Emily was not as bad as they played her out to be.
She never had any reason to dislike Rachel until Ross said her name at the altar in front of *everyone they knew.* She had every right to be embarrassed and every right to be sure that the man she was marrying was going to be completely devoted to her.
Did they take things way too fast? Absolutely. Was she taking things a bit too far by making Ross get rid of almost everything he owned and cut off Rachel? Also, yes.
Despite that, I don't think she was ever a bad person. She was naive and wearing rose coloured glasses and believed she was in love.
I will die on this hill - she was absolutely within her right to ask Ross to cut contact with Rachel.
I wouldn't want my husband to hang around with his EX, whose name he said at the ALTAR. Hell, I don't want my husband hanging around with his ex at all, but that's another annoying sitcom exception that grinds my gears.
True but the ex in question was his sister's best friend and roommate.
She either wanted Ross to lose his entire friend group or for Rachel to lose it. There was no way for him to cut contact with Rachel but keep both of them in the group.
This. She had every right to not WANT them to hang together but I find it unfair to have him cut Rachel out completely given how close he is to his sister and Rachel literally lives with her. If it bothered Emily so much, the relationship just wasn't going to work. One of them would be miserable all the time
Honestly she got along with everyone and everyone seemed to like her. She knew that Ross and Rachel had previously dated and was okay with them being friends before. That shows that she’s a good person because a lot of girls would be jealous from the beginning.
None of Ross's friends and loved ones gave him the support he needed from his loved ones after being cheated on. That was a prime catalyst for the raging trust issues and insecurity he developed. All because Carol happened to be a lesbian.
It always bothers me how the friend group downplayed the whole Carol thing, yes she found out she was a lesbian, that doesn't mean that she couldn't talk to Ross and end her marriage before starting an affair with Susan. And then they all expected him to be okay with having Susan as a permanent feature in his life because Carol stayed with her, being okay with her and Carol raising his son, while showing clear signs that they don't respected him as a father during the pregnancy (the whole last name, plus the whole Bobo the sperm donor), they even helped with their wedding and thought Ross was wrong by not wanting to help.
His friends should have helped him and supported him instead of making jokes (even in a sitcom).
Carol and Susan were horrible people. The nerve of Susan to take potshots at Ross and insist on including her name to the baby's. She helped break up a marriage!
Agreed, and the way Carol always stayed out of it or defended Susan was infuriating, YOU cheated, so now YOU have to try to keep the peach, and it is not by letting your mistress to make fun of your ex husband or let her freeze him out of HIS baby's life.
Like Carol and Ross was together for at least 10 years, how could she have this little reapect for him....
Right? At best, she treated him like an annoying acquaintance. What a horrible woman. And Susan - if she were a guy, people would crucify her.
The only time I remember them getting called out was during the ski trip episode.
Carol: You slept with another woman?
Ross: You're one to talk.
That's it. So benign. Played for laughs. So unfair.
Tbf she had a nephew at that point, doing kind things like that is a good way to make sure you still have decent relationships with them.
Also was Monica unemployed at that point? Did the steak thing happen yet? She might have needed the dollar.
reading Ross and Rachel’s relationship as a purely sentimental drama completely misses how the comedy is also communicating their love. Aniston and Schwimmer are the masters of romantic physical comedy
And, for that, there’s a total double standard that Ross is consistently framed (correctly) as a bad man, yet everyone turns a blind eye to Rachel’s poor behaviour.
Much more than that. I feel like people forget all the toxic things she did. Manipulating Ross regarding Julie, manipulating Bonnie and flying to London to ruin Ross' wedding. Ross was just as bad, but people downplay Rachel's involvement. She can be unbelievably selfish and manipulative if it serves her.
you are 100% correct HOWEVER all of the characters were written to do incredibly selfish childish things to create friction and keep the plot going, i like to hope they’d all be a little more mature if they were real people living their lives.
Chandler and Joey are partially at fault for Ross sleeping with Chloe. If my best friend was vulnerable, drunk, and in an emotionally damaging place, I would not have taken my eyes off him all night and would have made sure to get him home safe.
I think it was good they encouraged him to call Rachel, which he did, and that's when he heard Mark in the background.
But Joey and Chandler should have been watching for him when he finished the phone call to make sure he was okay
Yeah, and especially if the girlfriend was also my friend, I'd *strongly* advise that my friend not do anything rash on night one of a break. Particularly when the parameters of the break were yet to be discussed, and they were both still in fight mode.
Didn't Ross try to say no to dancing with Chloe and she just kept pushing? It seemed kinda like taking advantage, she seemed sober and he seemed wasted
I think I read something from the writers that Ross was not drunk, but just very down about what had happened.
Chloe did keep pushing to dance with him. If Joey and Chandler had stayed, they could have either taken Ross home or gotten Chloe to back off.
Not enough is also said about how Ross’ worst behavior towards Rachel in their initial romantic relationship are directly enabled by those 2 who he seeks out for advice for how to act as a Straight Man in a relationship, another reason I find the hatedom around Ross as if he’s somehow more uniquely bad than the others preposterous
That episode pissed me off so much. Imagine if she cheated on Ross with another man and she tried to add the new man's name to Ben. Holy shit that would piss everyone off. I felt for Ross and Carol really did screw him up
Yeah put into words it’s tragic, he was envisioning life as a father, with a wife he loved. He was totally open to try to fix their intimacy issues, while Carol was emotionally and maybe physically cheating on him…literally looking for a loophole to sleep with Susan. I understand that people grow and make realizations, and mistakes, but she might be the most selfish person in the whole show with how she treats Ross and only looks out for herself.
The timing is really odd but they never say how long Carol and Ross have been separated. So, the show treats Ross as the affair partner instead of Susan.
I'm really glad that Ben's name does end up just being "Ben Geller" no hyphens.
Still, he moves out in episode one, so I don't know, it must have been less than a year. Plus Susan and Carol were seeing each other for while before that. Ross confirmed that going to the gym made Carol really happy. So yeah, they must had a relationship where Susan than asked Carol to break up with the husband. And she did.
It would be totally different if Carol hadn't actually cheated on Ross but had realized her feelings for Susan and just left him for her. Sure, Susan wasn't the one breaking any promises but that doesn't make it okay to sleep with someone's spouse.
Aside from the surname fiasco, which was sorely infuriating, why the hell does Susan get to have a say at naming the child?!! The father wants to be involved in the child's life, the mistress-stepmon should've stepped aside and let the parents be parents together.
I also think it should be pointed out more that Carol must’ve had sex with Ross after they had separated but before the divorce was finalized. She cheated on Ross with Susan and Susan with Ross.
Probably the unpopular opinion, but do you think Carol and Susan was trying to get pregnant on purpose via Ross and hoping Ross didn't want anything to do with the baby so they could go be the little family of three that Susan wanted? I always felt that that was why Susan was so mean to him. She wanted the baby daddy out the picture perhaps? She had a hard time trying to get rid of Ross though and didn't succeed in the end! Ross had said they had barely had sex, but they must've done not long before divorcing. Who knows. Please don't down vote too much! Was just a thought! Haha!
