off the third screen in his office, the screen goes off before he presses the button.
When Monica leaves the apartment and everyone is watching you can see the stage lights on the ceiling in shots from Pete's viewpoint.
When Monica replaces the lid for the pie tray back on the tray, it disappears in the next shot.
Italy is 6 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so if Pete picked up Monica at dinner time (5PM), and the flight to Italy took 11 hours, it would have been 10AM the next day when they were eating, at the absolute earliest. (Not including the time it would take to get to the airport, get on the flight, etc) However, the shot of Italy shows a dark sky, and Pete is wearing the same clothes as when they leave Monica's apartment.

External links[]

Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
"The One with the Hypnosis Tape" at the Internet Movie Database

Episode Navigation[]

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Preceded by "The One Without The Ski Trip"	Series Three Episodes	Followed by "The One With The Tiny T-Shirt"


<< 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"