The One With The Holiday Armadillo

"The One With The Holiday Armadillo" is the tenth episode of the seventh season of Friends, which aired on NBC on December 14, 2000.
==Plot==
Phoebe brings in her late mother's Christmas memorial candy dish, shaped like a skull. Ross learns he's going to have Ben for the holidays, and he intends to teach his son about their Jewish heritage. Ben is accustomed to Susan dressing up as Santa on Christmastime; Ross is concerned about Ben being exposed to only Christmas traditions. Ross certainly makes his mark on Ben, but the idea of a year without Santa sounds like a serious punishment.
Phoebe finds out the renovations on her apartment are finished, and she's afraid that Rachel is too happy living with Joey and won't want to move back to Phoebe's place, so she gives Joey gifts intended to drive Rachel away. First she gives him a drum set, but Rachel seems to love it. Then, when that doesn't work, she gives Joey a tarantula, which scares Joey but not Rachel, who had one as a kid (which was eaten by her cat, which killed the cat itself). Phoebe then admits to Rachel that their apartment is now ready but she is afraid that she will lose her as a roommate. Rachel assures Phoebe she still wants to live with her and the two visit the renovated apartment, but it has been turned into a single-bedroom place. As a result, Rachel decides to stay at Joey's apartment while Phoebe moves back in, though they are both sad that they will miss living with each other.
Chandler's wait for a restaurant table means he might miss a theater performance; tipping the host doesn't work either as he can't find the paper money. Ross wants to surprise Ben but can't rent any Christmas suit this late, so he invents Santa's Tex-Mex friend: the Holiday Armadillo. The Armadillo explains about Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights but Chandler appears as Santa to help out Ross. Ross, however, was really connecting with Ben so asks Chandler to leave, until Monica asks him to keep the suit "for later"! Ben, however, protests against Santa leaving and asks for him to stay. Chandler agrees, but only if Ross stays as well and tells them the story of Hanukkah. It is then that Joey shows up dressed as Superman. Later, the Armadillo finishes his (modified) story and it's time to light the Hanukkah candles. Phoebe and Rachel show up in time to watch, and Phoebe remarks, "I understand why Superman is here, but why is there a porcupine at the Easter Bunny's funeral?"
==Cast and Crew==
===Main Cast===
Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene
Courteney Cox Arquette - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller
===Supporting Cast===
Cole Sprouse - Ben Geller 
Sean Corvelle - The Salesman 
Terry Rhoads - The maitre d' 
Barry Wiggins - The Man
===Crew===
Directed By:
Gary Halvorson
Written By:
Greg Malins
==Trivia==
* Between takes, all the cast had a go on the drums. 
* In this episode, Monica reveals she doesn't plan on changing her name to Bing when she marries Chandler.
* Rachel says she enjoys living with Joey and presumably intended staying there for some time. However she moves in with Ross in about 12 months time after becoming pregnant.
* Phoebe continues to live alone until Mike moves in with her.
* Ross tells Ben that he's part Jewish. Although not specifically stated, Rachel is implied to also be Jewish as in one episode she refers to her grandmother as Bubbe.
* Joey dresses up as Superman in this episode. In "The One With The Halloween Party", Phoebe dresses as Supergirl.
* This episode was used as "A is for Armadillo" in the Nick at Nite Friends A-Z Event (January 2023).
==Goofs==
*When Ross is on the couch telling Ben about Hanukkah, Ben's hair varies from shot to shot. In the first shot it's flat and in the next shot it's spiked up at the front. His hair stays spiked up for a few shots and then returns to flat.
**When the conversation between Ross and Ben ends, Ross helps him off the sofa, however in the next shot Ben is sitting back on the sofa.
**At the end of the scene, Ben looks straight into the audience.
*In this episode Chandler fails every time he tries to slip money, even though he did it perfectly when he and Joey impersonated Richard after he taught them the trick in season 2 in "The One Where Old Yeller Dies". It's especially odd that he asks Monica, "Richard used to do it didn't he?" after learning it initially from Richard.
**He could have forgotten how to do it correctly after so long and not having to practice it frequently.
*When Phoebe walks in on Rachel playing the drums in Joey's apartment, she closes the door behind her. However, when she leaves the apartment, the door has already been opened.
*When Ross is standing in the doorway, the space in the hallway where the stairs are supposed to be can be seen.
*When Phoebe is talking to Monica and Chandler in the coffeehouse, the strap on her bag falls on her forearm but when she stands up, it's back on her shoulder.
*When Rachel and Phoebe are discussing why she got Joey the drums and spider, just before Rachel admits to being scared of fish, in the shot from behind Rachel she makes a gesture with her left hand without audio. When the shot changes to face her, she repeats the gesture with her line.
*The three Chanukah candles are in the menorah lined up from the left. They should be lined up from the right.
== External links ==
* Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
* "The One with the Holiday Armadillo" at the Internet Movie Database
==Episode Navigation==
Category:Friends Episodes
Category:Season 7
Category:Holiday Episodes
Category:Episodes
Category:Season 7 Episodes