Worst plot hole in Friends

[AlbertaWildRose]

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.

Or his dad’s wedding, or meeting his baby cousins etc.

I think they really dug themselves into a hole with the college/school flashbacks with Rachel/Monica/Chandler/Ross..it led to so many plot holes, especially the Chandler kissing Rachel thing butcthen them not knowing each other.

It's also implied that Chandler and Monica met when they rented apartments opposite each other, rather than through Ross.

I also think back to the two episodes at the beach house when Chandler is creating scenarios where he could be Monica's boyfriend, and she keeps laughing it off. Would she really change her mind to the point of marriage with just a few years passing?

You we’re not supposed to put beef in the shepherd’s pie Rachel, let alone the bloody trifle.

Always thought this 😆

Oh yes the shepherds' pie!

Also as she read the recipe it went something like "ladyfingers, custard, beef sautéed with peas, more custard, bananas and whipped cream on top". If the pages were stuck together then how did she go from trifle to shepherds pie and then back to trifle again??

I may be overthinking this...

@SargentSagittarius

The writers really broke the mould with the Monica - Chandler relationship.

Ross and Rachel is the usual blue-print for couples getting together in a TV show - a protracted, will-they-won’t-they scenario, one liking the other and the object oblivious. Then the other realising their feelings, then on and off again. They even used this blueprint with Joey and Rachel.

With Monica and Chandler on the other hand, they got together without ANY sort of build-up for the audience. And then once together, they were solid as a rock. The theme was - it feels so right, why haven’t we always been together?

You probably know this already if you are a huge friends fan - but the reason the Monica/Chandler plot line appears to be 'breaking the mould' is because it was never intended. It actually was driven by the audience not the writers. It was only supposed to be a one-night stand but audiences liked them together so much the writers changed the story arc. There's quite a lot written on this and interviews with the producers/cast etc if you good it but here is one example:

The entire audience ovation caused some serious edits. It lasted 27-seconds, which featured shock and pure joy from the live crowd. "Chandler and Monica were meant to be just a one night thing. But fans in the audience liked it so much that they cheered the bedsheet scene for twenty-seven seconds. It led the makers to make them a couple."

https://www.thethings.com/chandler-and-monica-romance-storyline-changed/

Separately - @KillingMeDeftly that trifle thing always annoyed me not just because of the half a trifle/shepherds pie/back to trifle being explained by pages stuck together but also because literally NO cookery book in the history of the universe has desserts before main courses. The desserts are always at the end of the book.

I suppose theoretically you could have a situation where two pages got stuck together and in an attempt to separate them, half of it got ripped off so a single page had a main page of Recipe A at the top, a stuck torn triangle of Recipe B stuck to it where the upper and lower bits had been ripped off and then Recipe A at the bottom. BUT that's not what we see when Ross rifles through the pages.
AND you would notice the ripped edges of the stuck pages.

I suppose it could be Trifle recipe-Shepherds pie recipe - some other dessert recipe that is topped with cream but if they'd just done it half and half it would be less funny. The fact it's like a trifle /beef sandwich is more amusing.

Oh I’d always thought the recipe was a home made one like a scrap book thing put together over the years hence the messing up of the pages RFC

Etc even

Just watching the one where Rachel has Emma

Ross’s Mum turns up to give him his grandmas ring…. Saying he should use it to propose

but he had his grandmas special magic ring that Joey thought stripper stole but actually the duck ate, when he was marrying Emily

so is this another grandmas ring or the same one? 🤔

Rachel was "two nipples, no waiting" and yet somehow she was so vanilla with Barry. It always bugs me.

When I rewatch it, I am surprised at how many times porn is mentioned.

Oh, and Minsk in Russia😂

In the floating heads thanksgiving episode (series 10), Rachel leaves the monitor in Joey’s apartment after getting the sprouts and then has thanksgiving dinner next door with at least two shut doors between her and Emma!

Another one- Rachel's father was apparently SO rich that Rachel's sister bought her friend a boat. You wouldn't say it from looking at their house- or is it just me?

In an early episode Ross tells Joey and Chandler that Carol was the first and only woman he's had sex with but in a later episode, Chandler says Ross slept with the lady who cleaned their dorm in college

Oh and three pregnancy and birth related ones.

I'm not an expert of US maternity care but I struggle to believe that...

Phoebe would have given birth vaginally to triplets...I'd have thought that's an automatic section in the states?

Erica carrying twins would have been picked up in a scan

When Rachel gives birth to Emma they discover she's breech... surely this would have been picked up on way before labour?

There are some serious Friends fans on this thread! I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to watch it again without yelling at the screen!

@Comedycook

When Erica gives birth the doctors are aware - it’s part of the ‘dumb Erica’ narrative as she supposedly misinterpreted two heartbeats referring to her and baby rather than one baby.

Breech can be a surprise if baby has an unstable lie. I had an unstable lie and it was only picked up because I had growth scans owing to baby measuring very big. From 38 weeks he went from ceph, breech, ceph, breech and finally ceph when I went in at 39 weeks.

I felt the bugger ever time he did it - he was nearly 10lb.

*rather than two babies.

Bruce Willis was a very versatile actor and his appearance in Friends are one of my favourite episodes. How can you say him guest starring didn’t work 🤯🤯 Afterall he is a neat guy, still got it, nice and sexy, a love machine…

Ah yes. Enid.

🤣🤣

Oh I see!

Rachel leaving and Ross having to make a mad dash like he’ll never see her again,
but they would’ve been in contact all the time for Emma, Rachel even said her company would fly Ross out to visit and stuff
But then again, Ross didn’t seem to give a shit his daughter was moving away anyway , even Rachel saying I’ll fly out first then my mom will fly out with Emma and no mention of Ross having Emma in that time between Rachel leaving and Emma leaving

It would’ve made more sense if Ross wasn’t Emma’s father

a long distance relationship probably would’ve been better for them anyway Ross would have to deal with his jealousy

• Ross said he didn't like ice cream as "it's too cold".
• Ross seen walking in the street with student/girlfriend (Bruce Willis' daughter, whose name I can't remember!) - eating ice cream.

• Phoebe went to finally meet her father (running over his dog in the process), but was told by Frank Jr that Frank Sr had died.
• Frank Snr turning up at Phoebe's grandma's funeral.