Depending on your POV, the saving grace or the ruination of the series. Discuss the rollercoaster ride that was Ross and Rachel, the bittersweet romance of Monica and Richard, the courtship and marriage of Chandler and Monica, the utter weirdness of Joey/Rachel, Rachel and boy-toy Tag, Chandler and Jaaaaaaanice (insert nasal laugh here), Phoebe/Mike vs. Phoebe/David, and the strange non-romance of Joey and Phoebe. (Phew!)

Joey/Rachel: Just say no.

Ross/Rachel: I'm a huge sap and was happy they ended up together, although they could have skipped one or two of the reunions. In fact, I wouldn't have objected if they had reunited after the debacle with Joey's fauxprosal in the hospital after Emma was born. Bonus of that scenario: no annoying blond chick (spacing on her name right now).

Chandler/Monica: It just worked. Nicely done the way they got them together. And I thought the laughs milked from the fact that it was a secret were priceless, especially when Rachel found out and tried to get Joey to spill.

I couldn't have hated the Joey/Rachel storyline more. It felt tacked on because the writers had run out of ideas, and it went against what the characters were about, especially Joey. He may go out with a lot of girls but he is staunchly loyal to his friends, and would never interfere in the Ross/Rachel dynamic. I could sort of buy into Joey's unrequited love in S8 but I couldn't really believe it when they hooked up in early S10. It seemed wrong. I will concede though that I found the Joey/Rachel pairing slightly less offensive when I rewatched it on DVD, probably because I knew it ended up fizzling out.

I will give the writers props though for breaking up Ross and Rachel fairly early on. I thought it was a good move because there wasn't necessarily anywhere else to go with them, and you were then expecting the writers to fix it somehow. I thought that they might go down the Sam/Diane on-and-off route but it never really went there. Plus, I loved the Ross/Rachel fighting. That was great. Sure, it ultimately led to a very whiny/broken record Ross (not good) but they steered away from that after a while.

Loved the Monica/Chandler romance. Yes, they did become a bit grating sometimes, especially when Monica was being very directive, but overall, they made sense as a couple. You could see why they liked each other so much.

I was surprised recently that Chandler/Monica got together so soon. For some reason, I thought it was later than halfway through the series. I was watching some of season 3 on DVD the other day when Ross and Rachel broke up and in the commentary the writers said they made an effort to keep Chandler and Monica's fights a lot lighter.

I will say, though, that I thought the second break up of Ross and Rachel in the first episode of Season 4 was brilliant. I was so heartbroken when they split the first time and just wanted them to get back together that when they finally did it was a huge relief. But the split with Rachel's letter and Ross' bellowing declaration of 'WE WERE ON A BREAK!' and the ensuing fight were so hilarious that it made up for the heart-rending breakup in Season 3.

I am glad they ended up together and I was an absolute sucker for their whole near-miss issues in the first couple of seasons but, really, they weren't ready for a relationship that serious and deep at the time. Ross was completely insecure and Rachel was just starting to become who she wanted to be... splitting up was the best thing for them at the time. I fell for the whole arc, I guess.

Monica/Chandler, though? Loved them the whole time. Just the way he smiled at her was so sweet and genuine that you just couldn't help but love it.

And I'm glad they never went there with Phoebe/Joey.

Chandler/Monica: LOVE this couple, hence my username. By far the BEST couple on Friends. The reason to watch Friends.

Joey/Rachel: loved them too, wished the writers had let it go somewhere.

Ross/Rachel: Always hated, always will. Don't belong together. IMO Ross's soulmate is Emily.

Well, everyone wanted Ross and Rachel to get back together, not just because it was, like, the "given" storyline, but because it would have been so perfect. However, I hated the way they did it and it kind of soured the finale for me. On the one hand, I can't imagine how they could have ended the series *without* reuniting them. But at the same time, it was ridiculously forced and out of the blue. They drove each other nuts as an un-couple for the past six years, and then out of nowhere, just because she's going to move away, they decide they can't live without each other? Not fun. And it kind of made the existence of Emma rather pointless. I would have preferred the R&R reunion if Emma played more of a factor in their decision. (IIRC, an earlier storyline for those final episodes had Ross and Rachel toying with the idea of getting back together but deciding against it for fear of disrupting Emma's life if it didn't work out.) I don't know, it just makes Emma "just another plot twist" in season 8 since she didn't really have anything to do with her parents' getting back together. (They couldn't even put her in the final episode! Come on, people, I highly doubt the parents of those twin girls who played her didn't have anything better for them to do that week.)

sjbrown, that's what I was trying to say when I posted earlier that I wished they'd reunited after Emma's birth. It would have been more organic and they could still have been funny.

Ross/Rachel: Classic. Silly, but endearing. They're just different enough to complement each other really adorably.

Chandler/Monica: Just crazy enough to work, but it only works on fictional TV. In real life they'd probably kill each other. I loved how all their fights were funny, since the R/R ones were so tragic. Honestly, I think Chandler's soulmate was Kathy and Monica's was Richard, but they still work.

