The Depth of Friends
Just like the rest of the country, I was watching the Friends finale last night. What struck me most was the incredible depth that the writers displayed in regards to the foosball table. The foosball table has been there since(I think) season two, Chandler and Joey bought it when they couldn't decide on what dining room table to get, so they decided to get something fun instead. The foosball table was the first, and only, thing the two of them bought together. They went 50/50 on it. The table wasn't ignored after being bought, it was constantly being used and at times was the center of conversation. When Ross moved in for a few days they could live with all of his quirks until he told them they were too loud playing foosball, even after the table was moved into Joey's room. It was like he was outright insulting them as a duo when he complained about the foosball. When Joey moved out for a few weeks the main argument after the initial question of "why" was who was going to get the foosball table. Chandler ended up with it, but didn't have the opportunity to use it as his new roomate didn't like the game. The table was directly representative of Chandler and Joey being together. Note, I said being together, NOT their friendship. There was always one person who was better than them at foosball, though, Monica. Monica was the one they had to force out of their apartment when they first got it because she kept kicking their butt.
During the show's finale Joey bought Chandler and Monica a chick and a duck, much like he and Chandler had while they were living together. The chick and the duck are almost representative of a bond as well (which is what Joey was thinking), but in this case they're more representative of new life, or the future, since this particular chick and duck are young. The two birds got out of their box and into the foosball table. Chandler and Joey couldn't figure out how to get them out, so they had to destroy the foosball table to save the animals. Neither of them could bring themselves to do it. Monica, however, had no problem with the task. The table represented Chandler and Joey being together, so it only seems fitting that Monica, the reason they're being separated, tears it apart. She's not destroying their friendship, so it's not overtly negative, but it's slightly sad. The freeing of the new chick and duck represented the new life being taken out of the old. The old is still there, albeit in bits and pieces, but for the new life to come to be, the old life had to run its course.
So while some people were crying over the Ross and Rachel ending (and the obvious similarities between Ross running to the airport to stop Rachel and Rachel all those years back running to an airport to try to stop Ross), I was lamenting the loss of the foosball table, and Chandler and Joey's realization that their relationship, no mater how tight it is, has been forever changed.
Just like the rest of the country, I was watching the Friends finale last night. What struck me most was the incredible depth that the writers displayed in regards to the foosball table. The foosball table has been there since(I think) season two, Chandler and Joey bought it when they couldn't decide on what dining room table to get, so they decided to get something fun instead. The foosball table was the first, and only, thing the two of them bought together. They went 50/50 on it. The table wasn't ignored after being bought, it was constantly being used and at times was the center of conversation. When Ross moved in for a few days they could live with all of his quirks until he told them they were too loud playing foosball, even after the table was moved into Joey's room. It was like he was outright insulting them as a duo when he complained about the foosball. When Joey moved out for a few weeks the main argument after the initial question of "why" was who was going to get the foosball table. Chandler ended up with it, but didn't have the opportunity to use it as his new roomate didn't like the game. The table was directly representative of Chandler and Joey being together. Note, I said being together, NOT their friendship. There was always one person who was better than them at foosball, though, Monica. Monica was the one they had to force out of their apartment when they first got it because she kept kicking their butt.
During the show's finale Joey bought Chandler and Monica a chick and a duck, much like he and Chandler had while they were living together. The chick and the duck are almost representative of a bond as well (which is what Joey was thinking), but in this case they're more representative of new life, or the future, since this particular chick and duck are young. The two birds got out of their box and into the foosball table. Chandler and Joey couldn't figure out how to get them out, so they had to destroy the foosball table to save the animals. Neither of them could bring themselves to do it. Monica, however, had no problem with the task. The table represented Chandler and Joey being together, so it only seems fitting that Monica, the reason they're being separated, tears it apart. She's not destroying their friendship, so it's not overtly negative, but it's slightly sad. The freeing of the new chick and duck represented the new life being taken out of the old. The old is still there, albeit in bits and pieces, but for the new life to come to be, the old life had to run its course.
So while some people were crying over the Ross and Rachel ending (and the obvious similarities between Ross running to the airport to stop Rachel and Rachel all those years back running to an airport to try to stop Ross), I was lamenting the loss of the foosball table, and Chandler and Joey's realization that their relationship, no mater how tight it is, has been forever changed.
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