Friends missed out on character development

Everyone knows "Friends": The 1994 hit sitcom that launched the careers of Jenifer Aniston, and introduced us to the concepts of unagi, your lobster, and being on a break.

As someone who has been watching this show since it first aired, and on repeat everytime it's on TV, and my own binges using streaming services, I consider myself an expert on everything, "Friends". I can recap entire episodes in my head, or share them with loved ones - much to their dismay. As an expert, I am qualified to pull this show apart while admiring it, and breaking down each character to their core to see how they've evolved over the 10 years it was on the air.

MONICA

Monica begins the show as a young woman of 25. A chef who longs for the security of her own family, as her own parents were very obvious that she was not their favourite child. Criticised constantly by her mother, and nearby ignored by her father, Monica longs to be a mother herself and be better than her own parents.

We see her bounce through men, looking for validation, hoping for a successful relationship to fill the void in her life she is convinced a husband and child will fulfill.

Until she hooks up with Richard. A straight up predatory act on his end. This is a man who is as old as her father, who knew her when she was a child, who has grown children she grew up with, who is in love with her. As much as I dislike this pairing on grooming grounds, he does make her feel loved, as any woman with daddy issues would feel loved by a surrogate father lover.

Then she hooks up with Chandler. Jealous and at her brothers wedding, a drunk person mistakes Monica for Ross' mother, and Monica falls into shambles. She is comforted by a close friend, an affair that turns into the greatest thing the writers ever did for her. With Chandler by her side, Monica becomes more confident in who she is, and they build their life together. They grow together.

While Monica's character has a lot of flanderisation - focussing on her cleaning and controlling nature - it makes sense for her to fade into the background once her OTP (One True Pairing) has come to fruition. In a story about young adults finding love and careers, once that is sorted out, there is not much story left for her in this narrative.

PHOEBE

Phoebe is introduced to us in season 1 as a flaky hippy massuer who loves her friends fiercely, and floats through life being quirky. We learn that she doesn't really have a family, so her friends have become her family and are the most important thing to her until she discovers a half brother who she gives extremely generously to.

Phoebe bounces through jobs and men, and doesn't have much development beyond her basic flanderisation to a more sexualised and mean version of what she used to be. It's almost like she regresses back to what we can only imagine she used to be when she lived in the streets - using whatever is at her disposal; her body, being mean and potentially violent to get what she needs. This is not the kind and generous Phoebe we see in S1 Ep12 "The One with the Dozen Lasagnas"

RACHEL

We meet Rachel as she has just run out on her own wedding, jumpstarting the story and allowing us to know the environment through her eyes. She is spoiled, vein, and directionless, and looking for a new life. She has never had to work for anything, and relied on her daddy for her expenses.

Her love life shares a lot of time with Ross, as they are off and on again through out the series, and we see her resistance to rely on him as she was planning on relying on Barry - the groom she ran out on - or even as she did rely on her father. However a main point of her development is her work.

After quitting waitressing at the coffee house, Rachel climbs the ranks in various fashion office jobs, a career she excels at. As she learns how to live on her own, not relying on her father, she grows into an independent person, and the Rachel we see in season 10 is so starkly different to who we saw in the pilot. With little flanderisation, and consistent character building events including an unplanned pregnancy, Rachel has the most effective character development of the whole gang.

CHANDLER

Chandler first snarked his way into our hearts as a hopeless but lovable goofball. A successful data processor who had a troubled upbringing - including but not limited to, his father being trans, walking in on his parents being intimate with one another and also the pool boy, and picking up smoking at 9 years old. He is nervous with women, and uses humour as a defense mechanism.

In my opinion Chandler loses a small amount of his charm when he is lost in his relationship with Monica. At first we see someone growing out of the character of a man child, and into that of a grown ass man. His masculinity is not as toxic, his relationship with Monica is healthy, and he has overcome his fear of commitment - everything he thought he could never do, he did with Monica.

The writers did lose him as the show went on and they tried to tie up loose ends, but it makes sense as he'd accomplished everything a show about young adults life and love.

JOEY

Joey has the worst development.

He is introduced as an out of work actor who is not the brightest bulb in the bunch, and as the show continues his womanising ways are amplified and his heart of gold is all but forgotten. Joey gets lost around season 3, and then further lost beyond repair around season 7. He gets dumber. And not just gullible or slow, but legitimately petty and stupid. He regresses into the mind of a child and the thoughtful friend is lost.

We can see this by directly comparing S1 Ep13 "The One with the Boobies", and S10 Ep15 "The One where Estelle Dies". We see him go from a guy who is mildly slow but still observant when it matters, to a guy who is completely lost in the adult world.

ROSS

Ross doesn't develop much, but he's the worst character. Don't @ me.

Ross is introduced as a recently divorced man who just wants the security of a healthy longterm relationship. When he encounters his high school crush in a wedding dress, he right back where he was at 15. Hopeful. He is favoured by his parents and feels a need to keep up appearances of being "the success" of the family. His pride is his dominant feature, and his pride grows into more of a negative quality as the show goes on.

Ross grows steadily into a more toxic, petty and controlling partner, and more of a dork. While he does develop, his flanderisation is focussed more on him being a nerd and yelling. People like Ross, especially later seasons Ross, because he is funny to watch. S10 Ep2 "The One where Ross is Fine" shows this chaotic hilarity while also proving my point in his toxicity as a friend and partner.

CONCLUSION

I love Friends, and it'll always be one of my favourite shows, but let's call it what it is - not the best. It probably went on too long, and fictional characters get lost when they exist for too long.

Can you tell who my favourite character is?