Rachel/Joey: Ugh. Forced, annoying, awkward. You could totally tell the writers realized how much it sucked, and backpedald wildly with that whole slapping-him-when-they-kiss, guess-it-was-never-meant-to-be thing. At least they "I love ya" moment was cute.

*insert sigh* I sooooooooooo wanted a Phoebe and Joey pairing. I realize it may have been cliche to have all 6 Friends pair off and live happily after each other with each other, but I don't care! They had chemistry, and they were always so close... Anyways, about the other 3 "pairings".

Chandler/Monica: My favorite Friends couple. They balanced each other out so well, and were so great for each other. From keeping their relationship a secret to adopting Erica and Jack, and every moment in between, they were perfect.

Ross/Rachel: I loved their relationship. It was a little on and off, but usually handled well (until the damn "triangle" with Joey). They are truly each other's lobsters, and I'm glad they ended up together.

Joey/Rachel: Ugh. That's all I'll say about these two. I loved Rachel and Joey as friends, but when they began dating, I hated it. Still do.

I liked the possible Joey/Rachel pairing when it came up while she was pregnant, but I agree that it was forced and bad when they got together at the convention.

I was against Ross and Rachel getting back together in the end, I didn't think either of them had grown up enough to make the relationship work. I was hoping that it would be more open-ended, that the fans would be allowed to draw their own conclusions as to whether or not they ended up together.

I was annoyed with the Ross/Rachel ending because they split up the first time essentially over Ross's inability to cope with Rachel having a career, and only really secondarily because of the Break/Xerox girl stuff. Having her give up her supposedly 'dream job' for him just felt like saying that Ross was right to be insecure about it and, now that Rachel had given up that whole life-of-her-own nonsense, they could be together. I realise it's a sit-com and so they can't go into relationships in much depth but I would have liked the ending so much more if it had been Ross leaving NY for Paris rather than Rachel doing vice versa.

I never thought of it like that before, but that's a good point. Ross's jealousy and lack of trust in Rachel did become kind of creepy, and it was never really dealt with. Even after the break-up, Ross spies on Rachel/Mark going on a date, and his main issue is that "we were on a break". And Rachel seemed mostly concerned with Ross sleeping with Xerox girl. I would be more concerned with Ross turning up at her work constanty, getting the singers to remind her of her boyfriend Ross. (Although granted that was hilarious).

During seasons 1 and 2, I was really rooting for R/R, and thought Ross would make an adorable boyfriend. Later on, not so much. They just seemed so dysfunctional, and unwilling to make the relationship work.

Finally! Now I've figured out why them ending up together bothered me. I never put my finger on it before. I saw the eps with Mark and the Xerox girl recently, and man, Ross was really, really awful, and it was all about his insane jealously. And they never addressed that.

In my head I've decided Rachel still goes to Paris and Ross moves there with her. Although that doesn't solve the Ben problem

I don't think it was that Ross wasn't able to cope with Rachel's career. I always thought he encouraged it. I think that it was that Ross was sooo possesive and insecure that he couldn't deal with other men in general in Rachel's life (that weren't already firmly established as friends.) It could have been anybody, anywhere; it was just that work was the one place that Ross and Rachel didn't have in common. And when a man enters that place, sharing something in common with Rachel that is important to her that Ross doesn't, then he feels threatened. That's what Ross reacts badly too, not Rachel having a career, IMHO.

Monica/Chandler...I don't know about these two. I liked them so much when they first started dating and were all hush-hush and sweet about it, but as the show got older, they became caricatures of themselves. I loved Monica with Richard and I loved Chandler with Kathy, and I started watching those eps during Season 8 or 9, which is really what made me stop liking this couple in the end. But the whole adoption storyline made me cry, I loved it so much.

Joey/Rachel...Why, oh why, oh why did the writers have to pursue this? They were so platonic together. And it was so OOC for Joey to turn his back on Ross like that, because I thought the writers made it pretty clear that despite the fact that Joey tried to talk to Ross first, he would have pursued Rachel regardless.

Phoebe/David...Best couple ever, IMHO. Their chemistry was constant and he was just so gawky and awkward. They were perfect for each other. Mike was just so random. It was like the writers had a desperate need to hurry up and pair off all the characters by the season finale (besides Joey.)

I agree. I don't think it was Rachel's career as such, Mark was the problem. I think he said it sometime during an earlier episode about how he had been hurt by Carol, and it's worse now because if possible he loves Rachel even more (the episode where he has a playdate with a stripper and Rachel kisses him goodbye and Chandler said something like: You just turned him on and sent him off to a stripper?). I may be in the minority, but I thought Ross was right about Mark. Offering Rachel a job out of the blue? He didn't want to get in her pants at all..He also later admitted to always having a crush on her. Now, Ross was wrong in not trusting Rachel, but it made it so much worse that as soon as they were on a break, Mark conviently shows up at Rachel's place.

I also thought that David was the true love of Phoebe's and I liked their chemistry so much more than the Mike-one.

