FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: An Appreciation of Rachel and Chandler’s Friendship

[On Thursday, September 22, 1994, NBC debuted the pilot of FRIENDS. The sitcom, about a group of six 20-something friends, went on to become a pop culture touchstone. In honor of the milestone, we’re doing 25 Days of FRIENDS, looking back at the show in big and small ways.]

FRIENDS duos Monica and Rachel plus Joey and Chandler get a lot of credit for the best portrayals of friendships, but Rachel and Chandler are a sneaky contender for most underrated.

On paper, they seem to be two of the most separated characters on the show. In fact, Chandler is the only person in the core group Rachel never lived with. But outside of canon-busting flashbacks, one of the things that was special about the duo was how platonic they were, which also allowed for a different kind of friendship.

Yes, Chandler and Rachel had lighter moments—the cheesecake, setting each other up on dates, etc.—but they actually were best well dealing with serious issues. When Rachel was devastated by her parents’ split, Chandler was able to offer a shoulder and wisdom from his experience; he was sympathetic and took her pain seriously. When they were individually devastated about their crushes (Rachel thinking she had failed to hook Joshua and Chandler having to sit back while Joey got credit for his present to Kathy), they leaned on each other.

The friendship wasn’t showcased as often once Monica and Chandler got together, which makes sense: with him now dating her best friend, it could have put her in an awkward position when things got tough for Chandler/Monica. But when the series did showcase them, it was really well done.

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• FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: A Closer Look at Monica and Chandler’s Journey to a Family
• FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: Ranking the Best Love Interests
• FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: Ranking the Top 5 Thanksgiving Episodes
• FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: A Closer Look at ‘The One Where Everybody Finds Out’
• FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: The Best (Bonkers) Episode Descriptions
• FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: TOW They Appeared on Each Other’s Shows
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