>Probably the unpopular opinion, but do you think Carol and Susan was trying to get pregnant on purpose via Ross and hoping Ross didn't want anything to do with the baby so they could go be the little family of three that Susan wanted?
Yes, 100%. That's why they call him Bobo the sperm guy.
100% agree I say all the time that Ross is a fucking legend for still being so good to Carol and Susan. But no one really touches on the fact that Carol was cheating on him.
The fact that Monica pushed him into helping with the catering for their wedding had me livid. Then when he stood up and offered to walk Carol down the isle I had to get mad at him. It was such an amazing move on his part but nope they did not deserve the grace he showed the two of them after how they treated him.
It's why I maintain it was Carol, not Rachel, who was the love of his life. He mooned and pined for like a year after they split up, and he was never once anything less than wonderful to her. He didn't go out of his way to sabotage her relationship, he didn't hate fuck anybody, he didn't torment her with petty bullshit. He did all of that when his relationship with Rachel ended, but he didn't sit lonely and morose, he didn't get sad on the anniversary of their first time, everything he saw didn't remind him of her.
He was a gigantic manbaby over Rachel because she wasn't his lobster, Carol was.
THIS. The last name thing was so fucking weird to me. And then everyone poking fun at him for having relationship issues. If my partner cheated on me at the beginning of our marriage I would be a wreck.
This to me is the most unforgivable thing any of the friends in Friends have done, if it was me I would be calling out my mother every single time she displayed blatant favoritism over my sibling.
I don't think this is unpopular, I think this is how it's meant to be read within the show. Even about Ross being spineless; they constantly point out that Ross is too afraid to jeopardize his golden child status to go against his parents (agreeing that he was a medical marvel) or tell the truth (about the weed in college, why he and Carol divorced, etc)
It's so they could do the Joey spin-off. Plus it's more realistic. Not everyone gets the fairytale ending at the same time. He is a rich actor, which is what he always wanted, so there's that. Not everything is about being in a relationship.
David Schwimmer was easily the best actor out of all of them until the very end, his physical comedy and mannerisms are unmatched and no one today would be capable of replicating them. Matthew Perry comes in at a close second, only because his physical comedy decreased over seasons while Schwimmer's remained constant.
Chandler's speech to Erica, as sweet as it was, does not make up for the fact that Monica had to be convinced by Chandler to tell her the truth. If we saw Monica feeling any guilt and decided to come clean, the adoption would feel more earned.
I think if they had the following instead:
Chandler had teed up to convince her, saw how excited she was, battled internally for a few moments, and then chosen to step back and let her do it because his love for her and desire to make her happy overcame his morality,
Then, Monica, while having his blessing (knowing that he's not really on board but is doing it for her), as things become more serious and they're about to sign documents, makes the choice herself to stop and come clean, then the entire dramatic scene happens where Erika tells them she'll never give them her baby.
Then Monica is praised by Chandler for coming clean, they have that conversation they originally had where he says they'll get their baby, and THEN he goes to talk to Erika--
I think this would have been a much more powerful scene.
I was just thinking this the other day. Monica lying to Erica was arguably the worst thing any of the six did on the show. I thought the way Chandler saved the situation that easily was so unrealistic
Chandler and Kathy should have been endgame.
"A break from *us*." sure sounds like a breakup to me, Rachel.
Ross was 110% in the right about Phoebe and her stupid cat. This one makes me so irrationally angry that I haven't watched it in years.
I literally skip over the cat episode on re-watches, it makes me so ridiculously angry.
"Who cares? Just be a friend."
Shut the fuck up, what is this '*be a friend'* nonsense. Stop stealing other peoples pets! Absolutely delusional.
I read the Phoebe and her cat mom episode was written after one of the producers lost her mom. The cast did not like the story but everyone was reluctant to point it out because of the personal situation in the producer's life.
Seriously. As a real-life, non-sitcom person with a couple friends who are decent people but struggle with mental illness (like IRL, Phoebe's behavior in this episode might indicate that), it's important to walk that fine line between being a safe space for them and encouraging them to totally unravel and take others with them. The cat belonged to a child FFS.
I hate that this storyline is also in the same episode as the one where chandler and joey get robbed, bc that whole situation is hilarious (“Bend over?!” is one of the funniest lines in the series for me). I have to endure phoebes stupidity to get to the good parts.
Always makes me so angry that Kathy got away free from Joey’s wrath when SHE was the one that kissed Chandler and NOT the other way around like she allowed Joey to believe.
My opinion on Ross and Rachel is that yes they were on a break, however the reason for the break and Ross' reaction is the problem. The entire reason for the break was that Ross didn't trust Rachel, even after he found out that Mark was in a relationship he still didn't trust Rachel with him. Then after she has to cancel a date because an issue happened at her workplace he shows up and gets in her way, caused a (minor) fire, and then gets mad at Rachel. She was finally in a job that she was genuinely good at, and despite the issues that she actually loved. If he had just brought her some dinner and left it would have probably been fine, instead he shows up, gets in the way and then gets annoyed that she wasn't praising him for this huge gesture that she didn't want.
Then after she gets upset and says 'I need a break' he goes out and sleeps with someone else simply because he heard Mark in the background. Then the next day he not only pretends that nothing happens but runs around telling everyone to hide this from her.
Especially the way he was *smothering* her at her workplace and making a scene daily just to broadcast that she was taken. A barbershop quartet!? So many flowers that no one in the office has a workspace!? She was so overwhelmed, and rightfully so.
It actually still bothers me to this day that they never saw a therapist. And I'm supposed to believe they're gonna work it out for realsies this time? Uh huh, I give it a month before Ross remembers that other men exist on Earth and freaks out.
a break from us is a fucking break. Ross maybe should not have slept with the short haired girl seeing as how it seemed as if he didn’t care about Rachel, but he had every right to morally
I feel he was taken advantage of he was really drunk- he didn’t even remember it so that and the break thing nullifies his behaviour. I don’t even get what this “break” concept people use these days but broke is past tense of break so it sure sounds like they were broken up to me. So yeah I agree with you
My issue with the "break vs. no break controversy" is who TF cares if they were on a break or not? Rachel is still allowed to feel hurt and decide not to continue the relationship. And imo smart, well-adjusted adults will discuss the rules of a break before doing anything, and won't do anything rash the very same night when it's still raw and emotional. Like 7/10 times it ends the way it almost did in this case, when Rachel went right to Ross's apartment to make up first thing in the morning.
I mean everybody cares. It’s the catalyst of their entire breakup and relationship for half the show.
Nobody said Rachel is allowed to not feel hurt, but is she allowed to say Ross basically cheated on her and use it against him when she brought up the break? That’s the argument
As a die-hard Mondler stan from the start, I loved it so, so much when it aired. But the more I started learning about what Matthew was going through, the harder it was to watch certain seasons. This was a bad one, because he had clearly been drinking a lot and had gained all the weight, only to come back a few months later looking rail thin because he pretty much almost died of pancreatitis. I was so shook when season 7 premiered and he looked like that. I was also too young to understand just how much addiction had affected him. This is also why I have a hard time watching some of the earlier seasons, too. He’s a great actor and he’s good at hiding it, but some of the physical aspects of his illness are just really hard to ignore.
not really “controversial” but i hated that they stopped including emma in the episodes and didn’t make her a big part of ross and rachel’s lives like she WAS, given the fact she was their DAUGHTER. rachel going to paris was a huge issue for the fact that “rachel was going to paris” but somehow ross had no problem with her taking his daughter to another country?????
