List of significant others of Friends
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The following is a list of significant others (boyfriends, girlfriends, fiancés, spouses, etc.) of the six main characters in the television series Friends that have appeared in at least two episodes or are otherwise significant. For a list of recurring characters, see List of recurring characters in Friends.
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[edit] Rachel Green
[edit] Barry Farber
Inexplicably renamed from Barry Finkel, as he was called in the pilot episode, he was betrothed to Rachel, who left him at the altar at the beginning of the show. He had a minor affair with Rachel later in Season 1, while being engaged to Mindy, Rachel's maid of honour. Barry finally married Mindy in the final episode of Season 2. While he never made another "real" appearance again in the show (his only other appearance was during a fantasy episode), it was revealed that he divorced Mindy in the middle of Season 6. Barry Farber was played by Mitchell Whitfield. Barry was also mentioned in a later season, Rachel's sister tells her, "Oh! Him? Yeah, I remember him. We used to make out all the time after you fell asleep."
[edit] Paolo
An attractive Italian downstairs neighbour, Paolo hardly speaks any English. He meets Rachel in The One With the Blackout. Ross had been trying to ask Rachel out while on the terrace, only to be interrputed by a cat dropping onto his shoulder. Rachel and Phoebe searched around the dark building to find the cat's owner - who turned out to be Paolo. Their relationship starts in the middle of Season 1, lasts about 5 episodes, and consists mostly of what Rachel describes as "raw animal sex." Rachel dumps him when he makes a move on Phoebe while on her massage table, but she gets back together with him for one night in the first episode of Season 2, when she is upset about Ross's new girlfriend Julie. Paolo was played by Cosimo Fusco.
[edit] Ross Geller
See Ross & Rachel below. Ross and Rachel have been on the bumpiest road but in the end, everything comes together and they get back together.
[edit] Russ
Russ was Rachel's boyfriend for the episode The One With Russ. He looks almost exactly like Ross and has almost the same personality. Rachel and Ross have no idea that Russ is like Ross. Eventually Rachel sees the similarity, is freaked out, and breaks up with him. At the end of the episode, it seems that Russ hooks up with Ross's old girlfriend, Julie, but nothing is shown more then them meeting each other.
[edit] Josh
Josh was a college student with a "surfer" attitude. He is seen as cute by Phoebe, and Rachel breaks up with him for stealing from her. Josh was dated more or less to make Ross jealous. He also steals from both Rachel and Monica
[edit] Joshua Bergin
Tate Donovan, Jennifer Aniston's real-life boyfriend at the time, played Joshua, a customer of Rachel's in Season 4. They eventually start dating, but Rachel scares Joshua away with a marriage proposal, which slips out because she is jealous about Ross's impending marriage with Emily. He also had an unnatural fear of farm birds.
[edit] Paul Stevens
Paul, played by Bruce Willis, is the father of Elizabeth, a student whom Ross was dating at the end of season 6. When Paul isn't pleased with the age difference between his daughter and Ross, Rachel steps in to speak on Ross' behalf and eventually starts dating him. Unhappy with Paul being emotionally closed off, Rachel convinces him to talk about his past. Paul cannot stop crying and gets dumped by Rachel.
Paul famously referred to himself as a "neat guy" and a "love machine."
Incidentally, one of Ross, Joey and Chandler's favourite films is Die Hard - starring Bruce Willis.
[edit] Tag Jones
Tag is a very attractive 24-year-old whom Rachel hires as her assistant at Ralph Lauren in Season 7. His resumé contains qualifications like "3 years of painting houses" and "2 whole summers at T.G.I. Friday's." She dumps him on her 30th birthday when she realizes Tag is not mature enough for her and that she should be looking for a serious relationship. At one time Rachel cannot remember his last name when asked ("He...he didn't have a last name. It was just Tag. You know, like Cher or...Moses"). He later on tries to get back with Rachel but is soon scared off after learning she is pregnant. He has the same red, Italian-designed sweatshirt as Ross, which Ross had on when Emma was conceived, causing some confusion as to who the father was (Phoebe and the friends believed it to be Tag's until Ross notices it and states it's his own). The character of Tag Jones was played by Eddie Cahill.
[edit] Gavin Mitchell
Gavin was assigned to Rachel's job while she was on maternity leave in Season 9, leading Rachel to return to work early, so as to not lose her job. While initially considering Gavin a jerk, Rachel soon changes her mind and kisses him, but ends the relationship on the next day when she decides it would make things too complicated between her and Ross. Gavin was played by Dermot Mulroney.
[edit] Joey Tribbiani
See Joey & Rachel below.
[edit] Monica Geller
[edit] Paul "The Wine Guy"
Paul "The Wine Guy" is Monica's long term crush, with whom she finally goes out in "The Pilot." Paul works at Monica's restaurant and is thought to supply the wine.
Phoebe is unsure of his occupation and asks Chandler: "What does that mean, does he sell it, drink it or does he just complain a lot?"
While on the date, Paul tells Monica that he hasn't been able to "consummate" since his wife left him two years prior. Monica sleeps with him but later finds out it was a lie to, as Ross puts it, "to get you into bed."
The following morning, after having slept with Paul, Monica goes into the kitchen. Joey says the now-famous line, "So that wasn't a real date? What the hell do you do on a real date?"
At the end of the episode, Monica is seen breaking Paul's watch in revenge.
[edit] Fun Bobby
Fun Bobby (played by Vincent Ventresca) is a cheerful guy with the ability to make everyone else around him happy. He had been Monica's boyfriend before the start of the show and makes his first appearance in the middle of Season 1, when Monica calls him out of desperation on New Year's Eve. He turns out to be depressed about the death of his grandfather and spends the entire evening crying on the sofa. He makes another appearance in Season 2, where Monica discovers that he is fun only because he is constantly under the influence of alcohol. Monica asks Bobby to quit drinking, but finds out that time spent with Bobby is so depressing that she herself starts drinking in large quantities. Ironically, this is why Bobby breaks up with her. In the episode "The One With Phoebes Husband", it is revealed that a pair of panties on a telephone pole is Monicas from after she slept with Fun Bobby on the balcony.
