Friends - General Discussion

[Katy M]

I just watch the one with the lottery and for some reason it's still annoying me.

1. I agree with Ross, theoretically, about the lottery being a waste of money. However, he didn't have to insult the others, (nor did the others have to mock him).  I doubt $50 was much money to him, though, so he probably should have just participated in a one-time thing.

2. I agree with Monica that she had every right to buy 50 extra tickets just for her and Chandler.  It's completely separate from the group they had going on, and when Rachel went into her room and got those tickets that was out and out stealing as Monica paid for those separately.

3. One of their tickets won $10K and Phoebe had thrown that one out (semi-accidentally, but still).  IMO, she owed the group their share of that money.

[Crs97]

I remember the lottery episode hitting home to me because I worked in a small office, and when the lottery became legal in our state we played it as a group.  All of the things they described on the show essentially happened to us:  some staff complained that $20 per month was too much, and they thought the higher ups should be footing the bill; some people mocked the fun because of the odds; the secretary in charge of the effort sent out a memo with her separate numbers so if she hit on those we wouldn’t be asking for our cut.  Only a couple of times did we hit anything, but it was never more than $200, which we agreed she could just use for the next month without our input.  I don’t know if she enjoyed organizing it, but we had some fun planning our big adventures with the winnings, and yes some wanted to invest.

[Snow Apple]

I felt Monica can buy separately too. Since the other were being babies, they should have split the cost of the $50 and paid Monica what they owe for the extra $50.

When my office buy tickets, I always buy a few for myself. The organizer buys extra for herself too, but she'll buy, let's say 63 lines and cross out the last 3 lines and claim those as the ones brought with her extra money. I feel she should have brought the 3 extra lines on a separate ticket and kept it to herself. Too much problems if one of those 3 lines hit.

[Avabelle]

On the Joey/Rachel end of season nine/season ten episodes. They were so devoid of chemistry. Aside from that though I hated how they dumbed down Rachel to try and make the pairing seem believable. It was so lazy. 
 

Early seasons Rachel would not have laughed at the homo reference in Ross’s keynote speaker speech. She felt like a different character in those block of episodes. 

[chitowngirl]

I always wondered what it was about the “backpacking across Europe” story that made the listener want to have sex…It starts off innocently enough, what could have happened to ramp it up? 🤔

[partofme]

Makes no sense, I hate that episode.

[chitowngirl]

39 minutes ago, partofme said:

Makes no sense, I hate that episode.

That’s actually my favorite episode! 😆 The setup with Ken Adams and the story and the way they bring it all home at the end is fabulous. I was just always curious about what it could have been. It never could have lived up to expectations had they actually finished the story, so they didn’t!

They also did a great job of setting up the girl at the copy store a few episodes before the Break.

Edited August 2, 2023 by chitowngirl

[partofme]

Eh I hate Ross and Rachel together so that’s one I skip. 
 

[Crs97]

“Now I’m  so happy!”

[Irlandesa]

17 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

I always wondered what it was about the “backpacking across Europe” story that made the listener want to have sex…It starts off innocently enough, what could have happened to ramp it up? 🤔

I don't think it necessarily ramps up.  If I remember correctly, the story isn't normally meant to seduce someone who knows you.  Joey or "Ken" uses it to seduce people he barely knows.  The point of the story is to make him seem like an interesting and deep person who can wonderfully articulate his appreciation for natural beauty. 

It's a bit like hypnosis.  It's not necessarily the content but the effect that the presentation has on the listener. 

Of course this is a silly sitcom so it wouldn't work all the time in real life but I can 100% believe it'd work at least some of the time in the real world.  I can see it working as an aphrodisiac on some women the way "I'm in a band" would on others.

So Rachel kind of used it wrong but since Ross recognized the story and was horny, it still worked.

[mojoween]

Seems silly that Phoebe and Joey waited over AN HOUR at her birthday dinner.

Also waiter with a stick up one’s ass said they couldn’t order until the whole party got there, but then he did let them order later before the rest of the four showed up.

[Crs97]

51 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Also waiter with a stick up one’s ass said they couldn’t order until the whole party got there, but then he did let them order later before the rest of the four showed up.

I assumed he did so because he now thought it would just be a party of two.  They were moved to the table for two by the time the others began to show.

[voiceover]

Just rewatched the Chandler/Monica proposal for the billionth time.  And as ever, I welled right up.

Probably my favorite TV proposal.  Courteney and Matthew are at their very best:

“…I never thought I would fall in love with my best…my best…”

”I thought it mattered what I said or where I said it…”   Chandler with the universal truth.