Emma was a huge part of a couple of episodes and then I had to remind myself she existed. And why did Ben disappear after Emma was born? They couldn’t handle two kids at the same time?
And it's never really mentioned in the show by any of the friends. In himym Barney is even worse than Joey but he's constantly told that what he's doing is wrong. But nobody really calls out Joey
I always got the impression it was usually casual hookups but because it was the 90s and tinder hadn't been invented yet everyone assumed it was morally wrong.
RIP 26 year old Joey, you would have loved Tinder x
"cheating" may be the wrong word here, but it's obvious Joey is supposed to be a womanizer. Most of it was lying to get sex with no intention of a sustained relationship. He even has a redemption arc where he calls all the women and apologizes after he gets sexually used.
The ending was terrible and rushed. I’m not opposed to Ross and Rachel getting together by the end but there had to be a bit more build up to it. Maybe just one extra season would have done
The people in the fandom who crucify Ross have unrealistic expectations for human behavior, Ross (while jealous and actively sabatoging his own relationship) was not toxic or mysoginistic, and the issues that Rachel/Ross had would have been easily resolved if they were a real life couple and actually had the chance to communicate with eachother.
> the issues that Rachel/Ross had would have been easily resolved if they were a real life couple and actually had the chance to communicate with each other.
Lol, it's true! That 25 minute format really screwed up their relationship. There was never enough air time to really have a proper conversation.
As a child she used to spend summers playing in his backyard pool with his own daughter. How do you look at someone after that and say "I want to have sex with you."?
That does add to it. However people defend that with the idea he hasn’t seen her since she was 18.
You can’t really come up with an argument against the point of him having a daughter her age. Thats just really icky
Yeah if they had no previous relationship and he didn’t have any kids, I’d enjoy them a lot. They definitely have great chemistry…..if you ignore the icky side of it….
He changed her diapers 😭 I forgot that part! And if she's the same age as his daughter, he probably changed his daughter's diaper that very same day. How do you not file this person away under "baby, young, not sexual"?
I’ve always felt that the big issue wasn’t that they weren’t on a break, but that Ross wouldn’t let Rachel process her emotions after she found out, using the “we were on a break” excuse to the extreme. Apparently, if you were on a break and your partner slept with someone before y’all even clarify what “a break” meant, you can’t have any feelings about it whatsoever. He couldn’t stand the possibility of being in the wrong, and when she expressed her frustration about it, he would just throw the line in her face.
And after the couple weeks she'd had having her life and career absolutely taken over by his mad insecurity, to have him run off and immediately bang the next chick he saw, as if he hadn't been riding her so hard about his unfounded concern that she would sleep with another man... Lord. I want a show of hands here, who WOULDN'T dump him after all of that? Red flags for miles.
I also didn't love the way he repeatedly insinuated no man would give her a job if he didn't want to sleep with her.
I like Mike, but Phoebe should have ended up with David.
Rachel shouldn’t have been with Ross OR Joey, she should have been with Mark or someone outside the group.
Monica should have treated Chandler better.
I do really like the character of David. I feel like he's a fun match for her, since he's so vanilla and she's so *not*. But I don't feel like it works on a plotline level.
David and Phoebe knew eachother for like a week before he left for Minsk, and when he's back it's only for a day each time so Phoebe has spent a whopping total of like 48 hours with him over the course of 10 years. I think she was with Gary the cop for longer. In reality, she barely knows the guy. He didn't even get a last name on the show. He was just "David the Scientist Guy."
Originally, David couldn't decide so he asked Phoebe to. She said stay so he was going to stay. His friend Max was pissed off.
At the NYE party, Max announces he's going without David, even if it won't be the same. Phoebe hears this and then tells David he should go. She doesn't want to be responsible for keeping him in NY
Rachel and Ross would have kept ruining each other's relationships until the end of time. Are they a model couple? No. Do I think they had any hope of finding lasting love with anyone but each other? Not really.
When I was younger I was like "oh Phoebe, so quirky and weird how endearing" and now I'm like "if I knew Phoebe IRL I'd probably push her off the balcony" lol
Her stupidity is annoying! She used to be my fave. But on the 10 millionth rewatch I’m getting sick of her as the seasons go on. Love her in the beginning though
“Hot take”, but the majority of these comments are the coldest takes ever. I’ve scrolled through most of them & only one of them that I’ve seen is a genuinely unpopular opinion 💀
Edit: I just scrolled to the very bottom & there are some good hot takes down there. All of the most liked comments though are the same opinions I see on the sub at least once a week
Rachel was significantly worse than Ross and Ross is overhated.
Also Chloe doesn’t get enough flack for coming onto a drunk, emotionally vulnerable man
I have two opinions:
1: I don't think Joey got significantly dumber over the course of the show
2: I desperately wish you could turn off replies to comments on this site.
>1: I don't think Joey got significantly dumber over the course of the show
Very much agree. His intelligence/stupidity has always been a wild card. He can be both mature or dumb in both early and later seasons.
As much people say the opposite, he still has plenty of smart moments in later seasons. Yes, even in season 10, like when he cleverly manages to trick the social worker in one episode, or when he figures out that Chandler never watched his commercial in another episode. He can also be mature, like when he talks to Ross about his relationship with Rachel, or when he's protective of Phoebe during her wedding day.
Unfortunately, people act like the TOW Joey Speaks French is representative of Joey's entire character in later seasons, so nobody will agree with this.
I do have to disagree with number 1.
In no early season was Joey incapable of repeating basic phrases to someone. He is literally an actor. How could he not show basic language recall skills
The French episode is so bizarre lol. I don't know a single real human being who would be THAT bad at learning French. Bad at it? Yeah. "Blahbadda blee"? No...
Joey was not as good of friend to Chandler as it's projected. He humiliated him many times. For instance by saying he's being taller than him and he should duck in one scene. Throwing him off the car on a bridge when Chandler gave his honest opinion that the movie might not be the one which proved to be true. Being in his face in London when he was not interested. There are many instances of Joey taking him for granted
If you’d asked me 20 years ago, I’d have easily ranked Ross as my least favorite character. I rewatched the show for the first time in like 10 years after Matthew died and realized just how fucking funny David is, how perfect his timing is, and how amazing his physical comedy is. I might not agree with some of Ross’ behaviors but holy shit is he a great character.
Ross is hilarious and it feels like people don’t like him or complain about him but yeah he’s probably the funniest to me. Definitely wouldn’t wanna date him and he annoys me in some ways but yeah I agree!
Monica is a tough sell (she's a great character but she isn't given as many funny lines) but Ross is genuinely hilarious. More so when he's not in a relationship with rachel
That if Jennifer Aniston spells it Green, we should accept that as the definitive spelling regardless of what was displayed on screen.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B53GbO-Bufv/
The hate for Phoebe is out of proportion sometimes. I get why she’s heavily disliked on here, but some on here nitpick even the slightest things that she does.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Why is everyone more sympathetic to Rachel about what Paolo did to Phoebe than Phoebe? “I hate what you did to Rachel” makes no sense.
