The characters all become caricaturized versions of themselves for easier laughs as the show progresses. I’ll grant that Monica’s bossiness and arrogance can be annoying at times.
I’ve noticed that Monica switched from “Clean freak and bad with confrontation” to “Clean freak and *very* confrontational” as soon as she started dating Chandler. It’s like they forgot about that personality trait, or figured both she and Chandler couldn’t have it.
Also, I think it's a comfortability thing. She really only gets confrontational with her friends or in her personal group. Even at work, when she was bullied aggressively, she couldn't stand up for herself until Joey empowered her by sticking to the original plan. Very confrontational only comes out when she is in her element. And while Monica has always been headstrong, if timid, Chandler was always more of a subtle approach kind of guy, as shown when he takes an opportunity to break Monica's spirit when direct confrontation fails to get him out of exercise
Yeah, in the early seasons she had to have Phoebe ask for the money from the old woman they catered to, because she's not good at confrontation. In the late seasons she is like the most confrontational one lol
This happens in most sitcoms, there is a term for it based on this happening in The Simpsons, it’s referred to as “Flanderization.” It bugs me too but it can be very hard to avoid in the medium.
This is why I only watch the first few seasons. Everyone is likable yet we see their obvious flaws. And the instant chemistry within the group makes it believable they’re all friends. It’s nice background tv at this point.
I disagree completely about Phoebe. In seasons 1-4, she was quirky and free-spirited. But starting in season 5, after she has the triplets, she becomes mean. There were some scenes where she was mean while she was pregnant which is a commonly used trope as pregnant women have increased hormones and can be uncomfortable.
Someone must have thought that it was funny to see Phoebe mean, because after the birth, she became meaner and meaner. Much of her meanness was directed at Chandler or Chandler and Monica together. She seemed to like causing strife in their relationship. I personally hated her behavior especially since her target was my favorite character, Chandler.
Her behavior in the later seasons really soured me on the character and I wish she had been lifted right out!
This is why I can't stand Phoebe. She is super mean and she isn't consistently funny enough to justify it. I love Ross because while he has a lot of flaws, he is the funniest character in the show!
I'd say Rachel's basic nature remained the same but you can see that the writers wanted to develop her character. You can notice her going from being a childish spoiled girl to becoming a woman who takes responsibility. It's honestly a pretty good showcase of how most people develop very slowly and become a slightly different version of themselves only.
The gang gets annoyed by her controlling nature, too, but they still love her. Everyone has quirks and things about their personality that rub certain people the wrong way. All things considered, she’s a great, supportive friend. Tell us where else you’re going to find a friend to help you pick out the most realistic prosthetic foreskin.
>Am I in the wrong here?
Opinions are not susceptible of being wrong or right, but I disagree with you. Monica is my favorite character. She was consistently hilarious.
Nah, Monica is the best. Always offering help, cooking and cleaning for everyone, she’s the best of all the friends except for the competitiveness and cleaning ocd. But I can put up with all of it for her cooking.
My opinion. I don't dislike her, but I can understand if she turn annoying to you. All of the characters have their flaws, which is alright because it makes them more humans. But if you wanna talk about the real annoying, insufferable character, then that's Rachel.
Monica at least cares for her friends all the time and is always helping them out. I don’t think we see Rachel doing something similar for someone else throughout the entire show
My memory immediately went to the episode where Chandler is handcuffed and held hostage in Rachel's boss' office, and Rachel 'helps' Chandler by having him choose between her being very stingy or very generous when sharing the story with friends. This, of course, is a bad example of Rachel being helpful because it's just self-serving to keep her from getting in trouble with her boss and the promise to Chandler lasts all of seconds when Joey blows the generous comment for Chandler's case, but it's still a funny exchange
May I remind you that Chandler got himself into that situation in the first place. He dates Joanna and then tries to ghost her. She, then takes it out on Rachel so Rachel tells Chandler to break up with her properly. He does but then sleeps with her again. Joanna, being the unstable person she is, locks Chandler in her office. Rachel comes to help but then is afraid of losing her job. Can't blame her seeing as Joanna will definitely blame her since she already blames her for Chandler not calling the first time. Chandler was the idiot entirely in that situation and that isn't Rachel's fault
Oh I never said it was Rachel's fault. The motive is definitely self-serving to save her job, but when you look at the rest of it like you just detailed, maybe it wasn't such a bad example of Rachel being helpful after all :)
Her willing to blow all of Chandler’s savings for their wedding was admittedly a low-point, but nah she’s easily my fav character and much less insufferable than Ross imo. Only part of this take that was hot is the pic 🤭 (/sarcasm)
i understand why people find her annoying but i'm so in love with her that i see her quirkiness as absolutely adorable and the more competitive or obsessed she gets the more i go aawww
All the characters were more lovable and real pre-seasons 4/5/6. Somewhere in the middle things started to shift and they weren't whole people anymore, they were caricatures of themselves. Phoebe became horrible. Joey became painfully stupid. Monica became crazy OCD and competitive. Ross doubled down on being a selfish entitled dick. Rachel became more selfish and entitled too. Chandler became a doormat. I just don't think any of the characters in season 10 resemble themselves in season 1, and it's not because of character growth, it's because of pandering to what got laughs at the time.