[edit] Ethan
Ethan (played by Stan Kirsch) makes his only appearance in Season 1. He is a senior in High School, but tells Monica he is in college, she also lies about her age, and tells him she is 22. They go out on 2 dates, of which we only see one. They talk and Ethan tells Monica he's still a virgin, and they eventually spend the night. Afterwards, Monica admits her real age, and Ethan sees this as the opportunity to admit he is actually in high school. Monica is disgusted by this and ends their relationship on the grounds that it's "icky". The Friends learn of the break up, and Chandler jokes that it's because "he needs a note to get out of gym." That day, they meet and Ethan tells Monica he loves her, but she just can't get past his age. She does, however, say if he were older, she could fall in love with him.
[edit] Allan
Although the last name of the character is never mentioned, in the episode "The One With the Thumb" Monica dates a guy by the name of Allan who apparently does nothing for Monica but is liked by the rest of the Friends gang. After taking the suggestion from her fellow chef in the restaurant Iridium, she decides to dump him. Everyone in the gang is upset with her for that, and as the episode later reveals Allan apparently hates all of them. A very famous line that Chandler uses is "Personally I could have a gallon of Allan." He appears quite bulky and has a beard and moustache. He is also apparently extremely good at baseball and at giving advice.
[edit] Dr. Richard Burke
Played by Tom Selleck, Dr. Richard Burke is a handsome ophthalmologist who is 21 years older than Monica and close friends with her parents. They fall in love when she caters a party for him in the middle of Season 2 and have a very close and deep relationship until the last episode of the season, when Monica discovers that Richard isn't willing to have any more kids. Because she is sure she wants children, Monica decides she cannot continue the relationship and they break up. Monica describes getting over Richard as the "hardest thing [she] ever had to do," and when they get back together in Season 3, they decide to promptly end their new relationship, before it goes any further than sex. Dr. Burke makes a final appearance in the last episode of Season 6, interfering with Chandler's plans to propose to Monica, stating that he is finally willing to get married and have children. He backs down after realizing that Chandler is prepared to offer her the same thing, and that they are happy together. Though he is unseen throughout the remainder of the series, he is still mentioned often, much to Chandler's chagrin (one prominent example featured Joey and Chandler discovering a tape with Monica's name on it in Richard's apartment, but it was quickly revealed that Richard had taped over the 'Monica' segment).
[edit] Pete Becker
A multimillionaire CEO of a computer software company because he designed a very successful office application, Pete leaves Monica a $20,000 check with his number on it as a tip in Season 3 (while Monica was a waitress at the Moonlight Diner). Though she was offended at first, Monica starts going out with Pete, but soon finds herself not being physically attracted to him. This changes when he kisses her and the two of them date until the end of the season, when Pete, deciding to become "the Ultimate Fighting Champion," fights opponents significantly stronger and bigger than him and is repeatedly beaten. He refuses to give up, so Monica, deciding she "can't watch him do this to himself," leaves Pete. Pete was played by Jon Favreau.
[edit] Stewart
In season 7 Ross and Monica went to their cousin's wedding and the groom was Stewart, someone whom Monica had slept with. Thus why Monica wasn't invited and why Ross had to bring her. Before realizing who the groom was Monica had asked, "What could I have possibly done?" but when she realizes it Ross points out "I think you mean who could you have possibly done."
[edit] Chandler Bing
See Chandler and Monica below.
[edit] Phoebe Buffay
[edit] Duncan
Steve Zahn played Duncan in the Season 2 episode "The One With Phoebe's Husband." Duncan is a gay ice dancer from Canada who married Phoebe to get a greencard. While Phoebe claimed she wasn't in love with him, Monica pointed out things to the contrary; for example when Duncan left, Phoebe ate a cheeseburger and stayed in her pajamas for a month. Duncan and Phoebe divorced after Duncan discovered he was straight and wanted to marry somebody else. They end up kissing.
[edit] Roger
Played by Fisher Stevens in the Season 1 episode 13 "The One with the Boobies", Roger is a psychiatrist by profession and constantly psychoanalyses all the others. Initially a hit because everyone gets to take jibes at the others, Roger is quickly universally hated and reciprocates their feelings (e.g. his descriptions of the friends as people who only drink coffee all day from cups that are so huge they "may as well have nipples on them"). Phoebe picks her friends over him. By the end of the show they all "HATE that guy."
[edit] David "the scientist guy"
Played by Hank Azaria, David "the scientist guy" is a geeky but charming scientist with whom Phoebe falls in love in Season 1. He is forced to go to Minsk, Belarus (incorrectly referred to in the series as being in Russia) to try to achieve "positronic distillation of subatomic particles." He makes a short appearance in Season 7 while on a one-day visit and another appearance in the beginning of Season 9. His second visit is on the same day that Phoebe gives a key to her apartment to Mike Hannigan, who catches them making out. Mike quickly forgives her. After having proved that "positronic distillation of subatomic particles" cannot be done, David returns permanently to New York and starts dating Phoebe again at the end of Season 9. Even though Phoebe broke up with Mike because he never wanted to get married, she is still in love with him and accidentally refers to David as Mike repeatedly through one episode. David, after finding out from Chandler the reason for her break-up with Mike, decides to propose to her in order to remove Mike from her life once and for all. However, Mike finds out about David's intentions from Monica and proposes. Phoebe chooses Mike over David. David accepts this rather stoically, saying that if only he hadn't gone to Minsk, "it would have worked out between me and Phoebe... and I wouldn't have lost that toe to frostbite. It was a good trip."
[edit] Ryan
Played by Charlie Sheen, Ryan appears in Season 2, Episode 24 - "The One with the Chicken Pox". Sheen plays Phoebe's submariner boyfriend who surfaces every once in a while. Comedy ensues when Phoebe gets chicken pox for the first time and gives it to her boyfriend. The two scratch each other instead of making love.
