Wanna add more desolation to this already gloomy day? Well, thank Xenophon Moscrop (possibly not her real name) for coming up with this super dark Friends fan theory about how nothing was real and Phoebe was a homeless meth addict who caught sight of a life she might have once had through the window of a cosy coffee shop. While she imagined ten seasons of highs, lows, love and happiness, the ‘characters’ of Ross, Monica and co wonder about ‘the crazy lady that always stares at us’.
But that’s not the only fan theory the internet has to offer. Just in case you’re still after more F.R.I.E.N.D.S. stuff, here’s some other explanations to ponder...
The One Where Ben Was Taken Away From Ross For Bad Parenting
This one from SmokingCage on Reddit. Is the reason we don’t see Ben after season eight, because Carol got full custody of Ben after Ross was banned from seeing him? TBF, as SmokingCage points out, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest Ross was not all that good at being a together human being: the whole joining a self-defense class to learn how to attack women, the attempted snog of his first cousin, the obsessive weirdness with Rachel choosing a male nanny for Emma, the MY SANDWICH incident, the sleeping with the student thing. Perhaps Carol just finally snapped?
The One Where Monica’s Weight Loss Caused OCD
As Theluckygal points out on Reddit, not one of the flashbacks to the time when the gang were younger (and Monica was still bigger) show Monica being obsessed with cleanliness, while the rest of the cast still retain their current personalities. This theory suggests that Monica’s obsession with weight loss spilled over into other areas of her life. And also that her weight loss might have contributed to her infertility. Grim.
The One That Explains Why Monica’s Mum Hates Her
Mrs Geller isn’t very nice to Monica. A fact, we’re sure you’ll agree with. What RiomHaire reckons is that Monica was concieved by Judy cheating on Jack Geller and, as a result, ‘everytime (Judy) looks at (Monica) it's a reminder of her own failures and deals with the issue by acting about against Monica. This is also why she was not brought up to respect her Jewish heritage as much as Ross; her father was a gentile. In turn Monica’s eating disorder was a way of her coping with her unloving mother.’
The One Where Ross Was A Meninist
There’s a lot of evidence presented by Beejoli Shah for Ross being a Men’s Rights Activist in this article she wrote but the overwhelming point? That he’s king of the mansplainers. He can’t let any of the women encroach on his academic territory and, when he fucks up his fake tan for the second time, it’s because he wouldn’t listen to the instructions of the female employee at the tanning salon. Also, just look what happens when Rachel gets her first real job at Bloomingdales – he can’t handle her success and tries to sabotage it from the outside under the guise of not seeing her enough and accusing her of an affair with her colleague.
The One Where Bank Robbing Porn Barons Tried To Murder Phoebe
Steve Erdal offers this one where he notes that Phoebe’s apartment burns down just three weeks after she goes to pick up Ursula’s payment cheques for her porn starring for herself. Which is just enough time for the cheques to clear and a plan to be formulated. Also, as she says to Joey, she gave the porn company ‘her real address’, so she won’t need to go back to pick up future cheques. Now they know where she lives. Also, Phoebe later finds a ‘detailed drawing of a bank plan’ in Ursula’s purse meaning Ursula and these porn guys were into much deeper shit than just porn. Rachel and Phoebe were lucky to escape with their lives.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.