I do not own the Friends characters, but I wish I did, because I'd give Joey and Chandler the happy ending that they should have had. And I would have definitely broken up Monica and Chandler a LONG time ago! No profit is made on these stories.
Also, I do know how to separate reality from fiction, so let me clarify that none of my hatred for Monica applies to the actress who portrays her. Courteney Cox Arquette is probably a very lovely person in real life and nothing like the screechy shrew that her character has become. In fact, she said a very lovely thing once that I will always treasure.
From an interview, "The secret life of Courteney Cox", February 1998, by Suzan Colón:
"I don't know, but I hope the last episode is something that you would never imagine. Like, Joey and Chandler finally get together, Ross and Phoebe take their kids and move to the country... and Rachel and Monica start dating, fall in love and realize they've had it with men."
Thank you, Courteney, for showing people that slash fans aren't crazy for seeing something there that conventional romantics miss. If only the writers hadn't decided to hook up the wrong couple in London that May!
Also, I do know how to separate reality from fiction, so let me clarify that none of my hatred for Monica applies to the actress who portrays her. Courteney Cox Arquette is probably a very lovely person in real life and nothing like the screechy shrew that her character has become. In fact, she said a very lovely thing once that I will always treasure.
From an interview, "The secret life of Courteney Cox", February 1998, by Suzan Colón:
"I don't know, but I hope the last episode is something that you would never imagine. Like, Joey and Chandler finally get together, Ross and Phoebe take their kids and move to the country... and Rachel and Monica start dating, fall in love and realize they've had it with men."
Thank you, Courteney, for showing people that slash fans aren't crazy for seeing something there that conventional romantics miss. If only the writers hadn't decided to hook up the wrong couple in London that May!
People wonder why I hate Monica so much, and I say that she has transformed into a shrill, bossy caricature of her former self. But some people say that they find her less boring and more funny this way; they insist that Monica and Chandler's relationship is sweet and beautiful and involves mutual respect. And I respond by retching.
So this is a summary, season by season, of why I feel the way I do. I remember all these incidents not only because I see the reruns a lot on TV, but also because I know of some good websites with Friends transcripts, and I consult the very helpful episode guide at friends-tv.org often.
So this is a summary, season by season, of why I feel the way I do. I remember all these incidents not only because I see the reruns a lot on TV, but also because I know of some good websites with Friends transcripts, and I consult the very helpful episode guide at friends-tv.org often.
- Episode 602: Monica and Chandler tell their roommates that they plan to live together. Monica doesn't want to hurt her "best friend" Rachel, and Chandler points out that Joey's his best friend. Monica looks shocked and offended. "I'm not your best friend?" Both Chandler and I can't understand her reaction. "You just said...!" This incident didn't annoy me the first few times I saw it, but I blame it for all the CnM fics out there that insist on calling Monica and Chandler "best friends", when they aren't.
- 603: Monica and Chandler fight about what to do with Rachel's room; I've touched on this absurd dispute in my story Naked Thursdays. Monica won't even hear Chandler out, and the most she'll concede is to let Chandler have his barcalounger in the living room. What a victory for him! NOT. Chandler has wanted a game room for a long time; when Joey moved out in season 2, Chandler considered making Joey's room into a game room, and since Chandler knows how much arcade games cost, he's obviously been thinking about it since then. How long has Monica wanted a guest room filled with antiques? I've no idea, but she could have made it one during that period after Phoebe moved out, and she has had a permanent guest in the form of Rachel for years. But Chandler's never had a game room, and he rightly points out that all their friends live close by. Why does Monica want a guest room so badly anyway? She made Rachel move out because she wanted it to be just her and Chandler! This whole thing makes no sense, not even for her "hostess" obsession. You know, if Monica had given Chandler a game room, she could have convinced him to put his "ugly" barcalounger in there too, leaving her pristine living room unspoiled. And if Joey came over all the time to play foosball and arcade games with Chandler, it would be practically like having a guest too. Win-win situation. Sadly, competitive Monica prefers getting her way, and the writers ignore all the inconsistencies of this plot.
