Given its ten seasons of glorious memories, is there really a Friends episode that captures the essence of the entire series? According to co-creator Marta Kauffman, there just might be. “‘The One With the Embryos.’ That, for me, really says it all,” Kauffman told Vulture at the Producers Guild of America Awards on Saturday night. In season four, episode 12, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Monica (Courteney Cox) have an iconic showdown against Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) to prove which duo knows the other better — and the winning pair scores the famous apartment. The episode has classic lines like Monica’s childhood nickname (“big fat goalie”) and Chandler’s fake job (“transpondster!”). It also, as the episode’s title suggests, features Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) becoming pregnant with her brother and his wife’s child after a successful embryo transfer. “It had heart, it was funny, it was emotional,” Kauffman added. “That, for me, is one of the iconic episodes.”
Since the series recently celebrated its 25th anniversary last fall, Kauffman, who received the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television, knows the masses have a reunion on the brain. But will it happen? “Honestly, I don’t know. At this point there’s talk. Who knows?” While details are uncertain, one thing is for sure to Kauffman: A potential reunion will not be scripted. “If it were the right thing, if it were the six of them together reflecting, talking about their experiences, and the episodes, then I’m totally behind it. Nothing scripted. We will not do anything scripted,” she added. And while the show may be flawless in fans’ eyes, Kauffman admitted she still has notes: “Every time I watch an episode, there’s something I’d like to change.”
