Despite being off the air for 14 years, Friends is a very well-known series. That is thanks in large part to reruns, Blu-rays and DVDs and Netflix. That means that people can discover (or re-discover) the show quite easily. It also means that there are more chances for people to find things that just don’t make sense about it.
Friends lasted for 10 seasons. When a series goes on that long, things tend to change about characters and their relationships. Maybe something happened in the pilot that contradicts what occurs in later episodes. Maybe some characters just fade away, until fans wonder if those making the show remember they exist.
One of the most common problems on a TV show is just how characters pay for their apartments, given their careers. This becomes a headscratcher especially when it seems like characters don’t go to their jobs.
Sometimes fans later realize that a moment played for laughs just doesn’t make sense given a previous episode. Or it could be the case of the wrong characters being used for that laugh, given their history.
Perhaps what makes the least sense about Friends is what the series did to one of its key relationships.
Here are 25 Things About Friends That Made No Sense.
The One When Ross May Have Liked Ice Cream
In season 7’s “The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs,” Joey mentioned that Ross didn’t like ice cream. Ross defended himself by saying, “It’s too cold. … It hurts my teeth.”
However, in season 2’s “The One After the Super Bowl,” Ross didn’t seem to have a problem enjoying ice cream. He only threw it away because his monkey, Marcel, licked it. Then, in season 6’s “The One Where Ross Dates a Student,” he and Elizabeth got ice cream. While he was never seen eating any of it, it looked like he’d had some.
Sure, his tastes could have changed. Maybe his dislike of ice cream due to the cold was a new development by the season 7 episode. The problem is that Friends never addressed that on-screen or had that be the case. Instead, Ross not liking ice cream was played for laughs as everyone found out that Chandler didn’t like dogs.
These were two dislikes the others didn’t know about until that moment. Ross could have easily been trying to hide his from the others. The only problem with that was that no one from their group was around during the two instances in which he had ice cream on screen.
The One When Phoebe Didn’t Know French
In season 8’s “The One with Rachel’s Date,” Phoebe stopped by Monica’s restaurant and met her sous chef. Phoebe asked if he was Monica’s boss, and he explained that “sous” is French for “under.”
Two seasons later, in “The One Where Joey Speaks French,” Phoebe tried to teach Joey French. (He had to speak French for a play and he said he was fluent in it on his resume.) She spoke French quite well, but it was impossible for her to teach him.
That wasn’t the problem. The problem was how well she spoke French, considering she didn’t know what “sous” meant two seasons earlier. Sure, she could have learned the language since then, but that wasn’t what Friends wanted fans to believe.
French isn’t the only language Phoebe knows. She spoke to Joey’s grandmother in Italian well enough in “The One Where Ross Can’t Flirt.”
Her ability to speak French in season 10 isn’t the anomaly. Her inability to understand a simple word such as “sous” in season 8 is. Was it simply so that she could say “I sous-stand” after Tim explained “sous chef” to her? Was it just another moment played for laughs?
The One With Ross’ Confusing Romantic Past
In season 1’s “The One with George Stephanopoulos,” Chandler and Joey took Ross out to distract him. It was the anniversary of his and Carol’s first time together. Ross kept reminiscing about that night. Joey and Chandler didn’t understand why he was so focused on it. Ross admitted his first time with Carol was his first time and he’d only ever been with her.
Then, in season 7’s “The One with Rachel’s Assistant,” Monica, Chandler and Ross revealed secrets about each other. Ross said that in college, Chandler got drunk and slept with the woman who cleaned their dorm. However, Chandler corrected Ross with, “That was you.” Ross turned the tables quickly by repeating one of Chandler’s secrets. That was that.
In season 1, it was a big deal for Ross that he had only been with Carol. That was something that the writers should have remembered six years later.
Sure, Ross was apparently under the influence when he was with the cleaning lady. He himself didn’t even remember those events correctly. However, Chandler knew what happened. So, why didn’t he bring that up when Ross said he’d only ever been with Carol? Did he only remember what happened when Ross brought it up?
The One When Monica’s Believes in Soulmates
Wedding vows are important. There was an entire episode dedicated to Monica and Chandler writing theirs. (It wasn’t easy for either of them.) Then, in the season 7 finale, Monica and Chandler got married.