- 607: Monica nags Chandler to finish unpacking his boxes now that he's moved in. "Hey, that's a great idea, nailing those boxes to the floor!" Shockingly, I like Monica for a moment, when she mentions her youthful crush on Kermit the Frog; that and her mention of her imaginary boyfriend Jared in 809 renders her pathetically lovable once more. Fat Monica is so endearing; too bad she had to evolve into the Thin Bitch. Anyway, Chandler unpacks his stuff with his best friend, and Joey even decides to let off some extra flirting energy by giving Chandler a "How you doin'?"; I hate the writers for not pursuing that moment further, but I digress. Chandler cleans the apartment, but gets scared when Ross points out that he's moved everything. (This plot is an unnecessary repeat of the season 1 plot where Rachel cleaned the apartment and rearranged things, to Monica's dissatisfaction.) It's very unattractive and unfunny to see Chandler going about in fear of his girlfriend. Nor do I like Joey commenting that both Ross and Chandler "repel women"; in season 5, Chandler flirted fine with the pizza delivery girl that Ross wanted. Chandler also charmed Aurora, Janice, the Dutch girl, Kathy, Ginger, and more; he should have more self-confidence by now. I also REALLY don't like Chandler putting himself down and saying that he's so lucky to have Monica. At the end of this episode, Monica surprisingly doesn't freak out when she sees that the apartment has been rearranged. If only she could keep up this sweetness in later episodes.
- 609: Monica tells Chandler that she hasn't told her parents about him yet, even though they've been dating for over a year and now live together. Her excuse that the Gellers hate Chandler is ridiculous. Monica had much more cause to be worried when telling them about Richard; her parents like him but would be horrified to know that Monica was dating him. Yet Monica defiantly told her parents about Richard after two weeks. Two freaking weeks! She was not forced into confessing because of Jack Geller's birthday party; she was happy to admit the truth because she found out that Richard was falling in love with her. Chandler has said he loved her since last Thanksgiving, and did that make Monica tell her parents about him? No.
- 611: Joey is now dating his roommate Janine, and they are trying to double-date with Monica and Chandler. Janine maybe snooty and two-faced, but Monica continues to be loud, obsessive, and grating. I wish that both Joey and Chandler had decided to stop making excuses for their annoying girlfriends and just dumped them in this episode; they could have become roommates again and found each other instead.
- 613: Monica is sent home from work, but she won't admit that she's sick. That's for "weaklings and pansies" and she supposedly hasn't been sick in over three years. Wrong. Just two years ago, in 405, Phoebe got a cold that she passed onto Monica. Monica gladly let Phoebe pamper her and complained when Ross and Rachel were too busy fighting to hand her some cough drops. Back then, Monica was normal and sensible, but now the writers choose to ridiculously distort her personality, for cheap laughs. It's actually more in character for Monica to think about cleanliness and to not want to spread germs to other people (especially to the kitchen staff at the restaurant where she works). Yet here we have Monica in competition mode instead, trying to seduce Chandler in order to prove that she's not sick. What happens when he catches a cold from her too? Is she going to call him a weakling and a pansy? I wouldn't be surprised if she did. This episode highlights the drastic transformation her character has undergone over the years, becoming more neurotic, irrational, and impossible to argue with.
- 614: In the previous episode, Monica's character was tampered with for an absurd plot, and here, Chandler gets similar treatment. Chandler claims to have never cried before, but we've actually seen him cry, in episode 414 (when Chandler was getting over Kathy, and Phoebe yelled at him to go to the strip club) and 422 (when Ross chose both Joey and Chandler to be his best men, and all the guys broke down). Did the writers just forget everything from season 4? Besides, hasn't Chandler always been characterized as a wimpy, hyper-sensitive guy, prone to freaking out unnecessarily? He's the last guy I'd think would ever keep his composure in a sad situation, and wouldn't the gang have noticed that Chandler was "dead inside" long before now? Apparently, making Chandler look defective and feel like an outcast from the group is worth more than having a plot that make sense. Worst of all, Monica fakes a sweet, loving, understanding speech to Chandler about their future married life, just so she can coax tears from him. When her ploy doesn't work, she takes personal offense and yells at him. There's also a rehash of this plot in 623, where Rachel nags Paul (Bruce Willis's character, who seems much more the type to repress tears) into sharing his emotions, but regrets opening the floodgates. If they were going to do that, why bother messing with Chandler for this plot?
- 617: Monica and Chandler make each other Valentine's presents. I've covered this in chapter 2 of my Concealed Crushes story, but basically Monica got what she deserved. She forgot about making the gifts too and tried to pass off Phoebe's sock bunny to Chandler, even though Monica could have easily "made" a last-minute gift by the simple expedient of cooking him his favorite dinner.