[edit] Malcolm
In the episode "The One with the Jam", Phoebe notices someone stalking her, who she then confronts. She finds out his name is Malcolm and that he was actually trying to stalk her twin sister Ursula. After talking with him, she finds him to be a nice guy and starts dating him. However, Phoebe correctly surmises that Malcolm is still obsessed with Ursula, and (after stalking him to confirm her suspicions) dumps him. Although he only appeared in one episode, Malcolm was notable since he was played by Courteney Cox's future husband David Arquette.
[edit] Sergei, the Diplomat Guy
In Season 3, Phoebe meets a foreign diplomat named Sergei whilst giving free massages outside the United Nations. She dates him, but finds it difficult because his translator joins them on all their dates and gets in the way. To combat this problem, Phoebe invites Monica out on a double date with her. This results in Sergei and his translator arguing and leaving the restaurant with Monica. At the end of the episode, Sergei and Phoebe are seen singing together while Sergei plays guitar; however, he is not seen or mentioned again. The viewer can assume Phoebe ended their relationship after it became too difficult to communicate.
[edit] Gary
Played by Michael Rapaport, Gary is a police officer whose badge Phoebe finds in the coffee house in Season 5. He asks her out after coming to arrest her for using the badge to impersonate an officer. They go out for a while, and Gary eventually asks Phoebe to move in with him. While reluctant at first, she agrees, but leaves him before they can move in together after seeing Gary shoot a bird.
[edit] Eric
Eric, played by Sean Penn, was originally engaged to Ursula, Phoebe's twin sister, in Season 8. He leaves Ursula when Phoebe exposes her sister's lies about her past. Phoebe and Eric attempt to date in the next episode, but Eric cannot stop thinking about the pain Ursula caused him. However they do kiss and end up making out for several hours until Phoebe has to leave to massage a client. Upon returning she wants to resume the sexual activities, but Eric says that he is still pretty worn out "from the sex" they had earlier. Phoebe says they didn't have sex, and Eric says "well if I didn't have sex with you I had sex with someone who looks an awful lot like you" - and it instantly dawns on him that he had sex with Ursula, thinking it was Phoebe. They both decide it is just too weird and break up.
Coincidentally, Sean Penn's name came up in Season 2 when Chandler and his then-roommate Eddie were chatting. The conversation included somebody mistaking the capital of Cambodia for Sean Penn. (The actual capital of Cambodia is Phnom Penh)
[edit] Parker
Played by Alec Baldwin, Parker is an overoptimistic, zesty guy who bumps into Phoebe at a dry cleaner's in Season 8. They date for a while but Phoebe eventually grows tired of his constant cheerfulness and overly positive views. She dumps him, saying "You're like Santa Claus on Prozac... at Disneyland... getting laid."
[edit] Mike Hannigan
When Phoebe and Joey agree to set each other up with a friend in Season 9, Joey forgets to find a date for Phoebe and lies to her, telling her he found a friend named Mike. He then shouts the name Mike in the coffee house, and when a random guy named Mike Hannigan responds, he convinces him to play the part of his old friend on their double date. Phoebe soon realises Joey's trick and leaves, but Mike finds her the next day and asks her out. They date for quite a while and decide to move in together. However, while Mike is moving in, he tells Phoebe that he never wants to be married because of what he went through in his last divorce. Phoebe decides that she shouldn't be in a relationship with no future and breaks up with Mike, but finds it impossible to get over him. When in the last episode of the season, Phoebe's long-lost love David arrives in New York and decides to propose to her to make her forget about Mike, Monica tells Mike to get over himself and to do something. He then flies into Barbados, where the whole gang was at the time, and proposes to Phoebe before David can. Phoebe turns down his proposal, saying all she needed was to know there was a future, but starts dating Mike again. Eventually Mike proposes again, not without humorous complications, and gets married to Phoebe towards the end of Season 10. In the final episode of the series, he states that he is ready to have children with Phoebe. Mike was played by Paul Rudd.
[edit] Joey Tribbiani
This is a list of Joey's girlfriends on Friends, not Joey.
[edit] Angela Del Vecchio
Joey had a relationship with Angela for 3 years. The reasons for their breakup aren't clear, but they decided to be "just friends." One night Joey and Monica "double dated" with Angela and her boyfriend Bob. Joey and Monica caused the two to breakup by briefly making out with Angela and Bob, respectively.
[edit] Ursula Pamela Buffay
As Joey and Chandler are dining in Riffs, they see Phoebe's twin, Ursula, and Joey describes her as hot. Their dating causes trouble between Joey and Phoebe. Even though Joey wants to keep dating, Ursula starts to blow Joey off and talks to Phoebe about dating another guy. Phoebe disagrees with Ursula's method and pretends to be Ursula, telling Joey that she can't be with him as long as he's friends with Phoebe. Joey refuses to end his friendship so Phoebe and he share a kiss, which caused Joey to realize that it wasn't Ursula. He turns to her and says "Pheebs?" and she reflexively turns around, ending the charade.
[edit] Kate Miller
An actress (played by Dina Meyer) with whom Joey stars in a play in Season 3, Kate Miller turns out to be the first woman to whom Joey was attracted who didn't feel the same way about him. She eventually sleeps with him, but pretends it meant nothing to her on the next day, thus making Joey realize how many of his sexual partners must have felt. Eventually, after being dumped by her boyfriend, the director of the play, Kate starts a relationship with Joey. Their relationship is cut short as she leaves to Los Angeles to accept a role in General Hospital. Besides Rachel in later seasons, Kate was probably the only girlfriend Joey really loved.
