The One Where Heckles Dies

"The One Where Heckles Dies" is the third episode of the second season of Friends, which aired on NBC on October 5, 1995.
==Plot==
Chandler tells the other five that he's broken up with his girlfriend, claiming that he found her nostrils too big for him to accept it. The guys find it bad that he breaks up with girls over the most superficial things. Rachel and Monica's downstairs neighbor Mr. Heckles knocks at the door to tell them to quiet down (although the guys are perfectly decent in volume). After they send him away, he begins to knock at their floor from his ceiling with his broom, to which they respond by stamping on the floor. After a little time, he stops hitting with the broom they later thinks that they won but in reality, he stops doing pretty much anything, because he's found dead
Everyone scoffs at Phoebe when she yells at Mr. Heckles' soul, but when she brings up the evolution theory as one of the things she doesn't believe, Ross takes it on a personal level. She keeps badgering him with questions to which he gives abundantly detailed answers, but she still won't believe him. Meanwhile, Heckles' attorney shows up and executes his will, which basically entitles all of his property to the girls, much to their surprise. 
Most, if not all of this stuff, is trashy toys and furniture which Monica finds tacky, but which Rachel adores. The two raise an issue of whose apartment they live in - Monica still believes it's her apartment, while Rachel thinks that it's become hers too and starts to decorate it with a seashell lamp of Heckles'. However, Chandler starts looking through some books and realizes how much in common he and Heckles have, which starts to freak him out. The more he reads, the more Chandler bums on this, until he arrives to the point where he thinks he and Heckles are the same person, especially after finding a "Big Book of Grievances" containing all of Heckles' dates and the stupid reasons for which he broke up with them.
Ross comes over with a briefcase of fossils to show to Phoebe, but she doesn't even let him start. This time, she brings up an argument which Ross doesn't know how to face, and when he can't give her an answer, she thinks he's a hypocrite for caving in his beliefs. He leaves, unaware that all of this is just a ruse of Phoebe's to freak him out about his area of knowledge. Just as the girls are to go out, Monica breaks Rachel's new lamp, making Rachel think it's Monica's revenge.
Totally frightened of ending up alone like Heckles, Chandler calls Janice in desperation, but when she meets him at the coffeehouse, it's a married Janice, and to cap it all, she's pregnant. Due to this, Chandler can't get back with her, but the girls make him realize how he's growing up and becoming ready for a commitment, to which he replies with a shocked: "Whoa, don't know about that!"
As the friends clear the last of Heckles' possessions out of his room, Monica makes up with Rachel by giving her the girly clock she wanted from Heckles' apartment. Chandler comes into the room to announce that he has asked out a girl whom he initially avoided because of her large head, saying he won't let those things bother him anymore, and decides to keep Heckles' yearbook, as they share something in common. The friends seem to have sympathy for their late elderly neighbor and after the other five have left, Chandler takes one last look around his empty room, leaves his broom by the door, and says in respect, "Goodbye, Mr Heckles...we'll try to keep it down."
While on a date the next day, Chandler realizes that at the end of the day, he's still Chandler - as he can't stop freaking out about his date Alison's big head. However, strangely, he finds himself not only intimidated by her big head size, but also liking it.
==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===
Larry Hankin - Mr. Heckles
Michael G. Hagerty - Mr. Treeger
Danny Dayton - Buddy Doyle
Maggie Wheeler - Janice
===Crew===
Directed By: 
Kevin S. Bright
Written By: 
Michael Curtis & Greg Malins
==Trivia==
===Continuity===
*At the beginning of the episode, before Chandler comes in to Monica's apartment, it seems like the friends are playing poker. The girls learned to play poker in "The One With All The Poker". Also Rachel appears to be winning again.
*Janice's prophecy in "The One With The Candy Hearts" comes true, as Chandler is the one to call her.
*At this point, Janice is pregnant with her first child and is presumably married to her first husband, Gary, who is revealed as the Mattress King in "The One With The Race Car Bed" and whom she's divorcing while she and Chandler are dating.
**In real life, Maggie Wheeler who plays Janice was eight months pregnant with her first child at the time of the taping of this episode. She revealed her pregnancy to the show's executive producers at the first season's wrap party five months earlier, and was surprised to be called back in for more guest appearances; having assumed she wouldn't be able to return while starting her family.
*This is Mr. Heckles' last living appearance. He appears again in "The One With The Flashback", the events of which occur before the events in "The Pilot".
*This is also Treeger's first appearance as the building's superintendent.
*To add to the singing talent he used when he was in Ross' college band, "Way, No Way!", Chandler is revealed to have played clarinet in band.
*The glass which makes Monica's ass look fat is in Joey's apartment crap wish-list since Season 1, where in "The One Where The Monkey Gets Away", he asks Heckles if he could have it. This is only featured in the uncut DVD episode.
*Monica and Chandler will have a similar argument in "The One With Ross' Denial" as Monica and Rachel in this episode. In both plot lines, Monica is refusing to let Rachel/Chandler furnish the apartment with their own items.