- 618: When Phoebe and Rachel get burned out of their apartment, Monica welcomes them to her redecorated guest room, but she is so controlling and obsessive that Hotel Monica is more of a flop than a success. The pampering that she offers them is great at first, but then both of Monica's former roommates realize the price they have to pay for the mints on the pillow and breakfast in bed. Phoebe discovers that Monica has disabled the lock on the door, thereby depriving any guest of privacy. Plus, Monica bakes homemade goodies for you every five minutes, but you have to follow by her rules for enjoying them. You must eat the cookies while they're still hot from the oven, even though you're full from her prior treats, and you must eat them over the sink to catch the crumbs. This kind of hospitality would surely ruin any hotel or bed-and-breakfast! Even worse, Monica has evidently scared Chandler into being wary about "crumbies" too, reducing him to the level of a cowering child, instead of someone who might fight back, the way that Phoebe does with the wet paper towels. Besides the whole Hotel Monica fiasco, let me also note that Monica gets jealous in this episode because Chandler, as a favor to Joey, contacts Dana Keystone from college and goes out with her a couple of times, trying to ask her to let Joey audition in her movie. Chandler apparently dated Dana once, which somewhat justifies Monica's reaction, but she really should let it go, since it was years ago, it wasn't a long-lasting relationship, and he really has no intention to cheat on Monica in the present. Plus, considering how Monica behaves in 624 with Richard, Chandler's offense here seems very mild and meaningless.
- 620: Monica hates the chick and the duck, and apparently won't let Chandler invite the birds over. She even pretends to be allergic to them, as if Chandler would be fooled by that. The birds have lived across the hall from her for three years already, and did she have an allergic reaction before? No. Even worse, in the ridiculous "Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs" Thanksgiving, Monica won't respect Chandler's so-called allergy to dogs, even when he confesses that he's actually scared of the dog. So Chandler has to humor Monica all the time, but she won't humor him?
- 622-625: Originally, I refrained from commenting on this season finale, since it really wasn't Monica's fault that Richard showed up and foiled Chandler's plans to propose. Nor could she help it if Richard came back later and proposed to her. Likewise, how was Monica to know that Chandler's crude rants against marriage were only part of his plan to surprise her with a proposal afterward? I don't blame her for being tempted to accept Richard's offer in such circumstances, and in fact, I wish she had accepted it. However, on a second look, I realize that Monica does deserve some censure for the first half of this whole fiasco. Remember how she promised Chandler in Vegas that she would never see Richard again? She'd only had a casual lunch with Richard, but she found out that the brief contact was enough to upset Chandler, and evidently, Monica felt the same when Chandler had casual contact with Dana in 618. (Although Dana wasn't a significant relationship to Chandler, not like Richard was to Monica.) So here in 624, Richard's appearance at the restaurant understandably makes them both uncomfortable. She and Chandler exchange awkward hellos with Richard and his date, and Chandler goes into goofy idiot mode (much like he did during Thanksgiving with the Gellers), even saying, "Hi, I'm Chandler. I make jokes when I'm uncomfortable." Then the waiter suggests that Richard and his date sit next to Monica and Chandler, but why didn't anyone protest with, "Sorry, but we kind of wanted to be alone tonight?" or "No, we wanted to be in the smoking section, remember?" It's simple enough, but no one thought to say it, even though Chandler's discomfort is perfectly clear. Even worse, as the nightmare dinner goes on, Monica and Richard start chatting happily, even reminiscing about the days when they were dating. How inappropriate is that? How would Monica like it if Chandler reminisced with a significant ex like Janice or Kathy in front of her? Wouldn't she want Chandler to be aloof and try to gracefully get away from the situation if possible? But she doesn't seem to regard Chandler's reaction as an issue at all. He tells a story about catching his parents making love to the same guy, and instead of recognizing this as a cry for help, Monica doesn't rush to his aid or make an excuse to depart or do anything to end this torture. She just continues having a good time and finds Richard's poetic toast impressive. I mean, no wonder Richard got the impression that he could possibly swoop in and rekindle his relationship with Monica. She actively participated in ruining the night for Chandler, even if the rest of the finale was not her fault.
Thank God I thought I was the only one. I only started watching Friends recently (shocking, right?) but I binge watched it and I'm up to season 6 right now, and as the show progresses, my hate for Monica increases. At first I was neutral towards Ross as well, then I hated him, then my hate turned into just dislike, but now I like him. But as for Monica, it is just HATE HATE HATE. The more episodes I watch, the more hatred I feel towards her character.
