HBO Max just released the Friends Reunion episode, and I’m gonna do a fan review. The six stars gathered together in front of the camera for the first time in 17 years, and could we be more excited?
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First, I have to comment on Friends Reunion fan review part. I am, and have been, a Friends fan for over a decade. I’ve seen the show countless of times that I could actually say the lines.
So I will focus more on the emotional side of what this review means for us, fans.
Friends ran for 10 successful seasons on NBC from 1994-2004. Which is a lot for a sitcom. But the wonder of Friends is that they kept you laughing for the full 10 seasons. They had some of the most famous actors guest star, and the six stars of Friends became one of the most recognized actors out there.
Now Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer all got together for a Friends Reunion.
The fans have been asking for more Friends since, well, its ending. But creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman feel like they ended the show nicely. Plus, they intended to be the show about “that time in your life when your friends are your family.” The tenth season ended with the six of them having families, and actual grown ups.
So the reunion is not a new episode. The actors appear as themselves, and they reminisce on the good times.
The Reunion episode stars with all the feels as the six actors go back to set. They revisit the set, Joey and Chandler and Rachel and Monica’s apartments and the set of Central Perk.
Then they join James Corden on the famous couch in front of the water fountain they filmed the intro with. There they sit in front of an audience and answer different questions.
Some of the fans haven’t been that excited about James Corden’s participation in the reunion. He has no emotional attachment to the show, and he’s been receiving quite a lot of backlash lately. But James isn’t an important part of the reunion, the cast is.
Plus, he asks some of the most important questions. Were Ross and Rachel on a break? The cast whole-heartedly agreed that they were. Plus, he asks whether there has been any off-set romance between the cast. I’m going to keep this spoiler-free, so I won’t get into that. But the answer was, honestly, surprising.
The stars also read out scripts from episodes like “The One Where Everybody Finds Out.” Or “The One with the Jellyfish.” And “The One Where Ross Finds Out.”
The six stars also sit on the couch in Monica’s apartment and play the quiz they played when Monica and Rachel lost their apartment to Joey and Chandler. This time, there were questions from the show.
The reunion episode has a few famous guest stars like Maggie Wheeler, Tom Selleck and Larry Hankin.
Other famous people who appeared in the episode were Lady Gaga, who sang a duet with Lisa Kudrow for “Smelly Cat,” Cara Delevingne, Justin Bieber and David Beckham.
All in all, the episode is absolutely great for die-hard Friends fans. It’s emotional, nostalgic, and it gives you an idea why Friends was such a phenomenon. Because the actors have amazing chemistry, and they have created a family-like environment for everyone watching.
I honestly loved the reunion. I cried when the cast got to set, I laughed watching them see some of the bloopers… Cried again, and laughed again. I am incredibly thankful they didn’t ruin its legacy. And that the reunion didn’t ruin anything for us, fans. In fact, it proves once again why Friends was such a phenomenon, and we haven’t had anything like that ever since.
