Page 8 | Worst plot hole in Friends

AlbertaWildRose · 2023-04-18T19:13:56+00:00

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.

RicciardoPerez · 19/04/2023 13:36

HurdyGurdy19 · 19/04/2023 13:20

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.

Frank Snr went to the store and never came back..

ChessieFL · 19/04/2023 13:39

mikado1 · 18/04/2023 22:08

Phoebe's brother Frank passes her busking in an earlier episode, and leaves a condom in her guitar case, but they don't seem to know each other!

Not a plot hole - at that point they hadn’t met properly so didn’t know they were brother and sister. Completely possible they could cross paths and wouldn’t recognise each other.

amusedbush · 19/04/2023 13:44

The changing ages of the characters really annoys me. The writers admitted that they lost track of Ross' birthdays and he ended up being 28 for about three years.

Rachel and Monica started the show at 26, so Ross and Chandler were 28 then. In the episode where Joey takes Rachel to dinner and tells her he's in love with her, she says they've been friends for eight years, making her 34. She's pregnant (but not too far along) at that time and Emma has one birthday on the show, so season 10 ends with her roughly 36 and Ross 38.

However, at their season 10 college reunion, Chandler said they made a pact 16 years ago. But the flashbacks in that episode show Ross with his freshman year haircut, plus Monica and Rachel are still in high school when they visit that weekend, so even if Ross was at most 19, 19+16=35 so it's out by three years.

thecatsthecats · 19/04/2023 13:48

MadisonAvenue · 18/04/2023 23:32

Didn’t she explain that by saying that her body has always worked quicker?

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Phoebe spouting any old bullshit doesn't equal an explanation.

Visit the TTC boards and see people, including IVF, desperately squinting at tests six days after ovulation! It's just flat impossible to test positive on the day on insemination.

Comedycook · 19/04/2023 15:51

Also again not really a plot hole but when Carol gives birth to Ben, all of them go along to the hospital. Can you imagine the Mumsnet thread....aibu to not want my ex husband's best mates to come along to the hospital while I'm giving birth?

Original poster

AlbertaWildRose · 19/04/2023 15:55

Comedycook · 19/04/2023 15:51

Also again not really a plot hole but when Carol gives birth to Ben, all of them go along to the hospital. Can you imagine the Mumsnet thread....aibu to not want my ex husband's best mates to come along to the hospital while I'm giving birth?

That is hilarious!

OP posts:

JamSandle · 19/04/2023 15:55

I secretly love that writers were allowed to be this flippant.

electricmoccasins · 19/04/2023 16:09

xogossipgirlxo · 19/04/2023 12:30

Oh, and Minsk in Russia😂

I suppose it was part of the USSR until 1993. But yeah, that’s not good geography considering that episode was filmed 1994/5. 🤣

Comedycook · 19/04/2023 16:15

sashh · 19/04/2023 04:17

But he's not there at all. Not at his dad's wedding, not at Aunty Monica's wedding, never seems to have met Emma...

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Ben is at Monica and Chandler's wedding. He doesn't speak but you see him sitting there

xogossipgirlxo · 19/04/2023 16:36

thecatsthecats · 19/04/2023 13:48

Phoebe spouting any old bullshit doesn't equal an explanation.

Visit the TTC boards and see people, including IVF, desperately squinting at tests six days after ovulation! It's just flat impossible to test positive on the day on insemination.

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I think it's just part of her unusual character. Same as this old lady's spirit entered her body 😆

michaelmacrae · 19/04/2023 16:49

Ross being able to hear Emily's phone from out in the street and through a closed window 😂

whynotwhatknot · 19/04/2023 16:56

I should change my username to a friends theme really

SargentSagittarius · 20/04/2023 02:52

ReasonsToBeCheerfull · 19/04/2023 10:42

@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.

Sorry yes, I’m aware of the genesis of their relationship, and that it wasn’t meant to be, per se.

But again, once they did get together, they were solidly together. No ‘on-again-off-again’, which is the usual method of keeping viewers glued and watching (Ross and Rachel).

Their relationship was low drama, healthy, normal. I think they were perfectly suited, and there was absolutely no ‘settling’.

SargentSagittarius · 20/04/2023 02:56

ChessieFL · 19/04/2023 13:39

Not a plot hole - at that point they hadn’t met properly so didn’t know they were brother and sister. Completely possible they could cross paths and wouldn’t recognise each other.

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Exactly! Why would they know each other when they’d never met?

Giovanni Ribisi might not even have been playing Frank Jnr.

I mean, the women who played Joey’s agent Estelle also played the midwife who helped Carol give birth.

And the creepy dude that Phoebe brought up for pregnant Rachel to sleep with also played the neighbour who called Monica ‘Candy Lady’ in The One With All The Candy.

Phoebo · 20/04/2023 02:56

Comedycook · 19/04/2023 15:51

Also again not really a plot hole but when Carol gives birth to Ben, all of them go along to the hospital. Can you imagine the Mumsnet thread....aibu to not want my ex husband's best mates to come along to the hospital while I'm giving birth?