A totally *earned romance that was never really a Will they/Won’t they, yet after the initial shock reveal, something I felt like I should’ve seen coming.

And the coda of them dancing to “Wonderful Tonight”?  Cherry on top. 

[JenLily]

On 8/4/2023 at 4:26 PM, mojoween said:

Seems silly that Phoebe and Joey waited over AN HOUR at her birthday dinner.

My family once waited over 45 minutes for my stupid sister and her family to show up for dinner because they kept saying they were "almost there." Only difference was the restaurant refused to actually seat us until they showed up. Needless to say, we were furious when they finally got there.

[Spartan Girl]

You know it might have gone a long way to changing how I feel about Ross if, in the finale, instead of trying to stop Rachel from going to Paris, he took a sabbatical from his teaching job and went with her to Paris so he could be closer to Emma. It would have shown actual growth from his old clingy jealous ways that he understood how important an opportunity this was for Rachel and her career, that he was willing to put all that first—and more importantly, that he was willing to change his life in order to be part of Emma’s life. There was no reason why he couldn’t do it, he had money.

[Bort]

This twigs me every time I see it but, holy shit, Ross, that story about how you jammed a stick in the front wheel of Monica’s bicycle, she flipped over the handlebars and hit her head on the curb (and doesn’t remember this) isn’t a cute reminiscing childhood story, it’s the time you almost killed your sister.

[Quof]

Nah, it's my entire childhood (younger sister here)

[chitowngirl]

There’s an error in The Final One. When Ross decides to go after Rachel, Phoebe tells him to “get your coat”. He’s looking around frantically for it. “Where’s my coat?”. Then Phoebe screams at him, “you didn’t bring one!”  Why did Phoebe tell him to get it when she knew he didn’t bring it?

[Spartan Girl]

3 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

There’s an error in The Final One. When Ross decides to go after Rachel, Phoebe tells him to “get your coat”. He’s looking around frantically for it. “Where’s my coat?”. Then Phoebe screams at him, “you didn’t bring one!”  Why did Phoebe tell him to get it when she knew he didn’t bring it?

You could chalk it up to her being an airhead.

[christie]

15 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

You know it might have gone a long way to changing how I feel about Ross if, in the finale, instead of trying to stop Rachel from going to Paris, he took a sabbatical from his teaching job and went with her to Paris so he could be closer to Emma. It would have shown actual growth from his old clingy jealous ways that he understood how important an opportunity this was for Rachel and her career, that he was willing to put all that first—and more importantly, that he was willing to change his life in order to be part of Emma’s life. There was no reason why he couldn’t do it, he had money.

He also had Ben which made it difficult for him to leave New York (not that there was any mention of Ben in the final seasons). Though I agree with you; he could have gone for a while and it would have been an experience for Ben to come visit Paris.

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, christie said:

He also had Ben which made it difficult for him to leave New York (not that there was any mention of Ben in the final seasons). Though I agree with you; he could have gone for a while and it would have been an experience for Ben to come visit Paris.

I’m not saying there wouldn’t be complications where Ben was concerned, but like you said, they could’ve worked around it. It’s just the fact that he didn’t even CONSIDER that option and just expected Rachel to drop everything for him is just frustrating. Not that Rachel didn’t have her fair share of crap moments too…

Anyway, as much as Ross’ bordering on homophobic moments about Carol and Susan have aged badly, it still annoys me that people tend to ignore how horrible they were to him. Say what you want about Ross, but he was right to be upset that Carol cheated on him and then put in him the position of being forced to have them in their lives because of the pregnancy. Even though it was accidental/unplanned, for FFS Carol if you’re cheating and planning on getting a divorce maybe you shouldn’t have unprotected sex with Ross AND Susan at the same time!

The problem was Ross used the cheating as an excuse to play the victim in all his forthcoming relationships.

[Laura Holt]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Say what you want about Ross, but he was right to be upset that Carol cheated on him and then put in him the position of being forced to have them in their lives because of the pregnancy.

The episode where Ross was expected to go to Carole and Susan's wedding was a good example of this as well.  Maybe in sitcom land we'd expect an ex spouse to participate in the wedding but really had Carole cheated on Ross with a man and went on to marry him would anyone have expected Ross to maintain any contact beyond shared childcare?

[mojoween]

If Rachel was already at the part of Cujo where he is snarling, she would know what was wrong with the dog.

It’s not like today where she would be scrolling through her phone and miss half the movie.

[bluegirl147]

On 8/12/2023 at 9:57 AM, Spartan Girl said:

it still annoys me that people tend to ignore how horrible they were to him.