In a much later episode, Rachel and Joey are outside a party that they haven't been invited to, they walk up to a table with many name badges laid out on it and attempt to steal one and allude to being the person in order to gain entry to the party. Joey attempts to find a badge for Rachel but comes up with a man and a woman whose name he can't pronounce. Rachel picks up another random badge suggesting; "Kate Miller? Joey, announcing "Kate Miller it is." picks up the Kate Miller badge and sticks it to Rachel's blouse. This was most probably an unintentional reference, but the name may have some significance to the show's writers.
[edit] Kathy
See Kathy below under Chandler Bing.
[edit] Janine Lecroix
Played by supermodel Elle MacPherson, Janine moves in with Joey when Chandler moves out to live with Monica in Season 6. Joey accepts her as a roommate on meeting her - without an interview. When he introduces her to his friends, he is unaware of her last name, her profession (as a dancer) and even the fact that she is Australian (despite her accent). While being extremely attracted to her, Joey doesn't make a move for a while because he is afraid that the fact they are roommates may become a problem. Before the two get together, Ross asks her out but is turned down. Joey and Janine get together eventually, but break up soon after, when Janine expresses her dislike of Monica and Chandler.
[edit] Charlie Wheeler
See Charlie Wheeler under Ross Geller below.
[edit] Rachel Green
See Joey & Rachel below.
[edit] Chandler Bing
[edit] Janice Litman Goralnik (nee Hosenstein)
Janice (played by Maggie Wheeler) is portrayed as an extremely annoying character with a loud nasal voice, unpleasant laughter, and an extravagant fashion sense. She is also allergic to cat hair (she needs a hypoallergenic comforter), and takes regular baths. Though she is Chandler's girlfriend from the start of the show, she isn't seen until the fifth episode, when Chandler breaks up with her. Later that season, Chandler invites her to a New Year's party in a desperate attempt to have someone to kiss, but once again decides that she is too annoying and breaks up with her before midnight. After a few episodes, Chandler and Janice hook up again after she turns out to be his blind date set up unknowingly by Joey. He breaks up with her again the next day, which happens to be Valentine's Day.
In the beginning of Season 2 Chandler, convinced that he will never find love again, calls Janice, who turns out to be married and pregnant. In the last episode of Season 2, Chandler befriends a mystery woman over the Internet, and when she turns out to be Janice, decides to get back together with her. This time the relationship lasts well into Season 3 and ends when Chandler discovers that Janice still has feelings for her ex-husband. He tells her to get back together with him for the sake of their child. In the middle of Season 4, Janice and Chandler meet once again. When telling the group why he must end the relationship, he says "her annoying habits? All back!!" He decides to end their relationship before it starts with a "pre-emptive strike", telling Janice he is being transferred to Yemen. When Janice follows him to the airport, Chandler is forced to buy a ticket and actually fly to Yemen.
In the middle of Season 5, Janice makes an appearance when she dates Ross. She is still under the impression that Chandler is in Yemen. That relationship soon ends when Janice finds Ross too whiny and annoying.
In Season 7, Monica, who is engaged to Chandler, unintentionally invites Janice to their wedding. Monica claims Chandler still has feelings for Janice and that his marriage with Monica may be jeopardised by Janice's presence at the wedding; but the story is just a way to get rid of her. Janice says she understands, and for Chandler to call her when his marriage to Monica "goes in the pooper". A similar excuse is used again by Chandler in Season 10 to prevent Janice from buying the house next door to the one he and Monica are buying. Janice also makes a less significant appearances at the end of Season 8, where she reveals she is married to a near-deaf man named Sid upon going into labour on the same day, and sharing a labour room with Rachel. She also briefly appears in Season 9, where she and Sid are undertaking fertility tests in the same clinic as Monica and Chandler, joking that the doctors gave Chandler "The kiddie size" cup. Janice makes an appearance in every single season of the series (she makes a voice-only appearance in Season 6 when Chandler plays a mixed tape that she sent him).
[edit] Aurora
Chandler meets Aurora at the production of Freud!, starring Joey Tribbiani, in the first season episode "The One With the Butt." When he first meets Aurora, the beautiful Italian, he is amazed he got a date with her, as she is out of his league. However he later finds out that Aurora has a husband [Rick] and a boyfriend [Ethan]. When he finds out she is dating a Fourth person he ends it with her. Played by Sofia Milos.
[edit] Kathy
Kathy is an actress whom Joey dates in Season 3 for a while and with whom Chandler falls in love. She eventually starts feeling the same way about Chandler and cheats on Joey (just a kiss), thus putting Joey and Chandler's friendship in great jeopardy. Eventually, Chandler is forgiven, but not without having spent several hours in a wooden box as punishment. When Kathy stars in a play where she simulates sex with an attractive man, Chandler becomes concerned that she may leave him for the actor, and becomes so paranoid that he wrongfully accuses her of being unfaithful. This leads to a fight after which she actually does cheat on him, thus ending their relationship. Kathy's character was played by Paget Brewster, and her character became very popular among the stars; according to an interview given by Brewster, when the writers revealed how Kathy would leave the show, Aniston, Cox and Kudrow appealed to the writers to make it that she merely had to move rather than that she cheated on Chandler.
[edit] Susie Moss
Played by Julia Roberts, She was an acquaintance of Chandler's from elementary school whom he is reunited with during production of Marcel's movie. However it is later understood that the only reason she gets with Chandler is for revenge on his actions as a child, lifting her skirt and showing the entire school her underwear, leading to her being given the unfortunate nickname of "Susie Underpants" until she turned 18.
[edit] Nina Bookbinder
In the first season, Chandler was promoted, but several episodes later he was told he had to fire an attractive coworker, Nina (Jennifer Grant). Rather than firing her, he asks her out, and covers by telling his boss she had a bad psychological reaction to the firing and would be a danger to herself and others if she was actually let go. In the end he tells the truth and she staples his hand to his desk.
