The One With the Thing: All Episodes Talk

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

It's definitely true that Carol went through a lot of painful confusion in realizing her sexuality and acknowledging that she'd fallen in love with a woman. Complicated by the fact that I think she truly did love Ross. It's painful, and it's awful, but she still cheated on him, hurt him deeply, and was in the wrong. Had she recognized that, there could've been forgiveness. But that never happened. Susan was alternately cruel to and dismissive of Ross, and Carol was worse for allowing it and even going along with it. 

[VCRTracking]

Holy crap, this thread. I was not an obsessive Ross and Rachel shipper and I admit having Joey fall in love with her seemed crazy at the time but now...

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

I genuinely think that Rachel/Joey thread changed my perspective. 

[BBHN]

I liked the Rachel/Joey thing...

[cherrypj]

Well, damn: I'll never watch that show the same way again. (And that's good!)

[msani19]

I saw that thread and it did give me a very different perspective! I never like how tv shows will mix and match the character pairings, this is not how life works. You are not going to date one person in your friend circle then start dating another friend and have all the dynamics remain the same. That annoys me to no end, so I hate the Rachel/Joey attempt. I still don't like it. BUT reading that thread made me appreciate Joey more! Rachel was not a favorite, but i detest Ross and his relationship with Rachel always rubbed me the wrong way. She was a prize or trophy for him rather than a partner. Joey really did see Rachel for who she was as a person. It's too bad the writers paired with Ross first. It would have been a more interesting show if they realized she and Joey should have been "the" show's couple.

[Crs97]

If Rachel was a trophy for Ross, then what was Ross for Rachel?  When he tried to move on, she sabotaged the relationship - Julie, Bonnie.  She initiated the sex that led to Emma; he seemed perfectly happy just to be friends then.  I tried to read the article, but the first point was so biased and revisionist I gave up.

[Katy M]

I hate Ross and Rachel, as a couple, and individually. There I said it.

[MadyGirl1987]

42 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

If Rachel was a trophy for Ross, then what was Ross for Rachel?  When he tried to move on, she sabotaged the relationship - Julie, Bonnie.  She initiated the sex that led to Emma; he seemed perfectly happy just to be friends then.  I tried to read the article, but the first point was so biased and revisionist I gave up.

My biggest problem with the points laid out is that it ignores that Ross and Rachel were both horrible with to other and brought out the worse in each other. I think that this just goes along with the popular Ross hate that I just don't get(He just never seemed that bad to me... Not perfect but not worse they any of the others).They both had moments where they were jealous and possessive with each other. Especially Rachel with Julie and Bonnie. She came across as a kid who has a toy they don't play with but as soon as she sees someone else with it she wants it back. I mean, this is the women who flew to a different country to tell a guy who was getting married she loved him. Did she ever want Ross when he wasn't already in a relationship? That said, I never liked Joey and Rachel either. Just came out of nowhere and didn't seem to have any backing to it. Just came across as the writers throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what stuck. Monica and Chandler/ Phoebe and Mike for the win.

Edited August 12, 2017 by MadyGirl1987

[Katy M]

21 hours ago, MadyGirl1987 said:

I mean, this is the women who flew to a different country to tell a guy who was getting married she loved him. Did she ever want Ross when he wasn't already in a relationship?

While definitely not the worst tthing that anyone has ever done in the history of time, I think is this the worst thing done by anyone on this TV show.  And, then when Emily divorced him, Rachel was no longer interested.  I'm sure about 10 minutes after the final show ended, Rachel probably changed her mind and got on another plane to Paris.

[BBHN]

You know, I really shouldn't like like Ross and Rachel on paper, but damn if Schwimmer and Anniston didn't sell it. Their chemistry together was definitely enough to keep me coming back.

[Jax7917]

On 8/13/2017 at 7:04 AM, Katy M said:

While definitely not the worst tthing that anyone has ever done in the history of time, I think is this the worst thing done by anyone on this TV show.  And, then when Emily divorced him, Rachel was no longer interested.  I'm sure about 10 minutes after the final show ended, Rachel probably changed her mind and got on another plane to Paris.

agreed , she only wanted him when he was with someone else . And I hate how they make the characters come off so stupid when they don't know the person likes them when they are clearly obsessed . Rachel was so surprised that Ross had feelings for her , she said she had no idea . Really ? Same with Ross when he was with Julie . He couldn't tell Rachel was obsessed with him and trying to sabotage his relationship every second ? And yea , after Ross took a little time to get over the divorce with Emily , why didn't him and Rachel try again ? 

