Pop Culture Combat: Was Ross The Best Or Worst FRIEND?

Is Ross the worst Friend, or the best Friend? After all, Ross is the glue that holds the whole group together. The show should be called Ross And His Friends! But on the other hand, maybe Ross is more like everyone’s creepy older brother who won’t stop hitting on his sister’s best friend. He’s the worst.

The case for Ross as the worst friend

The real question over the course of the show isn’t “Will Ross and Rachel end up together?” It’s “How the fuck does Ross have FIVE friends?” He’s whiny, condescending and jealous. He talks down to everyone like he’s hot shit and not a paleontologist who got suspended from work for anger issues. He’s a sad sack who slumps down in that Central Perk armchair and mopes until all of a sudden he lashes out with insane anger. When Phoebe thought her mom was reincarnated in a cat, he was SUCH a dick to her. Rachel dodged a bullet by going on that break.

And Emily dodged a bullet when he said Rachel’s name at their wedding. Let me repeat that, he said the wrong name at his wedding. It’s so easy to NOT do that. Do you know who didn’t mess that up? Literally everyone who has ever gotten married. Ever. Every woman he spent time with was happier the second she left him. That’s not a good sign. I want to see a show about how much better his ex-wife’s life was once she left him for a woman.

The case for Ross as the best Friend

Ross gets married so often because he has so much love to give. And that love extends to his friends. This is just off the top of my head but I would say he’s always there for his friends when the rain starts to fall. He felt everything on a big scale, whether it was pain that Rachel wanted a break, or pain that he couldn’t get his leather pants on, or pain that his tan went so poorly. Life wasn’t easy on Ross, but life isn’t easy on any of us!

And even if you wouldn’t want to hang out with Ross, think about how much better he is in comparison to the rest of them. Monica: annoyingly obsessive. Joey: womanizer. Chandler: terrible jokes. Rachel: spoiled. Phoebe: I’m not even going to get into her. He was the only one you’d ACTUALLY want to spend time with. He’s not whiny, he’s sensitive. He’s not jealous, he’s just been hurt before. And he’s not condescending, he’s just actually read a book in his life. You’d like hanging out with Ross. And Ross would probably like you so much he’d want to marry you. Is that such a bad thing?

Final thoughts

Yes. That would be a bad thing.

CREDITS

Actor: Kevin T. Porter
Actor: Broti Gupta
Writer, Director: Ben Rosen
Producer: Darren Miller
Editor: Paul Smith

Published at Wed, 18 Sep 2019 01:06:52 +0000