The Definitive Ranking of Every Friends Thanksgiving Episode
By Emily Scott
Friends (Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
Culturess ranks every Friends Thanksgiving episode, from worst to best, for your holiday weekend binging.
It’s that time of year again! The best time of the year for food, family, friends…and Friends! Let’s be real – no one does a Thanksgiving episode like friends. Mostly because everyone else is doing Christmas episodes instead. But the annual Thanksgiving episode was a mainstay tradition when Friends was on the air. And now that every season is on Netflix, it’s easier than ever to get your holiday spirit on in Monica’s apartment.
Here, we present the definitive rankings of all the Friends Thanksgiving episodes! That way, if you only have time for a few, you can skip over the mediocre ones. But there’s more! Each entry will include a quick summary, a best moment, and a sneakily feminist quote. Why a feminist quote? Well, A, because this is Culturess, obviously! And B, because especially in the later seasons, Friends started to get kind of real in terms of female empowerment. Well, at least as real as it gets for a ‘90s sitcom. They said the word “vagina” on TV in the 9th season! And you know there are some choice-feminist elements in every decision Rachel Green makes. She really learned a lot from Be Your Own Windkeeper!
But let’s be clear – Friends is ignorant. We all know it. The latent racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc. laced into most episodes is super obvious when we watch it in this day and age, right? But I’m of the opinion that instead of throwing out something you like because it’s problematic, one should rather acknowledge its problematic points. So, to that end, we’ve got a short “political correction” section, in which I recognize (and rant) about something ignorant in the episode. Because it’s important to call out your faves, y’all.
So here it is! All the Friends Thanksgiving episodes, ranked from worst to best. Escape your conservative relatives, let the soothing voice of Matthew Perry guide you into your tryptophan nap, and enjoy!