[edit] Joanna
Joanna is Rachel's boss at Bloomingdale's, with whom Chandler goes out once in Season 3 (when Chandler describes her as a 'big dull dud') and for a few dates in Season 4. Both dates illustrate his inability to reject people effectively, because he tries several times to let Joanna know he's not interested in her. They finally break up when their BDSM activities in Joanna's office take an unexpected turn that results in Chandler being handcuffed to her office chair wearing only his shirt and underpants, until he is finally discovered by Rachel. In a later episode, after promising Rachel a big promotion, she is said to have been ran over and killed.
[edit] Monica Geller
See Chandler & Monica below.
[edit] Ross Geller
[edit] Carol Willick
Carol is a sixth grade teacher and Ross's ex-wife (played first by Anita Barone and then by Jane Sibbett), who left Ross when she realised she was lesbian shortly before the first episode of the show. She reveals that she was pregnant with Ross's child and gives birth to a baby boy named Ben (played throughout the series by Jack & Charlie Allen and later Cole Mitchell Sprouse) in Season 1. In Season 2 she marries her life partner Susan Bunch. When Carol's parents refuse to attend the wedding, a guilt-ridden Ross walks her down the aisle, despite the fact that he didn't even want to attend their wedding, as it brought back memories of Carol that were too painful for him. Carol makes occasional appearances, usually together with Susan and Ben, throughout the course of the series. Her final appearance was in Season 7, when she was visited by Rachel (who described Carol to Ross as her "Good friend." On being quizzed about her surname, Rachel said "Carol.....Lesbian?")
Ross and Carol are on good terms after their divorce, but Ross and Susan are not, as Ross understandably resents Susan for "stealing" Carol away from him, and Susan resents Ross for his past relationship with Carol. It is revealed in several episodes that Carol was on the golf team and lacrosse team (i.e. she played for both teams) in college, that Ross gave her a very expensive crystal duck, and that in 1989 they had sex behind the mechanical Dutch children on the "It's a Small World After All" theme park ride ("It was the only thing to do without a line"). Carol's parents' names are George and Adelaide.
[edit] Julie
An attractive Chinese-American woman born in New York with whom Ross went to graduate school, Julie and Ross meet again during his trip to China. He returns with her as his girlfriend, much to Rachel's disappointment. They date for 7 episodes in Season 2, during which Rachel smolders with jealousy. They do not live together but are poised to buy a joint cat. However, Rachel leaves Ross a drunken phone message revealing her feelings for him. After that Ross slowly realizes that his feelings for Rachel are too strong and he breaks up with Julie in favor of Rachel. Julie makes a short appearance two episodes after their break-up when she meets Russ, a guy similar to Ross whom Rachel was dating. When Rachel dumps Russ after realizing how similar he is to Ross, it is suggested that Julie and Russ fall in love at first sight and get together. Julie was played by Lauren Tom, and was the only recurring Asian character on the show.
[edit] Rachel Green
See Ross & Rachel below.
[edit] Chloe
Ross has a one night fling while "on a break" with Rachel. Chloe was previously known as the copy store girl with the belly button ring. She was supportive of his remaining with his girlfriend, but was instrumental in the downfall of their relationship.
[edit] Bonnie
Played by Christine Taylor, Bonnie was a sexy friend of Phoebe's whom Phoebe sets up with Ross. Rachel approves the set up, thinking Bonnie is bald. Rachel then discovers that Bonnie has grown her hair back, and Bonnie goes on to date Ross for the last 2 episodes of Season 3. At the end of Season 3, Rachel convinces Bonnie to shave her head again. When faced with a choice between Rachel and the bald Bonnie, Ross chooses Rachel.
[edit] Emily Waltham
When Rachel's boss asks her to take his niece Emily (played by Helen Baxendale) to the opera on the same night Rachel has her first "date" with Joshua, she convinces Ross to go with Emily instead. Emily is an English girl from Shropshire living in London. She and Ross end up in a bed & breakfast in Vermont at the end of the date, and the rest of their relationship is similarly fast-paced.
Greatly bothered by the fact that Emily has to keep travelling back and forth between New York and London, Ross proposes to her. She initially refuses, because she already has a boyfriend, a man named Colin, but breaks up with him for Ross. Their wedding is set for the last episode of Season 4, only 10 episodes from their first date. Rachel is very unhappy as she realizes she is still in love with Ross, and decides to tell him at the wedding in London. Deciding at the last minute not to tell Ross about her feelings, Rachel simply hugs Ross. However, seeing Rachel brings back Ross's old feelings, and instead of saying "I take thee Emily," Ross accidentally says "I take thee Rachel". The quote is left as a cliff-hanger to end Season 4.
The wedding continues in Season 5 and is finalized. However, feeling humiliated, Emily escapes the wedding party. Trying to save the situation, Ross asks Emily's parents to tell her he would wait for her at the airport, hoping she would still like to go for the honeymoon. After apparently getting stood up by Emily, Ross eventually decides to take Rachel with him instead - only to see Emily coming to the airport awfully late. Emily escapes Ross again and runs into hiding afterwards.
Ross then returns to the States, attempting to reach Emily and persuade her to forgive him over the phone. When she finally calls him, he convinces her to come to New York. She agrees, with the condition that Ross will never see Rachel again. She also convinces him to sell all of his furniture that came into any contact with Rachel and move into one of her relatives' apartments. The other 5 friends agree to support Ross as long as he is happy with being manipulated by Emily, but when Ross expresses his discontent with all the changes he has to make, the group helps him realize that he cannot meet all of Emily's conditions. Ross then tells Emily that he doesn't agree to her terms, and their marriage ends. Later on Emily calls and leaves a message that she wants to talk to Ross about getting back together even though she is getting married. Ross decides not to call her back.
In reality, actress Helen Baxendale became pregnant between seasons 4 and 5; as a result she was unable to travel to the US to do any filming for season 5. As a result her only appearances were heavily swaddled in bed clothes, and she had to be written out of the series a lot earlier than was intended.