Monica began her wedding vows by telling Chandler, “For so long, I wondered if I would ever find my prince, my soulmate.” She then said she found everything she’d been looking for when she turned to him for comfort in London. She called him “my prince, my soulmate.” Sweet, right?
Maybe not. Not even a year later, in season 8’s “The One Where Joey Tells Rachel,” she apparently changed her mind. Phoebe thought that the guy she was dating was Monica’s soulmate. That understandably bothered Chandler, even though he didn’t believe in soulmates. Who would want to hear about someone presumably more suited for his wife than he was?
When Chandler filled Monica in, she told him she didn’t believe in soulmates either. She didn’t think they were destined to end up together. She thought they fell in love and worked hard at their relationship. That certainly fit their relationship.
Why didn’t either of them remember Monica’s wedding vows, especially when she used the word “soulmate” twice?
The One When Ross Lied About His and Rachel’s Annulment
In the season 5 finale, “The One in Vegas,” Ross and Rachel got married. That was no big deal. People do stupid things in Vegas all the time, especially on a television show. They were just friends at the time and it was easy for them to just get an annulment … right?
Wrong. Ross made the unilateral decision that they would stay married. In the season 6 premiere, he told Rachel he got the annulment but admitted to Phoebe that he hadn’t. He didn’t see anything wrong with that. As he explained to Phoebe, he didn’t want to be the guy who had three divorces.
He’s not such a good friend for lying.
It wasn’t until three episodes later, in “The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance,” that Rachel found out. She only did because she answered the phone when his divorce lawyer called the apartment. He didn’t want another failed marriage, Ross told her when she confronted him.
However, this was all about what Ross wanted and didn’t want. He didn’t want to be the guy with another divorce. He didn’t want Rachel to be mad about it. He wanted to stay married. His feelings for her aside, this was just one of many things Ross did in which he didn’t take her feelings into account.
The One When Phoebe’s Finances Were Confusing
Jobs and financial situations don’t have to be entirely realistic on television shows, especially sitcoms. That was the case with Friends. In fact, their money problems were occasionally plot points – when necessary. Even then, by the next episode, they had moved on.
In season 2’s “The One with Five Steaks and an Eggplant,” money was the central issue for the friends. Monica, Ross and Chandler had steady jobs and incomes at the time. Phoebe, Rachel and Joey couldn’t afford to go out like they could.
Throughout the series, Phoebe never had a regular job. She was a massage therapist (though she only briefly worked at a corporate massage chain), and she didn’t appear to have steady work. At one point, she complained that she’d only massaged two people (Ross and Monica) that year. It was February.
Phoebe worked as a telemarketer (briefly, long enough to keep a man from taking his own life). She was also an extra on Joey’s show until she went too far.
However, after the beginning of the series, money never seemed to be an issue for her except for a couple of times (when she took those temporary jobs). Not only that, the show never bothered to come up with a reason for it.
The One With The Changing Apartment Numbers
Usually, television shows are still finding their footing in the first season. Oftentimes, things change as a series goes on. A fact established in the pilot or first season is retconned by something later on. Maybe it’s because it’s a minor mistake that wasn’t caught while the focus was on establishing the characters.
That may have been the case with Chandler and Joey, and Monica and Rachel’s apartment numbers. At first, they lived in apartments 4 and 5, respectively. However, there was no way that could have been possible. They had to walk upstairs to get to their apartments. Monica and Rachel’s apartment also had a balcony. They looked down into Ugly Naked Guy’s apartment (which would later become Ross’).
That was seemingly fixed when their apartment numbers changed to 19 and 20 to put them on a higher floor. But was it a high enough floor? Those numbers didn’t change for the rest of the series.
The problem here is that in the pilot, the series established that Monica wasn’t living on the ground floor. This was a minor error that should have easily been caught early on. It wasn’t until the 10th episode of the first season that they made the change.
The One With Chandler’s Feelings About Janice
Before Monica and Chandler became (inarguably) the best couple on Friends, they each had other love interests. One of Chandler’s was Janice. Everyone knows her “Oh my God.” Chandler cringed when he heard it.
They were together. They broke up. They got back together. They broke up. In season 3’s “The One with the Giant Poking Device,” he decided to send her back to her husband. However, in the middle of their breakup, he then told her to pick him. He begged her not to go and wouldn’t let her go. He made a scene in Central Perk. He took one of her shoes.
Chandler pretended to move to Yemen to get away from Janice. That’s dedication.