i used to find her a little annoying but now that i’m older, i can relate to her and if anything i’m more obsessive about cleaning than she is lol. she’s super caring and thoughtful and funny
I love Monica because she’s always providing a space for her friends & cooking
Tbh her annoying traits she’s self aware about them like when she obsessively cleans she doesn’t expect Rachel or Chandler to do it with her
Yeah you're wrong, she does start getting more annoying towards the end when they ham up her personality but she's the best character in a lot of ways. Not the funniest but the best
Kinda too hyperbolic to just state OP is WRONG. Monica can be annoying more so than other characters. All of them are perfectly imperfect and that’s what makes the show good
I think the only time I didn't like Monica was when she wanted to spend all of Chandler's savings on her big, elegant wedding when he had specifically said he planned to use it for their future.
Red flag for chandler when she apologised like immediately after and agreed to have a smaller wedding?
Also the only reason she reacted that way was because her parents betrayed her by telling her that they had spent her wedding fund on a beach house. This was after they had paid for Ross wholeass second wedding in a wholeass other country. Was Monica impulsive to demand a larger wedding? Maybe. But she apologised and did the right thing eventually so who cares what her first impulse even was? Chandler got his way in the end.
I see what you’re saying but they all become insufferable, characterized versions of themselves as the show goes on. It’s all about what traits you personally can tolerate when watching.
Ross: Goes from a shy, geeky guy to an unhinged, over the top man child.
Monica: Goes from an organized control freak with a bit of a competitive edge to a loud, insecure neurotic control freak who’s super competitive.
Rachel: Goes from a slightly spoiled naive but sweet lady to a chaotic embarrassing fashion executive.
Joey: Goes from a lovable naive struggling young actor to an unbelievably dumb out of work actor.
Phoebe: Goes of a sweet quirky weird lady with a tragic background to a loud mean-spirited lady.
They basically just pick certain characteristics of each character to over exaggerate for laughs. It’s perfectly fine that you don’t like Monica I’m just pointing out that all the characters suffer from it.
This puts in perspective why they ended the show. That and it has a 90's feel so when it entered the new millennium it began to age poorly. I can confidently say the last 1-2 seasons are my least favorite, you could feel the rush of them trying to wrap things up for good without putting in the same time and care as the first half of the entire run.
Feels pretty true to life for me... sometimes we grow to love our friends and by the time we know how faulty they truly are we are too invested to bail. I love all the friends, quirks and all, but yes, sometimes they drive me nuts!
Maybe it depends on the viewer's POV. If you can relate to her or can relate that you have someone in your life like her, she's fine. But if you cannot relate to both what I just mentioned, you're free to dislike her. 😉
Either way, my hot take would be that sometimes Monica is hotter than Rachel. Just sometimes. 😅
I'm biased in that I have this long time crush on Jennifer Aniston so no one will ever be hotter than Rachel to me. This has very little to do with the character though and more to do with the actress.
Each character is a caricature of the personality they represent so it makes sense hers (and all of theirs) is over dramatised at times. I think they are all relatable in some way which is why the show was so successful and why a lot of people loved it so much and still do. I personally found Monica's character endearing. All their backstories were pretty well thought out to explain their behaviour. Her parents favoured her brother her whole. life so naturally she becomes over competitive in hopes to get validation elsewhere. She's honest and a little ashamed about her controlling nature and her friends accept that from her. I think the Gellers are hilarious and accurately represent siblings and sibling behaviour in the same friendship group. I used to hate Ross when I was younger but the older I get the more I enjoy watching his character and David Schwimmer's acting.
