Another F.R.I.E.N.D.S thread :-)

[ItWasJustifiedHeWasACunt]

Watching the early years when Carol is pregnant. I absolutely loathe Susan, she's vile. Splits up a family, feels entitled enough to give a baby she's not related to her OWN surname and constantly insults poor Ross with "sperm donor" comments. How did he not smash her face in? I know it's not real.

Rachel is the prettiest and wears amazing clothes, but Monica in the first couple of series is really beautiful. Also - mature Richard was much better for her than man baby Chandler.

Janice has a heart of gold and is actually pretty wise. She's a good friend to have.

Hate to say it but Joey is a loser. Freeloading off Chandler, barely works and treats women like shit. If he was real he would be hated on here.

If I could I would have ended it as:

Monica and Richard - who now wants kids with her (yeah I know he's old but he's just so bloody great).
Chandler and Kathy, who returns towards the end. In my version she never cheated on him, just had to move away for work.
Ross and Rachel - I know everyone on here hates him but although he was clingy at the beginning he chilled out a lot over time.
Phoebe and David. Never took to Mike.
Joey - happy to remain a serial shagger... but he could have at least scored a hit show role or something.

And there you go!

The one where no-one was interested 🤣

I agree with you on most points but I think both Monica and chandler grew in their relationship more so than with anyone else so I think they are a good fit.

Also I HATED David. Mike was clearly the better man.

I adored Joey throughout the show but I agree, he did treat women terribly and was a freeloader.

No, Chandler grew up, matured and got over himself. He and Monica were a great couple.

Richard was great to, but it was never going to be.

I thought David was great, and more suited for Phoebe than Mike.

It is testament to Matt Le Blanc that Joey was such a likeable character in spite of being so inherently awful.

Ross is pretty awful, but David Schwimmer is a fantastic and very talented comedic actor.

I bugged me how phoebe in the first few seasons was a loving "hippy" type who came across as naive, sensitive and quirky. Who was traumatized when she realised her mom used to cut off the endings of "bad" movies to save them being upset. Then in later seasons she's portrayed as a hard, streetwise woman who allegedly robbed Ross back in her "street " days.

I definitely agree about Susan. Why would Ross be expected to like her? The sperm donor comments are not nice at all. And it's ridiculous of Carol to want to give the baby Susan's surname.

I also mainly agree about Janice, although didn't she cheat on her husband?

Phoebe is my least favourite friend - she's very disloyal and bitchy.

Joey to be fair probably cares about his friends the most, although I don't think his character developed much at all. I also think Monica was a lot more chilled out in the earlier years. She became more controlling and judgy.

Rachel evolved the most, she was a completely different person (better) by the end. Independent and unspoiled.

If I was Monica I’d have stuck with Pete. Yeah he was a bit mental about the ultimate fighting champion thing but he was loaded, loved her, and was a really sweet guy.

Susan (and Carol actually) were awful to Ross. Calling him the ‘sperm donor’ etc when in fact he was cheated on by Carol with Susan and had to deal with becoming a dad to a woman who had been unfaithful and left him.

I also think all the characters went a bit bad towards the later seasons. Joey went from a smooth talking guy who wasn’t necessarily academic but was street smart and funny to someone who seemed like he must be mentally delayed in some way. Monica went from a slightly bossy woman to being OCD and incredibly controlling etc.

But also what I particularly hate about watching it is how Joey is made so staggeringly stupid by the end. At the start he's not that bad, but by the end it's parody. The episode where phoebe teaches him French and he can't even repeat more than one sound at a time is particularly absurd.

Technically Susan didn’t ‘break up a family’, as Carol only discovered she was pregnant after she’d dumped Ross and moved onto Susan.

Although you really have to suspend your disbelief to buy that one….

Woman meets other woman. Realises she’s a lesbian. Dumps male partner. But not without having one last shag with him.

Don’t disagree though, that Susan was a really unpleasant character.

Yes! The inconsistencies bug me sometimes. Like how Chandler ‘can’t cry’ but then in other episodes he’s portrayed as really weepy/sensitive.

I never really understood how when Monica and Chandler were having trouble conceiving the advice from the doctors was "keep trying, but it might never happen naturally". Wouldn't the next logical step have been IVF, rather than adoption, especially since they considered going down the sperm donor route, so theoretically Monica would have been capable of carrying a pregnancy, they just needed help with the actual conceiving part?

@FionnulaTheCooler I think in one episode it said Monica had an inhospitable womb so maybe that's why they couldn't have IVF.

