Who knew a show that ended almost 20 years ago would still be getting tons of viewers and fans tuning in and talking about it every day? Friends was a hit sitcom that aired on NBC from September 1994 to May of 2004 and is now a hit on streaming. The show had the audience laughing from start to finish, and the cast even became best friends in real life.

I am going to list my top 10 favorite episodes from the series, some of which I believe to be underrated.

Starting with No. 10

“The One With the Football” (S3. E9)

This episode throws you back to the sibling rivalry between Monica and Ross that stemmed from when they played football as kids and were banned by their parents from doing so. The Gellar family had a trophy for the winning team, but when Monica broke Ross’s nose one year and it became a huge ordeal, Jack Gellar threw the trophy into the lake and that is when they were banned. But since this Thanksgiving the girls were cooking and the guys were watching football, Joey suggested that the friends go out and play a game of football in the park. While in the park playing football, Joey and Chandler meet a Dutch woman who is watching them play, so now the both of them are trying to compete for this woman’s attention. At the end of the game, Monica throws the ball to Rachel, who scores a touchdown, but the ball is still in play so Ross and Monica dive for the ball and hold on to it for the majority of the night to try and win back the “Gellar Cup” while the rest of the crew goes to eat their Thanksgiving dinner. I enjoy this episode because it truly shows how crazy sibling rivalry can be, and everything you may do to be better than your sibling, especially if you are competitive.

No.9

“The One That Could Have Been” (S6. E15&16)

This episode is basically what the title is, what could have been of the friends. In the beginning of the episode, Rachel finds out that her ex-fiancee Barry is divorcing her best friend Mindy because she caught him cheating. This has Rachel starting to think about what her life could have been like if she were to have married Barry. Now the rest of the friends are trying to figure out what could have been; for instance Ross wonders what his life would be like if he stayed married to Carol, Monica wonders what would happen if she was still overweight, Joey pictures what could have been if he was never fired from Days of Our Lives, Chandler thinks about life if he quit his job and wrote for the New Yorker, and Phoebe wonders how her life would be different if she took the job at Merrill-Lynch. Lots happened in this episode but the things that stick out to be are Phoebe having a heart-attack because of the stress of her job, Rachel going back to Joey’s apartment because she loves Days of Our Lives, Monica and Chandler sleep together, oh and Phoebe is fired from her job because of the amount of sales that were lost before her heart attack. Goes to show that no job should make you sick because they will replace you in an instant.

No. 8

“The One Where Everybody Finds Out” (S5. E14) 

This is the one where all the friends find out about Monica and Chandler’s secret relationship. Though Monica and Chandler don’t know that everybody else knows, because they think Joey is the only one who knows, Joey does spill the tea when Rachel asks him and is just a domino effect from there. The only one who really doesn’t find out is Ross. While Ross is looking for a new apartment, which is right across from Monica’s, Phoebe sees Monica and Chandler in her apartment kissing and taking their clothes off. This freaks Phoebe out but Rachel tells her it’s okay because she knows, but that Ross does not know, so they have to keep it quiet. Due to this, Phoebe starts to flirt with Chandler to see how he will react and to see if he will say anything about Monica. Later on, Phoebe meets up with Chandler in his apartment where they begin to talk and Phoebe unbuttons her shirt to reveal her bra. Chandler freaks out, and it slips out that he can’t do anything with Phoebe because he is in love with Monica. Everyone begins to freak out over the “love” part and Monica comes in and says she loves him, too, and everyone is happy for them.

No. 7

“The One With the Red Sweater” (S8. E2)

I love this one because it is where everyone finds out who is the father of Rachel’s baby. This episode takes place the day after Monica and Chandler get married. Monica is home at their apartment and wanting to open gifts (which she ends up doing without Chandler) and Chandler is at the wedding venue because he can’t find the disposable cameras and takes random pictures of someone else’s wedding. Joey suspects something is up so Phoebe says she is the one who is pregnant, then Joey proposes to her because he wants the baby to have a father figure in its life. Monica tells Joey that Rachel is the one who is actually pregnant. Joey finds a red sweater at his apartment and thinks it belongs to the baby’s father. Phoebe then thinks she knows who it is due to this. Phoebe then tells Rachel that she brought the father to Central Perk and when Rachel walks in, she sees Tag, her ex, sitting in the coffee shop. Rachel tells Tag she is pregnant but he is not the father. Later, Tag walks down the street and runs into Ross, who is wearing the exact same sweater. Tag asks Ross if he knows who it is and Ross thinks he is talking about the sweater and says it is some Italian guy’s. We then find out that Ross is the father. 

