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Original poster

Worst plot hole in Friends

366 replies

AlbertaWildRose · 18/04/2023 20:13

I was home sick today, and having nothing to do this popped into my head and I can't get it out until I share it! The One With Chandler in a Box, where Monica injures her eye and has to go to the eye doctor. She and Rachel are gushing over how cute the on-call doctor is, only to find out that it is Richard's son. Really?! She honestly had no idea what her ex-boyfriend's son looked like? Granted she hadn't seen him in-person for a while, but Richard really had no photos of his kids in his apartment? That just seems too far fetched to me.

OP posts:
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7
ShirleyPhallus · 29/04/2023 19:43

BensonStabler · 29/04/2023 19:35

Monica gives up her ideal wedding dress by for Chandler, so that he can have the band “The Swing Kings”. Yet at their wedding they have the band ‘Jungle Swing’

Monica finds her perfect dress she tries on at the expensive bridal store Kleinman’s, it’s a white A-line halter neck dress & it has a basque bodice, and yet when they go to the sale store in the Bronx, she fights Megan over ‘her dress’ and it’s an entirely different dress! It is ivory, normal strap line with lace straps, sweetheart neckline no fancy bodice, flower attachments on it!

Also, she puts her name down at the museum (I think?!) as her ideal wedding venue then chandler hears the message about it and proposes. Then they don’t even get married there!

Flittingaboutagain · 29/04/2023 20:07

On the subject of ‘rehearsal’ dinners, it annoyed me that Emily and Ross had one, when they’re not a thing in the UK.

^ I know loads of people, me included, who called the meal we had with family who travelled to the area the night before a rehearsal dinner. I'm UK based. But I don't think it's a thing if you get married in your home town. Wasn't Emily from Shropshire though?

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ReasonsToBeCheerfull · 29/04/2023 21:13

Judy tells Monica she wishes her grandmother could've seen her get married and when Monica says "but she's seated right there" she replies "not that old bat, my mother!"

@KillingMeDeftly very good spot /well remembered

SalmonEile · 29/04/2023 21:20

Sugarfish · 29/04/2023 20:27

Fan theory on why Ben doesn’t appear in the last few seasons
https://www.glamour.com/story/friends-fan-theory-suggests-ross-lost-custody-of-ben

Not Ross’s fault but if I were Carol I’d be mightily freaked out by Phoebe showing up to Bens school and pretending to be his mother resulting in a restraining order from Sting too

Sugarfish · 29/04/2023 21:45

When friends was first on and I was obviously a lot younger than I am now. I thought Carol and Susan were quite mean to poor Ross. Now I’m older I can see Carol must have put up with a lot from her ex and his annoying friends!

SargentSagittarius · 29/04/2023 21:49

One of the biggest plot holes was the existence of Ben at all.

So Carol realises she’s a lesbian, not through any self-realisation, but because she’s met and fallen in love with a woman.

But she then cheats on the woman she’s fallen in love with, and has sex with a man again.

I mean ….. what …..? Confused

Kanaloa · 29/04/2023 21:55

SargentSagittarius · 29/04/2023 21:49

One of the biggest plot holes was the existence of Ben at all.

So Carol realises she’s a lesbian, not through any self-realisation, but because she’s met and fallen in love with a woman.

But she then cheats on the woman she’s fallen in love with, and has sex with a man again.

I mean ….. what …..? Confused

I wonder if part of the issue here is the rigid ideas about sexuality even in very recent history. It’s always been a bug bear of mine about the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character willow starts a relationship with a woman, and over the next few series calls herself gay repeatedly, including acting repulsed about the idea of being with a man. However, in the first three full series we see her in love with/attracted to/forming serious and close relationships with boys. Of course it’s possible that she was masking her sexuality through fear of the situation or her conservative family etc, but I think it’s more to do with ideas at the time that you couldn’t possibly be interested in men and women.

IrritableVowel · 29/04/2023 22:11

KillingMeDeftly · 29/04/2023 18:46

She was @LudicrouslyCapaciousBag - Judy tells Monica she wishes her grandmother could've seen her get married and when Monica says "but she's seated right there" she replies "not that old bat, my mother!"

In the one where Monica has blue nails, Judy says they look like your grandmother when we found her.

Nana #1 died in hospital
Nana #2 went to wedding...

Also not a plot hole but why did the Gellars have so many big bashes? It was implied they'd had regular wedding anniversary parties, when Monica decided to do the toast

SargentSagittarius · 29/04/2023 22:20

Also not a plot hole but why did the Gellars have so many big bashes? It was implied they'd had regular wedding anniversary parties, when Monica decided to do the toast

What’s wrong with having lots of big bashes?

That episode was their 35th anniversary, so if they celebrated that, it’s entirely probably that they also celebrated their 20th, their silver and their 30th.

IrritableVowel · 29/04/2023 22:54

Nothing wrong with it, it just always stood out as a bit weird to me. I've never known people to have a party that size every 5/10 years 🤷 once or twice over a long marriage, maybe

PyongyangKipperbang · 30/04/2023 01:32

IrritableVowel · 29/04/2023 22:54

Nothing wrong with it, it just always stood out as a bit weird to me. I've never known people to have a party that size every 5/10 years 🤷 once or twice over a long marriage, maybe

My parents, married 53 years, have had one party like this their whole married life. I remember it as I would have been about 10. It was at Xmas or New Year one year and only I think because everyone else in both families had had them over the years so they felt like they should. Actually thats not strictly true....they had one big party at a venue arranged by me and my sister for their joints 50th's and their 30th anniversary, but as much as they loved it, they didnt arrange or host it!

