What will happen
next?
As the season comes
to a climate, everyone will be wondering ‘what will happen next?’ The last events
that happened to lead up to the cliffhanger started with Janice opening Rachel’s
eyes to reality. Rachel realises that Ross will want to meet other women, and
she is afraid that she will be left alone to raise their baby. Rachel informs
Janice that there is something between herself and Ross, and that she can make
a go of it. Rachel then brings up ‘the kiss’ that occurred just before they
rushed to the hospital, however before she could express her true feelings for
Ross, he said that the kiss was a mistake (even though I don’t think he truly
thought it). At this point Rachel assumes that there is no chance that Ross
and she will ever settle down with each other, although she clearly loves him.
After that occurrence Ross expressed his real feelings about Rachel to Phoebe,
and she convinces him to make a go with Rachel. At this point in time everything
is perfect; Ross loves Rachel and Rachel loves Ross, until Joey goes to see
Rachel. Joey realises that Rachel is upset, and she tells him that she doesn’t
want to be alone. Joey then comforts her by replying that he’ll always be there
for her. As Joey goes into Ross’s jacket to get more tissues for Rachel a ring
falls out. His mother gave the ring to Ross, and he said that he’d think about
proposing to Rachel, but at the start of the show it was very unlikely. Joey
then turns around with the ring in his hand and Rachel assumes that he is asking
her to marry him, and she says “ok.” Whilst that is happening Ross is on his
way up to make a go with Rachel, even possibly ask her to marry him.
Let’s take a look at the
different views. Firstly we’ve got Ross and Rachel, they’ve been on and off
since the second season of Friends. They’ve been married since then and now
they’ve just had a child together. They both love each other sincerely, but
have kept their feelings back for the sake of the child. They shared and enjoyed
a passionate kiss before Rachel went into labour. A second scenario is Rachel
and Joey; there’s been sexual tension between them since mid-way through this
season. Joey has already expressed his feelings for Rachel earlier on in the
season, but she clearly stated that she did not have the same feelings for him.
The irony in this cliffhanger is that at the start of the season, Joey proposed
to Rachel, however this was only a joke because he didn’t realise he had feelings
for Rachel. Now that Rachel has assumed that Joey was proposing to her towards
the end of the season, and she accepted the proposal, it’s all down to Joey
if he wants to pursue on this situation.
Joey has never really
had a main part in any of the season finales. The first season was based around
Ross and Rachel, the third season was based around Phoebe and her mom (and partly
Ross and Rachel getting back together, which didn’t last that long) and then
the fourth season finale was based around Ross’s wedding with Emily, where Ross
said the wrong name (he said Rachel instead of Emily). After the fourth season
the attention started to drift away from Ross and Rachel, and towards Chandler
and Monica since they got together towards the end of season four. The season
five finale mainly focused on Chandler and Monica, as they were all ready to
get married in Vegas when suddenly they saw newly wed Ross and Rachel (whom
were drunk) coming out of the chapel. The season six finale was based around
the proposal, where Chandler proposed to Monica and she accepted. The seventh
season finale was the wedding of Chandler and Monica, with the cliffhanger of
one of the girls being pregnant (who of course was Rachel as we later learned).
Now finally the spotlight has turned to Joey, it’s all up to him. Of what he
decides will be shown in the ninth and very last season.
Here’s the scenario for
Joey, he has just found a ring in Ross’s jacket, he knows it belongs to Ross
and for-all he knows, Ross is going to propose to Rachel (which at the start
of the episode was unlikely, but towards the end is extremely likely). What
does will he do? He can either go along with the whole ‘proposal’ and marry
the women he loves, or he can tell Rachel that he found the ring in Ross’s pocket.
If he chooses to go along with the marriage, he would be betraying his friend Ross, you could even say he has stole his future wife off him. However he would be marrying the women, which he loves. Then you would have to wonder what if Ross walked in when Joey was placing the ring on Rachel, how would he react, would he feel devastated, but in a way he’d feel happy for her. However as soon as he observes the ring that Joey gave to her, he will feel betrayed and may even blemish the moment.
If he chooses to tell
Rachel about where he found the ring, he would be doing the right thing in my
opinion and he would be letting Ross and Rachel start a family. Although if
he did tell Rachel about where he found the ring, he would be probably losing
the women he loves, which would be very heart breaking for him and most probably
create a lot of tension between them.
In both cases I think
Rachel should know the truth. If she doesn’t find out the truth on the first
episode of season nine, it’ll make a breathtaking season nine finale if she
was too find out then. I would personally like to see Ross and Rachel hit it
off, and start a family together.
Additional questions fans
must be asking, “Will Chandler and Monica finally have a baby?” and bearing
in mind that this is the last season maybe its time for Phoebe to settle down
with Clifford, whom she met in the hospital. Only time will answer these questions
as we await season nine.
Quote of the episode:
“I’m a doctor Cliff, not a mathematician” – Joey.