‘Friends’ Reunion: The One With the ‘Remember the One With … ?’

A long, emotional get-together is best when it gets out of its cast’s way.

The episode titles in “Friends” were distinctively generic: “The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break,” “The One With the Monkey.” The template said a few things about the show. This was a comedy that would never take itself seriously; it was not going to name an episode “Ozymandias.” Its titles assumed that you would forget them. It understood how fans watched TV and how they talked about it. “Friends: The Reunion,” the sweet, shaggy special arriving on HBO Max on Thursday, makes another thing about the titles clear: They’re pre-nostalgized. They’re written the way you would try to remember the episodes, retrospectively, years later — say, at a reunion. And when I say “you,” I include the actors who starred in them. “Do you remember the one where you guys were throwing a ball back and forth?” Jennifer Aniston asks her old colleagues. (It was, in fact, called “The One With the Ball.”) Later, Matt LeBlanc recalls being in his kitchen and seeing a rerun of “the one with the leather pants.” (Actually, “The One With All the Resolutions.”)