I just watched, fourth time, the ending of “Friends” (1994) – TV series, which is the last episode. Actually not the whole last episode, but the ending of that episode. It will make me feel a bit better sharing this with the world.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
I like “Friends” as a movie, they’re funny to watch, I watched the whole series (some of the episodes multiple times) and had quite a bit of laughter; But I just can’t take the ending out of my mind; See some facts of the last episodes on Wikipedia, though I’ll comment only on the last minutes of the show;
So, what makes the last 5 minutes of the show so sad?
a. For the first time in the show, the atmosphere switches from happy, joyful, all-jokes, to a sad, so so sad one; You want to see the joke, and it gets even worse;
b. In the last scene all the girls are crying, and in a scene prior to that Ross can barely withhold his tears;
c. Everybody’s feeling sad in the last scene, to the few jokes you can barely see a smile;
d. The list of changes in the last part is very sad by itself (there’s a stress associated with large movements, which can be interpreted bad or good, see below):
– the most important apartment in the whole movie is left empty;
– Rachel and Ross get back together;
– Chandler and Monica move to a new house, they have babies;
– Phoebe and Joey will be left alone;
– Rachel cancel her departure to France and probably loses a good job offer;
Why is it so hard to bear? Look at the list above and see – movements in housing, new relationships, new members in the family, separating the groups, canceling job promotion and canceling switching continents; These are all hard to bear changes; Put them in a five minutes worth of time and you’ve got yourself a problem; I wish there were hope – Rachel and Ross will be happy, Chandler and Monica will have a great family and will be happy, Phoebe and Joey will adapt to the new lifestyle of their friends; I could cope with that, but throw me a bone, be a little be happy in the ending; Nope, everybody is sad.
e. In the last scene of the whole movie, everybody turns their back to the camera and leave the apartment; You wait and wait for a sign of happiness; No, boy, none whatsoever;
Did I tell you I like the ending in “Le notti di Cabiria“? You just have to see this one to make it the counter-opposite; Very sad ending;
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Bottom line: do watch “Friends”, it’s a great show; If I’ll ever see again some past movies, “Friends” will surely make the top spots; Their humor is incredible; But the last episode is a bit, oh-just-a-bit, dramatic; Which, if you consider that the aim of a movie would be to create a feeling within you, is not that bad; I’ll get over it, life will be fine again and we’ll have a laugh looking in the past. :)
Update: 2010.12.11 – I’ve seen “Friends” TV-series again, and this time the ending seemed much less sad for me. Good ending.
First, great post! There is a movie that always moves me emotionally in a similar way, “Broadcast News”. Find it, watch it and maybe blog it. It is from the 80’s and has always moved be the too real feeling of relationships among close friends eventually just dissolving into the ether of time. I think this is the sadness that you are seeing in this episode of Friends… it is just too real. Our entertainment is not supposed to be THAT real.
Next, isn’t it a happy and hopeful thing that Rachel and Ross have the rest of their lives together as a couple now. Also, what about the happiness and hopefulness of Chandler and Monica’s new family?
As with my first comment above… this is closer to real life. We have one set of friends when we are young and single and a different set of friends when we get married. It is actually quite sad… but too real.
Keep posting and I will keep reading!
Best,
Oliver
Thanks for reading me, Oliver.
Everything should be happy, it’s surely a change for the better.
But everybody is so sad that it gives me shivers. :)
monica and chandler are happy! like when someone gets married people cry, there not actually sad, they finaly got the family they wanted threw all of there troubles.
ross and racheal are back together…finally. and they both realise they are in love and can be together. there happy.
mike tells phoebe he wants to have kids. shes happy.
joey gets a chick and a duck just like old times. not as happy, but not sad.
the only sad part is leaveing the apparetment for the last time. overall a happy and well written ending.
brianna, thank you for the kind comment.
Ok, maybe it’s not sad and it was just me being sad for having to let go. :)