[VCRTracking]

I like to pretend these pics from the 2005 series Huff starring Hank Azaria and Paget Brewster is David and Kathy met and hooked up after being dumped by Phoebe and Chandler!

Edited September 4, 2017 by VCRTracking

[chitowngirl]

There must have been a fire sale on the "red sweater". Tag had one, Ross had one, and in the next episode, Phoebe is wearing one! Same color red, same pattern.

[Katy M]

Phoebe probably just felt left out and went out and bought one.  Or stole Ross's.

[chitowngirl]

The One in Vegas-It was such a plot point that Ross drew on Rachel's face and she couldn't get it off. She even drew on Ross's face. Yet the morning after they get married-their faces are both clean. And why couldn't they get an annulment in Vegas? I'm sure it happens all the time.

And the other thing that I've always questioned-Phoebe goes to see Ursela on their 30th birthday and finds out they're 31. Ursela sold Phoebe's birth certificate. Why couldn't Phoebe just get another copy? How did she get a driver's license? A massage therapy license?

[VCRTracking]

On 10/24/2017 at 2:02 AM, nosleepforme said:

I am finally watching the final three seasons in their entirety, for some reason when they were still airing, I'd only seen parts of those seasons, but not all the episodes. But I am actually surprised how good the seasons are. I remember initially being burned out by Friends when the seasons originally aired and not liking many plot developments, but now I'm even liking the whole Joey/Rachel thing in the way it is set up (the idea of it is still horrible) and I also like many of the other storylines.

I like those seasons too. I like Rachel as a mom and I liked Monica and Chandler's marriage with it's ups-and-downs.

[LeslieYep]

On 8/13/2017 at 7:51 AM, BBHN said:

You know, I really shouldn't like like Ross and Rachel on paper, but damn if Schwimmer and Anniston didn't sell it. Their chemistry together was definitely enough to keep me coming back.

I've thought about this a lot, like Ross and Rachel are so different, Ross has always had a nerdier "loser" background, while Rachel was typically a popular girl, besides for their history they don't seem to have common interests. 

[helenamonster]

I think overall I'm neutral on the Ross/Rachel relationship (they weren't good for each other but in ten 22-episode seasons it still didn't feel like it even made a dent in eating the show, imo), but "The One with the Morning After" is a seriously great episode. I know this show was a comedy but damn. That episode could stand alone as a little one-act play. We talk a lot about the things that made Friends unrealistic but that might have been one of the most real things I've ever seen on tv.

[Danny Franks]

On 24/10/2017 at 10:02 AM, nosleepforme said:

 I'm even liking the whole Joey/Rachel thing in the way it is set up (the idea of it is still horrible) and I also like many of the other storylines.

I think Joey's side of it was set up very well, and it made complete sense. A guy who has never been in a relationship long enough to really get to know a woman, finds himself living with a beautiful, funny friend who enjoys spending time with him. It seems fairly inevitable that he would develop romantic intentions. And that's even without taking into account that their relationship often had undercurrents of sexuality. From Joey teasing Rachel about her book, and her upping the stakes to freak him out, to their temptation to give Rachel one night of 'great sex' when she needed it, right down to innocuous bits like Rachel once having a crush on Joey, and Joey obviously finding her hot. 

I usually see people say that Rachel was dumbed down to make her and Joey viable, but I don't agree with that. Because again, when you watch the whole series, you can see that she often enjoys the same kind of dumb stuff that Joey does. Throwing wet paper towels, playing the drums, the obscene Calvin & Hobbs t-shirt. And it's not like she's a serious, grounded person away from Joey either. The cheesecake, the meat trifle, thinking "angels" fixed Rosita, prank calling Ross from "the Fake Accent University". But Joey brought out her fun, light hearted side more consistently than anyone else, so I never found it odd that she would be interested in him.

What I didn't care for, was the stop-start-stop nature of it. Joey's in love with Rachel, then it's dropped, then he's excited about the accidental proposal acceptance, then it's dropped again. Then Rachel develops a crush on him and he's still interested. Then they both decide to end things, and it never even gets referenced again. But that all happened because the writers were never willing to leave Ross/Rachel alone.