[edit] Janice Litman Goralnik (née Hosenstein)
In one episode, Ross dates Janice after learning that Emily will be remarried. Janice is still under the impression that Chandler is in Yemen at the time. Ross claims that they both have a lot of things in common, such as being divorced and having kids. This relationship does not last beyond one episode because Janice can't take Ross' whining about his post-Emily situation.
[edit] Jill Green
Jill, played by Reese Witherspoon, is one of Rachel's sisters. She comes into the city when her father takes back his credit cards in Season 6. After convincing Jill to follow in her footsteps towards financial independence, Rachel becomes bothered with the flirting between Ross and Jill. However, both Ross and Jill never thought of asking each other out until Rachel unintentionally (and regretfully) suggests that they do. Rachel then asks Ross not to date her sister, to which he agrees. He still ends up kissing Jill, who was trying to spite Rachel for telling her what to do. Ross promptly stops the kissing, realising that if anything was to happen between him and Jill, nothing could ever happen with him and Rachel. After that, Jill returns to her father.
[edit] Elizabeth Stevens
A student in one of Ross's classes, Elizabeth describes Ross as "the hottie of the Palaeontology department" in her teacher evaluation. She is 12 years younger than Ross. Their relationship lasts for about 7 episodes until the end of Season 6, despite obstacles such as the threat of Ross losing his job and the disapproval of Elizabeth's father (Bruce Willis). When the rest of the friends make Ross realise there is no future for their relationship, Ross breaks up with her (Season 6 was originally going to end with the revelation that she was pregnant, thus explaining Ross's absence during Chandler's proposal to Monica, but this never came to pass). Elizabeth was played by Alexandra Holden.
[edit] Mona
Mona (Bonnie Somerville), is a very attractive woman who works at Monica's restaurant and flirts briefly with Ross at Chandler and Monica's wedding reception during the first episode of Season 8. She returns a few episodes later and goes out to a see a Ukrainian film with Ross. She shows genuine interest in the things that Ross likes to talk about. Even though she is forgiving, understanding and very attracted to Ross, incidents such as Ross changing his door locks after giving Mona a key, finding out about Rachel being pregnant with Ross's baby, an unpleasant encounter with Rachel's father, being continuously abandoned by Ross to take care of Rachel, and finally, Rachel moving in with Ross, she ends their relationship. She makes a brief appearance a few episodes later when Ross goes to her apartment to retrieve a pink (salmon) shirt he left there. Her apparent last request to him was for him to "jump up [his] own ass and die."
[edit] Charlie Wheeler
Notable for being the only major recurring African-American character on the show, Charlie, played by Aisha Tyler, is an attractive palaeontology professor whom Ross is assigned to show around New York towards the end of Season 9. Despite his efforts, Ross loses Charlie to Joey, with whom she goes out until the end of the season. In the final episode of the season, she realizes she has much more in common with Ross and is quite attracted to him, and leaves Joey in favor of Ross. Her relationship with Ross ends a couple of episodes into Season 10, when her old boyfriend, Benjamin Hobart, played by Greg Kinnear, who happens to be administering a grant to Ross, confesses he is still in love with her.
[edit] Ross and Rachel
Arguably the central theme of the show, the rocky Ross and Rachel relationship has been a main point of discussion for the show's fans throughout its course.
Ross's crush on Rachel supposedly started when he was in the 9th grade. However, he was largely ignored by Rachel, who later admitted to being aware of his crush. In the first episode of the show, Ross asks Rachel if "it would be all right if [he] asked [her] out sometime, maybe", but never actually asks her out during Season 1, mainly because he is always interrupted. During Ross's trip to China in the final episode of the season, Chandler accidentally tells Rachel that Ross is in love with her. Admitting to have never looked at him "in that way", Rachel ponders a possible relationship and decides to go for it. She goes to the airport to meet him, and the scene is left as a cliff-hanger at the end of Season 1.
In the first episode of Season 2, Rachel is devastated when Ross returns with Julie (see Julie under Ross Geller above), and grows increasingly jealous. She eventually lets Ross know that she is "over" him while drunk. Having thus found out about Rachel's feelings, he is faced with choosing between her and Julie, and writes a list of pros and cons about both of them with the aid of Chandler and Joey. While listing numerous (and quite offensive) remarks about Rachel, when listing Julie's faults, Ross says "she's not Rachel" which is enough to convince him to dump Julie and go for it. Unfortunately, there is a typo and Julie's side of the list reads "she's not Rachem" (sic).... Rachel sees the list, and not understanding what the typo is supposed to mean, gets angry and refuses to be with Ross.
Rachel repeatedly rejects Ross's attempts at getting together until she sees a home video of her prom night, where Ross decides to step in and take Rachel to her prom after her date doesn't show until the very last minute. Seeing Ross's noble gesture and his subsequent disappointment, Rachel kisses Ross and their relationship begins.
Even though they both nurtured their love toward each other throughout the series, the period between the middle of Season 2 and Season 3 was the only time they were in a true boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. It came to an end as Ross became increasingly jealous of Rachel spending a lot of time at work with a co-worker, with whom Ross thought she was cheating on him. Ross irritated her by showing up with a picnic basket at her office and sending a barbershop quartet to sing to her, all in an effort to "win" her from her coworker. In response to this, Rachel says they needed a break from their relationship, which Ross interprets as a break-up. While drunk at a party a few hours later, Ross calls Rachel to work things out, only to find out she had invited the co-worker over to console her. Wrongfully assuming she was in fact having an affair, he himself (possibly under influence from alcohol) has cheated on Rachel with "the hot girl from the copy place with the belly-button ring."
When Rachel stops by his apartment the next morning, apologizing and asking to be his girlfriend again, he attempts to hide his indiscretion...unsuccessfully. Rachel finds from the 'trail' ("The trail from the girl you did it with to the girl you hope never finds out you did it!" according to Joey). As a result, she hears it from Gunther. As Rachel confronts him, he uses her own "We were on a break!" statement as an excuse and repeatedly apologizes. Rachel however does not accept his arguments and apologies, saying that she saw Ross as someone "who would never hurt [her]" and ends their relationship.