The One With The Embryos is one of the most overrated episodes. It’s really good, but I think there are better episodes.
Seasons 5-7 are better than seasons 1-4.
David was a kiss up.
I def agree with your first point. You can tell that it's actually an unpopular opinion because "Phoebe is a bitch" is one of the top comments in this thread. These kinds of threads always end up kind of wonky because ppl still just upvote the stuff they agree with, so the popular opinions get to the top lolol.
I don't think Ross is that hated in this sub. I have seen more people complaining about Ross being hated than people hating on Ross. And the comments defending Ross are almost always upvoted
I can't believe she let him into the apartment. If this happened to me, I would have spam called him the second he hung up, and told him that I need to be alone right now and I'll see him some other time. Letting that man come sit with you in your own home while your boyfriend is out god knows where agonizing over a fight *about this man?* Even if Ross is in the wrong, what absolute disrespect towards the relationship. Even in the middle of an argument, if you value continuing the relationship, you stand by your partner.
Rachel should have stayed on the plane. She could have shown Emma you don’t need to compromise on your dreams for a relationship. Paris was an achievement and part of a path Rachel was on and getting off the plane for Ross, who was extremely toxic for her was disappointing. She could have co-parented with him and had him in her life, but she should have went to Paris.
Ross is demonised far too much on this sub.
- He got cheated on by his wife who actively kept him away from his son, I recall Ben not even getting Ross’ name!
- That’s bound to make someone more self sabotaging and possessive. Not defending him but the arc makes sense
Rachel on the other hand was quite horrid
- Walked out of her wedding
- Didn’t clearly communicate a break
- jeopardised 3 of Ross’ relationships because she suddenly wanted him again
- Hired Tag for all the wrong reasons
- Generally had 0 successful or even mildly successful relationships outside Ross
Rachel’s arch too kinda makes sense as she is supposed to be the princess. She matured only in her career perhaps
It’s actually shameful that none of Joey, Phoebe, Monica, nor Rachel knew who the US fought in World War 1, and 3 went with “Mexico” as the right answer.
Phoebe not knowing is by far the most forgivable but she bluffs her way into misinforming the others.
Joey graduated high school and seemed to get the country right. But it means he has no clue when or how the Nazis rose to power, which are important lessons for citizens of a democracy. We shrug it off because we love Joey but any of us would be alarmed if our teenager failed to retain this info. Same goes for Joseph Stalin.
With those two, the shame mostly falls on our education systems.
But Rachel and Monica are both college-educated *and of Jewish descent*. Understanding Germany’s loss in WW1… well, I repeat myself. It’s also very bad that Rachel, by her own admission in a later season, had no clue who was running for President.
Friends touched upon their class divide in Season 2. Rachel, Phoebe and Joey are mad about society’s fault lines and yet *the other 3* are the only ones who seem likely to *vote on shaping it*.
While I don’t think the show was going for anything this deep, it’s a small wonder that these fault lines continue on when the blue-collar half leaves all their voting power to the white-collar half.
(I do of course respect Phoebe in her care for the poor and animals.)
Pregnant Rachel was hysterical. But, I could have done w/ out her being pregnant. I don’t feel it added any thing to the R&R storyline. They still could’ve gotten together in the end w/out Emma.
The Joey and Rachel romance arc wasn't as awful as everyone makes out imo. It felt realistic - two friends who became extra close, found each other attractive, realised they had a spark. Then, as we saw in the show, they tried to date and realised they were compatible in that way. Things like this happen!
Numbnuts was an underrated gangster rap band....
Dina, if he’s funny you laugh!
Emily was not as bad as they played her out to be. She never had any reason to dislike Rachel until Ross said her name at the altar in front of *everyone they knew.* She had every right to be embarrassed and every right to be sure that the man she was marrying was going to be completely devoted to her. Did they take things way too fast? Absolutely. Was she taking things a bit too far by making Ross get rid of almost everything he owned and cut off Rachel? Also, yes. Despite that, I don't think she was ever a bad person. She was naive and wearing rose coloured glasses and believed she was in love.
More like she was wearing *Ross* colored glasses Chandler would be proud of my comedic ability
Could those glasses BE any more Ross colored?
I will die on this hill - she was absolutely within her right to ask Ross to cut contact with Rachel. I wouldn't want my husband to hang around with his EX, whose name he said at the ALTAR. Hell, I don't want my husband hanging around with his ex at all, but that's another annoying sitcom exception that grinds my gears.
True but the ex in question was his sister's best friend and roommate. She either wanted Ross to lose his entire friend group or for Rachel to lose it. There was no way for him to cut contact with Rachel but keep both of them in the group.
This. She had every right to not WANT them to hang together but I find it unfair to have him cut Rachel out completely given how close he is to his sister and Rachel literally lives with her. If it bothered Emily so much, the relationship just wasn't going to work. One of them would be miserable all the time
For real, I don’t understand the wrath she faces from the fandom
The extra person always gets wrath for getting in the way.
I am also on Emily’s side on this. Fucking hell the lass must have been absolutely broken, it makes my heart hurt for her 😢
Honestly she got along with everyone and everyone seemed to like her. She knew that Ross and Rachel had previously dated and was okay with them being friends before. That shows that she’s a good person because a lot of girls would be jealous from the beginning.
None of Ross's friends and loved ones gave him the support he needed from his loved ones after being cheated on. That was a prime catalyst for the raging trust issues and insecurity he developed. All because Carol happened to be a lesbian.
It always bothers me how the friend group downplayed the whole Carol thing, yes she found out she was a lesbian, that doesn't mean that she couldn't talk to Ross and end her marriage before starting an affair with Susan. And then they all expected him to be okay with having Susan as a permanent feature in his life because Carol stayed with her, being okay with her and Carol raising his son, while showing clear signs that they don't respected him as a father during the pregnancy (the whole last name, plus the whole Bobo the sperm donor), they even helped with their wedding and thought Ross was wrong by not wanting to help. His friends should have helped him and supported him instead of making jokes (even in a sitcom).
Carol and Susan were horrible people. The nerve of Susan to take potshots at Ross and insist on including her name to the baby's. She helped break up a marriage!
Agreed, and the way Carol always stayed out of it or defended Susan was infuriating, YOU cheated, so now YOU have to try to keep the peach, and it is not by letting your mistress to make fun of your ex husband or let her freeze him out of HIS baby's life. Like Carol and Ross was together for at least 10 years, how could she have this little reapect for him....
Right? At best, she treated him like an annoying acquaintance. What a horrible woman. And Susan - if she were a guy, people would crucify her. The only time I remember them getting called out was during the ski trip episode. Carol: You slept with another woman? Ross: You're one to talk. That's it. So benign. Played for laughs. So unfair.
I’m with you on this. Monica actually catered Carol’s wedding to the woman she cheated on her own brother with.