But I did really like that it gave Matt LeBlanc something to actually do. Something that wasn't slapstick or 'look how dumb Joey is'. The character never really got to grow or evolve, other than with his feelings for Rachel (which were then erased anyway).

 

On 28/11/2017 at 6:27 PM, VCRTracking said:

I like those seasons too. I like Rachel as a mom and I liked Monica and Chandler's marriage with it's ups-and-downs.

I've said before that the later seasons are my favourites. Monica and Chandler being together means two less characters to be given obnoxious, temporary love interests, which was good. And their relationship was one of the more stable ones I've seen on a TV show. Ross was funnier the more neurotic and silly he got, Joey and Rachel living together was a ton of fun. Phoebe was just... well, I tend to agree that she does "just lift right out" as someone said in another thread. The Mike stuff was fine, but he was kind of boring.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Danny Franks

[Jax7917]

Yeah I never understood how Joey had such a crush on Rachel, only for his feelings to be dropped on cue. I did buy his feelings, but didn't buy Rachel's eventual feelings for him. And then they finally get together and break up in the same episode because she finds it so weird to be sexual with him? Kinda weird after the whole season she couldn't wait to jump his bones. 

Ross and Rachel's last episode union also made no sense. They've had sex after they broke up (ex- when Emma was conceived), they lived together, they've been hanging out consistently for all those years, yet out of nowhere they are so in love? Okay.

I agree that Monica and Chandler had one of the most stable TV relationships I've seen. Once they got together, they never had any breaks (looking at you Ross and Rachel), and never broke up or had any crazy arguments. I did like them a lot together. I did miss Chandler being single living with Joey though.

[JessDVD]

Am now halfway through season 6 in my first ever viewing of Friends. Today I watched the one with the apothecary table, and tonight I was talking about doing a gift card exchange and said, someone gets like a $10 gift card to Pottery Barn and everyone looked at me weird (since that would get you basically nothing there), and of course it was because of watching that, that Pottery Barn was the first store out of my mouth. At the same occasion, someone made a trifle and I had to refrain from asking if there was beef and peas in it.

Is this what life is going to be like now? Everything that happens to me reminds me of a Friends episode and I have to decide if it's the right audience to share that?? :-)

[Danny Franks]

18 minutes ago, JessDVD said:

Am now halfway through season 6 in my first ever viewing of Friends. Today I watched the one with the apothecary table, and tonight I was talking about doing a gift card exchange and said, someone gets like a $10 gift card to Pottery Barn and everyone looked at me weird (since that would get you basically nothing there), and of course it was because of watching that, that Pottery Barn was the first store out of my mouth. At the same occasion, someone made a trifle and I had to refrain from asking if there was beef and peas in it.

Is this what life is going to be like now? Everything that happens to me reminds me of a Friends episode and I have to decide if it's the right audience to share that?? :-)

Yeah. You'll have to decide whether your audience will find it acrimonious, or whether it's a moo point (I'm sorry, you won't get either of these jokes yet).

Edited December 2, 2017 by Danny Franks

[BBHN]

I'm ok with the Rachel/Joey almost relationship. Though I do kind of sort of remember reading somewhere that the reason they had their final break-up happen so quick in season 10 was that they knew by then Joey was getting a spin-off and didn't want to tie him and Rachel together. Not sure how accurate that is, since that would mean that they knew in the summer between seasons 9 and 10 that season 10 would be the last season and Joey would be getting his own spin-off...

[Katy M]

On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 8:30 PM, chitowngirl said:

And the other thing that I've always questioned-Phoebe goes to see Ursela on their 30th birthday and finds out they're 31. Ursela sold Phoebe's birth certificate. Why couldn't Phoebe just get another copy? How did she get a driver's license? A massage therapy license?

I posted on the "Things that only happen on TV" thread, how I find it odd that adults in their 30s and 40s have apparently gone their whole life without ever seeing their b.c. I had forgotten about Phoebe.  

[Danny Franks]

23 hours ago, BBHN said:

I'm ok with the Rachel/Joey almost relationship. Though I do kind of sort of remember reading somewhere that the reason they had their final break-up happen so quick in season 10 was that they knew by then Joey was getting a spin-off and didn't want to tie him and Rachel together. Not sure how accurate that is, since that would mean that they knew in the summer between seasons 9 and 10 that season 10 would be the last season and Joey would be getting his own spin-off...

