Friends is a TV show so iconic that it defined a generation, and its popularity endures even
today. But is it the same witty, hilarious show we remember from our younger days? Here
are some things that you're only going to notice if you're watching as an adult.
The world of Friends is magical, and not just because of the entertainment it's provided
over the years. It introduced us to a sort of fantasy version of Manhattan — where
rent is affordable enough that 20-somethings can have a spacious apartment.
We know that Monica's giant apartment is in her grandmother's name and rent-controlled,
which helps to explain how she can afford to live there. And it's likely she charges
Rachel little to no rent, since she’s unemployed when she first moves in. Then we've got Ross,
the paleontologist; Phoebe, the masseuse; Joey, the rarely-employed actor; and Chandler,
who works in… what was it again?
“It, um, it has something to do with transponding… Oh, oh! Oh, he’s a transpon, transponster!”
“That’s not even a word!”
None of them seem to be particularly wealthy, and Phoebe and Joey don't even have stable
jobs. So how are they paying rent, let alone covering costs for food and transportation
around the city?
Adding to the confusion about how everyone can afford to live in Manhattan is the fact
that they never go to work. There are a few scenes where we see them at their jobs, like
the one where Rachel's boyfriend Paolo hits on Phoebe in the middle of a massage session
and the one where Ross has a meltdown in front of his boss.
“You ate my sandwich?”
But the hours they work seem to be sporadic. Even when Rachel is waitressing at Central
Perk, she spends more time socializing than pouring coffee.
“Does anybody need coffee?” *everyone says yes*
As an adult, you can't help but wonder how these people have so much time to hang out
with their friends. Coordinating hangouts can be tough, especially with six people working
at vastly different jobs. Yet the gang seems to be able to get together every day of the
week. How do they do it?
Chandler is the lovable dork of the Friends group... but is he, really? When you think
about it, he’s made some pretty manipulative and selfish decisions. First off, there’s
the time when he kissed Joey's girlfriend and ended up in a relationship with her. Also,
In a flashback, it's revealed that he and Ross had a crush on the same woman in college
and agreed to stay away from her. But at their class reunion, Ross learns that Chandler had
made out with her several times.
Later on, when Monica and Chandler start dating, Ross is far from thrilled but eventually forgives
them because they're in love. It's not the first time Chandler has hooked up with a friend's
sister, though. In an earlier episode, he kissed two of Joey's sisters, eventually admitting
he couldn't even tell them apart.
Chandler has some other serious issues, like channeling all of his past problems into sarcasm.
“I’m not great at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?"
He's unhappy at his job, has trouble sustaining a healthy relationship, and is still dealing
with his parents' divorce. He takes his identity as the funny man of the group a little too
seriously, flying into a rage when Ross has a joke published that Chandler swears he came
up with.
“It’s my joke. It’s my joke. It’s my joke. Ya know I don’t think we’re gonna
settle this?”
Fortunately, we see Chandler mature as the series progresses. He's still funny and sarcastic,
but he repairs his relationship with his father and enters a stable relationship with Monica.
In the pilot episode, we're introduced to Ross going through a rough divorce. He may
be heartbroken, but couldn't he show his ex-wife a little bit more sympathy? We're talking
about a woman bravely coming out as a lesbian in a time before equal marriage laws. Instead
of being supportive of a woman he cares about finally coming to terms with her sexuality,
he makes it all about him.
“I’m fine!”
These aren't the only times Ross isn’t supportive either. He feels threatened when Rachel has
a male coworker, so he sends her flowers and stuffed animals at work to remind the office
that she's taken. After they break up, he dates another woman and is visibly disgusted
when she shaves her head. He treats women like possessions, not human beings.
As a background character who didn't even have a line until the second season, Gunther
is best remembered as the barista suffering from unrequited love for Rachel. But unlike
some of her other men, he doesn't try to force her hand and respects her personal boundaries.
While his devotion to Rachel might come off as creepy, a closer look helps you realize
that he's actually loving her from a distance, while giving her some space. Rachel could
do a lot worse.
Phoebe often speaks casually of her childhood, but her rough life impacted her more than
she lets on. She writes songs about her mother's death, which left her devastated years later.
She found herself living on the streets at the age of 14 and soon moved in with a man
who is implied to be several years older than her.
While she normally seems cheerful and well-adjusted, we get some clues that Phoebe is still dealing
with her traumatic childhood. When she can't live with Monica's micromanaging anymore,
she slowly moves her things out of their shared apartment, unable to confront her. She also
has some puzzling beliefs, like her dead friend's spirit lives on in pencils. They write it
off as eccentricity, but Phoebe's behavior is likely just her way of processing all of
the loss she's experienced in her life.
“My mother’s ashes, and even her eyelashes, are resting in a little yellow jar.”
We know from flashbacks that Monica was chubby throughout her teens. Her overweight past
is a running gag throughout Friends, and younger Monica is shown to be several sizes larger.
She eventually slims down after overhearing a college-aged Chandler commenting on her
weight.
“Some girl ate Monica!"
While many elements of the "fat Monica" plot are problematic, it's great that she felt
good in her body as an adult. But given her past binge tendencies, you've got to question
her career choice. It seems like being a chef would be a constant torment. People who have
struggled with emotional eating or food addiction know the agony of trying to avoid foods you
shouldn't have. Monica has a talent for cooking, sure, but the show oversimplifies the situation
and doesn't tackle the question of how she avoids temptation.