I have mixed feelings about Chandler/Monica. On the one hand, they were great when they first got together. The secretive nature of the relationship led to a lot of great, funny moments, and they were very sweet and natural with each other. Also, I love how Chandler finally grew up and was able to commit himself to someone without getting all scared. I thought they complemented each other very well. But then after they got engaged, it all went down the crapper. The characters became caricatures of themselves. Monica became overly shrill, loud, bitchy, and kind of mean. She treated Chandler like a child instead of her fiancee/husband. And Chandler lost his wonderful mix of insecurity, self-doubt, self-effacing humor, dry wit and sarcasm, and neurotic behavior and instead became this shell of his former self. He became Monica's whipping boy; he had absolutely no backbone, couldn't stand up for himself, became overly effeminate (and not in a funny way, but in a weird way), and most importantly, he stopped being funny. So that's when I started to not like them as a couple anymore. I often wonder what the show would have been like if Monica and Chandler had never gotten together. I think it would have been a lot more interesting and a whole lot funnier if we continued to follow Chandler on his journey of finding the right woman, and also trying to learn how to commit himself fully to one woman. I didn't think either Kathy or Janice was his soulmate (although I did like him with Janice because he was very true to his character when he was with her), so he would have needed to find a new woman. I think this would have been a lot more interesting, and funny, and probably wouldn't have ruined Chandler's character. As for Monica, she belonged with Richard, plain and simple. When she was with Richard, she was her best: sweet, caring, nurturing, neurotic and OCD, and the denmother to the rest of the friends. She wasn't shrill, she wasn't harpy, she wasn't annoying, she wasn't over the top.

I loved Ross and Rachel together. When they first broke up in Season 3, I was so pissed and heartbroken and I thought the show would never be the same again. But in retrospect, I now think the writers made the best decision possible by having them split early on. Sometimes when TV couples are together for a long time, the characters are ruined, or they become boring, or they become annoying (see: Monica & Chandler). So that was a smart move in not having them together for the rest of the series. Also, Ross & Rachel's relationship was always very dramatic, from beginning to end, so if they had stayed together from Season 2 on, it wouldn't have been consistant with the dramatic nature in which they had gotten together (Ross's 11 year crush on Rachel, the fight and subsequent kiss in Central Perk, the infamous list, the prom video, etc). Although I would have done it differently when they got back together. I would have had them get back together in the Season 9 premiere, after the misunderstanding of Joey proposing to Rachel was cleared up. It was just silly to draw it out for the last 2 seasons, because everyone knew they were getting back together, so at that point, it was overkill. I didn't mind the waiting in Seasons 4-8, but the last two seasons was just annoying.

The reason I loved Ross & Rachel together was because I truly saw what they saw in each other. I thought they complemented each other very well. David Schwimmer did a great job in portraying Ross's achingly long unrequited love for Rachel, and I understood why Rachel fell for Ross when she found out that he was in love with her. And after they broke up in Season 3 and then again in early Season 4, I could still see a connection between the two characters. Also, I think both characters stayed true to form when they were together.

Joey and Rachel was a terrible, horrible idea. The worst thing the Friends writers ever did. The writers should have listened to Jennifer Aniston & Matt LeBlanc when they each expressed discomfort and dislike with the storyline. They even said these things publicly! Not only were Joey & Rachel like brother and sister, so it was squicky to see them together, but I agree with other posters who said it was highly out of character for Joey to betray his friendship with Ross like that.

I agree. I think (or thought at the time anyway) that they were setting up the Ross/Rachel reunion with this whole false proposal to force Ross to make a committment to Rachel. I was really disappointed when they didn't. The fact that they thought S8, then S9, and then S10 would be the last one made then stretch things for way longer than they needed to be. What a shame.

I think this little bit from TOW No One's Ready shows why I was never a huge fan of Ross and Rachel and didn't really give a crap if they got back together or not. In fact, I would have preferred if it they didn't get back together at the end at all.



Ross screaming at Rachel like she was a child didn't really endear him to me. Sure, he later apologized and almost drank the fat but his controlling behavior here should have been a giant, blinking neon sign to Rachel that Ross was not that great of a catch. Add to that his general assy-ness over her job at Bloomingdales and how easily he banged the copy girl should have shown Rachel that she was much better off without him.

I think that played into it, certainly, but what I found kind of disturbing was the episode where Rachel is trying to explain that she likes not being 'just a waitress' and having a part of her life that isn't connected to Ross (the episode where he goes to the fashion lecture and falls asleep) and can't Ross just understand that and he says 'yes, of course I understand' and hugs her but, over her shoulder, is mouthing 'no!' at the camera. He was just jealous and insecure of her generally and, while that was partly about other men, I think it was also partly about her career. He hated her long hours because a) they took her away from him (fair enough, I guess) but also because b) she loved her job and he felt insecure because he didn't, deep down, feel that she could love both her job and him. Witness the scene when he takes the picnic into her work when she's specifically told him that she has a deadline and doesn't have time to take a break.

Amen, lulu. That is pretty much how I feel about Monica and Chandler's relationship. I thought it was a breath of fresh air after that Rachel-Ross-Emily fiasco when it was just a fling. Later, I hated how Chandler spent $8,000 on a ring and his masculinity to marry and propose to Monica. Namely because the two Way/No Way members were the funniest of the six. IMO, pre-Mondler Chandler wouldn't have thought that doody joke was funny. Not to mention, there was that jilted and cringeworthy scene where he does propose to her. I thought Monica Geller was great and although I was neutral towards her (she just wasn't funny in the beginning), but flat out hated Monica Bing. She was too domineering and a manipulative shrew. She didn't care for Richard and his cigars, but lies and goes on a tirade when Chandler smokes cigarettes (of course, the latter is somewhat more harmful, but still)?