I never watched the Joey spinoff, but as far as I can tell, it went out of its way to not reference Friends. So I don't see why they couldn't have just said, 'this is a 'what if Joey moved to LA' show' and left it at that. I doubt many people would have minded much if the continuity didn't follow on. As it is, the fact that Joey left New York not long after Chandler and Monica moved to the 'burbs, Rachel and Ross got back together and Phoebe got married feels very melancholy. Like he perhaps felt like the odd one out, or that there wasn't much left keeping him there.

It would have been interesting to hear discussions on why they decided to do a spinoff for Joey. Because he was my favourite character, but I just had no interest in watching a show of him on his own, without the other five. Yes, he was still something of a blank slate in terms of emotional development and long running story arcs, but I don't think any of the Friends characters would work in isolation. It was the group that was special.

[Jax7917]

1 hour ago, Danny Franks said:

I never watched the Joey spinoff, but as far as I can tell, it went out of its way to not reference Friends. So I don't see why they couldn't have just said, 'this is a 'what if Joey moved to LA' show' and left it at that. I doubt many people would have minded much if the continuity didn't follow on. As it is, the fact that Joey left New York not long after Chandler and Monica moved to the 'burbs, Rachel and Ross got back together and Phoebe got married feels very melancholy. Like he perhaps felt like the odd one out, or that there wasn't much left keeping him there.

It would have been interesting to hear discussions on why they decided to do a spinoff for Joey. Because he was my favourite character, but I just had no interest in watching a show of him on his own, without the other five. Yes, he was still something of a blank slate in terms of emotional development and long running story arcs, but I don't think any of the Friends characters would work in isolation. It was the group that was special.

I agree . Without all of the friends together , it doesn't work . Even Lisa kudrow said in an interview when asked if there would ever be a reunion , " what would it be about ? The premise of the show is 6   20 something's living in NY . " she basically was saying that their story is over which is kind of true because they all went their separate ways . I would love a reunion though !

 

I think it was easiest to go with Joey for the spinoff because he was the only single one left so the story arcs could be easier and more entertaining . Also , by the end of the show he was probably the most well liked character . ( chandler was my personal favorite ) 

[Katy M]

5 hours ago, Jaclyn88 said:

I agree . Without all of the friends together , it doesn't work . Even Lisa kudrow said in an interview when asked if there would ever be a reunion , " what would it be about ? The premise of the show is 6   20 something's living in NY . " she basically was saying that their story is over which is kind of true because they all went their separate ways . I would love a reunion though !

Reunion movies are usually not very good, but I don't think the premise would be all that difficult.  They just all get together for Thanksgiving.  If Ross and Rachel are married, it would make perfect sense for those two and Monica and Chandler to be having a holiday together anyway.  Then, they invite Phoebe and MIke because Phoebe doesn't have any family, really (besides Frank and Alice) and MIke's family probably still doesn't like her, and Joey comes to New York to do a movie or something, so they invite him.  Then, there's some drama going on in at least a couple of their lives, and bam you have your premise.  But, probably best not to, because like I said, they're usually not all that good.

[mojoween]

And just think of the hijinks they could bring at the reunion, since Ben is like 23, the triplets are in their 20's and Emma is a teenager.  Ross could be a grandfather by now!

Since I've watched every episode a billion times by now, I'm at the point where I'm noticing small things.  Like in TOW Blackout, Mr. Heckles lives in apartment 8 and when we see it, he is on our left.  In TOW where Rachel loses Marcel, I don't notice an apartment number, but we see him on our right.

In TOW Rachel leaves Ross the message where "I. Am over. You" they live in apartment 20.

So how could they bother Mr. Heckles in the apartment directly under them?  There only seem to be a few apartments on each floor.

Of course, it would be just like Mr. Heckles to move into whatever apartment was open.  The one with all his stuff was probably his storage area.

Edited December 3, 2017 by mojoween

[wendyg]

Agree, re Thanksgiving as the ideal reunion setting. Knowing sitcom writers, though, the plot would have to be that Ross and Rachel's daughter is pregnant and refusing to have anything to do with the father, who is of course Monica and Chandler's son, who is currently dating Phoebe's and Mike's daughter, who is royally pissed off at said son for sleeping with someone else. Son frequently yells, "WE WERE ON A BREAK!" And this time, Ross is fatherly furious at this claim, and Rachel kind of defends it...and they all fight it out on a football field where the gang of six is embarrassing and the kids flee to Central Perk, which is now a Starbucks. Oh, and Phoebe's daughter is a YouTube star.