After not being able to be in the same room together, Ross and Rachel slowly begin to act civil again, and by the end of the season, Rachel decides she is ready for them to get back together. In the final episode of Season 3, and after convincing his current girlfriend Bonnie to shave her head, she tells him she never stopped loving him and leaves him a choice between her and Bonnie. In the first episode of Season 4 it is revealed that Ross chooses Rachel. Rachel writes an 18-page letter (front and back) explaining her feelings and asking Ross to accept full responsibility for their break-up. She wants him to read the letter before they can resume their relationship. Ross falls asleep while reading the letter and accepts her terms, unaware of the responsibility he is accepting. After finishing the letter later and deciding that he finds it unreasonable, they break-up once again in the same episode.
Throughout almost the entire fourth season, Ross and Rachel are a little hostile to each other. This is shown by their bringing home different dates, Rachel making fun of some moments of Ross's past and the absence of many sincerely friendly conversations with each other.
When Ross is about to marry Emily (see Emily under Ross Geller above) in the final episode of Season 4, Rachel realizes that she is still in love with him and flies to London to confess her love to Ross. Changing her mind at the last minute, she simply hugs Ross, however seeing Rachel brings back Ross's old feelings, and in response to the priest's request to say "I take thee Emily", Ross says "I take thee Rachel". After the marriage finalized, Emily decides to hide from Ross in London while Ross returns to New York. In the second episode of Season 5, Rachel finally tells Ross about her feelings, but they decide to pretend the conversation never happened, since Ross is married.
In the last episode of the season, while visiting Joey in Las Vegas, Ross and Rachel get very drunk and get married. The next day in the first episode of Season 6, they have no recollection of the marriage and even though they woke up in the same bed, decide to assume that nothing happened. After finding out about the events of the previous night, Ross becomes extremely frustrated by the idea of having three divorces, and lies to Rachel about having gotten an annulment. It is also revealed that he still has feelings for Rachel, and offers to have her move in with him after Chandler moves in with Monica, presumably hoping that she will begin to feel the same way about him. When Rachel discovers that they are still married, she fills out the annulment forms herself, stating that Ross is mentally unstable, gay, an intravenous drug user (according to Rachel, the drugs were heroin and crack) and unable to consummate the wedding. When Ross denies the claims to the judge, their case is dismissed and they file for divorce instead.
Ross and Rachel almost get back together for a "bonus night" in the first episode of Season 7, but the magic of the moment is lost when Monica accuses Rachel of trying to steal focus from her on her engagement night, and it goes no further than a kiss.
In the final episode of Season 7, it is revealed that Rachel is pregnant, and a few episodes into Season 8, she reveals that Ross is the father. The baby was conceived as a result of a faulty condom when they got together for one night in Season 7. A review of the videotape that had captured the event showed that Rachel was the first to come on to Ross, a fact she initially denied. In the final stages of Rachel's pregnancy their doctor recommends sex as a way to speed the labor along. When Rachel is late and unable to bear her discomfort any longer, Ross kisses Rachel, but does not get any further because Rachel's water breaks. In the final episode of Season 8, Rachel has just given birth to their daughter Emma, and Ross is about to ask Rachel if she wants to start their relationship again, when Joey accidentally gives Rachel the impression that he is proposing to her by picking up Ross's mother's ring from the floor while kneeling on one knee.
After finding out about Joey's "proposal" and Rachel's acceptance in the first episode of Season 9, Ross reconsiders his plans of getting back with Rachel and decides to continue living with her. However, after receiving a call from a man Rachel gave her number to at a bar, he does not pass the message to Rachel, revealing his harbored feelings. After witnessing Rachel's kiss with Gavin later on in the season (see Gavin Mitchell under Rachel Green above), he accuses her of "moving on without telling [him]", and tells her he knows about the man at the bar. Furious at Ross for hiding the message, Rachel decides that their living situation isn't working and moves back in with Joey. When Rachel's father is in a hospital during one episode in season 10, Rachel tries to make Ross comfort her (romantically). He refuses, thinking that he would be taking advantage of her. Rachel also admits to Ross that with them "sex or a future romance is never off the table."
When Rachel reveals her intentions to leave for Paris to work for Louis Vuitton at the end of Season 10 and holds individual "good-bye" sessions with all the members of the group except Ross, Ross gets very offended. Rachel tells him it was because he means more to her than everyone else, and he kisses her. After having sex that night, Rachel describes it as "the perfect way to say good-bye", to Ross's great disappointment. Initially attempting to get Rachel to stay by bribing her old boss to offer her job back with a raise, Ross realizes how much she was looking forward to leaving and he tells her to go to Paris. However, in the final episode of the series, he realizes he is still in love with her and goes to the airport to stop her. Overcoming numerous humorous complications in the process, he catches her at the gate, confessing his love and asking her to stay. Unexpectedly, she simply apologizes and gets on the plane. Arriving home a broken man, Ross finds a message on his answering machine from Rachel calling from the airplane, where she reassures him she loves him too and decides to get off the plane. Ross is in dismay as the message ends before it is clear whether Rachel got off the plane, but Rachel walks in the apartment and they embrace. While kissing, they tell each other that they're "not gonna be stupid any more", highlighting the fact that most of the reasons they haven't been together were quite superficial.
Throughout the course of the series, Ross and Rachel have had sex 300 times (Ross kept count at 298, and following this they slept together twice, once resulting in Emma's conception and the second time occurring prior to Rachel's departure to Paris).
See Joshua Bergen and Gavin Mitchell under Rachel Green, and Julie, Emily Waltham, Jill Green and Mona under Ross Geller for additional info on how their other relationships have been affected by their feelings toward each other.
