Not only are Joel's parents seen for the first time, but for the first time the series mentions that he has a sibling, a sister.
The actors playing Joel's parents, Joanna Merlin and David Margulies, were guest stars multiple times on "Law & Order" (1990) episodes.
There is no cold opening in this episode.
Joel tells his mother about the physics of falling. "Its 32 feet per second squared, to be exact". That is merely approximate. Somewhat closer to exact is 32.17404855643 feet per second squared.