Edited December 3, 2017 by wendyg

[Jax7917]

The biggest problem I have with reunion shows is that the new episodes are always so much more corny than the original (ex- fuller house , girl meets world , etc ) and it ruins the original show for me .. I feel like if friends came back , they'd make it into over exaggerated personalities with bad story lines about the kids 

[Danny Franks]

I just don't think a reunion show would ever be good enough to satisfy the fans. Expectations would be too high, preconceived opinions about what should have happened to the characters since would be too set for a lot of people. It would just end up frustrating and disappointing as many people as it made happy.

I think the cast realise that, which is why they're all so dubious about the idea. You'd also have to factor in how their personal dynamics might have changed over the years, and you never know if that original chemistry could be recaptured.

[Jax7917]

Yea and I doubt they could get back Jennifer Aniston to reprise the role . I think the other ones would probably do it . 

[JessDVD]

I googled "Friends reunion" to see what internet chatter suggested, and it was mostly that the actors aren't interested and Crane/Kauffman are opposed to doing it. Well, we can dream. Fuller House is corny but it's not much more than the original, minus the audience losing themselves every time Sagat, Coulier, and Stamos come on screen. I bet on how the Will & Grace revival goes, will somewhat set the tone for how many more of this sort of 90s sitcom, ends up being revived.

[Bort]

This is probably the best reunion we'll ever get. 

[OtterMommy]

35 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

This is probably the best reunion we'll ever get. 

I am perfectly happy with this, although it does make me feel old.  I think an actual reunion episode would prompt me to move into a retirement home.

[LeslieYep]

2 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

I am perfectly happy with this, although it does make me feel old.  I think an actual reunion episode would prompt me to move into a retirement home.

Yea and as much I would dream of having a reunion where all of the characters were there and it was similar to the old show, it is probably for the best that we are just left with the finale instead of a reunion show because those are generally extremely cheesy and hard to watch. 

[helenamonster]

On 12/3/2017 at 11:04 AM, wendyg said:

Agree, re Thanksgiving as the ideal reunion setting. Knowing sitcom writers, though, the plot would have to be that Ross and Rachel's daughter is pregnant and refusing to have anything to do with the father, who is of course Monica and Chandler's son, who is currently dating Phoebe's and Mike's daughter, who is royally pissed off at said son for sleeping with someone else. Son frequently yells, "WE WERE ON A BREAK!" And this time, Ross is fatherly furious at this claim, and Rachel kind of defends it...and they all fight it out on a football field where the gang of six is embarrassing and the kids flee to Central Perk, which is now a Starbucks. Oh, and Phoebe's daughter is a YouTube star.

Yuck. They're cousins. Not biologically but the Westermarck effect is real.

[Bort]

Has anybody ever noticed that Matthew Perry is missing the tip of his middle finger on his right hand?

[Crs97]

I have never noticed that, but IMDb says it was the result of a door shutting accident in nursery school.  My sister almost had the same issue at home, but the story is that when it came off in my mom’s hand she jammed it back on, taped it in place,  and raced her to the doctor to reattach it.

[JessDVD]

So I know you're all following my Friends bingeing with great interest and I am now halfway through season 8 (I don't think I'll get through season 10 by the turn of the year, oh well), or the part where Joey likes Rachel, which I understand leads to them getting together for a spot, which I've always heard is viewed as horrible, terrible, the beginning of the end, the shark jumping (I don't know if that was a phrase then but anyway), them reaching, out of plotlines, etc. Where are people getting those feelings from? (I mean this honestly) because to me, it seems very organic and non-contrived, much more of an understandable pairing than Ross and Rachel, who have spent the last 7 1/2 years sniping at each other mostly.

Also, I felt several feels at the one where Joey's first admitting this and Rachel is watching Cujo and pulls Joey around her and he says "Terrified".

[OtterMommy]

2 hours ago, JessDVD said:

So I know you're all following my Friends bingeing with great interest and I am now halfway through season 8 (I don't think I'll get through season 10 by the turn of the year, oh well), or the part where Joey likes Rachel, which I understand leads to them getting together for a spot, which I've always heard is viewed as horrible, terrible, the beginning of the end, the shark jumping (I don't know if that was a phrase then but anyway), them reaching, out of plotlines, etc. Where are people getting those feelings from? (I mean this honestly) because to me, it seems very organic and non-contrived, much more of an understandable pairing than Ross and Rachel, who have spent the last 7 1/2 years sniping at each other mostly.