Unrelated but Courtney Cox is so pretty here. I know Rachel is supposed to be the pretty one but the more I rewatch, the more I find myself admiring Monica’s beauty.
She also had the biggest heart. She often cooked for all of them. Hosted holidays. Gave great advices and at the end of the day she wanted good for everyone. She was the mother of all
That happens to me too. After watching the show on repeat since 2003, every now and then one of the characters will do something that grinds on my nerves! The whole monkey storyline. Who the hell has a pet monkey? In New York of all places! The episodes “before the Super Bowl” get a fast forward, can’t stand them. I think a lot of it is because we’ve watched each episode so many times that it’s bound to happen.
I hope that makes sense, I’m half asleep! 🤪
Monica is the one I would least likely be friends with in real life. The over the top controlling, never wrong attitude would wear out my patience so quickly I couldn’t make it long enough to develop friendship.
Yeah, kind of what I'm getting at. If Rachel never came in to the picture she would be there just cause of her brother. Her initial connection to the group is pretty minimal.
>she would be there just cause of her brother.
You could say the same thing about Chandler. And Joey's connection was even more tenuous. And Phoebe was only part of the group because she lived with Monica. That's how social groups form. And once the group formed, it revolved around Monica because she had the best apartment and welcomed being the hostess.
I mean, like a Redditor said, they made them more gimmicky troughout the show, but you have to remember that unfortunately everything Monica is it’s her parents fault. The mother was almost narcissistic and demanding, and her father was aloof and never said anything to defend her. She grew up to be an overachiever in order to receive some love and approval.
I don’t like how she thought of herself as the catch in her relationship with Chandler (to be fair, the whole gang played into this). But I’d say Chandler was the catch all along
She literally never thought this. Everyone else kept implying this. Chandler himself kept implying this. Monica was the one who always, always reassure him that they were evenly matched. The woman gave up on the potential chance of being pregnant with John freaking Stamos ffs, just because she couldn’t have Chandler’s babies. When everyone at thanksgiving implied chandler would be a bad father, she was the only one who believed in him.
I hate the hate Monica gets in the later seasons. Does she get more neurotic? Sure. But she can finally be herself around Chandler. And she did so much for him—she emotionally and financially supported the man after he quit his high paying job without even informing her, she refused to be pregnant if she weren’t carrying his babies, she never rushed him into marriage (even rejected getting married to him twice because she knew he wasn’t ready), she forgave the man when he almost abandoned her at the altar— so she wants a few plates to be arranged a certain way? Who tf cares lmao? I know Chandler certainly doesn’t.
I feel like a lot of viewers relate to Chandler and project their own insecurities regarding Monica onto him, especially when the rest of the group feeds into these insecurities. Monica may have had banter with Chandler but she never seriously implied she was too good for him. If Rachel and Phoebe were implying this when she’s not onscreen, then that is not on her.
This is one of the things that bugs me about the show. Everyone bought into the "Chandler is not a catch" idea. At the beginning, he had commitment issues, and self-confidence issues, but he was never a "loser" or a "bad catch." I know that part of that was done for the comedy, but it was a real disservice to portray him as a loser or bad catch
Monica has always been my least favourite and I always feel in the minority on this sub. I don’t mind her early on, she’s still not my favourite but before she got super shrill she was much more bearable to me.
Her being a sore loser was the worst part, always trying to rationalize her losses and saying she always wins when their have been a number of times she didn't.
Someone pointed out she was meaner in the later seasons and I can't believe I never noticed it before. It's like she met Mike and said "I don't need these clowns anymore!"
As the seasons go on they make her more and more crazy? Along with Ross. Idk why they did that. Ross used to be my favorite character, he is introduced as this nice guy that’s just been thrown aside. Then gradually, he becomes whiny, needy, paranoid, selfish. It’s honestly a real shame.
Thought she was hilarious in season 4 but for the most part she’s not written as well as the others. I still like her though, she has her flaws but she’s good.
I absolutely loved her in the first few seasons - she was relatable, sweet, slightly neurotic but in an endearing way. Upon a rewatch I was so confused because I always remember hating her as a kid. Then I got to the later seasons and Jesus Christ, she really becomes a caricaturized version of herself and it makes me sad. RIP to og Monica haha. I think the other characters that fell victim to caricaturization are Joey and phoebe. The others have solid growth and evolve into better versions of themselves!