As far as Ross and Rachel go, I did love them, even if they became slightly annoying towards the end (especially when that abrupt Rachel-Joey relationship played into the mix, which was the worst pairing in the show's run). I just relate more to the unrequited that turned into an actually good pairing between them with a cute daughter, even if she became a non-factor at the end. See, I'm in the same thinking that Ross didn't actually mind Rachel working at Bloomingdale's at first, but when Mark became more of a factor (he must've seen Susan in Mark), that's when he became paranoid including that scene where he mouthes No in Phoebe's Ex-Partner. As far as No One's Ready goes, I think Rachel had to have known at least a week or two beforehand that he had a big event, not to mention all the craziness going around him (with Chandler and Joey, etc.), that things just culminated to a head and, unfortunately, erupted on Rachel.

I never thought of that, but I guess it would have been better if they'd gotten R&R together before the finale. We all knew it was going to happen, and while the "LET HER OFF THE PLANE!" stuff was funny and tense and all, it was really just filler, if you think about it. I liked that she was sort of standing with her arms around him in that very last scene; it looked comfortable and natural and solidified their permanent relationship for me. But still, it would have been nice to see them together more before it was all over.

Their relationship definitely had problems; personally I preferred it when they were played for comedy. "Can't a guy send a barbershop quartet to his girlfriend's office anymoooorrrre?!" It's well-known by now that the writers made M&C's fights funny to make up for it, but I still hated the serious R&R fights. I hated the thing in "TOW No One's Ready" and the "just a waitress" thing and all...it works in a show, but in real life I don't think a relationship would have survived all that, and it sort of tainted them a bit.

I felt really ripped off in the finale after Ross & Rachel got back together - they went from reconciling to standing around the apartment all huggy as if they'd been together forever. We should have seen the scene where they told the others they were back together. It was odd that there was no mention of it by any of the other friends.

I liked them best in the episode with Rachel's first ultrasound when she can't find the baby on the scan. They're irritable and snappy with each other, but supportive. I always felt they worked much better as friends.

ITA!!! IMO Ross never really loved Rachel but was just obsessed with the idea of "Rachel". If he loved her he wouldn't have slept with another woman the very night they went on a break, end of story. Ross had built up an idea of "Rachel" in his head since 9th grade, and when he finally got her, the reality didn't live up to the dream, he wanted to change her and became controlling, possessive and jealous. Once R/R broke up in season 3 that should have been that, no getting back together, the relationship clearly doesn't work. Plus I've never seen the supposed chemistry between them and I think Ross is a bit creepy.


Mondler on the other hand rock. I love C/M soooooo much, they are by far the best couple on the show.

I didn't like that he slept with the copy girl, but I do think that he loved Rachel. I think it shows in the episode, where Rachel has broken a rib or something and he stays home from a Discovery appearance or something like that and help her dress and put on makeup, without telling her anything about his Discovery gig.

I thought Joey and Phoebe had quite a nice chemistry together (with the "perfect kiss" and all), but I'm glad they never got together. I don't think it's very realistic for a group of close friends to all end up involved with each other. I'm glad that Phoebe met someone outside of the group and fell for him.

The whole Joey and Rachel thing would have been fine with me if it had actually had any overal significance. I hated how they just realised they had no sexual chemistry, and then the whole thing was never spoken of again. And I would have prefered the Ross-Rachel ending if he had gone to Paris with her (even though his son in New York is an issue). Between that and the Sex and the City finale, I felt a message was being sent that New York is the only city worth living in, and moving on is wrong.

But...it is...

Just kidding! I just had to throw that in there!

Especially since Rachel just an episode or two earlier just said that she felt there was not much more for her to do there careerwise and that's why she was excited about Paris...what happened with that?

The series seemed to present it as Rachel deciding to choose love over her career, which was of course what Ross had wanted her to do all along.

I understand Ross was stressing about being late at that time, but that quote does kind of sum up what bugs me about the R/R relationship. He was so condesending at times, and didn't seem to have a lot of respect for Rachel's intelligence. He didn't try to understand how important her having a career was, it was all about other men being attracted to Rachel's looks. Rachel even calls Ross on that, and points out that can't Ross understand that Mark took an interest in her abilities, not her looks. Whether or not Mark was ultimately attracted to Rachel, Ross didn't seem to get that Rachel needed to believe for her self-esteem that Mark was impressed by her abilities. She got the career she had always wanted, and all Ross could do was relate it back to Rachel in the relationship. Never mind what's best for Rachel as a person.

I think Ross did love Rachel, but he didn't respect her.

To me, this statement brings the discussion back to the thought that Ross loves his idea of who Rachel is, not for who she really is. He loved her as long as she fit into the nice little image of her that he'd created. I don't think you can truly love someone if you don't respect them.