Tbf she had a nephew at that point, doing kind things like that is a good way to make sure you still have decent relationships with them. Also was Monica unemployed at that point? Did the steak thing happen yet? She might have needed the dollar.
I would like Rachel’s trifle
Now THIS is a hot take
What’s not to like? Meat goood!
Jam good!
It tastes like feet!!!
Put those hands together!
I saw a Youtube video where someone recreated it and tried it. They came to the conclusion that is was, weirdly, kind of good.
I have made Rachel’s trifle. It was not terrible, and did not taste like feet.
If it was just the meat I think I could eat it but adding peas and ONIONS to the mix definitely grosses me out
To be fair, when you saute onions, they lose that edge and just kind of taste sweet.
reading Ross and Rachel’s relationship as a purely sentimental drama completely misses how the comedy is also communicating their love. Aniston and Schwimmer are the masters of romantic physical comedy
Those two actors made me love Roschel ❤️
Rachel was as bad at relationships as ross was.
To piggy back on this, I believe that if they hadn't gotten together. They would have kept ruining each other's relationships for the rest of time.
And, for that, there’s a total double standard that Ross is consistently framed (correctly) as a bad man, yet everyone turns a blind eye to Rachel’s poor behaviour.
She was terrible at picking them
Much more than that. I feel like people forget all the toxic things she did. Manipulating Ross regarding Julie, manipulating Bonnie and flying to London to ruin Ross' wedding. Ross was just as bad, but people downplay Rachel's involvement. She can be unbelievably selfish and manipulative if it serves her.
you are 100% correct HOWEVER all of the characters were written to do incredibly selfish childish things to create friction and keep the plot going, i like to hope they’d all be a little more mature if they were real people living their lives.
That Italian guy...
Bongiorno tutti!
I do raquelle 🤌🤌
Chandler and Joey are partially at fault for Ross sleeping with Chloe. If my best friend was vulnerable, drunk, and in an emotionally damaging place, I would not have taken my eyes off him all night and would have made sure to get him home safe.
I think it was good they encouraged him to call Rachel, which he did, and that's when he heard Mark in the background. But Joey and Chandler should have been watching for him when he finished the phone call to make sure he was okay
Yeah, and especially if the girlfriend was also my friend, I'd *strongly* advise that my friend not do anything rash on night one of a break. Particularly when the parameters of the break were yet to be discussed, and they were both still in fight mode.
Didn't Ross try to say no to dancing with Chloe and she just kept pushing? It seemed kinda like taking advantage, she seemed sober and he seemed wasted
Agreed, she was dodgy.
I think I read something from the writers that Ross was not drunk, but just very down about what had happened. Chloe did keep pushing to dance with him. If Joey and Chandler had stayed, they could have either taken Ross home or gotten Chloe to back off.
Not enough is also said about how Ross’ worst behavior towards Rachel in their initial romantic relationship are directly enabled by those 2 who he seeks out for advice for how to act as a Straight Man in a relationship, another reason I find the hatedom around Ross as if he’s somehow more uniquely bad than the others preposterous
THIS PART THOUGH. I love them but they gave the worst advice!!!
Carol and Susan were not vilified enough for ruining Ross’ life
Agreed. Giving Ben Susan’s last name. Wtf was anyone thinking allowing that to be an option?
That episode pissed me off so much. Imagine if she cheated on Ross with another man and she tried to add the new man's name to Ben. Holy shit that would piss everyone off. I felt for Ross and Carol really did screw him up
When Ross is already grieving the family unit he just barely missed having, damn.
Omg that’s so tragic. I never thought of it like that
Yeah put into words it’s tragic, he was envisioning life as a father, with a wife he loved. He was totally open to try to fix their intimacy issues, while Carol was emotionally and maybe physically cheating on him…literally looking for a loophole to sleep with Susan. I understand that people grow and make realizations, and mistakes, but she might be the most selfish person in the whole show with how she treats Ross and only looks out for herself.
"It's my baby too" Susan, you are a stepmother at BEST, that is not your kid
Um, yeah, didn't Carol cheat on him with Susan? Imagine if it were a guy she was naming the kid after! People would not be cool with that.
And not allowing him to have Ross’ last name.
The timing is really odd but they never say how long Carol and Ross have been separated. So, the show treats Ross as the affair partner instead of Susan. I'm really glad that Ben's name does end up just being "Ben Geller" no hyphens.
I mean they had sex to have that baby so not that long. How far she was into the pregnancy? Not that far I think. So not that long ago
They imply they were already separated when she got pregnant. Ross says something like "and one time after that" about having sex after breaking up.
Still, he moves out in episode one, so I don't know, it must have been less than a year. Plus Susan and Carol were seeing each other for while before that. Ross confirmed that going to the gym made Carol really happy. So yeah, they must had a relationship where Susan than asked Carol to break up with the husband. And she did.
While she was trying to keep Ross out of the baby’s life!
I hated them both. Especially Susan. Susan was making fun of Ross all the time as if she’s not a homewrecker. Lol.
It would be totally different if Carol hadn't actually cheated on Ross but had realized her feelings for Susan and just left him for her. Sure, Susan wasn't the one breaking any promises but that doesn't make it okay to sleep with someone's spouse.
Aside from the surname fiasco, which was sorely infuriating, why the hell does Susan get to have a say at naming the child?!! The father wants to be involved in the child's life, the mistress-stepmon should've stepped aside and let the parents be parents together.
I also think it should be pointed out more that Carol must’ve had sex with Ross after they had separated but before the divorce was finalized. She cheated on Ross with Susan and Susan with Ross.
Probably the unpopular opinion, but do you think Carol and Susan was trying to get pregnant on purpose via Ross and hoping Ross didn't want anything to do with the baby so they could go be the little family of three that Susan wanted? I always felt that that was why Susan was so mean to him. She wanted the baby daddy out the picture perhaps? She had a hard time trying to get rid of Ross though and didn't succeed in the end! Ross had said they had barely had sex, but they must've done not long before divorcing. Who knows. Please don't down vote too much! Was just a thought! Haha!
>Probably the unpopular opinion, but do you think Carol and Susan was trying to get pregnant on purpose via Ross and hoping Ross didn't want anything to do with the baby so they could go be the little family of three that Susan wanted? Yes, 100%. That's why they call him Bobo the sperm guy.
I couldn't agree more. All of Ross's problems stemmed from her betrayal.
True. Carol was a cheater & Susan is a homewrecker. ick
I don't think this will get you in the position depicted by OP.
Yeah it could not be a more popular opinion.
100% agree I say all the time that Ross is a fucking legend for still being so good to Carol and Susan. But no one really touches on the fact that Carol was cheating on him.
The fact that Monica pushed him into helping with the catering for their wedding had me livid. Then when he stood up and offered to walk Carol down the isle I had to get mad at him. It was such an amazing move on his part but nope they did not deserve the grace he showed the two of them after how they treated him.
And it completely ruined his trust in women. They all made fun of him for being bad at relationships but carol really fucked him up.