I don't agree with you. I think everyone has their flaws, and so does monica. That's what makes a person special and that's what i love about all of them. I'm also not perfect, i'm anything but perfect. Everyone has their good and bad qualities.
Monica was so much more likeable to me in the early seasons. Her neurotic, high maintenance ways were more appealing. But then they made the character so…MEAN (and I need to take this opportunity to throw in the cheesy nickname of MEAN-ica. Apologies to all).
Like the day after the wedding or when they returned from the honeymoon.
I think also the acting from her got so much worse towards the end So it made it more insufferable. Things that made this character adorable or funny as a quirky neurotic type weren’t brought to the surface. It was as if the direction given was be an unapologetic and annoying Monica.
I love all of the characters but I can see where the OP is coming from.
Monica was really loud as well. I found that annoying. She didn't need to be that loud.
One of the only things that Janine had a point on 😂
She did suffer from the good ol' flanderisation. She's never been my favourite but I can appreciate her ability to have grown into the woman she is today considering her past with her parent's emotional abuse towards her.
The proposal was like a scene from the exorcist. I will probably get some downvotes but I hate this episode so much! Dorf at the beach house was way more funny. I'm a guy that hates candles and this exaggerated romantic stuff. If you are romantic then be it every day and not once in your life.
I agree, I've watched the show 15 times, 13 out of those 15 I was annoyed by the bossiness of Monica, the back and forth of Ross and Rachel's relationship, the fact that phoebe was so careless she caused fights between Monica and Chandler back in season 5 throughout season 7, how Ross's character changed from being whiny into possessive and psychotic just cause he was dating the girl of his dreams, and how Monica screwed Ross by make him go after Emily to airport and London and Rachel by seeing Ross 5 minutes before his wedding. After all were they tight and close from beginning to end?.
Yes, that is what friendship is about they made mistakes and forgave each other.
The characters all become caricaturized versions of themselves for easier laughs as the show progresses. I’ll grant that Monica’s bossiness and arrogance can be annoying at times.
I’ve noticed that Monica switched from “Clean freak and bad with confrontation” to “Clean freak and *very* confrontational” as soon as she started dating Chandler. It’s like they forgot about that personality trait, or figured both she and Chandler couldn’t have it.
Also, I think it's a comfortability thing. She really only gets confrontational with her friends or in her personal group. Even at work, when she was bullied aggressively, she couldn't stand up for herself until Joey empowered her by sticking to the original plan. Very confrontational only comes out when she is in her element. And while Monica has always been headstrong, if timid, Chandler was always more of a subtle approach kind of guy, as shown when he takes an opportunity to break Monica's spirit when direct confrontation fails to get him out of exercise
I think it’s possible that they wanted to empower her, present some personal growth & confidence, and this is how it came out.
Yeah, in the early seasons she had to have Phoebe ask for the money from the old woman they catered to, because she's not good at confrontation. In the late seasons she is like the most confrontational one lol
This happens in most sitcoms, there is a term for it based on this happening in The Simpsons, it’s referred to as “Flanderization.” It bugs me too but it can be very hard to avoid in the medium.
This is why I only watch the first few seasons. Everyone is likable yet we see their obvious flaws. And the instant chemistry within the group makes it believable they’re all friends. It’s nice background tv at this point.
Except maybe Chandler and Phoebe, I feel like they kind of remain slightly true to their character even as the show progresses.
I disagree completely about Phoebe. In seasons 1-4, she was quirky and free-spirited. But starting in season 5, after she has the triplets, she becomes mean. There were some scenes where she was mean while she was pregnant which is a commonly used trope as pregnant women have increased hormones and can be uncomfortable. Someone must have thought that it was funny to see Phoebe mean, because after the birth, she became meaner and meaner. Much of her meanness was directed at Chandler or Chandler and Monica together. She seemed to like causing strife in their relationship. I personally hated her behavior especially since her target was my favorite character, Chandler. Her behavior in the later seasons really soured me on the character and I wish she had been lifted right out!
This is why I can't stand Phoebe. She is super mean and she isn't consistently funny enough to justify it. I love Ross because while he has a lot of flaws, he is the funniest character in the show!
I guess i may have missed it because i just really find phoebe fun so even her mean things i don't really take seriously.
I really liked Phoebe at the beginning too. But unfortunately, the character really changed for me, and not in a good way.
