The One with the Thumb

"The One with the Thumb" is the third episode of Friends' first season. It first aired on the NBC network in the United States on October 6, 1994. This episode sees Chandler (Matthew Perry) pick up his old smoking addiction, a habit that the rest of the group finds hard to get him to break. Only Alan (Geoffrey Lower), the new boyfriend of Monica (Courteney Cox), can convince Chandler to drop the habit. The gang falls in love with Alan, but Monica does not see a future with him and the two break up, much to the disappointment of the friends. Meanwhile, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) struggles to get rid of all the free money she is receiving, including $7,000 from a soda company when she finds a severed thumb in her drink. She uses the money to pay Chandler to stop smoking.