Throwback Thursday: Why Season 1 and Season 4 of Friends are different

I’ve watched Friends about a million times… and I’ve been rewatching them out of order now and this time I noticed 2 seasons that aren’t related but they kind of hit different compared to the rest of the seasons.

So Season 1 and 4 are the only seasons where the 6 friends are just 6 friends hanging out in their 20s. No one is dating each other. It just kind of hits different after watching the later seasons where Monica and Chandler are together… these 2 seasons are the only ones where they’re just friends hanging out.

I noticed it in season one in The One With The Poker, where Rachel wants to take all of Ross’s money- and Ross folds at the end and the guys try to see what cards he has. This is just one of the episodes that has the gang all together that doesn’t have a lot to do with the couples.

Plus they have stories and moments and jokes outside of the couples on the show. Like when Joey tells his ex girlfriend that he’s dating Monica so that she can go on a double date and break the couple up. There’s not really many other moments where Joey and Monica are single at the same time.

Season 4 shows Ross and Rachel after their breakup. I think the beginning of the season kind of feels like they’re a little bit more over it because Ross didn’t read Rachel’s 18 page note (front and back) and they fought and broke up again so they were really mad at each other. So I feel like that kind of gave them the closure they needed to make the group a little bit more normal… and that kind of made the rest of the season.

They do try to make each other jealous, and they do genuinely get jealous of each other throughout the season too… but this kind of balances their story out and it brings Monica and Chandler together.

Plus there’s probably the best episode of the gang just hanging out in this season: The One With The Embryos where the guys think they know the girls better than the girls know the guys and Ross designs a question board for them. And Phoebe finds out she’s pregnant because she is being a surrogate for her brother and sister in law. It’s one of the best overall episodes.

So yeah. I don’t think these are my favorite seasons of all- but they do kind of feel different than seasons 2-3 with the Ross and Rachel relationship and 5-10 where Monica and Chandler are together.

That’s everything I have to say. I’m watching season 4 as I write this and I feel like I was a little distracted… but these are 2 great seasons!

Bye!

-Shannon