[edit] Chandler and Monica
Initial hints at a relationship between the two were given as early as the final episodes of the first season, when Chandler and Monica "hypothetically" discuss their respective parental and marital futures (Chandler suggests that they get married if neither are married when they're 40, but Monica initially takes it the wrong way and asks why Chandler believes she won't be married by then). Early in the series Monica, while babysitting, banged Ben on a pillar in her apartment. Ben then proceeds to call Monica "Monica Bang" (Sounding like Monica Bing); many perceived this as foreshadowing. Later in Season 3, Chandler repeatedly jokes and asks Monica if she would date him. No developments are made, however, until the final episode of Season 4, where Monica, upset after being mistaken for Ross' mother by a drunken guest at Ross's wedding, seeks comfort from Chandler and ends up sleeping with him.
Initially deciding not to continue their relationship, they soon realise they really are attracted to each other and resume, while hiding it from the rest of the group. Throughout Season 5 Joey, Rachel, Phoebe and Ross find out about the relationship (in that order), usually in humorous circumstances. Joey is the first to realize they're dating, and in a possibly unintended piece of irony, he's the only one to put it together from various clues; the others only find out about the relationship when they catch Monica and Chandler having sex (or, in Rachel's case, near-phone sex).
It is revealed during on Thanksgiving during Season 5 that back in 1987, while Chandler was still in college with Ross, Chandler had called Monica "fat" and that subsequently, the year later, Monica lost a lot of weight and accidentally cut off one of Chandler's toes while attempting to seduce him by pressing carrots and a knife close to her body. It turns out that Monica chooses to lose all her weight in one year as a result of Chandler's comment. When Chandler hears that he lost the toe as a result of Monica's attempt to seduce him, he becomes dismayed with Monica, but that ends when Monica places a turkey upon her head to cheer him up (He briefly tells her that he loves her at this point, but then profusely denies it: "I just said 'You're so great' and then I stopped talking!!!").
In the final episode of Season 5, Chandler and Monica are about to get married in Las Vegas, but decide they are moving too fast after seeing Ross and Rachel coming out drunk from the chapel. Instead, in the first episode of Season 6, Chandler asks to move in with Monica and does so.
Chandler proposes to Monica in the last episode of Season 6, with slight interference from Monica's former love interest Richard. Chandler decides to surpise Monica by pretending that he is not interested in marriage and gets Joey to describe him as "a complex person who is not likely to take a wife". This turns out to be a bad idea, because Richard visits Monica at her restaurant and confesses that he loves her and is willing to marry her. Because Monica is looking for a relationship that is "going somewhere", she is left to struggle with the fact that Richard asked her too late and Chandler supposedly does not want to marry her. After she confesses Richard's proposal to Joey, Joey quickly tells Chandler about the imminent situation. Meanwhile, Monica goes to Richard for comfort. Not until she comes back and finds out from Joey that Chandler did actually intend to marry her does she finally feel satisfied. In a breathtaking moment, Monica proposes to Chandler in her candle-filled apartment, and their wedding plans are one of the major focuses of Season 7. In Season 7 it is also revealed that when Monica came to Chandler's room in London, she was actually looking to spend the night with Joey. This makes Chandler somewhat uncomfortable, but he ends up letting Joey become an ordained minister so he can marry the couple. They get married in the final episode of Season 7.
In the last episode of Season 8 and throughout Season 9, they attempt to get pregnant. After failing to do so, they visit a fertility clinic at the end of Season 9, and it is revealed that Chandler's sperm have "low mobility" and Monica's uterus is an "inhospitable environment". Interestingly in real life, Courteney Cox Arquette and her husband David Arquette failed to have kids of their own and tried in-vitro fertilization. Cox's infertility was written into the series to explain the reasons of Chandler and Monica's inability to conceive. They decide to adopt a baby instead and they are allocated the child of a teenager from Ohio named Erica (played by Anna Faris) in the middle of Season 10. In the final episode of the series, Erica gives birth to twins, whom Chandler and Monica name Jack (after Monica's father) and Erica (after their biological mother).
[edit] Joey and Rachel
After a mock date in the middle of Season 8, Joey finds himself strongly attracted to Rachel but is reluctant to tell her. When Ross tells Joey that he's OK with it, Joey tells Rachel about his feelings, only to be rejected. After the conversation, his feelings slowly fade away.
After Rachel gives birth to Emma and is back in her hospital room, Joey kneels down on one knee and picks up the engagement ring Ross received from his mother, which had fallen out of Ross' jacket. Rachel mistakenly thinks he is proposing and she says yes. When Ross finds out, he is briefly angry at Joey.
After seeing Joey act out a romantic scene in "Days Of Our Lives" at the end of Season 9, Rachel has a dream where she kisses Joey, which makes her realise she has feelings for him. She decides to kiss him at a party, but is unable to follow her plan because she finds Joey kissing Charlie (see Charlie under Ross Geller). In the final episode of the season, after Charlie leaves Joey in favour of Ross, Rachel confesses her feelings to Joey. Reluctant to start the relationship at first, Joey kisses Rachel after seeing Charlie kiss Ross.
In Season 10, Ross finds out about Joey and Rachel, and though he tries to act as if he is fine, he clearly has issues with their relationship. Though they almost end their relationship because of their concern for Ross, the couple decides to stay together. They soon realize they cannot have sex because their friendship is too strong and causes acts of subconscious-provoked rebellious behaviour, such as Joey's inability to unhook Rachel's bra and Rachel uncontrollably slapping Joey's hand when he touches her thigh.
| Friends |
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| Characters: Rachel Green • Monica Geller • Phoebe Buffay • Joey Tribbiani • Chandler Bing • Ross Geller Cast: Jennifer Aniston • Courteney Cox • Lisa Kudrow • Matt LeBlanc • Matthew Perry • David Schwimmer Other characters: Recurring characters • Significant others • Gunther • Janice • Guest stars Places: Central Perk • Joey's apartment • Monica's apartment Music: "I'll Be There for You" • "Smelly Cat" • Friends Soundtrack • Friends Again See also: Season synopses • DVD releases • Awards and nominations • Episode list • Running gags • Director list • Joey |