I so agree with this. And also when they all go to weddings when they don't even really know the bride and groom.

SargentSagittarius · 20/04/2023 02:57

Phoebo · 20/04/2023 02:56

I so agree with this. And also when they all go to weddings when they don't even really know the bride and groom.

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Even Rachel’s Mum went to Carole and Susan’s wedding - so random!!

LittlePinkHen · 20/04/2023 04:13

That stupid episode where Chandler's suddenly really scared of dogs when it's never been mentioned before.

Rachel wears fake Adidas joggers on the plane journey to England when she's sat next to Hugh Laurie. I just couldn't imagine someone who was that into fashion would wear joggers with 2 stripes not 3. If she wasn't wearing Adidas or Nike etc. then plain black would've been more Rachel than 2 striped ones and I would love to know the wardrobe dept's reasoning behind this.

The episode with Rachel and Joey in the boat is so obviously filmed in front of a green screen. Did they not have enough budget by this point to hire a bit of lake or something?

Not plot holes but also:

I hated and remember clearly being quite shocked at how often porn and Playboy were mentioned like it was totally normal and not taboo (maybe it wasn't for Gen X New Yorkers?!).

The "well you'd be speaking German" line from the Take The Rachel episode is just total cringe and I used to hate watching it.

Plumbear2 · 20/04/2023 05:06

PyongyangKipperbang · 19/04/2023 01:15

OMG.....were they the twins in that Disney Channel shite about a pair of twin boys living in a hotel? I think their mother was the hotel manager or something....Ashley Thingummy (Tisdale?) was in it as a cleaner I think, she played Sharpay in High School Musical and voices Candace in Phineas and Ferb (tell me the age of you children without telling me the age of your children )?!

If it was them then it would explain why they stopped playing Ben. But it doesnt explain why there isnt a convenient back story like Carol and her wife (susan? Cant remember) moving to a different state and Ross travelling out every so often to visit Ben or something. It really does seem like he just cuts Ben off.

Also, Ross is a complete tosser the whole way through. The way he treats literally every single woman he is with, with the possible exception of Carol, is utterly appalling. Controlling, cheating liar without exception.

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Yes it was them. But only Cole Sprouse played the part of Ben because it was a small part and they didn't need his twin.

Neodymium · 20/04/2023 06:49

I think the last time ben was mentioned was in hospital when Emma was born. When jack was looking at her in the nursery window and he says my first grandchild. And Ross says what about Ben?

they could have mentioned him though the way they mentioned Emma. Like oh she’s just been dropped off at my mums ect to explain why she isn’t there.

Ross is such a twat though I could see him just dumping Ben for his new baby.

VincentVaguer · 20/04/2023 06:51

Bognog · 18/04/2023 20:25

Joey and Chandler talk about watching Die Hard but then Bruce Willis pops up as Ross's girlfriends Dad

This is my favourite Friends plot hole

Phoebo · 20/04/2023 07:18

VincentVaguer · 20/04/2023 06:51

This is my favourite Friends plot hole

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I don't understand people saying this, this isn't a plot hole. They often referred to celebrities and then they'd be on the show. Most of the celebrities didn't play themselves

VincentVaguer · 20/04/2023 07:24

Phoebo · 20/04/2023 07:18

I don't understand people saying this, this isn't a plot hole. They often referred to celebrities and then they'd be on the show. Most of the celebrities didn't play themselves

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Well it's meta and funny, not an actual plot hole I agree.

IrritableVowel · 20/04/2023 07:24

Smaller contradictions bug me more than the bigger holes...

As mentioned, Chandler couldn't smile for photos, yet was fine posing on his wedding day.

Ditto being afraid of dogs, but elsewhere (when he couldn't cry) saying if he had a talking puppy he'd be rich.

When Rachel was dating Joshua, she asked Monica to help pick which nightie to wear, Monica said picking other people's sex clothes freaked her out. Years later she asked Phoebe to help her pick... seems unlikely.

When Monica doesn't realise the eye doc is Richard's son, Rachel says ge is so cute she could jam the pencil in her eye. Later Rachel is totally squeamish about eyes and has to be pinned down to get her drops.

Not a contradiction, but bugs me...When Susan says she is going to London and Emily announces she will show her around and take her to a show... it just feels so odd.
Emily is obvs not a MNter

I probably have more...

Chickenwing2 · 20/04/2023 07:31

I noticed last night, Ross is upset that its the anniversary of him and Carol first sleeping together (his first time.) Monica says "oh i was hoping you wouldn't notice" - why would Monica know this date?

Then in the next episode Monica is on a double date with Joey and she says to Joeys date "wow, my brother didnt even tell me when he lost his virginity"

He obv did as you knew that date the previous episode!

Justleaveitblankthen · 20/04/2023 07:46

Phoebe having a twin.

There are huge stories when she is reconnecting with her birth family that she is never even referred to.

I can't tell you how much I hated the Twin story.
It was boring, lame and pointless and I refuse to watch any of those episodes 😂

Worst plot hole in Friends

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