The One With Christmas In Tulsa

"The One With Christmas In Tulsa" is the tenth episode of season nine of Friends. It aired on December 12, 2002 and is the fifth clip show of the series.
==Plot==
Chandler must spend Christmas in Tulsa to finish work that needs to be completed before Christmas Day, and he knows he will be fired if he refuses to obey and do it. He will therefore not be able to spend Christmas in New York with Monica and the others, which makes all six of them, particularly Chandler and Monica, unhappy. This is what leads the episode into a clip show showing clips from previous Christmas related Friends episodes, as Chandler and the rest of the gang remember previous years where he spent Christmas with them.
Chandler feels empathy for the employees underneath him, who are depressed because they can't spend Christmas with their families, and sends them all home. However, the regional vice president of the Oklahoma branch of the company, Wendy, who is mentioned to also be a former Miss Oklahoma runner-up, stays behind to help him, at which point, Monica and the others call him to wish him a Merry Christmas. When he makes the mistake of mentioning Wendy, and that she has stayed behind to help him after he sent all his other employees home, Monica gets suspicious and grills him, leading to him accidentally making it obvious to them that does find Wendy attractive, but he promises Monica that there is nothing for her to worry about. When he hangs up the phone however, Wendy starts to flirt with him. He politely rejects her, saying he's a happily married man and nothing can happen between them because what he has with his wife is great, but then she responds by asking him why he's spending Christmas with her instead of with his wife if what he has with his wife is so great.
Meanwhile, back at the apartment, the other five friends gaze out of the window as they see that it is snowing, but Monica is too busy worrying that Chandler is having sex with Wendy to think about anything else. But then Chandler proves her wrong by walking through the door at that very moment, much to everyone's delight. And he assures them that he can't be fired after all for spending Christmas with them... because he has resigned.
==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===
Selma Blair - Wendy
Monique Edwards - Claudia
===Crew===
Directed By:
Kevin S. Bright
Written By:
Doty Abrams
==Trivia==
*Rachel's habit of exchanging gifts is again mentioned in this episode.
*This was the last Christmas episode of the series; season 10 did not have a Christmas episode.
*The Christmas flashbacks are from "The One With The Girl From Poughkeepsie", "The One With The Routine", "The One With Phoebe's Dad" and "The One With The Holiday Armadillo".
*The flashbacks with Chandler thinking about Monica are from, "The One Hundredth", "The One In Vegas, Part 2", "The One With Rachel's Book", and "The One With The Truth About London". 
*This is the second time Chandler quit his job, having resigned several years earlier but then returned to the same career after being given a promotion and his own office.
*The "presents" Chandler gives to the gang are the same ones he handed out to his department.
*When Rachel and Ross are urging Chandler to answer Monica's questions quicker and better, they may have been thinking about their fight years earlier after Ross had slept with Chloe.
*Monica asks the rhetorical question "I wonder if it's snowing in Tulsa where my husband's having sex on a photocopier". In "The One With Phoebe's Husband", as seen in the uncut DVD episode, the gang watch Joey's porn video which features a couple having sex on a photocopier.
**In the Nick @ Nite airings/reruns among other versions, The 'uncut' scene is there.
*Despite the distance between Tulsa and New York, Chandler returns home remarkably quickly. This is due to the fact that he sent his employees home earlier on in the day, at 3 pm according to the clock in the Tulsa boardroom. The flight from Tulsa to New York takes just over 5 hours which accounts for it being dark when he gets home.
*Selma Blair who played Wendy, starred in the TV show American Crime Story as Kris Jenner alongside David Schwimmer who played Robert Kardashian.
=== Goofs ===
*When Wendy starts to flirt with Chandler and touches his tie, you can see a microphone on the back of it.
*When Chandler is talking about working on Christmas Eve, Rachel has her hands resting on the back of Ross' chair but when the shot changes her arms are instantly folded. Then in the next shot, instantly her left hand's on the back of Ross' chair.
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode with annotated flashbacks.
* "The One with Christmas in Tulsa" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
Category:Friends Episodes
Category:Season 9
Category:Clip Shows
Category:Holiday Episodes
Category:Episodes
Category:Season 9 Episodes