When you're watching Friends, Joey is the one everyone wants to be or wants to date.
“How you doin?”
His dreamy looks make him completely crush-worthy, and he's even a sort-of-celebrity actor! He
definitely has the coolest job out of his friends. All this makes the last episode,
where everyone is partnered up except Joey, even more depressing.
Joey may not be the brightest guy, but he's definitely sweet. He takes care of Rachel
when she finds out she's going to be a single mother, and even proposes to her, offering
to help raise the baby with her. Women pretty much throw themselves at Joey wherever he
goes, and it seems like he's never without a date. This might be fun in your 20s, but,
when the show ends, everyone is a decade older. Joey has watched his friends fall in love,
start families, and move on without him. It's a tragic end for the guy who seemed to have
everything.
Remember Ben, Ross' baby with his ex-wife Carol? The early seasons feature Ben pretty
heavily. We get to watch Ross find out that Carol is pregnant and that she’s going to
raise the baby with her partner. Ross fights for shared custody because he wants to be
in his son's life. He even makes sure that his kid embraces his Jewish heritage.
“Hey Ben! What if the holiday armadillo told you all about the festival of lights?
Cool!”
We get to see Ben as a big kid in Season 7, pulling an epic prank on Rachel with his dad.
The father-son duo seem to have a pretty tight bond, but, in the last couple of seasons,
Ben is nowhere to be seen.
Ben isn't even at Ross' wedding to Emily. It's possible his moms just didn't want him
flying to London, but that doesn't explain why Ben never even meets his sister, Emma.
By the end of the show, it's easy to forget that Ross ever had another kid. Did the producers
just decide to ghost Ben's character from the show and hope no one would notice? Did
Ross suddenly become a deadbeat dad?
It's not really noticeable at first, but the more episodes of Friends you watch, the more
you realize that the show has a huge problem with diversity. The main cast of Friends is
white, and there's a noticeable lack of non-white guest stars.
The absence of racial diversity on the show is even more bizarre when you consider the
fact that it takes place in New York City, which is one of the most racially diverse
cities in the world. A third of the city's population was born outside of the U.S. and
even more of its residents are of non-European or multiracial descent, so where are all of
these people on Friends? The Big Apple is a melting pot of cultures, but Friends is
terrible at portraying this.
Anyone who grew up watching Friends saw Ross and Rachel as the couple to beat. They had
their ups and downs, but, in the end, they proved that they're each other's lobsters.
Rachel was Ross' first love, and it seems like their relationship was written in the
stars. Who didn't cheer when Rachel got off that plane? But the fact that they can't seem
to get their act together is frustrating.
“We were on a break!!! Coffeehouse?? You bet.”
Ross has loved Rachel since they were teenagers, and they’re still at the same maturity level
as they were in high school. Their relationship is full of petty moments, like when Ross makes
a pros and cons list to see if he should ask Rachel out, and when Rachel childishly demands
that Ross drink fat to prove his devotion. It makes for great comedy, but a terrible
relationship.
As we all know, Friends is set in one of the greatest places in the world: New York City.
Any seasoned New Yorker knows their way around the public transportation system. So why do
we so rarely see anyone using it?
At least half of the gang doesn't make a lot of money and most of them don't have their
own cars. Taking taxis all the time adds up quickly, so we have to assume that the gang
does use public transportation frequently. Unless they're just so buzzed on Central Perk
coffee all the time that they run everywhere. Or perhaps they're too afraid to use public
transportation after the time that Chandler and Joey left Ross' son on a bus.
“Hello. I’m doing research for a book, and I was wondering what somebody might do
if they left a baby on a city bus.”
Towards the end of the second to last season, Monica and Chandler learn that they can't
have biological children. Over the course of the final season, they decide to adopt,
and the series ends with them taking home a pair of newborn twins. While this is a happy
moment for the couple, it's also wildly unrealistic.
Considering the Bings’ lavish wedding and Chandler’s career change, not to mention
the massive house they bought in the suburbs, it seems unlikely that they have enough extra
money to comfortably afford adoption.
“You’re not suggesting that we spend all of the money on the wedding. Uh, yeah!”
There is also the fact that Chandler and Monica are doubling their household expenses by adopting
two kids, making finances even tighter.
How on earth does Rachel go from a waitress at Central Perk to a darling of the fashion
world over the course of the show?
“Gunther I quit. Does this mean we’re going to have to start paying for coffee?”
Sure, she's always had an interest in fashion, but did she have any background in the industry
when she started applying for jobs as a buyer? Yet somehow she manages to work her way up
from an assistant to a buyer, climbing her way up the corporate ladder until she's offered
a job in Paris.
While it might seem like Rachel paid her dues by making coffee for a couple of seasons,
it still seems unlikely that she'd so effortlessly break into the fashion world without a background
in the industry or at least an unpaid internship. We also know that Rachel's work ethic is not
the greatest — even after landing her dream job, she's always hanging out at Central Perk.
So what's the deal? Did she really come by her job honestly? Or did someone, like her
rich father, pull some strings to help her land her big break?
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