Janice then proceeded to make several guest appearances throughout the series, each time played for laughs. The problem isn’t that he moved on from her or their relationship. It wasn’t even the way he acted around her after their romantic relationship was over for good. It was the fact that he acted like he was never all that invested in their relationship when the opposite was true. He even wanted her to get a divorce to be with him in season 3.
The One When Ben Disappeared
Before Ross and Rachel had Emma, he had another baby with an ex-wife. How he, Carol and Susan would raise Ben was a somewhat major plot point early on in the series. Ross and Susan never got along, but they were in each other’s lives since they were parents together.
As the seasons went on, Ben’s appearances dwindled (as did Carol and Susan’s). He showed up when it was necessary for the plot for one of the friends, but that was about it. At one point, Ross even lied about watching him to try to get out of helping pack Rachel’s belongings. He made a fake Ben for the ruse.
Then, Ross and Rachel spent one night together while sending out Monica and Chandler’s wedding invitations and had Emma. Ben didn’t appear once after his half-sister was born. He was last seen in season 8’s “The One Where Joey Dates Rachel.” That was half a season before Rachel gave birth.
In fact, in the season 9 premiere, Ross’ father even called Emma “my first grandchild.” Even Jack forgot that Ben existed. “What about Ben?” Ross asked, prompting Jack to claim he meant his first granddaughter. (He obviously did not.) What about Ben indeed.
The One When The Couch Is Always Available
In 10 seasons, the friends’ go-to couch in Central Perk was almost always available. That might have been one of the biggest headscratchers of the series. After all, a place to sit in a coffee shop is a hot commodity. So, how was it possible that it was almost always free? There were only a few instances in which there was a problem.
In season 2’s “The One with the Bullies,” two men tell Ross and Chandler they were in their seats. Ross and Chandler got up, but the two sets of friends ended up getting into it. (They’d team up against a mugger by the end of the episode.)
In the season 3 premiere, all six walked into Central Perk only to find another group of friends in their spot. They froze and then left.
In season 7’s “The One with Rachel’s Assistant,” Chandler was the only one on the couch. A guy tried to sit in the armchair. All it took was Chandler telling him “no” and waving him along for him to leave.
Fans have spotted a Reserved sign on the table in many instances over the years. However, it was not always there, so that didn’t explain why they were always able to get that couch. After all, it was clearly the best spot in the coffee shop.
The One With Rachel And Joey’s Relationship
Ross and Rachel were obviously the endgame couple from the beginning. Even though their relationship wasn’t the best or healthiest, fans knew they’d end up together. However, Joey could have easily changed that. The only problem was that the series didn’t bother to do his and Rachel’s relationship the right way.
First, he liked her but she didn’t feel the same. Then, she saw him in a new way, only for him to get together with the woman Ross liked. On a trip to Barbados, that all changed. Joey and Charlie broke up. Ross and Charlie got together, as did Rachel and Joey. There was even a very awkward, very unnecessary double date in season 10. Neither couple lasted.
Sometimes you’re just meant to be friends, like Rachel and Joey.
While Rachel and Joey cared about each other and had no problem kissing, they couldn’t go further than that. She even slapped him – several times – when they tried. So, they tried to force it before deciding they were just meant to be friends.
The problem is that Rachel and Joey could have worked. They were friends first, and they clearly cared about each other. However, it was clear that the series would return to Ross and Rachel by the end. That meant that Joey and Rachel’s relationship was simply done to get it out of the way. Then, the series could return to Ross and Rachel for the finale.
The One When Chandler’s Surprised About Monica’s Weight
In season 2’s “The One with the Prom Video,” Monica’s parents gave her a box of her old stuff. Phoebe found Monica’s bathing suit from high school in there. “I was a little bigger then,” Monica said. Chandler made a joke about the suit covering Connecticut when it rained.
Then, when they all watched the prom video, they saw overweight Monica. She said the camera added 10 pounds, and Chandler asked, “how many cameras are actually on you?” In both cases, her weight surprised him.
However, that should not have been the case, given flashbacks in later episodes. Those flashbacks were to when Monica and Rachel were in high school and Ross and Chandler were college roommates. Chandler knew Monica before she lost weight. In fact, he had called her fat. To get back at him, she lost weight and then tried to seduce him to humiliate him. In doing so, she accidentally dropped a knife on his foot. Because of his shoes and her accidentally bringing a carrot to the hospital, he lost a toe.
