Season 2

This 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, though the characters eventually 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’ 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 creepy guy named Eddie Menuek moves in.