I agree that their relationship has its issues, but I think Rachel was wrong to take that so personally. It's gross and stupid, sure, but sleeping with someone random is so out of character for Ross that I can't believe it would ever happen again. I think that he wouldn't have cheated on her, and I think he got drunk and did something stupid because he was in pain.

Now that I think about it, a huge amount of their relationship is like this: Rachel does something oblivious, so Ross does something stupid that hurts her in a way he never intended it to, Rachel takes it personal and yells and cries. Proble-matic.

The R/R ending of the series didn't bother me. I suppose I should've been bothered that Rachel gave up her great career to be with Ross, but during the whole Rachel-goes-to-Paris subplot, I couldn't stop thinking, "So she's going to leave her daughter behind? How the hell are they going to manage bicontinental custody?" It would've been nice if Ross had gone to Paris instead of making Rachel give up her career, but there's also Ben. I would've preferred if these issues had all been addressed in the finale, but I guess by then, I was filled with good will and nostalgia about the show so I let that brush aside.

Monica/Chandler - loved them up until the proposal. Then they became tiresome, with shrill Monica and whipped Chandler, for the next few years. Fortunately, they became likable again with the storyline and I seriously "awwed" when they got their twins.

Phoebe/David vs. Phoebe/Mike - I adore Hank Azaria and I pulled for Phoebe/David for the longest time. I groaned when Mike showed up to propose to Phoebe in Barbados. But watching it a second time, Phoebe/Mike just made more sense to me. I think it's a testament to Lisa Kudrow, because she completely sold me on that pairing by the end.

Remember, he called her from the bar where the party is, and guess who's there having dinner? Mark! He's calls, she's having dinner with the guy that makes him so insane. And Rachel KNOWS he's jealous of Mark, but that evidently didn't matter.

So yeah, when he slams the phone down, he's definitely hurt. The Xerox girl with the belly ring has got the hots for Ross big time, so when that opportunity came, he jumped on it... both figuratively and literally. I can't say that I blame him, he's operating from the idea that Rachel's broken up with him, she's having dinner with another guy... he's thinking he's a free agent.

Then, there's the 'morning after' when the excrement hits the oscillating device...

Rachel didn't invite Mark over. He came over on his own. Rachel did nothing wrong. It's not her fault that Ross was insecure about Mark.

For the most part, Rachel didn't do anything wrong (and isn't her fault) about Ross' insecurity. However, Rachel sort of did lie about having Mark over. She only started to backtrack when Ross called her on having him over, which certainly didn't help with his whole insecurity bit.

That said, I didn't really like David - even though Azaria is awesome and did the best with what was given. Like Chandler, I thought David was way too much of a pushover for Phoebe, except even more than Chandler.

Richard/Monica: I loved and adored this pair. I never really understood why they broke them up so suddenly in S2. It just *happened,* one eppie everything was great and wonderful and the next Monica wants to get pregnant NOW and they just break up? Ugh. I loved when he came back in S6, but by then it was pretty clear that the writers had spent 2 years building up Mondler so it's not like they were going to ruin it all. I hated that they ended w/ Richard being all alone and devastated at his apartment, hating that he's a "good guy."

Mondler: They were a cute couple. I loved their beginning in London, but at the same time, I hated that the writers hooked them up. They made the show so cliche-ish when you realized that 4 of the 6 friends were going to be together forevah, since it was obvious that R/R would get back together too. Plus, I love when shows introduce new love interests for their main characters, and having Mondler ruined introducing viable love interests for both Mon and Chandler. Overall, I believed it tho. And I esp loved that they didn't have the R/R breaking up all the time drama.

Phoebe and Mike/David/Joey- I fully believe that if the writers didn't know that ML was going to have a spinoff ahead of time, then Joey and Phoebe would hook-up and the show would go the all- 6- looked- for- love- in- NYC- and- they- had- it- all- along-arent-we-so-awesome!? route, so good thing it didn't happen. I liked David most for Phoebe tho, and I really kept hoping that they'd bring him back, and ditch Mike. He has zero personality, and I felt that Pheebs should be w/ someone much more alive and quirky and different.

Ross/Rachel- I loved them, and its mostly b/c of them that I got so into the show as I did at the time. I think that Ross was completely right about Mark, and when Mark came back in S10 he proved it by admitting that he always had a thing for Rachel. I also love how the show came a full circle w/ these two- Mark was the one who really broke them up, and it was his proposal that brought them back together. And about Emma- I always thought that when the writers originally thought that the show was going to end in S9, she was a vehicle for reconciliation. And that's the way it was going- all through S8, they got closer and closer together. However, the actors agreed to their astronomical $1M salaries for the last year, and the writers had to break Ross/Ross up to continue all through S9 and S10 to keep the suspense.

She didn't want to get pregnant NOW, but she did want to have a baby some day. That was the whole crux of the conversation, she was young and dreamed of having a family and he had already raised his children and didn't want to start over. He finally gives in but he is so reluctant "If I have to..." She wanted someone who wanted a baby too. I actually liked that break-up and the reasoning behind it, especially because you could really see the struggle there, they both wanted what's best for the other person. Unfortunately that meant somebody else.

