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Original poster

To want a Friends inconsistency thread

211 replies

NameChangedNoImagination · 15/05/2019 12:19

I have watched this WAYYY too much. But there must be others like me out there.

To start...

  • Ben disappears.
  • Rachel's dad smokes but with her smoking episodes she says she doesn't because her dad's a doctor and told her horror stories about it.
OP posts:
sashh · 16/05/2019 08:02

The flats change floors.

In an early series Ross has chosen baby names but this is never mentioned when Rachel is pregnant or when she doesn't know what to name her baby.

Rachel's sister disappears, maybe she adopted Ben and ran off somewhere but you'd think Ben would have been invited to his dad's wedding in London.

SauvingnonBlanketyBlanc · 16/05/2019 08:03

The only one that bothers me is the fact that Rachel was introduced to Chandler when they already knew each other,all the others passed me by tbh.I loved friends especially the later series,the one where Rachel got off the plane makes me cry every time

thecatsthecats · 16/05/2019 08:09

Just spotted one that isn't a gripe, but actually quite cute!

In the one where Chandler and Monica have just been found out, and he gets antsy about commitment. He ends up proposing to Monica because he's sorry - but they end up kneeling together in almost the exact spot and position they do eventually get engaged!

Lilac3 · 16/05/2019 08:12

This is not an inconsistency and it's a rather odd one, but I too have been watching it lately and I've noticed that Rachel's nipples and breasts are very obvious through her tops, I'm sure she's not wearing a bra.

That just has to have been intentional, to draw viewers/male viewers?

I'm surprised, given how conservative American tv was at the time.
I mean, it was supposed to be shocking that Susan & Carol were lesbians, the fat Monica jokes, etc.

I am mid 30s now, so would have watched it in my early teens, and so much of it went over my head.

It's interesting to watch it as an adult.

Another observation: Phoebe is a bitch

dayswithaY · 16/05/2019 08:15

Also struggle to understand how Phoebe would remember the geeky teenage boy she mugged years ago was actually Ross.

Messyisthenewtidy · 16/05/2019 08:18

Also re Rachel only having slept with 4 people (yeah, right!) Monica lists all the people Rachel slept with on a first date and that brings the total over 4.

See I just thought that was because when Rachel said she'd only slept with 4 people she was trying to minimise to Ross who was acting all jealous.

Not an inconsistency as such but it always seemed unrealistic that Rachel would be able to go on Ross and Emily's honeymoon with her own passport and ID when obviously the plane tickets and hotel accommodation wouldn't be in her name..

Messyisthenewtidy · 16/05/2019 08:24

ooooooooo

When Phoebe meets Paolo for the first time she doesn't understand his Italian at all, but later when she meets Joey's grandmother she comes out with a perfect Italian sentence.

Messyisthenewtidy · 16/05/2019 08:26

Another observation: Phoebe is a bitch

IKR! Her character is so confusing because she's obviously being shoehorned into this character of a liberal caring inclusive hippy but really she's super mean, especially to the boys and is always berating them for not being manly enough.

TinyMarie · 16/05/2019 08:56

The one where Monica spends the whole episode scared to stand up to her work colleagues because she's 'not good at confrontation' so has to pretend to sack Joey, yet she has absolutely no problem whipping Janine with a rubbish bag a few seasons later.
You could argue that she got older and braver but it just seems like an unrealistic shift.

x2boys · 16/05/2019 09:00

When Rachel.is naming baby "Emma" Monica says she always wanted a girl called Emma and Boy called Daniel, and allow ,s rachel.to have the name Emma, yet when they adopt the twins they name them Erica after the birth mother and Jack after her Dad no mention of the name Daniel .

x2boys · 16/05/2019 09:06

Chandler ,s ever changing weight(yes I realise in real life it was to do with the actors drug problems) I can never remember which way around but when Monica and Chandler get engaged at the end of the season there is a huge discrepancy in Chandler weight at the end of one season beginning of another and the engagement is supposed to be one night .