I have never had a full party like that as I hate having people in my safe space.

However, I have friends who, if they havent had a big BIG party at least 3 times a year feel like their social life is crap. Its what they like doing. They dont judge me for arranging get togethers on a smaller scale away from my house, and I dont judge them for having a houseful. Each to their own.

IrritableVowel · 30/04/2023 07:13

Oh I know people who have a lot of parties at home. I was talking about the Gellars big wedding anniversary party, I think it was for 35 yrs married. The storyline implied they regularly did that- every time Ross does the toast, but this time Monica is going to do it - and I just found it odd. If e.g. my aunt and uncle had a pretty formal event for their 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th etc, my folks and others would probably be a bit Hmm and think it a bit much.

Anyway, it wasn't a plot hole so I am throwing this thread off track. Apologies OP

Phoebo · 30/04/2023 08:25

I think it's fair to say there was no thought into continuity or logic in Friends at all, I guess they probably didn't expect it to go on for so long or because it was a comedy didn't care. This thread is actually hilarious thinking about all the inconsistencies 🤣

Neodymium · 30/04/2023 11:06

BensonStabler · 29/04/2023 19:35

Monica gives up her ideal wedding dress by for Chandler, so that he can have the band “The Swing Kings”. Yet at their wedding they have the band ‘Jungle Swing’

Monica finds her perfect dress she tries on at the expensive bridal store Kleinman’s, it’s a white A-line halter neck dress & it has a basque bodice, and yet when they go to the sale store in the Bronx, she fights Megan over ‘her dress’ and it’s an entirely different dress! It is ivory, normal strap line with lace straps, sweetheart neckline no fancy bodice, flower attachments on it!

Not to mention that Monica and Megan were not the same size.

thecatsthecats · 30/04/2023 12:34

Neodymium · 30/04/2023 11:06

Not to mention that Monica and Megan were not the same size.

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Same with Monica trying on Emily's dress. No way would it have fit!

Not quite related, and not a plot hole, but Mother of God, the head dress that Monica took home with Emily's dress was HIDEOUS. Nobody would play dress up with that tat, surely?

thecatsthecats · 30/04/2023 13:00

Frazzledstar1 · 23/04/2023 15:26

This is something that has always bugged me, where was Phoebes grandma when she was living on the streets!

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She did mention in the cookie episode that her grandma would be "looking up at her and smiling" because she would "definitely" be in hell.

So I doubt she was a great person to turn to.

LizzieWallace · 30/04/2023 19:36

There was an episode, quite early on, with a "peeper" looking into Monica and Rachel's apartment. Somehow joey got the number and they found out it was a woman called Sydney (I think).
The thing I'm confused about is in the episode joey also caught the peeper looking at him....his apartment is on tbe other side of the building! Where was the peeper standing??

Flittingaboutagain · 30/04/2023 20:09

Not sure if this counts as a plot hole but they all seemed to spend so much time hanging out and not at work. I guess I'd have liked it if they commented on it being a weekend more often!

ReasonsToBeCheerfull · 30/04/2023 20:18

There was an episode, quite early on, with a "peeper" looking into Monica and Rachel's apartment.

This makes me think of the "morning is here" singing guy who annoys Rachel singing too early when they swap apartments. Joey is like his best window buddy.

Never spoken of or seen before or since.

Neodymium · 30/04/2023 22:08

thecatsthecats · 30/04/2023 13:00

She did mention in the cookie episode that her grandma would be "looking up at her and smiling" because she would "definitely" be in hell.

So I doubt she was a great person to turn to.

Show quote history

I actually didn’t think much of that, if lily could have had a falling out with her mum before and had no idea she died. She might not have even known phoebe and Ursula when they were younger. Phoebe was living with Monica, and then I feel like she got back in touch with her grandma when she was an adult. It seems like the family was quite dysfunctional so I don’t think it’s a stretch that they didn’t have much to do with her.

another thing that bugs me, not a plot hole but a Ross hole - him getting so mad when he realises phoebe was the one that mugged him. Like him and his entitled upbringing with no compassion for what phoebe went through. If that was me, looking back on that event and knowing phoebe now and what she was going through at the time, I wouldn’t be angry at her, I would have viewed her as much as a victim as myself. Maybe even thought it was funny in an ironic kind of way. But not angry or upset like he was.

sashh · 01/05/2023 05:57

Not a plot hole but I saw this on YouTube so you all have to

All the main actors in friends are older than the youngest actor in the 'Golden Girls' first series.

KillingMeDeftly · 01/05/2023 06:29

Yes, they are now but it's not like they were when they were in Friends!

ReasonsToBeCheerfull · 05/05/2023 15:31

Just saw this episode the other day which made me think - the one where Mike finds Bob the rat in Phoebe's kitchen cupboard and it has babies.

There is a bit where Mike explains how they will breed, and she says no they won't they are brother and sister, and acts like its a revelation that 7 rats having 7 rats etc.

This totally doesn't fit with her having lived on the streets where there are rats. Lots of rats.

whynotwhatknot · 09/05/2023 14:29

the carol/ross/susan relationship bugged me

sorry but carol just waltzes in like she has evey right to put ross down every opportunity she gets-shes the ow yet we're meant to find it funny

if carol had cheated with a man noone would find it half as funny