Especially considering so many of the other relationships we were introduced to ended under the most ridiculous circumstances. Monica meets a kind, smart, seemingly stable guy in Pete the Millionaire, then BANG! Boy gets a crazy deathwish. Phoebe hooks up with a sweet, funny cop who genuinely seems to care for her, then BANG! Guy shoots a bird for no particular reason. I don't mind the crazy kooks the Friends date when they come and go in a single episode (i.e. the dirty girl that Ross dated), but when I've invested a couple of weeks in a character, I'd like to see them treated a little more fairly. Except in the case of Elizabeth, who couldn not get off my screen fast enough.

I hated when the tree came back in season 6. The issue was dealt with and buried in TOI Vegas. No need for rehashing. And I don't care what the writers say in the commentary, no way did the tree come off as a "good guy" in TOW The Proposal. He had no business trying to come between Mondler.

I always wished Emily had come back. IMO Ross was much happier with her than he ever was with Rachel.

I agree that bringing back Richard in season six was pointless and contrived drama of Ross-Rachel proportion; however, I liked the Sweet and Slightly Obsessive Monica Geller (see Richard or pre-UFC Pete) more than the Full-Blown Neurotic and Grating Monica Bing (see Chandler). And I didn't like neutered post-Everyone Finds Out Chandler.


I originally like David in the first episode. Then again, I felt like David had no personality or a spine, conforming to whatever Phoebe told him although Mike wasn't that much better. I liked Gary the Cop the most, shame they wrote off his character that way.

Ooh...relationships! Probably my favourite thing about Friends. This could take a long time...

Monica and Chandler - Love them together. My favourite time is when they first got together and were sneaking around, but overall, I just think they were a great couple. I would guess that 80% of my favourite episodes have a great Monica & Chandler storyline (most likely, a season 5 or 6 episode). That said, I agree with the posts about how a lot of the fun went out of the relationship once they got engaged and especially after they got married. However, I don't think it was entirely due to their getting married. In particular, it appeared that the writers genuinely thought that shrill, obsessive, shrew Monica was funny, and I think they would have gone that direction even if they hadn't get married. Chandler's character decline might be attributed more closely to hooking up with Monica, but I just think that the writers ran out of ideas in general. Perry's timing and delivery didn't seem as good in the later seasons either. Overall, I don't think that the direction Chandler & Monica's characters took had much to do with them hooking up - I think that all of the characters took a downward spiral some time from Season 7-9 (hitting rock bottom in 10). In their case, it just happened to coincide with the timing of their relationship.

Ross & Rachel - Loved the original idea. I'm glad that they got together in the second season, because I think it would have been ridiculous for Ross's unrequited love to go unnoticed for 10 seasons (ugh). I also think it was the right move to break them up, although I really hated Ross's character--the jealousy and possessiveness was irritating, and I don't blame Rachel one bit for not wanting to be with him after he slept with someone else right after they broke up and then lied to her about it. For the most part, I thought the writers actually did a pretty good job of finding reasons for them to be apart, but still keeping them connected and keeping it funny. Up until about Season 8-9. I'm with the people that thought they should have gotten together after Emma's birth. It wouldn't have been doable with 2 more seasons to go, but Seasons 9 & 10 were such crap anyways that I'd be OK with giving them up. Anyways, I'm happy they got together in the end, but I would have preferred seeing them together for more than 2 minutes. Ultimately, I'd always thought that the show should end with Ross & Rachel's wedding, to bring it full circle from the first episode with Rachel walking out on her wedding. Yeah, it wouldn't have been very suspenseful, but who cares.

Rachel & Joey - Ugh. Gag me. I never bought this for one minute. I didn't believe Joey having feelings for Rachel in Season 8, but I could live with it. However, the proposal misunderstandings and Rachel all of a sudden developing feelings for Joey were so contrived. This, from the woman who told Monica, "Maybe I'll just sleep with Joey" to get Monica to think she was incredibly lonely and desperate? Yeah right. The hook-up was a waste of time, too.

Phoebe & Joey - actually, I thought they were the most "made for each other" of the friends. In some ways, I'm glad that they didn't get together, because that definitely would have seemed contrived that they all paired up. But I do think that they would have made a good couple.

Phoebe & Mike - eh...I can take them or leave them. I think I probably prefer Mike to any of the other guys Phoebe has dated, but he was always a bit of an outsider.

Monica & Richard - probably one of the best handled relationships on Friends and one of the most realistic break-ups. I even liked him coming back in TOW The Proposal. It's probably the only relationship between a Friend and a non-Friend that I really bought into.

Rachel was never going to leave Emma behind. It's made very clear that she is packing Emma's things for Paris and that Emma will be coming over within the week with Rachel's mother. The only reason Rachel was going ahead alone first was to get a start on the job and settling into an apartment without having to worry about a baby. Which made a lot of sense.

Ross being willing to let Rachel go and to miss out on seeing Emma day-to-day actually convinced me that he really did still love Rachel. I think the writers handled that just right.

I'm glad they didn't force them together either, but I really wanted them to do the storyline that Phoebe and Joey had been having sex all these years whenever they're both single and horny. It would have been a very fun reveal and not spoiled anything... kind of like what Frasier did with Frasier and Roz finally sleeping together.