This was obviously not something that had been planned from the beginning of the series, given Chandler’s reaction in season 2. However, as a fan, it’s hard to forget those moments.
The One When Rachel’s Old Key Shouldn’t Have Worked
In season 10’s “The One with the Late Thanksgiving,” everyone convinced Monica to host Thanksgiving. Then, they all proceeded to make other plans and were late. Monica and Chandler locked everyone out, but Rachel remembered her old key. The key worked in the lock, though they remained locked out, thanks to the chain.
However, that “old key” should not have worked in the lock. That wasn’t the same lock on the door from when Rachel lived in the apartment. The building’s super, Mr. Treeger, had had to change the lock two years earlier.
When Monica and Chandler went on their honeymoon in season 8, Phoebe and Joey needed access to their apartment. She needed her guitar, and he needed food. Since the couple hadn’t trusted either with a key, they called Mr. Treeger and lied about a gas leak.
He had too many keys on his keychain to go through them all, so he called the fire department. They broke down the door, and he had to change the lock when he replaced it.
So, how did Rachel’s “old key” work in the new lock? This could have easily been fixed by Rachel saying she had a spare key. While Monica and Chandler didn’t trust Joey or Phoebe, they could have trusted her with one.
The One When Ross Treated Rachel Horribly
Monica and Chandler might not have been planned from the beginning, but they were the best friend couple. They cared about each other. They supported each other. Fans watched them fall in love and understood why they stayed in love.
On the other hand, Ross and Rachel were so obviously planned as an endgame couple. That was why some of the writing for them (as friends and as a couple) didn’t make sense. Fans were supposed to root for them to get together, stay together and reunite. Over the years, however, it was hard to see why.
Looks like opposites really do attract, even when one of them is being horrible.
There was the way he yelled at her when she was trying to find the perfect outfit for his benefit. How jealous he got about Mark and the fact that he didn’t seem to support her career at all. That continued to be true even in the final season. Rachel had an amazing opportunity to move to Paris. Without her knowledge (which was a recurring theme, see their marriage), he got her her old job back. He didn’t even realize (or care to find out) what she wanted until after he’d done so.
Then, he made his big romantic gesture of stopping her at the gate before she left. That was again about what he wanted.
The One With Eddie the Roommate
For a brief period in season 2, Joey moved out of his and Chandler’s apartment. Chandler then got a new roommate, Eddie, who was never going to last. Everyone knew that Joey would be back and Eddie would just be forgotten about when that time came.
However, that didn’t excuse how that happened. Yes, Eddie was creepy. He accused Chandler of being with his ex because she dropped off his fish tank. Chandler woke up one night to find him sitting in his room, watching him sleep. Eddie saw nothing wrong with that. He said it made him feel “peaceful.” Chandler then tried to kick him out, but Eddie refused to leave. He acted like they never talked about him moving out.
It was completely understandable that Chandler wanted him gone. It made sense that he had to go to an extreme to make it happen. However, what made no sense is how he accomplished that.
When Eddie returned to the apartment one day, Chandler and Joey claimed that he had never lived there. They said Joey never moved out. Eddie actually agreed with them and said he had the wrong apartment. He apologized to them for the mistake and left. That was that.
The One When Phoebe’s Birth Mother Disappeared
The end of season 3 and beginning of season 4 saw Phoebe learn the truth about her birth mother, also named Phoebe. She met and got to know her over several episodes. Phoebe even turned to her birth mother for advice. She had been struggling with whether to be a surrogate for her brother and his wife. Her birth mother was the perfect person for her to talk to.
It was an important arc for Phoebe. They even had her think her adoptive mother’s spirit was living on in a cat. Phoebe’s reasoning was that she was worried about being replaced.
However, after that arc ended, Phoebe’s birth mother was never mentioned again. Family members disappearing happens all the time on TV shows. Usually it has to do with an actor’s availability. That’s understandable, but that didn’t happen here.
It would have been really easy for them to just have a line here and there about Phoebe’s birth mother. Phoebe could have easily said she was having dinner with her at least once. That never happened. There was no explanation for why she wasn’t at Phoebe and Mike’s rehearsal dinner. The snow storm explained why some people weren’t able to make it to the wedding at least.