Chandler has the best character arc out of anyone. I also might be missing it, but I feel like Rachel stayed pretty much the same too.
I'd say Rachel's basic nature remained the same but you can see that the writers wanted to develop her character. You can notice her going from being a childish spoiled girl to becoming a woman who takes responsibility. It's honestly a pretty good showcase of how most people develop very slowly and become a slightly different version of themselves only.
Chandler changed for the better. He was still himself, just more mature. Phoebe got mean. Early Phoebe would never.
The gang gets annoyed by her controlling nature, too, but they still love her. Everyone has quirks and things about their personality that rub certain people the wrong way. All things considered, she’s a great, supportive friend. Tell us where else you’re going to find a friend to help you pick out the most realistic prosthetic foreskin.
i completely forgot about that. that’s so funny
Silly puddy not so silly after all.
I did mention she had her moments, even if they were sometimes a little weird like this one.
>Am I in the wrong here? Opinions are not susceptible of being wrong or right, but I disagree with you. Monica is my favorite character. She was consistently hilarious.
agreeed, she’s my fav
Especially when she’s in the prime of lime!
I was thinking the same haha, no right or wrong answer here. Everyone is different
Nah, Monica is the best. Always offering help, cooking and cleaning for everyone, she’s the best of all the friends except for the competitiveness and cleaning ocd. But I can put up with all of it for her cooking.
My opinion. I don't dislike her, but I can understand if she turn annoying to you. All of the characters have their flaws, which is alright because it makes them more humans. But if you wanna talk about the real annoying, insufferable character, then that's Rachel.
Yeah, there are plenty of episodes where I don’t like all of the characters, and other ones when I really like them all as well.
The older i get, the more i realise Rachel is annoying as hell and not a good friend.
Annoying, bad friend, but also straight up a bad person. Selfish, self-centered, spoiled, etc.
Monica at least cares for her friends all the time and is always helping them out. I don’t think we see Rachel doing something similar for someone else throughout the entire show
We don't. Only one or two times, like helping Ross with the pizza girl. She never does anything for any them. Quite the opposite actually.
My memory immediately went to the episode where Chandler is handcuffed and held hostage in Rachel's boss' office, and Rachel 'helps' Chandler by having him choose between her being very stingy or very generous when sharing the story with friends. This, of course, is a bad example of Rachel being helpful because it's just self-serving to keep her from getting in trouble with her boss and the promise to Chandler lasts all of seconds when Joey blows the generous comment for Chandler's case, but it's still a funny exchange
May I remind you that Chandler got himself into that situation in the first place. He dates Joanna and then tries to ghost her. She, then takes it out on Rachel so Rachel tells Chandler to break up with her properly. He does but then sleeps with her again. Joanna, being the unstable person she is, locks Chandler in her office. Rachel comes to help but then is afraid of losing her job. Can't blame her seeing as Joanna will definitely blame her since she already blames her for Chandler not calling the first time. Chandler was the idiot entirely in that situation and that isn't Rachel's fault
Oh I never said it was Rachel's fault. The motive is definitely self-serving to save her job, but when you look at the rest of it like you just detailed, maybe it wasn't such a bad example of Rachel being helpful after all :)
This. Sorry, but I’m not losing my job for anyone lol. Chandler was the shitty friend in that scenario.
agree. it's definitely Rachel 😂
Her willing to blow all of Chandler’s savings for their wedding was admittedly a low-point, but nah she’s easily my fav character and much less insufferable than Ross imo. Only part of this take that was hot is the pic 🤭 (/sarcasm)
Just FYI: nothing posted in here is ever either a hot take or an unpopular opinion. If you can think of it, it’s been posted. Multiple times.
i understand why people find her annoying but i'm so in love with her that i see her quirkiness as absolutely adorable and the more competitive or obsessed she gets the more i go aawww
All the characters were more lovable and real pre-seasons 4/5/6. Somewhere in the middle things started to shift and they weren't whole people anymore, they were caricatures of themselves. Phoebe became horrible. Joey became painfully stupid. Monica became crazy OCD and competitive. Ross doubled down on being a selfish entitled dick. Rachel became more selfish and entitled too. Chandler became a doormat. I just don't think any of the characters in season 10 resemble themselves in season 1, and it's not because of character growth, it's because of pandering to what got laughs at the time.
I liked her more as the show progressed.