I agree that Monica is more classically beautiful than Rachel, Rachel is v attractive though and has more attention spent on her hair and wardrobe as the seasons progress. She also has an amazing figure, skin, hair etc and Monica has some terrible haircuts and very pale foundation. I am currently re-watching and shocked by Monica in her fat suit being no more than a size 14-16 I would have thought, not enormous at all! A lot of the jokes have aged uncomfortably, but it's still occasionally very funny. Ross and Rachel have great comedy timing.

Ah yes Pete, he was lovely! He let Monica go very easily though, considering he went to great efforts to get her.

As far as secondary characters go - Emily was by FAR the worst. Totally unlikeable.

Loved Rachel's dad, so awful but so funny.

Really didn't like the Kathy cheating storyline and whoever had the idea to throw Rachel and Joey together must have been on crack. What on earth were they thinking?!

In general (and I'm sorry to admit this!) I feel like the male secondary characters were more likeable and funnier than the females. You have Judy Geller who was awful to her daughter, self centred Amanda "I feel like a perfect arse", obviously Susan and Emily, Rachel's unkind sisters, heartless Ursula. Other than Janice (and Joey's mum who I would loved to see more of) I'm struggling to think of any female characters I really took to. Couldn't get enough of Richard and I found David the science guy very funny. Same with Phoebe's brother Frank.

Yes he did let her go awfully easy! I think a lot of the weird behaviour of certain characters has to be explained away by the obvious - they are guest stars. Richard/Pete /Paul etc are played by famous actors/directors who maybe couldn’t or didn’t want to commit to full time work so were written out in sometimes rushed/lazy ways.

I liked Kathy too. I love Paget Brewster! And I didn’t think Janice was as awful as they all make out. I think Chandler could have done a lot lot worse. Other than her nasal voice what’s actually wrong with Janice? But they all act like she’s some monster!

It's,s only when you binge watch them you realise the inconsistencies, like how long wwa Rachel pregnant for about a year!
And Monica introducing Rachel to everyone in the opening episode, saying you remember my brother Ross ,but actually Rachel had met Chandler a fair few times too
And I don't get how mindy was Rachel's best friend at school but Monica hardly knew her!

I loved David the science guy, especially how much he adored Phoebe, would have loved to see her end up with him. Mike was in some great scenes, like the table tennis with Monica, but I agree I didn’t really see Mike as good for Phoebe.

Hated Susan. Just awful. That couple never acknowledged the damage they’d done to Ross and how hard it was for him letting the OW bring up his child.

Struggled with Rachel. I think they wrote her character as very inconsistent. When they were pushing her at Joey she suddenly turned into a moron laughing at terrible jokes in Bermuda. My main problem with her though was for so much of the series she didn’t want Ross but didn’t want anyone else to have him either. She made him dump Bonnie but then wouldn’t go out with him unless he did everything she said. Also ruined his wedding to Emily and his relationship with Mona. Oh and got jealous of her sister 🤣

I don't understand the friendship group at school either.
Rachel at times was made out to be super popular and mean.
Why would she be friends with Monica? Who was fat and bullied by people like Rachel.

They began with

Oh and also I struggled to like Mona but I don't know why? Any ideas welcome!

Mona was just a bit blah, wasn’t she? She didn’t really have anything to her. I mean what was her job? Or her personality? She sort of only existed as a barrier to Ross and Rachel.

I liked Phoebe and Gary the cop!

The Susan thing was odd - Ross made a good point that if Susan was a man everybody wouldn’t expect him to get on board with her being in his life

Also loved Rachel and Gavin - her maternity replacement who she hate-kissed

Joey and Joey

Chandler and Kathy - she didn’t cheat on him in my version either 🤣

Monica and Richard all the way

Ross and his dinosaurs

The thing that confused me was she was "Mona from the restaurant" so assumed waitress or chef, then apparently she was a nurse? I think she was just a bit of a try hard maybe and the whole "where are we" conversation with Ross just felt a bit full on, even though she had every right to ask.

That’s believable to me. When her mom used to cut the endings from the bad movies she was a small child, when she was mugging other children her mom had killed herself and she was living on the streets. She had to be tough, but she had a soft side (which is why she kept baby Ross’ drawings).

Her character arc in general was pretty awful. As you say she went from a sweet, loving hippy to a bit of a bitch. She was so sarcastic and nasty in the end. Much preferred earlier Phoebe

I thought she just dressed up as a nurse for Halloween?