No. 6

“The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate” aka The Pilot (S1. E1)

This one is just a given top 10 due to the fact that it is the very first episode of the series. We get introduced to all the characters and see their personalities and who they are. Ross is going through a marriage crisis after he finds out that Carol, his wife, is a lesbian. Rachel is walking into Central Perk in her wedding dress after she just left her ex, Barry, at the altar. One of the best moments, in my opinion, happened in this episode when Ross says, “I don’t want to be single, okay? I just want to be married again!” and Rachel walks in in her wedding dress immediately after and Chandler states, “And I just want a million dollars!” Don’t we all, Chandler? Rachel and Monica turn out to be best friends from their younger days and Rachel is coming to ask Monica for some help. Monica lets Rachel stay with her in the apartment. After Rachel finds out that Monica, Chandler, and Joey have jobs, she wants to get a job herself to prove to her father that she can be independent. Rachel gets a job at Central Perk and that’s where it all begins. 

No. 5

“The One With Monica and Chandler’s Wedding” (Part 1&2) (S7. E23&24)

I love this one for reasons other than it being Monica and Chandler’s wedding, which I will get into later on. But, the wedding is not as perfectly planned as Monica would probably like it to be. First, Chandler runs off and leaves a note saying “Tell Monica I’m sorry” after hearing the recording on their voicemail saying “The Bings.” Chandler’s disappearance freaks out Rachel, Ross, and Phoebe. Ross goes to look for Chandler. Joey is the officiant of the wedding but is currently stuck at the filming of one of his movies that the actor he is working with keeps spitting on him and is drunk. Rachel and Phoebe find a positive pregnancy test in the trash of Monica’s bathroom. They assume it is Monica’s, well Phoebe does at least because Rachel knows that she is the one who is actually pregnant. After this, Ross and Phoebe realize Chandler is hiding somewhere no one would think to look and sure enough, he is hiding out at his office. He says he loves Monica but does not want to ruin anything because of how his parents’ relationship turned out. Rachel is feeling guilty and ends up telling Monica that they can’t find Chandler and as she is about to finish that sentence, Phoebe comes in and says they found him so Rachel continues on saying they can’t find his vest, which freaks Monica out. Thank god they found him, as I can’t imagine what Monica would have really done! Joey is still filming his movie so Rachel finds a minister who is already at the place and he is Greek Orthodox. Rachel lies and says so are Monica and Chandler just so he could do the wedding. As the wedding is about to begin and the minister says that we are gathered here today, Joey walks in and says, “That’s my line!” and Joey ends up marrying them. At the reception, things are going good and Phoebe and Monica find out that Rachel is pregnant. They go to the bathroom and Rachel takes another pregnancy test to make sure it is positive. As the results come back, Phoebe tells her it is negative. This saddens Rachel, but she seems to be in good spirits saying it was what was supposed to happen blah blah. Phoebe then says that it is positive and she wanted to really see how Rachel felt about it. This right here is why I love this episode. The way Rachel truly wanted to have a baby was joyful and she was truly happy. PSSSST, if you can’t tell by now, I am a huge Rachel/Jennifer Aniston stan! 

No. 4

“The One With the Prom Video” (S2. E14)

This episode muddles the friendship of Chandler and Joey. Chandler gets a gold bracelet from Joey as a thanks for paying for his headshots when he did not have much money and was trying to start his acting career. Now that Joey is making more money, he wanted to thank Chandler. While Chandler was on a date, the bracelet was made fun of by his date so he did not want it anymore, upsetting Joey. Chandler buys another bracelet because he lost his, finds it later on, and gives Joey the second one and they make up. The Ross and Rachel relationship is still iffy as Ross’ list of the pros and cons of Rachel is out and she knows about it, and she tells Ross that their relationship will never be a thing. Monica gets a box of her old things from her parents because they are transitioning her room to a gym. In that box is a video of her and Rachel’s prom night. They turn it on and as time goes on, we see Rachel’s date Chip not showing up. With that, Ross decides to go into his room and change into a suit so he can take Rachel to prom. Once he does this, Chip, Rachel’s prom date, eventually shows up and they run off to prom together. No one knew that Ross did this until now. Rachel is so shocked and taken aback that he did this, that she gets up, walks over to him, and kisses him. Cue Phoebe’s classic line: “See, he’s her lobster.”

No. 3

“The One With the Embryos” (S4. E12)“

This one is honestly so wholesome. Phoebe’s brother, Frank Jr, and his wife Alice, are wanting to have kids but Alice is older and it is difficult for her to carry kids at that age. Phoebe agrees to be the surrogate mother for them. As she is getting the embryos transferred to her, she realizes that even with receiving five embryos, there is only a 25% chance that one will attach and she will be pregnant and she knows this is their only chance because it is a very expensive process. Back at Monica’s apartment, Joey and Chandler say they can guess everything that Rachel bought at the store. They end up guessing everything correctly which leads to a trivia game, boys against girls. Rachel and Monica face off against Chandler and Joey on who knows who best. Ross is the judge for this because he wants to be a part of it. If Monica and Rachel win, the guys have to get rid of their animals. If Joey and Chandler win, they get Monica’s apartment. At the end of the first round, it is a tie, so they need a tie breaker. It is a lightning round. Joey and Chandler go first and get four questions right. Now it is the girls’ turn and they end up only getting three right since they did not know the title of Chandler’s job, so the girls must swap apartments with the guys. Phoebe comes home and takes a pregnancy test and says her body works faster than medicine and she gets a positive pregnancy test.  Later on in the season we find out that Phoebe is pregnant with triplets. 