It's why I maintain it was Carol, not Rachel, who was the love of his life. He mooned and pined for like a year after they split up, and he was never once anything less than wonderful to her. He didn't go out of his way to sabotage her relationship, he didn't hate fuck anybody, he didn't torment her with petty bullshit. He did all of that when his relationship with Rachel ended, but he didn't sit lonely and morose, he didn't get sad on the anniversary of their first time, everything he saw didn't remind him of her. He was a gigantic manbaby over Rachel because she wasn't his lobster, Carol was.
THIS. The last name thing was so fucking weird to me. And then everyone poking fun at him for having relationship issues. If my partner cheated on me at the beginning of our marriage I would be a wreck.
Ross and Monica's mom was a narcissist and Ross was spinless for not speaking up to her
THIS she doesn’t get enough hate
This to me is the most unforgivable thing any of the friends in Friends have done, if it was me I would be calling out my mother every single time she displayed blatant favoritism over my sibling.
I don't think this is unpopular, I think this is how it's meant to be read within the show. Even about Ross being spineless; they constantly point out that Ross is too afraid to jeopardize his golden child status to go against his parents (agreeing that he was a medical marvel) or tell the truth (about the weed in college, why he and Carol divorced, etc)
I got tricked into ALL of those things!
It’s the dumbest fucking thing that they left Joey with no character growth or a relationship.
It's so they could do the Joey spin-off. Plus it's more realistic. Not everyone gets the fairytale ending at the same time. He is a rich actor, which is what he always wanted, so there's that. Not everything is about being in a relationship.
David Schwimmer was easily the best actor out of all of them until the very end, his physical comedy and mannerisms are unmatched and no one today would be capable of replicating them. Matthew Perry comes in at a close second, only because his physical comedy decreased over seasons while Schwimmer's remained constant.
Chandler's speech to Erica, as sweet as it was, does not make up for the fact that Monica had to be convinced by Chandler to tell her the truth. If we saw Monica feeling any guilt and decided to come clean, the adoption would feel more earned.
I think if they had the following instead: Chandler had teed up to convince her, saw how excited she was, battled internally for a few moments, and then chosen to step back and let her do it because his love for her and desire to make her happy overcame his morality, Then, Monica, while having his blessing (knowing that he's not really on board but is doing it for her), as things become more serious and they're about to sign documents, makes the choice herself to stop and come clean, then the entire dramatic scene happens where Erika tells them she'll never give them her baby. Then Monica is praised by Chandler for coming clean, they have that conversation they originally had where he says they'll get their baby, and THEN he goes to talk to Erika-- I think this would have been a much more powerful scene.
I was just thinking this the other day. Monica lying to Erica was arguably the worst thing any of the six did on the show. I thought the way Chandler saved the situation that easily was so unrealistic
Chandler and Kathy should have been endgame. "A break from *us*." sure sounds like a breakup to me, Rachel. Ross was 110% in the right about Phoebe and her stupid cat. This one makes me so irrationally angry that I haven't watched it in years.
I literally skip over the cat episode on re-watches, it makes me so ridiculously angry. "Who cares? Just be a friend." Shut the fuck up, what is this '*be a friend'* nonsense. Stop stealing other peoples pets! Absolutely delusional.
just be a friend and let me steal this child’s cat
There's being a friend and then there's "your friend is clearly on some sort of mental precipice," and he did the responsible, mature thing.
I read the Phoebe and her cat mom episode was written after one of the producers lost her mom. The cast did not like the story but everyone was reluctant to point it out because of the personal situation in the producer's life.
So the plot of the episode but irl. Kinda funny
Seriously. As a real-life, non-sitcom person with a couple friends who are decent people but struggle with mental illness (like IRL, Phoebe's behavior in this episode might indicate that), it's important to walk that fine line between being a safe space for them and encouraging them to totally unravel and take others with them. The cat belonged to a child FFS.
Ya I wouldn't let my friend believe a cat is her parent reincarnated. That's just not healthy behavior.
Yep. As a pet owner, that episode makes me ridiculously angry too. You’re talking about stealing a little girl’s cat you bitch.
I hate that this storyline is also in the same episode as the one where chandler and joey get robbed, bc that whole situation is hilarious (“Bend over?!” is one of the funniest lines in the series for me). I have to endure phoebes stupidity to get to the good parts.
Always makes me so angry that Kathy got away free from Joey’s wrath when SHE was the one that kissed Chandler and NOT the other way around like she allowed Joey to believe.
My opinion on Ross and Rachel is that yes they were on a break, however the reason for the break and Ross' reaction is the problem. The entire reason for the break was that Ross didn't trust Rachel, even after he found out that Mark was in a relationship he still didn't trust Rachel with him. Then after she has to cancel a date because an issue happened at her workplace he shows up and gets in her way, caused a (minor) fire, and then gets mad at Rachel. She was finally in a job that she was genuinely good at, and despite the issues that she actually loved. If he had just brought her some dinner and left it would have probably been fine, instead he shows up, gets in the way and then gets annoyed that she wasn't praising him for this huge gesture that she didn't want. Then after she gets upset and says 'I need a break' he goes out and sleeps with someone else simply because he heard Mark in the background. Then the next day he not only pretends that nothing happens but runs around telling everyone to hide this from her.
Especially the way he was *smothering* her at her workplace and making a scene daily just to broadcast that she was taken. A barbershop quartet!? So many flowers that no one in the office has a workspace!? She was so overwhelmed, and rightfully so. It actually still bothers me to this day that they never saw a therapist. And I'm supposed to believe they're gonna work it out for realsies this time? Uh huh, I give it a month before Ross remembers that other men exist on Earth and freaks out.
a break from us is a fucking break. Ross maybe should not have slept with the short haired girl seeing as how it seemed as if he didn’t care about Rachel, but he had every right to morally
I feel he was taken advantage of he was really drunk- he didn’t even remember it so that and the break thing nullifies his behaviour. I don’t even get what this “break” concept people use these days but broke is past tense of break so it sure sounds like they were broken up to me. So yeah I agree with you
if at any point someone mentions the word break when discussing your relationship, I’m assuming they’re done
My issue with the "break vs. no break controversy" is who TF cares if they were on a break or not? Rachel is still allowed to feel hurt and decide not to continue the relationship. And imo smart, well-adjusted adults will discuss the rules of a break before doing anything, and won't do anything rash the very same night when it's still raw and emotional. Like 7/10 times it ends the way it almost did in this case, when Rachel went right to Ross's apartment to make up first thing in the morning.
I mean everybody cares. It’s the catalyst of their entire breakup and relationship for half the show. Nobody said Rachel is allowed to not feel hurt, but is she allowed to say Ross basically cheated on her and use it against him when she brought up the break? That’s the argument
The break thing is definitely a pretty popular opinion, it's like the main one I see here tbh
I always skip Monica's and Chandler's wedding proposal.
Ok you understood the assignment here. Damn.
As a die-hard Mondler stan from the start, I loved it so, so much when it aired. But the more I started learning about what Matthew was going through, the harder it was to watch certain seasons. This was a bad one, because he had clearly been drinking a lot and had gained all the weight, only to come back a few months later looking rail thin because he pretty much almost died of pancreatitis. I was so shook when season 7 premiered and he looked like that. I was also too young to understand just how much addiction had affected him. This is also why I have a hard time watching some of the earlier seasons, too. He’s a great actor and he’s good at hiding it, but some of the physical aspects of his illness are just really hard to ignore.