Also, I felt several feels at the one where Joey's first admitting this and Rachel is watching Cujo and pulls Joey around her and he says "Terrified".

This is an interesting insight.  When I watched Friends when it originally aired, I remember being completely squicked out by Joey and Rachel.  I'll admit I'm still not a fan upon rewatching, but I actually find it easier to stomach than Ross and Rachel (which I thought was great when it happened, and despise now).  I wonder how much of that was because of the promotion going on at the time? I remember Ross and Rachel being pushed pretty heavily for the entire run, but by the time we got to Joey and Rachel, it seemed like people had sort of accepted that the show was winding down and whatever.

I also think that binge watching changes things.  I think being able to watch episodes over a shorter period of time does change the experience, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad.   I'm finding your insights as a first time watcher who is (or seems to be) binge watching fascinating.

[chitowngirl]

2 hours ago, JessDVD said:

So I know you're all following my Friends bingeing with great interest and I am now halfway through season 8 (I don't think I'll get through season 10 by the turn of the year, oh well), or the part where Joey likes Rachel, which I understand leads to them getting together for a spot, which I've always heard is viewed as horrible, terrible, the beginning of the end, the shark jumping (I don't know if that was a phrase then but anyway), them reaching, out of plotlines, etc. Where are people getting those feelings from? (I mean this honestly) because to me, it seems very organic and non-contrived, much more of an understandable pairing than Ross and Rachel, who have spent the last 7 1/2 years sniping at each other mostly.

Also, I felt several feels at the one where Joey's first admitting this and Rachel is watching Cujo and pulls Joey around her and he says "Terrified".

Is this when she was pregnant? I agree that his feelings came about naturally and I thought it would be an interesting way to go. Friends in a relationship and raising another friends' baby. When you get to the Barbados episodes and the ones after, I'll be interested in your views on the relationship!

[JessDVD]

Yes, Rachel is pregnant, and yes, binge watching. I watch about 3-5 episodes most weekdays while my littlest one naps. I think I started in October, maybe, and have been cruising right along. I have thought while watching about what it would be like to have to watch one episode a week, the summer in between season finales - and this show has done really good cliffhangers.

I was idly scrolling up through this thread tonight and I saw some other posts that were talking about how Rachel and Joey have similar personalities, like goofy things, and that's kind of what I see too. Ross takes life SUPER seriously and both Rachel and Joey not at all, and I think that's where I see them being a good pair. And I appreciate that this arc has given Joey some gravitas, the converting his money to Vermont money notwithstanding.

Actually the place that I first heard about Joey/Rachel being a terrible coupling was on The Good Place when Ted Danson is talking to Kristen Bell about human innovations and how did they afford those apartments anyway and why did they do Joey & Rachel.

Other things from binge watching a 20 year old show - I can always tell when a big name is walking on the set because of the audience cheering but I don't always recognize who it is because it was 20 years ago. Like when Bruce Willis was on as Emily's dad. And Brad Pitt appearing in s8's Thanksgiving episode, the audience cheered about 15 solid seconds and I totally missed that one and then felt like an idiot when I looked it up. Should have occurred to me way sooner, especially given his wife at the time. There are a LOT of moments that would never fly on TV today, but I can tell the progression of time from 1994 to 2001 because of how some things are differently worded and presented. And it only took me about 4 episodes to understand why people loved and love this show so much. My husband and I went to NYC last year and one of the things we did was a bus tour of TV and movie sites, and the host asked a lot of trivia questions about TV and movies, mostly from NYC, so Friends came up and a couple people on the bus knew all the answers and I want to go do that tour again and see if I know any of them

[Jax7917]

In real life , 2 people like Ross and Rachel would probably not be together personality wise .. but then again I always felt like Ross just thought rachel was really hot and always had a crush on her but not sure if he was ever actually in love with her for her .. more like a trophy wife . The way the two of them loved each other one episode yet fell out of it the next episode proves my point . And that happened several times throughout the series 

[Danny Franks]

On 28/12/2017 at 10:04 PM, JessDVD said:

So I know you're all following my Friends bingeing with great interest and I am now halfway through season 8 (I don't think I'll get through season 10 by the turn of the year, oh well), or the part where Joey likes Rachel, which I understand leads to them getting together for a spot, which I've always heard is viewed as horrible, terrible, the beginning of the end, the shark jumping (I don't know if that was a phrase then but anyway), them reaching, out of plotlines, etc. Where are people getting those feelings from? (I mean this honestly) because to me, it seems very organic and non-contrived, much more of an understandable pairing than Ross and Rachel, who have spent the last 7 1/2 years sniping at each other mostly.