The One When Emily Became The Bad Guy
Ross and Emily were never going to last. That was a fact. Even when they got engaged, Ross and Rachel’s relationship was hanging over their heads. He had to decide whether or not to invite her to his wedding. He did and she only decided at the last minute to go. Rachel also planned to tell him she still loved him, but decided not to in the end. It was the right move.
At the wedding, Ross said Rachel’s name. For some reason, Emily didn’t leave him at the altar and went through with the ceremony. She even decided to give him another chance and showed up at the airport for their honeymoon. She then saw him about to get on their flight with Rachel.
Emily didn’t deserve to be treated like a bad guy, she’d been through enough with Ross.
Emily was still going to give him another chance after that. However, it came with an ultimatum. She’d move to New York to be with him, but he couldn’t see Rachel anymore. It may have been a bit extreme, but it was also reasonable from her point of view, given what happened in London. Her other demands were a bit too much. (She wanted him to move and sell anything that Rachel ever touched.)
That wasn’t how Friends framed it, however. All of a sudden, Emily became the bad guy. She was too controlling. No one liked her.
The One With Rachel’s Confusing Pregnancy Timeline
In the season 7 finale, Phoebe found a pregnancy test in Monica’s bathroom. Rachel let her think it was Monica’s. The season 8 premiere took place on the same day as Monica and Chandler’s wedding. It was then that Rachel admitted it was her test and she was the one who was pregnant. She and Ross had spent the night together when they were sending out Monica and Chandler’s wedding invitations.
Big moments like pregnancy reveals and babies being born tend to happen during May Sweeps on TV. That was true with Rachel.
But, the timeline just didn’t work for Rachel’s pregnancy. She should have given birth to Emma at some point during season 8, not at the end of it. Instead, it’s about a year between when the show reveals that Rachel was pregnant to when she gave birth, and while she was late, she was not that late.
Even saying that both finales didn’t happen in May, it would still only give about a month or so leeway time. In other words, there was no way to make a pregnancy work. Ross and Rachel had to be together a few episodes before the end of season 7. She didn’t give birth until the last episode of season 8. Furthermore, they celebrate Emma’s first birthday four episodes into season 10.
The One When Monica Didn’t Recognize Her Grandmother’s Ring
Before Rachel gave birth in the season 8 finale, Ross’ mother gave him his grandmother’s engagement ring. She wanted him to give it to Rachel. While he didn’t want to marry Rachel just because they were having a baby together, he kept the ring.
That ring later fell out of Ross’ coat pocket in Rachel’s hospital room. Joey bent down to pick it up and turned, holding it out. Rachel thought he was proposing and said yes. That in itself didn’t make sense, but they played it for laughs, so let’s let it go.
Then, in the season 9 premiere, Rachel told Monica what happened. While Monica thought the entire situation was crazy (and she was right), she focused on the jewelry. “It is bigger than mine,” Monica exclaimed, examining the ring. Rachel attributed that to Joey’s acting career.
The ring was her grandmother’s. Considering how long she looked at it, it’s strange that she didn’t recognize it. Did she really never see the family heirloom? Why did no one ever mention that?
Sure, it would have meant that everyone would have realized what happened sooner. However, they also could have had her say that something about it looked familiar to cover all their bases.
The One When Phoebe Wanted To Keep The Baby
In season 4, Phoebe agreed to be her brother and his wife’s surrogate. Though they worried the IVF wouldn’t take, the doctor then revealed she was going to have triplets.
In season 5’s “The One Hundredth,” Phoebe went into labor. She then told Rachel that she wanted to keep one of the three babies. Rachel tried to reason with her, but that didn’t go so well. “Frank and Alice are going to want to keep all of their children,” she told her friend.
It wouldn’t hurt to ask, three babies is a lot too handle.
Phoebe didn’t agree, suggesting that they’d think three babies were too much. She wanted to at least ask, or rather, to have Rachel talk to Frank for her. Rachel refused and Phoebe seemed to come around. That was, until she decided that Rachel should act like she wanted to keep one of the babies.
For some reason, Rachel actually went to Frank and started a conversation about having three babies. Thankfully, she only said “three babies, that seems like a lot” and dropped it when he disagreed. Years later, Frank actually would go on to bring up Phoebe taking one of the triplets. Then, Phoebe was the unsure one, and he ultimately decided he couldn’t give up one of his children.
