Friends, season 8
The show was tired. It’s last good idea was three seasons earlier (throwing Chandler and Monica together). The show was staggering through unfunny episodes and terrible character assassinations (Ross became a sociopath, Monica became a shrew – it was as if they took the least endearing trait about any character and made it their leading trait.). There were rumours that the cast wanted too much money but NBC didn’t want to pull the plug (remained a ratings sensation, of course). If ever a show looked like it needed to end immediately to avoid further embarassment; end soon so as to leave some lingering good memories, this wasit. And then we had the eighth season. To this day, having seen some episodes many times, I simply do not understand how they righted the ship (for this season only, admittedly). I don’t understand what triggered the shift in storytelling in terms of situation or depth. But they managed to pull off one of the most astonishing 180s I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing.
For the first time in the show’s history, they treated these characters as adults. Now, I don’t mean TV adults, or “kidults” - adults in name only but with a “youthful” (to put it politely) approach to everything in their lives. Actual adults. Grown-ups. I’m repeating it because it’s actually quite rare. Now, Friends is a human comedy. Some comedies are more situational or farcial in nature, and in those comedies characters matter less – things like depth or likeability aren’t as necessary to them as they are to comedies that are human comedies (I think of shows like Sports Night or Sex and the City are human comedies; Modern Family to cite one of a more recent vintage). Friends falls into that category, so character depth, likeability etc become vitally important. If the characters aren’t convincingly wrought out, why bother watching? And for two previous seasons, they weren’t. But with this season, the writers did something special, and deepened the characterization of all six humans on the show while maintaining a gently comic tone.
Now, the obvious: they made Rachel pregnant. I’m not sure what the impeteus was – her character was getting stagnant, but really – all of them were. Maybe they figured that the season needed another “binding” arc (like the seventh had the marriage), and a discrete time frame for the pregnancy suited the writers (as opposed to the bloat seen in the seventh). It definitely gave Jennifer Aniston some meaty material to play with, and she rose to the occasion beautifully. Comic, tender – it was interesting to see Rachel act so earnestly throughout the story. But if making Rachel pregnant was a good idea well told, Joey’s crush on Rachel was simply a masterstroke. Not only was it wonderfully humanizing, it added a depth to his character sorely missing, gave Ross some good material to play with (as did Rachel’s pregnancy). By toning down the shrewishness, Monica actually emerged as recognizable human being and not a sitcom caricature. Both Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow didn’t have the big showcases, but still stole small scenes with sizeable wit.
Indeed, the thing that surprises me the most is just how moving the whole thing was. Watching how the writers not only reestablish chemistry between Ross and Rachel but actual intimacy (and both actors were great), deepening the connections between this group of six and maintaining the humour that makes this show so memorable for so many. Yes, they squandered much of the goodwill they’d earned with their decisions in the next two seasons, but for my money, season eight remains their most deft mixture of humanity and comedy.