WellErrr · 16/05/2019 09:16

It always annoys me how Joey got stupider and stupider as the series went on.

Sux2buthen · 16/05/2019 09:17

To be fair the baby name Ross had chosen from the big book of baby names was Emily, so doubt that would've worked Grin

Buddyelf · 16/05/2019 09:18

OOh I have one. In the episode with Ross following Elizabeth to Florida for Spring break the camera moves and you can see the edge of the sky and clearly see its a set. Always bugs me.
Its one of my favorite shows but there really is a lot of inconsistencies. I feel like if you spent 10 years writing a show you'd know the characters inside out.
Re-watching again now in my 30s, I have to agree with a PP, its like they became caricatures of themselves. Especially Joey.
I caught the end of the final episode this week and the way he double takes when they bring in the second baby and says 'so whats the big surprise' just really made me cringe.

MissCharleyP · 16/05/2019 09:21

I think Monica acts so surprised when Chandler says he’s in love with her is because he’s always been such a commitment-phobe and she’s realised he must be serious to declare it in front of others.

x2boys · 16/05/2019 09:27

And yet they named their daughter Emma Sux which is not dissimilar to Emily?

Buffy81 · 16/05/2019 09:32

Lilac3 you are right about Rachel not wearing a bra. If I remember correctly, I think I read in one of my many friends book that Jennifer Aniston doesnt like wearing them

The flats changed number due to the fact that Monica and Rachel have a balcony and the writers realised that it wouldn't work with the flat numbers being so low so they have to change them

GoodPlaceJanet · 16/05/2019 09:37

Rachel slept with Barry (Berry?) when he was engaged to Mindy and they both confronted him. Yet they still had her as a bridesmaid afterwards

On this note. When Ross "cheats" on Rachel and she goes nuts and doesn't let it drop for month. Fine but prior to this she slept with one of her best friends fiancé's and she also kissed Ross whilst he was still with Julie and pushed their break up. Not so much an inconsistency but a raging hypocrisy and it always bugs me.

boringlyboring · 16/05/2019 09:40

When Phoebe meets Paolo for the first time she doesn't understand his Italian at all, but later when she meets Joey's grandmother she comes out with a perfect Italian sentence.

I don’t understand how Joey doesn’t speak Italian at all with either Paolo or his gran (can’t remember if there’s any other scenes his Italian would have been handy). It’s never mentioned in the show.

I know it’s not a definite that he should know it, but if he grew up with Italian speaking relatives, he must have picked at least the basics up.

ILoveMaxiBondi · 16/05/2019 09:44

he must have picked at least the basics up.

Apparently he only knows the swear words. Grin

thatmustbenigelwiththebrie · 16/05/2019 09:48

Isn't Paolo Spanish?

Sux2buthen · 16/05/2019 10:04

When Mike is becoming crap bag, he and phoebe are in central perk. Mike is wearing a scarf done up tight. Then undone. Then done up. And so on

ILoveYou3000 · 16/05/2019 10:09

Also struggle to understand how Phoebe would remember the geeky teenage boy she mugged years ago was actually Ross.

She didn't remember Ross. It was his comic Science Boy, that she'd kept that made her realise.

Pengrin · 16/05/2019 10:11

Re Rachel’s long pregnancy, the writers explained that the series ended with her pregnant and then the following series started from where the last left off. Therefore, time wise she was pregnant for a long time but episode wise, it was normal.

It wouldn’t make for very good viewing if they started the following series and she’d had Emma in the gap Grin

Whereland · 16/05/2019 10:12

I can't remember the exact sequence of which came first but chandler tells Monica he loves her for the first time twice! When she's dancing with the turkey on her head he says you're so great I love you- and it's the first time he's said it. But then in the episode where phoebe is trying to fake seduce him to admit he's with Monica he cracks and says "I'm in love with Monica" and again she acts all shocked as it's the first time he has said it