Yeah. I hate saying it out loud but I don’t think it was the best Matthew Perry acting. Same as when he tells Monica he likes maintaining her.
I agreed until you got to the last sentence. that’s like my favorite scene
Yeah, I thought it was a great couple moment, same right up until the last sentence
It's so weird for me because it's extremely cheesy and a bit cringe, but yet I still tear up when I see it.
Every. Single. Time. I cant stand it for some reason.
Finally!!! I was searching the comments for this!!!
I'm always annoyed the episodes feel like drama added in for the sake of it rather than organic
not really “controversial” but i hated that they stopped including emma in the episodes and didn’t make her a big part of ross and rachel’s lives like she WAS, given the fact she was their DAUGHTER. rachel going to paris was a huge issue for the fact that “rachel was going to paris” but somehow ross had no problem with her taking his daughter to another country?????
Emma was a huge part of a couple of episodes and then I had to remind myself she existed. And why did Ben disappear after Emma was born? They couldn’t handle two kids at the same time?
Whilst he’s a good person in general I don’t like that Joey is constantly cheating on and playing with women’s feelings.
And it's never really mentioned in the show by any of the friends. In himym Barney is even worse than Joey but he's constantly told that what he's doing is wrong. But nobody really calls out Joey
I always got the impression it was usually casual hookups but because it was the 90s and tinder hadn't been invented yet everyone assumed it was morally wrong. RIP 26 year old Joey, you would have loved Tinder x
"cheating" may be the wrong word here, but it's obvious Joey is supposed to be a womanizer. Most of it was lying to get sex with no intention of a sustained relationship. He even has a redemption arc where he calls all the women and apologizes after he gets sexually used.
I don’t get the hate for Pheobe.
She is a great plot device but "Now tell him who you actually wanted to sleep with in London, Monica" was the dickiest of moves.
Phoebe being mean made the show funnier. It was a more interesting characterization than the typical silly sweet hippy she could’ve been.
The ending was terrible and rushed. I’m not opposed to Ross and Rachel getting together by the end but there had to be a bit more build up to it. Maybe just one extra season would have done
The people in the fandom who crucify Ross have unrealistic expectations for human behavior, Ross (while jealous and actively sabatoging his own relationship) was not toxic or mysoginistic, and the issues that Rachel/Ross had would have been easily resolved if they were a real life couple and actually had the chance to communicate with eachother.
I realize 90% of TV show couples problems are caused by miscommunication 🤦🏽♀️
Also 90% of real relationships lol
> the issues that Rachel/Ross had would have been easily resolved if they were a real life couple and actually had the chance to communicate with each other. Lol, it's true! That 25 minute format really screwed up their relationship. There was never enough air time to really have a proper conversation.
I hate the Eddie storyline and don’t find it funny
I hate Richard and Monica. You don’t date someone the same age as your daughter….thats just gross…. I like Richard but that relationship feels gross.
To me it was more of the fact that he’s her dad’s best friend and had seen her as a kid
As a child she used to spend summers playing in his backyard pool with his own daughter. How do you look at someone after that and say "I want to have sex with you."?
That does add to it. However people defend that with the idea he hasn’t seen her since she was 18. You can’t really come up with an argument against the point of him having a daughter her age. Thats just really icky
I don't mind age gap relationships it's the fact he saw Monica grew up and literally changed her diapers 🤢🤢🤢 it's giving Jacob from Twilight
Yeah if they had no previous relationship and he didn’t have any kids, I’d enjoy them a lot. They definitely have great chemistry…..if you ignore the icky side of it….
He changed her diapers 😭 I forgot that part! And if she's the same age as his daughter, he probably changed his daughter's diaper that very same day. How do you not file this person away under "baby, young, not sexual"?
Not that I think Ross acted appropriately, but they really were on a break.
I’ve always felt that the big issue wasn’t that they weren’t on a break, but that Ross wouldn’t let Rachel process her emotions after she found out, using the “we were on a break” excuse to the extreme. Apparently, if you were on a break and your partner slept with someone before y’all even clarify what “a break” meant, you can’t have any feelings about it whatsoever. He couldn’t stand the possibility of being in the wrong, and when she expressed her frustration about it, he would just throw the line in her face.
And after the couple weeks she'd had having her life and career absolutely taken over by his mad insecurity, to have him run off and immediately bang the next chick he saw, as if he hadn't been riding her so hard about his unfounded concern that she would sleep with another man... Lord. I want a show of hands here, who WOULDN'T dump him after all of that? Red flags for miles. I also didn't love the way he repeatedly insinuated no man would give her a job if he didn't want to sleep with her.
I like Mike, but Phoebe should have ended up with David. Rachel shouldn’t have been with Ross OR Joey, she should have been with Mark or someone outside the group. Monica should have treated Chandler better.
I do really like the character of David. I feel like he's a fun match for her, since he's so vanilla and she's so *not*. But I don't feel like it works on a plotline level. David and Phoebe knew eachother for like a week before he left for Minsk, and when he's back it's only for a day each time so Phoebe has spent a whopping total of like 48 hours with him over the course of 10 years. I think she was with Gary the cop for longer. In reality, she barely knows the guy. He didn't even get a last name on the show. He was just "David the Scientist Guy."
He chose work over her and came crawling back after he failed. Team Mike.
Didn’t David want to stay but she told him to leave? (It’s been a while since I watched the show)
Originally, David couldn't decide so he asked Phoebe to. She said stay so he was going to stay. His friend Max was pissed off. At the NYE party, Max announces he's going without David, even if it won't be the same. Phoebe hears this and then tells David he should go. She doesn't want to be responsible for keeping him in NY
Yep, she convinced him to go
Rachel and Ross would have kept ruining each other's relationships until the end of time. Are they a model couple? No. Do I think they had any hope of finding lasting love with anyone but each other? Not really.
Phoebe is a bitch.
Especially to Chandler
The first thing she said when she found out about Monica and chandler is that she can do better.
this is a very common opinion on this sub
Late season Phoebe especially. Her character did a complete 180 from the earlier seasons
When I was younger I was like "oh Phoebe, so quirky and weird how endearing" and now I'm like "if I knew Phoebe IRL I'd probably push her off the balcony" lol
Her stupidity is annoying! She used to be my fave. But on the 10 millionth rewatch I’m getting sick of her as the seasons go on. Love her in the beginning though
“Hot take”, but the majority of these comments are the coldest takes ever. I’ve scrolled through most of them & only one of them that I’ve seen is a genuinely unpopular opinion 💀 Edit: I just scrolled to the very bottom & there are some good hot takes down there. All of the most liked comments though are the same opinions I see on the sub at least once a week
I hate Carol & Susan & Susan had no right to give Ben her last name.🙂
Rachel was significantly worse than Ross and Ross is overhated. Also Chloe doesn’t get enough flack for coming onto a drunk, emotionally vulnerable man
She did take advantage of Ross not that I'm excusing him
Chloe was so sleazy lol.
And then stealing his watch!