Phoebe and Mike made sense in the end, they seemed to just have fun together. But I was rooting for Phoebe and David for a while... even though he was a little wimpy, MAN do I ever love Hank Azaria.

I really liked Phoebe with the cop. I think TPTB should've let that relationship go on longer. He seemed to be the strong spine guy she needed, unwilling to take her crap but still fun.

Ross/Rachel: I've always had mixed feelings on this one. Frankly, when they first got together, the show became unwatchable for me. I'm a huge Friends fan now, but I've caught up on all the episodes through re-runs, because the R/R romance drove me away like a swarm of locusts. They were just so overly saccharine and mushy - I just couldn't take it.

However... their fighting was hilarious, some of the best comedy on the show! "We are SOOOO over!" "(*Whimper, whimper*) FINE BY ME!" is one of my favorite moments. And yet, I wasn't disappointed when they finally got back together at the end of the series finale. Alot of years had gone by, they were both very different people. We'd seen a side of them where they'd had alot of ups and downs, reconciliations, the accidental marriage in Vegas, Ross saying Rachel's name at his wedding to Emily, Emma's birth, etc. So by the time the last season rolled around, the writers had forged a real relationship for these two characters, and took it past that initial stage of the over-the-top sweetness back when they first started. So I hated the relationship at first, but was happy to see them together at the end, just by virtue of how the characters were so much more grown up.

Joey/Rachel: No. Just no no no. The only good thing to come of that was Ross' dinner party to show how "FINE! I'M JUST FINE!" he was with them getting together.

Chandler/Monica: My favorite by far! They were still hilarious together without getting sappy. And the really "Could Be Sappy" moments between C/M were handled much better than they were with early R/R. Monica attempting to propose was so sweet, but still had that element of comedy when she just wails, "There's a reason girls don't do this!!" I loved the adoption story, because in addition to the sweetness of the story, again, the comedy was awesome: Chandler accidentally telling the kid that he was adopted, to say nothing of one of my favorite Chandler lines ever, when he realizes Erica's giving birth to twins: "Chandler, you're panicking!" "JOIN ME, won't you?!" Chandler and Monica didn't dissolve into this puddle of syrup just because they got together like R/R did, yet they still had lots of very sweet moments.

Phoebe/David: The one huge mistake on the part of the writers. Not having her ultimately get back together with David for good was a huge misstep. No chemistry with Mike that I can see, but her quirky, oddball chemistry with David was wonderful.

Phoebe/Joey: True, the writers never went there, but it might have been very sweet. Second only to her with David.

Poll question: was anyone rooting for Mike? I'm hearing so much pro-David, and I'm wondering if that's the majority feeling.

I love David, but I wasn't watching very regularly during the Mike seasons, so I'm not sure what I think.

Leonard Shelby said:



I think what really irritated me about the Rachel-Ross-Mark situation was that Rachel was so DISMISSIVE of Ross's concerns about Mark -- I mean, Mark randomly meets Rachel, who has zero experience in the fashion industry and whose only real job was as a waitress, and he suddenly wants to take her under his wing? I don't think of myself as a cynical person but it struck me as pretty suspicious and I ultimately felt vindicated when Mark gave Rachel his little "let's get back at him right here on this couch" spiel in the aftermath of Ross's infidelity. I just hated that Ross was "crazy" for thinking Mark was interested in Rachel...which the writers put a fine point on by giving Mark an office girlfriend for, what, an entire episode (when she was never mentioned prior to or following that episode)? I think it would've been proper for Rachel to at least seriously acknowledge Ross's concern and say "Hey, whatever Mark's intentions are, he's outta luck because I'm in love with you." Just something that didn't amount to Rachel's usual bitching about Ross not being supportive of her career choices. I think Ross deserved this kind of consideration, especially since Carol screwed him over royally (maybe that's why I like Ross so much -- Susan was such a pill and so rude to Ross, especially considering she helped Carol cheat on him, and he still at least tried to make an effort to be nice to her; you always got the feeling that he was a stand-up guy who deserved better than what life had given him).

As for the whole copy girl situation, I'm going to express an unpopular opinion: I think Rachel should've had more understanding for what happened and WHY it happened. Yes, she had every right to be angry but look at it from Ross's perspective: Your girlfriend gets a new job, has no time for you, is getting closer to a man whose intentions are questionable (but to make things more infuriating, she thinks your concerns are groundless), tells you she needs a break from your relationship (which is totally ambiguous, I'd have no idea what that would mean if my BF said he needed a "break" -- what exactly are the guidelines??), and then when you call her, she's having dinner alone in her apartment with the very guy who drives you crazy?? It wasn't Rachel's fault that Mark was there, but how does Ross know the circumstances?? All he knows is: they're on a break, Mark is swooping in, and Rachel is letting him. And he's been drinking. So he does something stupid. Lying about it, I think, was worse than the actual cheating. It did bother me though, that, in the actual break-up conversation, Ross never made Rachel answer for Mark's presence that night.