*Phoebe likes to freak Ross out using his paleontology-related work. In this episode, Ross gets mad at Phoebe for not believing the theory on evolution. In, "The One With The Soap Opera Party" (S9E20), he gets mad at Phoebe for looking through his stuff and memorizing titles to freak him out.
*Phoebe tells Ross that some scientists once believed that the earth was flat. There are still some that believe this is the case. 
*In the episode, Chandler tells Joey that they will go off and get married and he will end up alone. Ironically, he is the first of the Friends to get married and settle down with Monica while at the end of the series. This discussion comes up again later in the season in "The One With The Lesbian Wedding".
**Joey ends up alone although he does get engaged in the spin-off, Joey.
**Ross and Rachel are married briefly in season 6, but then divorce each other after realizing that it was not the right time for them. They do however, remarry shortly after the series finale.
***Ross was also married to Emily for a few months but they did not get the chance to settle down due to how short lived their marriage was.
**Phoebe marries Mike in season 10.
*Lisa Kudrow actually got a biology degree before pursuing her acting career.
*Ross wears a white suit similar to the one he initially wears in "The One With A Chick And A Duck", but unlike in that episode, doesn't get picked on by Rachel or Monica.
*The magazines Joey carries out are copies of National Geographic, the title being visible in certain shots.
*Monica claims to be allergic to shellfish in protest at Rachel's new lamp. It later emerges that Ross actually is allergic to shellfish.
* Larry Hankin also appeared as Mr. Heckles in "Friends: The Reunion" (2021). At the reunion quiz, David Schwimmer asks the girls whose voice it is, and we hear the phrase "That's my monkey." The girls fail to name the character, then Mr. Heckles, in his usual bathrobe, enters the apartment, waives at them, waits for the public's applause to stop, and says "You all owe me a cat and a waffle" and exits.
*This episode was used as "H is for Heckles" in the Nick at Nite Friends A-Z Event (January 2023).
===Goofs===
*Whenever Mr. Heckles' apartment is shown from the outside, the doorway to Apartment #7 can be seen at the end of the hallway. However, Monica and Rachel live directly above Heckles, and on their floor, there is a staircase at the end of the hallway. The same mistake occurs in "The One Where The Monkey Gets Away". Additionally, the apartment numbers on the doors change between these two episodes.
*When Chandler is shouting to Rachel and Monica about how he is going to become "Crazy Snake Man", Rachel's arms are at her sides. The camera shot changes as Monica tries to console Chandler, and Rachel suddenly has her arms folded with one hand at her mouth, with no time to do so. In fact the position of Rachel's right arms changes with each shot.
*After Chandler tells the story about the girl with the big nostrils, Joey replies with "I'm going to have to side with Chandler on this one. When I first moved to the city"... Despite being born and raised in Queens.
**This could be attributed to Joey's ignorance. He could have meant when he moved to Manhattan.
*In the same scene Monica's jacket is on the back of the chair when Chandler sits down but in the next shot its gone yet nobody's moved.
*After Chandler hurriedly vacates the chair, Rachel's hand is in a fist as it hits the seat cushion. In the next shot her hand is flat out and a few inches further from the back cushion.
*At the beginning, the gang implies that women don't have "Adam's apples" (actually called a laryngeal prominence), but in reality, everyone has one. Without an Adam's apple, you wouldn't be able to talk, as it protects your vocal folds (commonly referred to as vocal chords). However, males' Adam's apples grow at 90° angles, making them "pop out". Adams apple growth is also determined by testosterone, so, if the female had a lot of testosterone during puberty, their Adam's apples would appear towards a 90° angle as well.
*Joey shares a story in the beginning about a woman he kissed who had "the biggest Adam's apple." However, later in Season 7 Episode 14, "The One Where They All Turn Thirty", Joey makes the comment, "But it hurts my Joey's apple," implying that he didn't know that the term "Adam's apple" is a global term.
*After Treeger says "They found him with a broom in his hand" his lips continue to move but we do not hear the words, only the sound of the friends groaning.
*When the gang are standing in Mr Heckles apartment, Rachel says "I've never seen so much crap" and throws the cloth doll onto the sofa, the shot changes to a wider view and then she has it in her hand again. The shot changes again to a different angle and Rachel is shown throwing the doll onto the sofa again.
*In the scene in the apartment just after Phoebe says "I can still sense him in the building", Rachel sits down. However in the next shot showing Ross side-on, Rachel can be seen sitting down again. However this is only seen in the HD version and Rachel was out of shot in the original broadcast.
*In the final scene in Mr Heckles apartment, Joey has two piles of magazines under his arm with yellow colored ones at the bottom but when he leaves the apartment a different set of magazines are on the bottom.
*In/On the DVD version and on the TBS version, there's a scene where Joey says" Supposedly" about three times, but this is cut out entirely on the Nick @ Nite version probably to save for commercial time.
*It would be impossible for the sound to come from the roof of Mr Heckles apartment when the gang leave their apartment and are in Mr Heckles apartment as there is no sound heard from Monica's apartment of the neighbours above. When Chandler picks up the broom to bang on the roof, he would be hitting Monica's floor making no sense to the story.
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
* "The One Where Heckles Dies" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
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