In past 5 years, I have watched the whole series multiple times at different points in my life. At this point it is to me as a cigarette is to a smoker. I watch it when I am happy, when I am sad, when I am anxious, when I am worried, when I can’t sleep, when I am sleepy etc. It makes me laugh and it calms me down. Sometimes it is surprising how 240 episodes (20 min each) of a TV series have this huge an impact on you.
The 10 seasons go from their mid-20s to their mid-30s. During the period of the series, they go through variety of things, like relationships and breakups, weddings and out-of-wedlock pregnancies, babies and fertility issues, jobs and mid-life crises. All these are typical things we are going to face in the upcoming years in our lives. So the level of connection that I and a lot of my friends feel for this TV series is immense.
What touches me most about this comedy series is that they try to make everything funny, even the most difficult of the situations. Worst of such instances is when Monica and Chandler realise that they can’t have a baby. They try for surrogates and for sperm donors and all that is shown with the usual fun in the show diffusing the tension of such a serious situation. This might not be practical all the time but probably send the message that everything becomes alright in the end, so there is no point worrying about it.
None of the characters is perfect and yet over 10 seasons you realise that they are all good people. In reality, we meet people who have their own faults, but sometimes we don’t give them enough time to show us their good side. Friends tells you that in the long run, everyone is a good person basically, with their own morals on how to live life and as long as you are not harming anyone, you are fully entitled to have your own principles.
Each of them does some really “not-good” things at different points in their life, like getting a crush on their sister’s fiancée or hiring a person as assistant because he looks cute or being obsessively crazy about cleaning. The good thing is as his/her friends, the rest of them show the mirror to them no matter how they feel about it because that’s what friends are for. This also makes me realise that a lot of time my loved ones give me advice which I may not like but why it deserves a thought is because they care about me.
Another weird thing is my realization about inconsistency in my action and what I wish others should do in the same situation. The best example I have is when Ross cheats on Rachel. Now if I was in her position, I would have broken up with Ross too but from a 3rd person’s point of view knowing how perfect they are for each other, the fact that it indeed was a mistake on Ross’s part & how much Ross loved her, I really wanted Rachel to forgive Ross. Because I wanted them to be together. Makes me realise that forgiveness should be based on intentions & future and not past actions.
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