ReplyDeleteI am in the I hate Monica club as well
ReplyDeleteI don''t much to add
but she is just horrible!!! Friends got ruined for me after mon-chan relationship.
YUCK
yas yas yas exactly what I thought. I hate the whole Chandler and Monica thing. I'd rather see him with Janice tbh. He used to be so much fun. He still did I mean but it just didn't feel the same anymore
DeleteOnce she and chandler got together, she was simply impossible to be with...surprisingly everyone goes on and on abt how lucky chandler is to be with her..i sincerely think it was the other way around..she is a controlling manipulative bitch to him once she becomes sure of him, namely after they move in together...
ReplyDeleteHow about when she was trying to force him to pay for their wedding. If some girl did that to me that would be a red flag and an instant call off of the wedding. Then dump her ass.
ReplyDelete...thought it was just me... funny how some people consider her a role model and are proud to be like her
ReplyDeleteI thought I was paranoid about me hating monica that much. Yeah that part when she makes chandler spend all the money in the wedding is shocking!! hate that b..
ReplyDeleteShe changes her mind at the end though; she doesn't actually make him pay for the wedding
DeleteShe is a control freak there is no way in the world I could be with some woman like that who didn't even look that good anyway, except for maybe earlier episodes. Come to think of it none of the "friends" women looked all that great
ReplyDeleteI agree entirely!
ReplyDeleteIn that same finale, when Richard enters the restaurant with his date, Chandler is trying to look away and hope they won't be noticed but she deliberately called Richard to the table. She constantly brings up Richard and how suave he is in later episodes too like when Chandler forgets how to slip money to a maitre'd. It's horrible that she runs off to Richard''s house and actually drinks there as if waiting for Richard to escalate the situation, she hugs and holds him. It seems innocent enough but also looks like she's trying to make something happen. On top of that, the Richard sex tape when she starts to tell chandler how the wqy she and Richard 'was a lot better than-' is just gross. She constantly belittles and abuses Chandler and it's just not funny it's horrible.
She forgets Valentine''s gifts, lies and gets caught. She can offer food and sex as compensation but when Chandler does the same, she accepts the food as if it's her birthright and thinks the sex being offered is just a joke, as if she despises sleeping with Chandler and only does it for rewarding him for putting up with her garbage nature.
She also had a bachelorette party where presumably she had another man's genitals touching her face because how else does one remove a g-string with their teeth? And then she runs home and strips for him herself when the stripper turns out to be a hooker. End of the day, she cheated and lied and he got nothing, not even a proper apology!
She ignores Chandler in Vegas and decides to gamble rather than apologise and is constantly rushing him to do things because 'Richard would have' and it's borderline abuse. Chandler thinks he's lucky to be with someone so hot. She even calls him out for dumping a girl who gained 145 pounds in a year and asks what if she becomes fat again. He diffuses the situation but remember folks, yes he called her fat and it was not a good thing but she was CLEARLY TOO FAT for a relatively handsome college kid who was in a supposedly cool band and made out with a hot girl like Ellen Pompeo's character. As bad as calling her fat was, Monica did sever his toe and sure it was unintentional but so was when Chandler called her fat. She wasn't meant to hear him. Plus her passion for her career was also given a boost, as was her confidence, when Chandler told her she's a good enough cook to be a chef. He's done so much for her while she's done absolutely nothing that would ever balance it out in any sort of way and sometimes it really bothers me. Monica is bad feminism. She's nearly as bad as Rachel so I do wish they'd got together and left the poor boys alone.
P.S I HATE that she let's Richard smoke cigars and likes their smell but threatens to leave chandler whenever he smokes and makes a huge deal out of it.
I remember when in early episodes they say "i hate that guy" to phoebe's boyfriend. Now i say "i hate that bitch" to Monica.
ReplyDeleteThe blog as well as every comment here makes complete sense. I wish there were more sensible people like you guys. The character of Monica not only is selfish for her own happiness, but also grows progressively irritating and shrill while the episodes move forward. She constantly mocked Chandler (whose character, I don´t know why, got progressively worse due to some unknown vendetta of the script writers against him) and bossed him around in spite of him being considerate and loving.
ReplyDeleteI still don´t why why people hate the character of Ross and not Monica, while it should be the other way round. I think the people who consider Monica to be their role model were born without all of their senses properly developed and should be adequately educated before they start spreading nonsensical vibes like bitch Monica.