The Ross and Rachel break-up was heartbreaking in the first go-round and hilarious (the 18 page letter -- both sides!) in the second, but I think it's ridiculous that Ross got the lion's share of the blame for the break-up. Rachel was always a little too self-absorbed to understand her role in things -- I started to feel later that she didn't ultimately care why Mark had gotten her the job, she just saw an opportunity and took it (not the worst thing in the world, but don't treat your boyfriend like a mental patient just because he's a bit skeptical) . Also, in TOW They're All Getting Ready, I saw it as Rachel being typical Rachel and caring more about how she looked than about the fact that it was Ross's night. And then she pulls a hissy fit when he gets impatient with her and changes into sweats declaring she won't go because it's all. about. Rachel. And then Ross almost drinks fat for her!

As for the other couplings, Rachel/Joey should NEVER have happened. I don't know who thought that would be a good idea.

Monica/Chandler: I would've liked them to come back from England and decide that it was just a fling and continue dating other people and THEN realize that they belonged together. I suppose most people preferred that it didn't go the way of R/R will-they-or-won't-they but I thought they could've used a little tension in the beginning, especially if they kept the fling a secret. It would've been interesting to see Monica or Chandler try to sabotage the other's dates after both realize they miss one another. I do agree however, that there was some major character assassination after they got together. Chandler was best in his Janice/Kathy phases and Monica was undeniably better, more likable, funnier when she was with Richard (although their break-up, as others have said, was achingly real).

It was always hard to see Phoebe in a relationship. There were fleeting moments where I pictured her with Joey or Ross (I enjoyed the antagonism) but I agree with others who said that Gary the cop was best suited to her.

Overall, I was a little disappointed by where they went with the characters by the last season. Ross was no longer a sweet, insecure guy but a complete nut with emotional issues; Monica used to be a sweet, slightly competitive neat freak but became an overbearing,
OCD-plagued shrill nightmare; Chandler went from the quick wit to an emasculated lap dog for Monica; Phoebe went from being a little quirky (in a sort of crunchy granola hippie chick way) to outright WEIRD and sometimes a little disturbing and Joey went from being the smooth-talking lothario to an aging actor with an expanding waistline. Rachel was the one, IMO, who had the best and most complete character arc. She really grew up a lot over the course of the series in a mostly positive way.

Ross CHEATED, period. Nothing Rachel did caused him to do that. If he truely loved her, he wouldn't have slept with someone else the same night of the "break". IMO after that night the R/R farce/relationship was beyond repair and there should never be any getting back together.



I also disagree with this, they're both the best sex the other has ever had. Why would they ever want to throw that away?

This is just my opinion and YMMV but it's not cheating when you're on a break. And they were on a break. Rachel said she wanted it and then took it back later. Not fair in my book.

mondlerlove said:



But see, there's a fundamental issue of ambiguity about the "break" and what it meant. There's confusion from the outset: Ross initially thinks Rachel wants to take a break from the fighting and go get some frozen yogurt or whatever until she clarifies that she wants a break from THEM (her emphasis, not mine). When Ross hears Mark in the background when he calls Rachel, he starts to get even more confused about what "break" means. It's only when Rachel comes to his apartment the next morning that he even realizes what he's done. He was operating under the assumption that they were broken up. Does this mean that he shouldn't accept his share of the blame? Not at all. He contributed to their break-up in a serious way, but my point is...that's obvious. Everyone knows that Ross did something wrong. No one looks at Rachel and sees the way in which she contributed to the downfall of their relationship. Ross is not a womanizer or a philanderer. That has never been part of his characterization. So, you have to believe that something drove him to cheat. It doesn't absolve him of any responsibility attached to his actions but I think it's important to understand that his choice was the result of a particular set of circumstances for which Rachel is partially responsible. Again, it doesn't mean she didn't have a right to be angry/upset/break up with him, but her complete lack of perspective is grating.


Re: Chandler/Monica


So what would be their reason for breaking up with the lovers who had previously been the best lovers they'd been with? Sex isn't the sole criterion. They could've decided not to continue for any number of reasons (e.g., to preserve the friendship, fear of pushing the relationship too far, etc) and I think that might have been interesting, but who knows? I just know that I found the Bings very tiresome.

I totally agree with you, Violette363. I must say though, when I initially saw the episode (I was a teen back in 1996), I perceived it very differently, and sided quite strongly with Rachel. Certainly, I've come to see it as being a lot more nuanced over the years. The writers were really able to construct a situation where both parties were partly right, and partly to blame for the downfall of the relationship, which is realistic. Most relationships are damaged a bit by both sides. As much as I can understand the terrible pain Rachel felt when she heard he slept with someone else and then tried to cover it up (quite a betrayal of trust), she didn't seem to try to understand why. Ross was always so devoted to her. Why would he do this except because he was in pain over a relationship he thought was all but gone? It doesn't excuse the stupidity of his gesture, but the fact that Rachel didn't even want to try to work through it, seemed a bit too extreme a reaction.

As I've said before in the thread, I give credits to the writers though for breaking up Ross and Rachel fairly early on. I thought it was a good move because there wasn't necessarily anywhere else to go with them, and you were then expecting the relationship would get fixed in the short term, and it never did until the end.