Friendsfeatured plenty of romances throughout its ten-season run. The most successful consistent couple was Monica and Chandler, who went on to date, move in together, get married, and have children. However, as far as other couples went, the will-they-won’t-they relationship went to theback-and-forth dynamic between Ross and Rachel. But Ross was not the only one in the friend group that Rachel dated. For a brief time in season ten, Rachel and Joey attempted a romantic relationship. Joey’s feelings for Rachel originally entered the plot in season eight, when going on a date to give Rachel some fun outside the apartment ends with Joey realizing that he has more than platonic feelings for his long-time friend. At the same time, Rachel is pregnant with her and Ross' child. When Joey confesses, Rachel turns him down, having no romantic feelings for Joey. But, in season nine, the tables turn, and suddenly Rachel is the one with unexpected feelings for Joey.
Seasons eight and nine set the potential, but in the season nine finale, the story finally goes through with the long-time teased romance. But if it was a dynamic that Rachel and Joey felt so strongly about, how did it fall apart so quickly?Friendsonly granted Joey and Rachel a few episodesin the final season before breaking them up because they lacked sexual chemistry. Given that they had been close to having sex previously and had no issues of this variety previously, it seemed a little too convenient that was the reason for the couple’s demise when ifFriendswanted to break the couple up, there were other ways to do it.
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It Was Built to Fail
Rachel and Joey’s relationship was not meant to last. Not because the characters were incompatible, but because the creators never gave them a fair shot in the first place.Joey and Rachel’s relationshipwas created with the intent of being a short-lived dynamic, regardless of if it had the potential to be more or not. While Rachel and Joey may not have been the most straightforward relationship to see at the beginning of the show, they had both grown over the years, and maybe, if being looked at as serious potential,Friendscould have given them an arc that did not seem doomed to fail no matter what.
Had Rachel and Joey gotten together earlier in the series, they might have been given a fair chance at showing whether they would have fit well together. As it stands, it seemed like Rachel and Joey were put together to acknowledge the previous two seasons of teasing a relationship between them before quickly jumping ship. IfFriendswanted to create their relationship only to have it fail, they may as well not have put them together at all, given how nothing ended up coming of it.
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It Was Rushed to Reach the Rachel/Ross Ending
Even if Joey was not a good fit for Rachel, Ross definitely was not. Nothing in their history as a couple suggested that Ross and Rachel ultimately would have made a strong pair,mainly since the series itself portrays their relationship as being toxic. Even if it is not a fan favorite, Rachel and Joey’s relationship is never shown to be nearly as problematic as Rachel’s romance with Ross. However,Friendswanted the payoff of the long-time dynamic between Ross and Rachel, which meant that there needed to be a solid amount of time between Rachel and Joey’s breakup and her reunion with Ross. So, rather than dive into the possibilities of what could occur between Rachel and Joey or give them more time when a potential breakup seemed more organic, their relationship went from working out to horribly awkward in a matter of episodes.
Rachel getting off the plane to be with Rossis supposed to be considered an important romantic moment. But, you also have to ignore pretty much everything about their relationship previous to that to get behind that. Everything wrong about Ross and Rachel’s relationship is never hinted at for Rachel and Joey. Joey never presents himself as being jealous of Rachel’s job and co-workers or selfish enough to interrupt important moments in her career to make her pay attention to him.
They Were Not Given Enough Time to Grow
Rachel and Joey were only given three episodes to be a couple, and two of them were spent being concerned about Ross' reaction to their relationship. In the first, an awkward plane ride results in Rachel and Joey separately attempting and failing to tell Ross about their new relationship. The following episode features an uncomfortable double date highlighting the switched couples and how Rachel and Joey’s romance has impacted Ross. The third is Rachel and Joey’s breakup. After spending two seasons teasing a romantic connection between Joey and Rachel at various points, three episodes are not enough to allow the couple to develop or grow. It certainly is not enough to see what they look like as a couple, especially when their relationship is not even the central emotional arc of the story. Rachel and Joey’s romance seems to be more about Ross and his response to it than it ever was about Joey and Rachel.
Three episodes is not a lot of time to show someone’s potential, and given seasons eight and nine showed glimpses of Joey and Rachel’s connection, it appeared to disappear quickly if they were broken up so fast.Friendsshould have given them more time, and if it was not working, have them break up a little further down the last season’s line. It would have felt more organic to see them try and fail over some time rather than their very quick dynamic that switches back to their enduring friendship immediately.