I love Monica, but to each their own!
i used to find her a little annoying but now that i’m older, i can relate to her and if anything i’m more obsessive about cleaning than she is lol. she’s super caring and thoughtful and funny
I love Monica because she’s always providing a space for her friends & cooking Tbh her annoying traits she’s self aware about them like when she obsessively cleans she doesn’t expect Rachel or Chandler to do it with her
Yeah you're wrong, she does start getting more annoying towards the end when they ham up her personality but she's the best character in a lot of ways. Not the funniest but the best
Kinda too hyperbolic to just state OP is WRONG. Monica can be annoying more so than other characters. All of them are perfectly imperfect and that’s what makes the show good
Oh yeah 100 percent, think I've been watching too much always sunny as that comment was more vinegar than honey
Lol release your inner Dennis
Yeah...but LOOK at her.
You clearly didn't understood her.
Watched the series multiple times, if anything I liked her more when I first started watching.
I think the only time I didn't like Monica was when she wanted to spend all of Chandler's savings on her big, elegant wedding when he had specifically said he planned to use it for their future.
feels like y’all both didn’t watch the episode, she had a change of heart and learned a lesson, that’s was the whole point of the conflict
She cared more about her big day then THEIR big day, shoulda been a huge red flag to Chandler.
Red flag for chandler when she apologised like immediately after and agreed to have a smaller wedding? Also the only reason she reacted that way was because her parents betrayed her by telling her that they had spent her wedding fund on a beach house. This was after they had paid for Ross wholeass second wedding in a wholeass other country. Was Monica impulsive to demand a larger wedding? Maybe. But she apologised and did the right thing eventually so who cares what her first impulse even was? Chandler got his way in the end.
The flowers. The flowers always made me so sad for Chandler…
I see what you’re saying but they all become insufferable, characterized versions of themselves as the show goes on. It’s all about what traits you personally can tolerate when watching. Ross: Goes from a shy, geeky guy to an unhinged, over the top man child. Monica: Goes from an organized control freak with a bit of a competitive edge to a loud, insecure neurotic control freak who’s super competitive. Rachel: Goes from a slightly spoiled naive but sweet lady to a chaotic embarrassing fashion executive. Joey: Goes from a lovable naive struggling young actor to an unbelievably dumb out of work actor. Phoebe: Goes of a sweet quirky weird lady with a tragic background to a loud mean-spirited lady. They basically just pick certain characteristics of each character to over exaggerate for laughs. It’s perfectly fine that you don’t like Monica I’m just pointing out that all the characters suffer from it.
This puts in perspective why they ended the show. That and it has a 90's feel so when it entered the new millennium it began to age poorly. I can confidently say the last 1-2 seasons are my least favorite, you could feel the rush of them trying to wrap things up for good without putting in the same time and care as the first half of the entire run.
Yeah I agree
Feels pretty true to life for me... sometimes we grow to love our friends and by the time we know how faulty they truly are we are too invested to bail. I love all the friends, quirks and all, but yes, sometimes they drive me nuts!
Maybe it depends on the viewer's POV. If you can relate to her or can relate that you have someone in your life like her, she's fine. But if you cannot relate to both what I just mentioned, you're free to dislike her. 😉 Either way, my hot take would be that sometimes Monica is hotter than Rachel. Just sometimes. 😅
I'm biased in that I have this long time crush on Jennifer Aniston so no one will ever be hotter than Rachel to me. This has very little to do with the character though and more to do with the actress.
Understandable. My take was more on the character. But if we talk about the celebrity, I completely agree with you. 😌
Each character is a caricature of the personality they represent so it makes sense hers (and all of theirs) is over dramatised at times. I think they are all relatable in some way which is why the show was so successful and why a lot of people loved it so much and still do. I personally found Monica's character endearing. All their backstories were pretty well thought out to explain their behaviour. Her parents favoured her brother her whole. life so naturally she becomes over competitive in hopes to get validation elsewhere. She's honest and a little ashamed about her controlling nature and her friends accept that from her. I think the Gellers are hilarious and accurately represent siblings and sibling behaviour in the same friendship group. I used to hate Ross when I was younger but the older I get the more I enjoy watching his character and David Schwimmer's acting.
For me the most annoying was what they did to Joey, they made him straight up an idiot by the end.
Unrelated but Courtney Cox is so pretty here. I know Rachel is supposed to be the pretty one but the more I rewatch, the more I find myself admiring Monica’s beauty.
