‘Friends’ Ending Explained: Where Did the Gang End Up?
It isn’t rare for a TV show’s final episode to become a true historical event, especially when the series in question is one of the greatest of its time. Shows like Cheers, Seinfeld, and M*A*S*H* gathered millions of people in the front of their TVs just to find out what would happen to their beloved characters. In 2004, another show entered the list of the most watched finales of all time: the beloved sitcom Friends. Split into two parts, the final episode of Friends was watched by 65.9 million people when it first aired on NBC.
It’s a true feat, but not exactly an unexpected one: long before it ended, Friends had already established itself as an era-defining show. Audiences just couldn’t get enough of the shenanigans of Chandler (Matthew Perry), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Ross (David Schwimmer), Monica (Courteney Cox), and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston). Questions such as when would Ross and Rachel finally get together were at the top of everyone’s minds. And, in “The Last One – Parts 1 and 2”, these questions were finally answered. Here’s a recap of everything that happened in the Friends series finale and how the six titular friends got there in the first place.
What Happens in the Final Episode of ‘Friends’?
Created by Marta Kauffman and David Crane, Friends was a real cultural juggernaut back in the day. It started as a charming, unassuming series about a group of friends living their daily lives in New York. And a lot of its charm had to do with the stories created for its cast of unforgettable characters. From Ross’ troubled relationship with Emily (Helen Baxendale) in Season 5 to Joey’s long stint as a Days of Our Lives cast member, the show had something for everyone. But with so many main characters and so many stories to wrap up, the finale had to make some choices. Phoebe and Joey, for instance, don’t have any storylines concluded in “The Last One”. Instead, the two-parter focuses on the two most important plot points of the show’s tenth and final season.
The first one is, of course, Ross and Rachel’s on-and-off relationship. “The Last One” opens with a scene of the two waking up after a night together before Rachel departs to Paris. In love with Rachel ever since he was a teenager, Ross believes the night to mean something deeper. His hope is that it will cause Rachel to give up the Paris job and stay with him in New York. To Rachel, however, this last encounter was nothing but a perfect goodbye. Distraught, Ross vents his frustrations to Phoebe and Joey, who convince him to confess his true feelings for Rachel. And so he chases after her in the airport to stop her from boarding the plane.
Despite Phoebe’s careless driving, Ross misses Rachel’s flight. Instead of looking for her at Newark airport, he runs to JFK. In order to get him a second chance, Phoebe calls Rachel and tells her that she has a feeling something is wrong with the plane: the left phalange isn’t working properly. Rachel scoffs. After all, what even is a phalange? But when she shares this information with a fellow passenger, it causes a panic and the plane doesn’t take off. Ross is then able to reach Rachel at the boarding area and tell her that he loves her. Sadly, this isn’t enough to convince her to stay.
Ross returns home heartbroken. However, he is greeted by a pleasant surprise in his answering machine: a message from Rachel telling him she loves him and saying that she must get off the plane. The message is cut off before she can tell him whether she managed to get off or not, but, thankfully, the suspense doesn’t last long: as soon as the message ends, Rachel appears behind him, and the two kiss, much to the live audience’s delight.
Ross and Rachel’s Resolution Happened After a Decade-Long Will-They-Won’t-They
The history of Ross and Rachel’s will-they-won’t-they is as old as Friends itself. The very first episode of the series, aired on Feb. 6, 1996, had Rachel entering the coffee shop in her wedding gown just as Ross was complaining about his divorce. Talk about the perfect set-up for an adult romance! Season 1 already had Ross deeply in love with Rachel – a feeling that we later learn he had been carrying within himself since they were still in high school. However, it took them a while to finally get together. First, there was Paolo (Cosimo Fusco), then Ross returned from a trip to China with Julie in his arms (Lauren Tom), and then they were on a break…
In Season 8, Rachel and Ross had a daughter after spending a drunken night together. Baby Emma became the link that will forever tie these two together, but that doesn’t mean romance is in sight. Instead of getting married like Rachel’s dad suggested, Ross and Rachel decide to co-parent Emma as friends. This allows their love lives to take some very interesting turns over the course of the two following seasons, with Rachel even having a brief fling with Joey.
In the final episodes of Season 10, Rachel receives a job offer in Paris. Ross is initially supportive, but when he finally realizes that this will mean that she and Emma will have to move to another continent, he becomes more reluctant. He struggles with the idea of losing Rachel for about two episodes before the eventual race to the airport and the kiss that everyone was waiting for.
How Do Monica and Chandler Become Parents?
The other main couple of Friends was Monica and Chandler. They were also the other main thread that was tied up into a knot in the show’s finale. “The Last One” has Monica and Chandler finally welcoming their two adoptive babies, Erica and Jack, into the world.
Though Monica and Chandler’s relationship wasn’t as full of twists and turns as Ross and Rachel’s, that doesn’t mean the two had it easy. They initially got together in London, in Season 5, during Ross’s botched wedding with Emily. Afraid of ruining a good thing, they decided to keep their relationship a secret. In Season 6, however, they were already moving in together, and Season 7 saw them getting married.
So far, so good, but Monica and Chandler’s real problems began in Season 9, when they decided they were ready to take the next step and become parents. After trying for a long time, they were crushed to discover that they were both infertile. In Season 10, they decided to go for adoption, and met up with Erica (Anna Faris), a young pregnant woman who gave them their two beautiful babies.
The Importance of ‘Friends’ Final Scene
Little Erica and little Jack spend just about a couple of days in their parent’s New York apartment before moving to a bigger house in the suburbs. “The Last One” ends with all six friends dropping their keys to Monica’s apartment on the counter and leaving for a cup of coffee at Central Perk. The door closes, and the camera pans over the empty apartment before closing in on the iconic yellow picture frame hung around the peephole.
This is not the first time we see the door to Monica and Chandler’s apartment closed. However, there is a symbolism to this scene. Over the course of the series, the purple door to Monica’s New York apartment was never locked: her friends, as well as the audience, could go in and outof her place whenever they so desired. They didn’t actually need keys. Still, when Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, Joey, Ross, and Rachel put their keys on the counter, it means that they are never opening that door again. Someone else will come and take those keys, probably locking everything up afterward. The door to the apartment that we got to know and love is forever shut. Nowadays, it may seem like this was for the best. After all, Friends can be a pretty tough watch for modern viewers. But, at the time, it was truly heartbreaking to realize that the door that never closed would never open again. It felt like saying goodbye to our own homes.