Also, I felt several feels at the one where Joey's first admitting this and Rachel is watching Cujo and pulls Joey around her and he says "Terrified".

This is what I keep saying. Joey/Rachel had just as much build up as Ross/Rachel, only it wasn't deliberately setting them up as romantic partners. It was just the natural growth of their friendship, as two people who lived together. And there is a sexual undercurrent to it quite often. There was no drama to it, no jealousy and spite, like there was with Ross and Rachel. And yes, that's because the writers weren't heading in the romantic direction, but quite often that's where the better written relationships come from (like Monica and Chandler).

I really enjoy moments like in TOW The Birth Mother, where it's Rachel who instantly knows how big a deal it is to take food from Joey's plate. Because she knows him better than anyone except (arguably) Chandler. Moments like that are when Friends felt the most like a living, breathing show, that continued when the cameras were off. 

Regarding the feels, for me it's when Joey confesses his feelings to Rachel, and she can't reciprocate. That moment where Joey realises, and Rachel sees that he's realised, and when she bursts into tears because she fears she might lose his friendship. Some of the best acting on the show.

On 29/12/2017 at 4:06 AM, JessDVD said:

I was idly scrolling up through this thread tonight and I saw some other posts that were talking about how Rachel and Joey have similar personalities, like goofy things, and that's kind of what I see too. Ross takes life SUPER seriously and both Rachel and Joey not at all, and I think that's where I see them being a good pair. And I appreciate that this arc has given Joey some gravitas, the converting his money to Vermont money notwithstanding.

Some of those posts were probably mine. I will bang that drum whenever I can. The writers really hit on a way to refresh parts of the show, and the characters, when they rejigged the living arrangements of the characters. Yes, Chandler and Monica living together was the logical step, but Rachel living with Phoebe was a dead end for me, because we rarely ever saw Phoebe's apartment.

Rachel and Joey living together was surprisingly great, and allowed Rachel to be sillier and lighter. Far more than her relationship with Ross ever allowed her to be. The two of them did have a lot of similarities, and living together allowed the writers to build on that.

On 31/12/2017 at 3:37 AM, Jaclyn88 said:

In real life , 2 people like Ross and Rachel would probably not be together personality wise .. but then again I always felt like Ross just thought rachel was really hot and always had a crush on her but not sure if he was ever actually in love with her for her .. more like a trophy wife . The way the two of them loved each other one episode yet fell out of it the next episode proves my point . And that happened several times throughout the series 

This is pretty much how I view their relationship. Ross immediately latches on to Rachel in the pilot episode, and the writers make it abundantly clear that this is the show's big 'will they, won't they'. So it's decided, before Ross even knows Rachel as someone more than the hot girl who he used to have a crush on. For me, that's a hard relationship to root for. And the constant turbulence of it, both before and after they got together, just screams unhealthiness to me.

[Jax7917]

Why didn't Ben go to Ross' wedding?

[Bort]

1 hour ago, Jaclyn88 said:

Why didn't Ben go to Ross' wedding?

Because it was in London on short notice and Ben probably didn't have a passport?

[OtterMommy]

2 hours ago, Jaclyn88 said:

Why didn't Ben go to Ross' wedding?

Because the writers kept forgetting that Ben existed.

Or, if I had to try to rationalize it....Ross would have had to bring Ben, who was--what?--4 years old?  And, at that age, kids need pretty much complete supervision 100% of the time.  As the groom, Ross couldn't have done it.  Yes, he could have left Ben in the care of his parents or Monica, but I don't recall his parents ever actually meeting their grandson and Monica was, well, busy during that time.  Now, Carol and Susan could have come along--I mean, Ross not only attended their wedding but also gave away one of the brides--but that didn't happen.  Plus, flying to London for the wedding of your ex or a man you don't really like is a bit much to ask.

[Quof]

Quote

Plus, flying to London for the wedding of your ex or a man you don't really like is a bit much to ask.

Um, Rachel?????