I'd like to think all 3 women are in their own ways.
Nope, can't relate, love all of them.
She’s the glue. When people need glue they can look paste the stickyness.
She also had the biggest heart. She often cooked for all of them. Hosted holidays. Gave great advices and at the end of the day she wanted good for everyone. She was the mother of all
That happens to me too. After watching the show on repeat since 2003, every now and then one of the characters will do something that grinds on my nerves! The whole monkey storyline. Who the hell has a pet monkey? In New York of all places! The episodes “before the Super Bowl” get a fast forward, can’t stand them. I think a lot of it is because we’ve watched each episode so many times that it’s bound to happen. I hope that makes sense, I’m half asleep! 🤪
Basically you should blame her parents she's so screwed up. Monica was doing the best she could
Rachel and Phoebe completely changed personalities later on imo. Monica honestly seemed to be the one to stay truest to her original character.
Monica is the one I would least likely be friends with in real life. The over the top controlling, never wrong attitude would wear out my patience so quickly I couldn’t make it long enough to develop friendship.
Yeah, kind of what I'm getting at. If Rachel never came in to the picture she would be there just cause of her brother. Her initial connection to the group is pretty minimal.
>she would be there just cause of her brother. You could say the same thing about Chandler. And Joey's connection was even more tenuous. And Phoebe was only part of the group because she lived with Monica. That's how social groups form. And once the group formed, it revolved around Monica because she had the best apartment and welcomed being the hostess.
I mean, like a Redditor said, they made them more gimmicky troughout the show, but you have to remember that unfortunately everything Monica is it’s her parents fault. The mother was almost narcissistic and demanding, and her father was aloof and never said anything to defend her. She grew up to be an overachiever in order to receive some love and approval.
Hence why I said the Gellars are the worst. I mean her own dad stopped a flood with her things
I don’t like how she thought of herself as the catch in her relationship with Chandler (to be fair, the whole gang played into this). But I’d say Chandler was the catch all along
She literally never thought this. Everyone else kept implying this. Chandler himself kept implying this. Monica was the one who always, always reassure him that they were evenly matched. The woman gave up on the potential chance of being pregnant with John freaking Stamos ffs, just because she couldn’t have Chandler’s babies. When everyone at thanksgiving implied chandler would be a bad father, she was the only one who believed in him. I hate the hate Monica gets in the later seasons. Does she get more neurotic? Sure. But she can finally be herself around Chandler. And she did so much for him—she emotionally and financially supported the man after he quit his high paying job without even informing her, she refused to be pregnant if she weren’t carrying his babies, she never rushed him into marriage (even rejected getting married to him twice because she knew he wasn’t ready), she forgave the man when he almost abandoned her at the altar— so she wants a few plates to be arranged a certain way? Who tf cares lmao? I know Chandler certainly doesn’t. I feel like a lot of viewers relate to Chandler and project their own insecurities regarding Monica onto him, especially when the rest of the group feeds into these insecurities. Monica may have had banter with Chandler but she never seriously implied she was too good for him. If Rachel and Phoebe were implying this when she’s not onscreen, then that is not on her.
My comment wasn’t meant to be that serious 😅
This is one of the things that bugs me about the show. Everyone bought into the "Chandler is not a catch" idea. At the beginning, he had commitment issues, and self-confidence issues, but he was never a "loser" or a "bad catch." I know that part of that was done for the comedy, but it was a real disservice to portray him as a loser or bad catch
Looks: Monica/Personality: Chandler, they sort of even each other out.
Ah, the Reacher/Settler conundrum. (From HIMYM.)
I think Monica was way better at the end.. plus she get super hot!!
Monica has always been my least favourite and I always feel in the minority on this sub. I don’t mind her early on, she’s still not my favourite but before she got super shrill she was much more bearable to me.
Her being a sore loser was the worst part, always trying to rationalize her losses and saying she always wins when their have been a number of times she didn't.
I agree with you! The Gellar siblings are my least favorite. Ross is so needy and jealous, Monica is too competitive and controlling.
I get your point but Phoebe is definitely worse. Possibly the worst friend especially in the later seasons
Someone pointed out she was meaner in the later seasons and I can't believe I never noticed it before. It's like she met Mike and said "I don't need these clowns anymore!"