I could not stand Susan.  She acted like Ross was the interloper.  She would have been happy if he had just disappeared.   And why Ben have her last name in addition to his parents?  Her and Carol weren't married yet.  

[Crs97]

Susan was awful to him, and I hated how much they loved winding him up in the beginning.  Carol should have shut that crap down hard.

[JenLily]

On 8/11/2023 at 6:07 PM, Spartan Girl said:

On 8/11/2023 at 6:03 PM, chitowngirl said:

There’s an error in The Final One. When Ross decides to go after Rachel, Phoebe tells him to “get your coat”. He’s looking around frantically for it. “Where’s my coat?”. Then Phoebe screams at him, “you didn’t bring one!”  Why did Phoebe tell him to get it when she knew he didn’t bring it?

You could chalk it up to her being an airhead

She was distracting him long enough to grab her own jacket and purse and then offer to drive him to the airport in her cab.

[Spartan Girl]

Ah, the infamous Break is on.

I would have been more inclined to Ross’s side if he and Rachel had been broken up for longer than 24 hours—and it wasn’t even that long—before hooking up with another woman. You can’t expect fidelity if you dumped someone (more on that in a minute). But the fact that Ross, hurt or not, wasted no time hooking up with someone else on the same night of the Break, does not paint him in a good light. Especially when his emotional immaturity and smothering was driving her away in the first place. And it REALLY paints him in a bad light that he spent most of the morning trying to cover his tracks and begging everyone not to tell Rachel instead of doing the mature thing by telling Rachel the truth in the first place.

That being said, I don’t think Rachel had the right to play the scorned girlfriend either. She was right to be upset, sure, but she did break up with him and only changed her mind about it afterwards. It reminds me of Crazy Stupid Love when Julianne Moore cheated on her husband and asked for a divorce, then spent the rest of the movie playing the victim when she found out he hooked up with other women, even though he was single and free to do whatever he wanted. And nobody called her on it, just like nobody** called Rachel out on her being petty and jealous every time Ross moved on with another woman. And she was just as petty about Ross “being a cheater” as Ross was that they “were on a break.”

**Except for Hugh Laurie, who awesomely read her for filth

[partofme]

9 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

But the fact that Ross, hurt or not, wasted no time hooking up with someone else on the same night of the Break, does not paint him in a good light

THIS!  I don't care if Ross/Rachel were on a break or not, the fact is he slept with someone else the same night, and this is what if I were Rachel I would never forgive.

[Spartan Girl]

35 minutes ago, partofme said:

THIS!  I don't care if Ross/Rachel were on a break or not, the fact is he slept with someone else the same night, and this is what if I were Rachel I would never forgive.

Certainly. But almost making the group freeze in the middle of nowhere when their car broke down instead of calling Ross for help because she didn’t want to be in a car with him was immature, to say the least.

It also strikes me as a bit hypocritical that Rachel didn’t mind being The Other Woman in other situations (i.e. Barry).

[Bort]

Yeah, my thing with Ross in this whole incident isn’t really about him sleeping with the copy girl, it’s all the stuff before and after. He was completely irrational and smothering to Rachel, not listening at all when she was trying to tell him to back off, to which she had no choice but to dump his ass. And then afterwards, he runs all over town trying to shut down the copy girl sex news. You can’t suddenly switch from the low road to the high road, it’s not a good look. Don’t try and cover up your actions and then when busted, double down with exclaiming that you had every right to do it. Either own it from the start or grovel, you can’t have it both ways.

[Bort]

23 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Certainly. But almost making the group freeze in the middle of nowhere when their car broke down instead of calling Ross for help because she didn’t want to be in a car with him was immature, to say the least.

Meh, that was the rest of the Friends fault anyway for letting Ross and Rachel play them up the middle like that. I’d have been telling them to piss off until they learn to behave themselves.

Also, more negative points to Ross for trying to get Carol’s sympathy by telling her that Rachel dumped him to be with Mark.

[Spartan Girl]

33 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Meh, that was the rest of the Friends fault anyway for letting Ross and Rachel play them up the middle like that. I’d have been telling them to piss off until they learn to behave themselves.

I wish they had done that. The whole group’s codependency issues were ridiculous.

[rubaco]

I'm still trying to figure out how that impression Chandler was doing was Shelly Winters from The Poseidon Adventure. (And yep, I've seen that movie.)

[Guest]

1 hour ago, rubaco said:

I'm still trying to figure out how that impression Chandler was doing was Shelly Winters from The Poseidon Adventure. (And yep, I've seen that movie.)

I'm assuming he was trying to mimic her character's swimming when she was rescuing Gene Hackman's character and later died.

