Season 2

Season two

The second season begins with Rachel, waiting at the gate for Ross to declare her love for him, discovering that he is dating Julie (Lauren Tom), someone he knew from graduate school. Rachel's attempts to tell Ross she likes him mirror his failed attempts in the first season, although the characters eventually begin a relationship. Joey gets cast in a part in a fictional version of the soap opera Days of Our Lives, but his character is killed off after conflicts with the show's writers, claiming that he writes many of his own lines. Chandler gets back together with his ex-girlfriend from season one, Janice. Monica begins dating Richard (Tom Selleck), a recently divorced family friend and 21 years her senior. In the season finale, they end their relationship when they realize that unlike Monica, Richard does not want children.

Season synopsis

The season features more serialized storylines; it begins when Rachel discovers that Ross is dating Julie, someone he knew from grad school. Julie returns for several episodes early in the season. Rachel's attempts to tell Ross she likes him mirror his own failed attempts in the first season, but she accidentally lets it slip out on a phone call. When Ross finds out, he dumps Julie, but Rachel is angry because of a list of bad things that he wrote about her to help him decide between the two of them. Eventually, a prom video reveals that Ross intended to take Rachel to the prom when her prom date was late. This makes Rachel forgive him and they begin a relationship that lasts into the following season.
Joey, a struggling actor in the first season, gets a part in a fictionalized version of the soap opera Days of Our Lives but loses the part soon after when he angers the writers by saying in an interview that he writes many of his own lines. Tom Selleck begins a recurring guest role as Dr. Richard Burke. Richard, a friend of Monica and Ross's parents who is recently divorced and with grown children, is 21 years older than Monica but despite this they date for the second half of the season. In the season finale, they end the relationship when they realize that he does not want any more children and she does.
The second season also served to deepen Chandler and Joey's friendship. This becomes especially apparent in the episodes in which Joey temporarily moves out and a mentally ill guy named Eddie Menuek moves in. Chandler is disgusted that Eddie does not like what he likes, and has trouble bonding with the creepy headcase, so he allows Joey to move in and pretends that Eddie never lived there. Eddie's mental illness causes him to believe that he really has never met Chandler when Chandler insists this is the case and leaves him alone. Another surprise comes when Chandler falls in love with a woman over the Internet and when he goes to meet her at Central Perk, Janice walks in. Despite this, they decide to get back together, for real.

 

Cast and characters

Main cast Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green Courteney Cox as Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing David Schwimmer as Ross Geller

Guest stars Maggie Wheeler as Janice Hosenstein Marlo Thomas as Sandra Green Ron Leibman as Leonard Green Elliott Gould as Jack Geller Christina Pickles as Judy Geller Steve Zahn as Duncan Brooke Shields as Erika Jean-Claude Van Damme as himself Julia Roberts as Susie Charlie Sheen as Ryan

Recurring cast Lauren Tom as Julie Tom Selleck as Richard Burke Adam Goldberg as Eddie Menuek Jane Sibbett as Carol Willick Jessica Hecht as Susan Bunch June Gable as Estelle Leonard James Michael Tyler as Gunther