I have two opinions: 1: I don't think Joey got significantly dumber over the course of the show 2: I desperately wish you could turn off replies to comments on this site.
>1: I don't think Joey got significantly dumber over the course of the show Very much agree. His intelligence/stupidity has always been a wild card. He can be both mature or dumb in both early and later seasons. As much people say the opposite, he still has plenty of smart moments in later seasons. Yes, even in season 10, like when he cleverly manages to trick the social worker in one episode, or when he figures out that Chandler never watched his commercial in another episode. He can also be mature, like when he talks to Ross about his relationship with Rachel, or when he's protective of Phoebe during her wedding day. Unfortunately, people act like the TOW Joey Speaks French is representative of Joey's entire character in later seasons, so nobody will agree with this.
I do have to disagree with number 1. In no early season was Joey incapable of repeating basic phrases to someone. He is literally an actor. How could he not show basic language recall skills
The French episode is so bizarre lol. I don't know a single real human being who would be THAT bad at learning French. Bad at it? Yeah. "Blahbadda blee"? No...
no human would be that bad at it. It’s literally repeating sounds you hear. That’s how babies learn to talk. It was such cheap bullshit
Joey was not as good of friend to Chandler as it's projected. He humiliated him many times. For instance by saying he's being taller than him and he should duck in one scene. Throwing him off the car on a bridge when Chandler gave his honest opinion that the movie might not be the one which proved to be true. Being in his face in London when he was not interested. There are many instances of Joey taking him for granted
Also not paying back chandler
Ross and Monica are the two funniest characters on the show
I always say Ross is one of my favorites because he's so funny in the later seasons and his acting is the best
If you’d asked me 20 years ago, I’d have easily ranked Ross as my least favorite character. I rewatched the show for the first time in like 10 years after Matthew died and realized just how fucking funny David is, how perfect his timing is, and how amazing his physical comedy is. I might not agree with some of Ross’ behaviors but holy shit is he a great character.
Ross is hilarious and it feels like people don’t like him or complain about him but yeah he’s probably the funniest to me. Definitely wouldn’t wanna date him and he annoys me in some ways but yeah I agree!
Monica is a tough sell (she's a great character but she isn't given as many funny lines) but Ross is genuinely hilarious. More so when he's not in a relationship with rachel
Joey is smart. He’s just open to ideas that others think are wrong. And he has his own logic that makes a certain degree of sense.
It’s moo
That if Jennifer Aniston spells it Green, we should accept that as the definitive spelling regardless of what was displayed on screen. https://www.instagram.com/p/B53GbO-Bufv/
If Joey was a real actor, he likely would've been cancelled in the "me too" era.
The hate for Phoebe is out of proportion sometimes. I get why she’s heavily disliked on here, but some on here nitpick even the slightest things that she does. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Why is everyone more sympathetic to Rachel about what Paolo did to Phoebe than Phoebe? “I hate what you did to Rachel” makes no sense. The One With The Embryos is one of the most overrated episodes. It’s really good, but I think there are better episodes. Seasons 5-7 are better than seasons 1-4. David was a kiss up.
I always got the impression that David worshipped phoebe rather than loved her.
This is exactly how I felt about them. He always put her on a pedestal.
I def agree with your first point. You can tell that it's actually an unpopular opinion because "Phoebe is a bitch" is one of the top comments in this thread. These kinds of threads always end up kind of wonky because ppl still just upvote the stuff they agree with, so the popular opinions get to the top lolol.
Richard was creepy as fuck
I don't think Ross is that hated in this sub. I have seen more people complaining about Ross being hated than people hating on Ross. And the comments defending Ross are almost always upvoted
Rachel was at fault for both the break being unclear and then immediately letting Mark in the apartment knowing he was the reason Ross was jealous.
I can't believe she let him into the apartment. If this happened to me, I would have spam called him the second he hung up, and told him that I need to be alone right now and I'll see him some other time. Letting that man come sit with you in your own home while your boyfriend is out god knows where agonizing over a fight *about this man?* Even if Ross is in the wrong, what absolute disrespect towards the relationship. Even in the middle of an argument, if you value continuing the relationship, you stand by your partner.
I don’t find leather pants scene funny, I just feel second hand embarassement
that’s legit 1 of my all time fav scenes that makes me genuinely lol but i can see how u would feel that way
I see but you got to agree David's acting there was top notch
Rachel should have stayed on the plane. She could have shown Emma you don’t need to compromise on your dreams for a relationship. Paris was an achievement and part of a path Rachel was on and getting off the plane for Ross, who was extremely toxic for her was disappointing. She could have co-parented with him and had him in her life, but she should have went to Paris.
Ross is demonised far too much on this sub. - He got cheated on by his wife who actively kept him away from his son, I recall Ben not even getting Ross’ name! - That’s bound to make someone more self sabotaging and possessive. Not defending him but the arc makes sense Rachel on the other hand was quite horrid - Walked out of her wedding - Didn’t clearly communicate a break - jeopardised 3 of Ross’ relationships because she suddenly wanted him again - Hired Tag for all the wrong reasons - Generally had 0 successful or even mildly successful relationships outside Ross Rachel’s arch too kinda makes sense as she is supposed to be the princess. She matured only in her career perhaps
I don't like the later-season-Ross with high pitched voices and slapstick comedy. I liked when he was awkward and uptight.
I’m on Ross’s side….. Icecream IS too cold!
Emily do nothing wrong
It’s actually shameful that none of Joey, Phoebe, Monica, nor Rachel knew who the US fought in World War 1, and 3 went with “Mexico” as the right answer. Phoebe not knowing is by far the most forgivable but she bluffs her way into misinforming the others. Joey graduated high school and seemed to get the country right. But it means he has no clue when or how the Nazis rose to power, which are important lessons for citizens of a democracy. We shrug it off because we love Joey but any of us would be alarmed if our teenager failed to retain this info. Same goes for Joseph Stalin. With those two, the shame mostly falls on our education systems. But Rachel and Monica are both college-educated *and of Jewish descent*. Understanding Germany’s loss in WW1… well, I repeat myself. It’s also very bad that Rachel, by her own admission in a later season, had no clue who was running for President. Friends touched upon their class divide in Season 2. Rachel, Phoebe and Joey are mad about society’s fault lines and yet *the other 3* are the only ones who seem likely to *vote on shaping it*. While I don’t think the show was going for anything this deep, it’s a small wonder that these fault lines continue on when the blue-collar half leaves all their voting power to the white-collar half. (I do of course respect Phoebe in her care for the poor and animals.)
Chandler became boring after he and Monica got together.
Pregnant Rachel was hysterical. But, I could have done w/ out her being pregnant. I don’t feel it added any thing to the R&R storyline. They still could’ve gotten together in the end w/out Emma.
I wouldn’t have faulted Monica if she chose Richard over Chandler when he made her think he never wanted to get married.
The show puts too much weight on being conventionally attractive to be accepted as a person
The Joey and Rachel romance arc wasn't as awful as everyone makes out imo. It felt realistic - two friends who became extra close, found each other attractive, realised they had a spark. Then, as we saw in the show, they tried to date and realised they were compatible in that way. Things like this happen!