[WendyCR72]

I've written essay-length posts here about the Ross/Rachel copy girl/break debacle more than once.

So, I'll just be super reductive now and reiterate that both were wrong, both sucked, and they were better off apart and remaining friends/co-parents to Emma.

[braziliangirl]

I've gotta say that David Schimmer and Jen Anniston had amazing chemistry. Ross and Rachel together or as friends or as ex fighting gave tv great moments. 

[AgathaC]

I agree there were some great moments. To this day, their fight over the letter at the end of TOW the Jellyfish (one of my personal favorite episodes) still makes me laugh.

Gotta say, though, even during their heyday, I wasn’t all that interested. Not sure why, as I had nothing against the actors or characters. And I did think they had good chemistry. I guess I have a bit of history with rooting for or preferring non-super couples.

Even before they got together, though, I was more interested in Chandler and Monica. I remember watching sometime in season 2 or 3 and my roommate said “you know, they’d make a good couple” I thought she was nuts at first, then thought “huh. Maybe so.” By the time they hooked up in London, I was already rooting for them.

[Guest]

On 8/14/2023 at 8:23 AM, bluegirl147 said:

I could not stand Susan.  She acted like Ross was the interloper.  She would have been happy if he had just disappeared.   And why Ben have her last name in addition to his parents?  Her and Carol weren't married yet.  

Same.  Referring to him as the sperm guy when he was married to Carol at the time and she and Carol were cheating when Ben was conceived?  She was a step parent, but acted like she should have equal say.

[Spartan Girl]

19 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Also, more negative points to Ross for trying to get Carol’s sympathy by telling her that Rachel dumped him to be with Mark.

Yeah, but I did like how he later told Carol that she was literally the last person that had the right to lecture him about cheating.

[Bort]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Yeah, but I did like how he later told Carol that she was literally the last person that had the right to lecture him about cheating.

Fine, but I think Carol’s issue here was Ross flat out lying to her about why he and Rachel broke up just to get sympathy. Particularly since she was trying to make an anniversary dinner for herself and Susan and he wouldn’t leave and ate all the food.

[peacheslatour]

20 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Fine, but I think Carol’s issue here was Ross flat out lying to her about why he and Rachel broke up just to get sympathy. Particularly since she was trying to make an anniversary dinner for herself and Susan and he wouldn’t leave and ate all the food.

He was such an insensitive rag.

[bluegirl147]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:27 PM, peacheslatour said:

He was such an insensitive rag.

Sometimes but David Schwimmer played him so well.  With a different actor I don't think I would have liked Ross as much.

[peacheslatour]

4 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

Sometimes but David Schwimmer played him so well.  With a different actor I don't think I would have liked Ross as much.

He played him too well.

[sistermagpie]

On 8/12/2023 at 9:57 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Say what you want about Ross, but he was right to be upset that Carol cheated on him and then put in him the position of being forced to have them in their lives because of the pregnancy. Even though it was accidental/unplanned, for FFS Carol if you’re cheating and planning on getting a divorce maybe you shouldn’t have unprotected sex with Ross AND Susan at the same time!

 

On 8/14/2023 at 8:23 AM, bluegirl147 said:

I could not stand Susan.  She acted like Ross was the interloper.  She would have been happy if he had just disappeared.   And why Ben have her last name in addition to his parents?  Her and Carol weren't married yet.  

 

On 8/14/2023 at 9:58 AM, Crs97 said:

Susan was awful to him, and I hated how much they loved winding him up in the beginning.  Carol should have shut that crap down hard.

This is something that always drove me nuts--and honestly it made me almost want someone to ask Carol if it was really a mistake. Pretty convenient to be married to a guy for years and then, when you're barely having sex with him and planning to leave because you're cheating, you somehow get pregnant on your way out? And then start planning your little family with your girlfriend and even...planning to give the kid a hyphenated last name that leaves him out?  And when Susan gave that speech about being so sad that there's no name for her in the kids' life? Your the stepmother, Susan, and will probably be called Mom anyway. Ugh, hated her so much. As if any of this would fly if she were  man.

On 8/15/2023 at 3:13 PM, partofme said:

THIS!  I don't care if Ross/Rachel were on a break or not, the fact is he slept with someone else the same night, and this is what if I were Rachel I would never forgive.

Yes, it seemed like they intentionally made Rachel miss the point of the whole thing just so they could argue. Because the hurtful thing was Ross having a girl lined up to sleep with and lying about it after being so terrible before that, not that he cheated. Her focusing on that gave him the opening to shoot back with being on a break.