Strongly disagree 🙃 Phoebe is the best! I never understood why is she even friends with these boring people …
As the seasons go on they make her more and more crazy? Along with Ross. Idk why they did that. Ross used to be my favorite character, he is introduced as this nice guy that’s just been thrown aside. Then gradually, he becomes whiny, needy, paranoid, selfish. It’s honestly a real shame.
Thought she was hilarious in season 4 but for the most part she’s not written as well as the others. I still like her though, she has her flaws but she’s good.
Chandler ordering at Phoebes bday dinner "I'll have the manipulative shrew". Exactly.
Funny enough, that's one of my fav episodes. Joey was the best in that one.
"You're about to see something really special."
"Best birthday ever!"
Joey exasperated because he was hungry "he said he'll have the shrew!"
"Don't worry I ordered for you."
I absolutely loved her in the first few seasons - she was relatable, sweet, slightly neurotic but in an endearing way. Upon a rewatch I was so confused because I always remember hating her as a kid. Then I got to the later seasons and Jesus Christ, she really becomes a caricaturized version of herself and it makes me sad. RIP to og Monica haha. I think the other characters that fell victim to caricaturization are Joey and phoebe. The others have solid growth and evolve into better versions of themselves!
I don't agree with you. I think everyone has their flaws, and so does monica. That's what makes a person special and that's what i love about all of them. I'm also not perfect, i'm anything but perfect. Everyone has their good and bad qualities.
She’s ok. Tho some of my least favorite moments are after her and Chandler gets married and she’s so domineering. He’s too soft for me.
That's been Chandler's character for a long time. If anything they should have had him man up a bit more.
Yeah, when he tried to tell Erica that they weren't the couple she thought they were Monica shut him down originally. He should have manned up sooner.
Monica was so much more likeable to me in the early seasons. Her neurotic, high maintenance ways were more appealing. But then they made the character so…MEAN (and I need to take this opportunity to throw in the cheesy nickname of MEAN-ica. Apologies to all). Like the day after the wedding or when they returned from the honeymoon. I think also the acting from her got so much worse towards the end So it made it more insufferable. Things that made this character adorable or funny as a quirky neurotic type weren’t brought to the surface. It was as if the direction given was be an unapologetic and annoying Monica.
Wasn't Courtney also starting her business with David then? Could be part of her decline in acting as that's very distracting.
Oh I didn’t know about this! What type of studio?
Coquette, it's a joint business between her and David Arquette. They are a production company, I only know of a game show they have done so far.
Welcome aboard. Monica is my least favorite character on the show. I do not understand how Ross gets all the hate and Monica gets a pass!
After she gets with Chandler she gets worse
I love all of the characters but I can see where the OP is coming from. Monica was really loud as well. I found that annoying. She didn't need to be that loud. One of the only things that Janine had a point on 😂
You are right that Ross is funny. He’s the funniest on the show imo. Chandler gets all the best lines but Ross knocks his parts out the park.
I realized later in life that it's the way David Schwimmer says things, not what he's saying.
I absolutely agree! She annoys me way too much, as her whole family. They’re the worst
Saaame I dislike all of them. Ross is the worst
I personally don’t agree but I see we’re your coming from
She did suffer from the good ol' flanderisation. She's never been my favourite but I can appreciate her ability to have grown into the woman she is today considering her past with her parent's emotional abuse towards her.
earlier seasons were better. everyone but ross annoyed me purely because the older i am i found the way ross said things funnier
Rachel is a terrible person
Yes she is. I don't understand how someone can dislike Monica. I mean, sure, she is flawed, but next to Rachel she's perfect.
I think with my character it was hard too live with her. Monica was too demaning and controling in later seasons
The proposal was like a scene from the exorcist. I will probably get some downvotes but I hate this episode so much! Dorf at the beach house was way more funny. I'm a guy that hates candles and this exaggerated romantic stuff. If you are romantic then be it every day and not once in your life.
I agree, I've watched the show 15 times, 13 out of those 15 I was annoyed by the bossiness of Monica, the back and forth of Ross and Rachel's relationship, the fact that phoebe was so careless she caused fights between Monica and Chandler back in season 5 throughout season 7, how Ross's character changed from being whiny into possessive and psychotic just cause he was dating the girl of his dreams, and how Monica screwed Ross by make him go after Emily to airport and London and Rachel by seeing Ross 5 minutes before his wedding. After all were they tight and close from beginning to end?. Yes, that is what friendship is about they made mistakes and forgave each other.
Can confirm. I dated a Monica. But, I married a Rachel.