No. 2

“The Last One” (S10. E17&18)

This is the one where Monica and Chandler become parents and Rachel has to move to Paris for her job. Erica, the woman whose baby Monica and Chandler are adopting, goes into labor earlier than expected. As she the baby is born, the doctor says that there is another one on the way. This comes as a surprise to everyone because no one was aware that Erica was having twins. She states that every time she went for a check up or ultrasound, she was told both heartbeats are good and she thought they were always talking about hers and the baby’s. Back at the apartments, Ross and Rachel sleep together before she heads off to Paris for her new job. Eventually, Monica and Chandler come home with the twins and everyone is surprised and happy for them and this new chapter in their lives. Before Rachel leaves for Paris, she says her goodbyes to everyone in the group, minus Ross. He gets very hurt by this because he thinks that he means nothing to her. He approaches her about this and Rachel says that he is wrong and that he means more to her than everyone else and that is why she cannot say goodbye to him, because it would be too hard. As she leaves for the airport, Ross realizes he wants to tell her he loves her. He and Phoebe go to the airport and as they arrive, they are looking for Rachel’s flight and come to realize they are at the wrong airport, after calling Monica for Rachel’s flight information. Ross is devastated but they head for the right airport but don’t think they will make it on time, so Phoebe calls Rachel and tells her there is something wrong with the left phalange. Typical Phoebe making things up. This freaks out the passengers and everyone is asked to get off the plane and as they are reboarding, Phoebe screams for Rachel as she is walking down the jet bridge and she turns around to find Ross there. He tells her he loves her but she still leaves for the plane. Monica and Chandler are packing up their apartment as they are about to move into the suburbs to be a family. Ross does not go back to their place to hang out, but goes home instead because he is too sad to see anyone. Once he gets home, he listens to his voicemails and there is one from Rachel. She is saying how she loves him, too, and that she wants to get off the plane but the flight attendant won’t let her leave. The phone cuts off. Ross is wondering if she got off the plane or not. Two seconds later, Rachel comes to Ross’s apartment and says, “I got off the plane.” Uhh what a moment. Grab your tissues. Now the gang’s all back in Monica’s apartment where they are saying their final goodbyes. As they are heading out, they suggest going to get coffee. Chandler being the funny guy he is, asks where they should go. That is where the series ends: everyone is happy and living their best lives, but I just wish we knew where they were now.

No. 1

“The One With the Stoned Guy” (S1. E15)

I do not ever see this episode on any top lists. This is my absolute favorite episode. I don’t think I laugh harder at any episode than this one. Guest star Jon Lovitz, who plays Steve, makes this episode what it is. After Chandler gets a promotion at his job, he realizes that this is his career and he quits because he does not want to do this for the rest of his life. Phoebe offers him a chef job that she knows is available. Well, we know Chandler is not a chef but Monica is. Monica tells Phoebe she is interested in this position. Steve is invited to Monica’s apartment where she cooks for him to show off her skills and potentially get the chef job at his restaurant. Phoebe picks him up and states that she thinks he is high. Rachel tells Monica this, who does not seem to believe it until she realizes that Steve would rather eat anything other than what she is cooking for him. He is interested in instant mac-n-cheese, cereal, candy, and taco shells. As dinner is cooking, Steve is playing with gummy bears and he accidentally breaks open the bag, spilling the bears in some type of liquid like milk. He grabs the Sugar O’s cereal and pours it into the bowl and tells the gummy bears to save themselves. This is where I lost it. This exact scene is why I love this episode so much. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. Monica gets fed up and calls off the dinner. As Chandler is taking a test to see what career is best for him, his results state that the job he just quit is basically the job for him, so when his boss calls and offers him even more money, he takes it but then realizes he hates it. Phoebe is a masseuse and for revenge, she massages Steve but not in a kind way. She is really digging her elbow into him and he is in pain. But hey, that’s what happens when you mess with a friend. A little fun fact, Steve reappears in season 9 as a blind date for Rachel after he just lost his restaurant due to a drug problem. 

I would love to know what your favorite episodes were from this series and if you agree with any of my choices. Friends is definitely one of my favorite shows and I will never get tired of watching it, it just brings my mood up and can always find a way to make me laugh no matter how many times I watch it.