Friends is an iconic TV show for a reason, but what are its best episodes? What are the most essential episodes to understand and encapsulate what makes Friends so great? That's no easy task, but we were up to the challenge.

With all 10 seasons of Friends now streaming on the newly launched streaming service HBO Max, now feels like as good a time as any to look back on the best episodes of the Emmy-winning series. Whether you watched it for the laughs, the tears, or the will they/won't they of Ross and Rachel, Friends really does have something for everyone.

Pilot

Season 1, Episode 1

This is where it all started, so it's only natural that your binge-watch would start here too. Plus, it holds up as a great sitcom pilot. "And I just want a million dollars!"

The One with the Blackout

Season 1, Episode 7

This episode features everything that was so great about early Friends — a big ensemble episode, Phoebe's (Lisa Kudrow) songs, angsty Ross (David Schwimmer) — and adds in Chandler (Matthew Perry) off on perhaps the greatest solo side plot of the show's entire run. "Gum would be perfection."

The One with All the Poker

Season 1, Episode 18

A personal favorite, this episode combines some of the best one-liners ("The fifth dentist caved and now they're all recommending Trident?" and "Phoebe just threw away two jacks because they didn't look happy") with some great stuff between Ross and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), back when people were still super into Ross and Rachel. Also, it introduces the running gag of how competitive Monica (Courteney Cox) can be.

The One Where Rachel Finds Out

Season 1, Episode 24

Friends definitely knew how to do cliffhangers and Rachel rushing to the airport to greet Ross after finding out he has feelings for her, only to see him kissing another woman was one of the best.

The One with Ross's New Girlfriend

Season 2, Episode 1

The opening scene where Rachel breaks it to the gang about Julie (Lauren Tom) is some of Aniston's funniest work in all 10 seasons. "Isn't that just kick-you-in-the-crotch, spit-on-your-neck fantastic?" There are also two really solid side plots — Phoebe cutting Monica's hair to look like Dudley Moore instead of Demi Moore and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) finding out he's been being molested by his tailor for years. Which is not funny, of course, but... it's funny on the show. “That’s how they do pants!”

The One Where Ross Finds Out

Season 2, Episode 7

Early Friends wrote really great stuff for Aniston and Schwimmer, not least of which is when Ross gets Rachel's drunken answering machine message where she tells him she's over him. "Over me? When were you... under me?"

The One with the Prom Video

Season 2, Episode 14

Again with the Ross-Rachel stuff, but it was just so good in the early seasons! This one also introduced the great use of flashbacks on the show. "He's her lobster!"

The One Where No One's Ready

Season 3, Episode 2

Bottle episodes can sometimes force TV shows to do some of their best work because the stories are contained, there are no recurring characters or guest stars to muddy things up and the writers are able to just drill the show down to its most basic elements. This is one of the greatest bottle episodes in sitcom TV history.

The One with the Football

Season 3, Episode 9

Another personal favorite, this is the episode that launched Friends' string of excellent Thanksgiving fare. Sure, Season 1 had the one where Underdog got away, but then Season 2 skipped Thanksgiving. This is the one that started the wonderful Turkey Day tradition.

The One Where Monica and Richard Are Just Friends

Season 3, Episode 13

This one is on here mostly because it features one of the best C-plots of the entire series when Rachel and Joe read each other's favorite books, Little Women and The Shining, respectively. "Do you want to put the book in the freezer?"

The One with Chandler in a Box

Season 4, Episode 8

Chandler kisses Joey's girlfriend and must spend Thanksgiving in a giant box as punishment, while Monica invites Richard's son (a young Michael Vartan!) to dinner as her date. It all leads to one of Monica's greatest rants ever on the show. “Fine, fine, judge all you want. But — married a lesbian, left a man at the altar, fell in love with a gay ice dancer, threw a girl’s wooden leg in a fire, live in a box!”

The One with the Embryos

Season 4, Episode 12

This is a strong contender for the all-time greatest Friends episode. If the title has you confused, this is the one where Chandler, Joey, Monica, and Rachel play Ross' homemade trivia game and end up swapping apartments. It is some of the best comedy writing TV has ever seen, plus the added bonus that we all get to cry a little at the end when Phoebe stops everyone fighting by announcing that she's pregnant.

The One with Ross's Wedding

Season 4, Episode 23/24

This one isn't so much hilarious as it is important in the Friends pantheon. Rachel is still in love with Ross but makes the very mature decision not to ruin his wedding to Emily (Helen Baxendale) by telling him, only to have him say her name at the altar. It's a great cliffhanger that then, unfortunately, sent Ross on a horrible trajectory that the character never really recovered from. But also, Monica and Chandler sleep together! So this is definitely the turning point where Ross-Rachel lost their Friends couple crown to Monica-Chandler.

The One with the Kips

Season 5, Episode 5

This episode kicked off one of the best running plots of the fifth season: Everyone finding out about Monica and Chandler. Joey putting it all together over Monica's off-hand comment about an eyelash curler and then starting to freak out as Chandler tackles him into the bedroom is some delightful physical comedy on the parts of LeBlanc and Perry. This episode also hits a good emotional beat when Emily asks Ross not to be friends with Rachel anymore, which has Rachel worried she'll be phased out of the group.

The One with All the Thanksgivings

Season 5, Episode 8

This episode is vintage Friends silliness, flashing back to everyone's worst Thanksgivings. It also features one of LeBlanc's greatest comedic moments of the show when he sees Monica wearing a turkey on her head and loses his ever-loving mind.

The One Where Everybody Finds Out

Season 5, Episode 14

Phoebe and Chandler's game of sexual chicken was absolutely the right way to play this scenario out, especially because it culminates in him blurting out "Because I'm in love with Monica!", which is a heart-stopping moment. Also, Ross spying Chandler having sex with Monica from the apartment across the alley is terrific: "GET OFF MY SISTER!"

The One Where Ross Got High

Season 6, Episode 9

Turns out the Gellar parents don't like Chandler because Ross told them back in college that Chandler was a pothead to cover up for his own drug experimentation. Ha! And also, it's the infamous trifle debacle.

The One with the Proposal

Season 6, Episode 24/25

This one is full of sitcom "misunderstandings," but it's such an emotional payoff that the contrivances can be overlooked. If you aren't crying along with Monica as she proposes to Chandler then you don't even have a heart. “There’s a reason girls don’t do this!”

The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs

Season 7, Episode 8

This is another weirdly personal one, but the C-plot where Ross is obsessed with naming all 50 states took over my group of my friends for the couple weeks immediately following this episode. And there's an especially good throwaway joke where Joey thinks there are 56 states.

The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding

Season 7, Episode 23/24

This is another episode that's more important than it is super funny. It's sort of the last episode before the show took a bit of a downturn for the final three seasons. The mystery pregnancy storyline was a good plot and cliffhanger, until (like with Ross after his wedding) the show completely mismanaged most of Rachel's storyline in the final three seasons.