That said, I will never not love his your/you're fury after 18 pages (front and back). Btw, I've watched this show in another language trying to learn from it, and would now almost love just a list of the common grammar mistakes each language uses in that moment to substitute for your/you're.

[chitowngirl]

In TOW Phoebe’s Dad, if it’s that hot in the apartment, why don’t the girls lose their tights?? Joey goes over and turns off the radiator from the bottom…wouldn’t Mr. Treager know that?

[Spartan Girl]

14 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

Yes, it seemed like they intentionally made Rachel miss the point of the whole thing just so they could argue. Because the hurtful thing was Ross having a girl lined up to sleep with and lying about it after being so terrible before that, not that he cheated. Her focusing on that gave him the opening to shoot back with being on a break.

Exactly. And as a result, it came off as her playing the victim for the wrong reasons.

[AgathaC]

7 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Exactly. And as a result, it came off as her playing the victim for the wrong reasons.

Yes! She was totally missing the point. I never thought Ross “cheated.” I could totally understand her being hurt that he slept with someone else that quickly. (And, yes, he was a controlling jerk.) But by continually calling him a cheater, she kind of lost her argument. Be pissed for the right reason.

Instead it became about “we were on a break!” which they kind of were.

I always thought that was a writing mistake. They needed a reason to break them up, but after having him sleep with someone else, they kind of scrambled the story so he wouldn’t come across as too unlikeable. That was a little too late. His behavior was already in unlikeable territory then. And then Rachel had her moments later…

Those two could generate great humor, but they kind of brought out the worst of each other.

[sistermagpie]

17 minutes ago, AgathaC said:

Yes! She was totally missing the point. I never thought Ross “cheated.” I could totally understand her being hurt that he slept with someone else that quickly. (And, yes, he was a controlling jerk.) But by continually calling him a cheater, she kind of lost her argument. Be pissed for the right reason.

 

Yes, it made her look bad in so many ways. First because of course anyone would be annoyed by being accused by something they didn't really do. (Also, he even thought she was also doing it when he called and Mark answered the phone.) It also made it seem like the only thing she cared about was that he was a cheater, as if the other stuff he did, which really was a big problem, was fine. That's what he needed to take responsibility for. Instead it was all wiped away, ironically, by him sleeping with some other girl.

[Spartan Girl]

2 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

Yes, it made her look bad in so many ways. First because of course anyone would be annoyed by being accused by something they didn't really do. (Also, he even thought she was also doing it when he called and Mark answered the phone.) It also made it seem like the only thing she cared about was that he was a cheater, as if the other stuff he did, which really was a big problem, was fine. That's what he needed to take responsibility for. Instead it was all wiped away, ironically, by him sleeping with some other girl.

What made her look even worse was how after all that basically sabotaged Ross’s relationship with the girl who shaved her head when he was trying to move on, acting like she had buyers remorse for breaking up with, but then had to get on her high horse by making him read the stupid letter and forcing him to admit he cheated, and when he cracks with the “we were on a break” bit, she wastes no time in re-dumping him because she still can’t get over playing the victim.

And then of course was the whole Emily mess. I don’t know if Rachel hastened the inevitable showing up when she did at the wedding, but I feel like Ross got more crap for blurting Rachel’s name at the vows than Rachel did for her attempt to break up the wedding (even though she backed out of it). And by acting all put out that Emily asked Ross to cut Rachel off because it inconvenienced the rest of them, the gang basically enabled Rachel ‘s behavior.  

It’s like she was so wishy washy about wanting Ross back even though she couldn’t stand seeing him with another woman. It was manipulative.

Edited August 19, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[Wiendish Fitch]

I personally always felt ripped off that Phoebe, usually the Queen of Brutal Honesty, never called Rachel out on her behavior (or if she did, it wasn't nearly often enough). 

I've always, always, ALWAYS hated storylines involving Ross and Rachel. They were the ickiest, most awful, toxic, downright loathsome couple on the show. There are too many reasons that I could ramble on and on about, but I think number one on my list that neither of them could ever just let the other be right. I feel like a right weasel "both sides"-ing this, but I don't think I'm that far off. Ross could have just admitted he made a mistake. Rachel could have just chosen to forgive Ross. Either one of them could have just accepted that their relationship wasn't meant to be, and just let the other be happy. 

But they never did. It was just this miserable cycle of obsession, sabotage, breaking up, making up, etc. 

The show seemed to paint this as cute and funny, when it was anything but. If this was a show in the vein of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, then sure, it could be amusing, but this is Friends, and it's like the writers never realized how truly awful Ross and Rachel were!

It aggravates me to this day.