The end of Donna Noble and the Doctor’s time together in the TARDIS sits atop the list of the most heartbreaking companion exits in Doctor Who’s history, and borders on being just straight-up cruel. When we first meet Donna, she is depressed, living a boring life, and in desperate search of adventure. When the Doctor comes along, everything changes for her, and she literally becomes “the most important woman in the universe.” But after a “human-Time Lord meta-crisis,” in which Donna is imbued with the infinite knowledge of the Doctor, her brain is in danger of shutting down. Thus, the Doctor wipes Donna’s mind—while she begs him not to—and sends her back to her unfulfilled existence with no recollection of the life she made. It’s an absolutely gutting scene anchored by Catherine Tate’s fantastic performance, and a miserable end for such a beloved character. [Baraka Kaseko]
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So did Hughes completely not understand what the point of the end of the Good Place was? Like, he watched that episode and thought Chidi left because he was “bored”? Did he think Jason and Eleanor were bored as well?
How else would you describe it? It’s implied that they’ve experienced everything that they wanted to experience (over a timespan of probably thousands of years). Sounds like boredom to me. Mind you, I’m not saying I really buy into the argument (the idea that immortality would get boring is an awful lot like the dubious idea that immense wealth does), but that is the argument they are making.
How else would you describe it? Fulfilled? At peace? Ready to let go? Bored just sounds shallow and it was much more than that.
Thousands of years? It was likely millions or billions of years.And no, they were not “bored”. The whole point is that you attain paradise and use it to become the most perfect and fulfilled version of yourself. And having attained that – once you have experienced everything the universe has to offer for you specifically – you become ready to move on to become something else. It’s not boredom, it’s fulfillment.The people originally in paradise became bored and apathetic because they existed in a state of perfection where they’d been told they could/should stop growing. That there was nothing left. Immortality wasn’t the problem, being trapped was.
Thousands of years? It was likely millions or billions of years. Jeremy Bearimy’s.
Hanging out in the dot on the i.
But do they really “move on to something else”? It seemed to imply that they would stop existing — not a promotion but termination.
The last scene is Eleanor’s sort of essence or soul (or whatever) dropping back down into existence. Metaphysically, my guess is they become a part of the universe as a whole, and I imagine you can interpret it however you wish (I’ve heard some people suggest reincarnation), but termination appears to be the opposite of what happens.
But that’s termination, no matter if you wrap it around “reincarnation” or the more secular “circle of life” where lions eat gazelles and then die and become the grass gazelles eat. If “you” stop being “you” you’re dead, pretty words aside.
You know they were already dead right
The clip in the article shows Chidi’s description of the next stage: the wave returns to the ocean. Besides, they were already long dead, twice over, in fact.
Did you feel like going to college was dying? Existence is about change. Things end and new things begin. People change. You are no longer the person you were at 5 or 15.
One thing that struck me about the last episode is the part where Eleanor refers to herself as Chidi’s “forever girlfriend.” She says girlfriend, not wife, even though they’ve been together for the human equivalent of millions of years at that point. They’re never actually together while alive, and marriage is a commitment that implies a finite duration (hence the “till death do us part” vow). Since they’re only ever together in the afterlife, the relationship can’t progress — they can’t have kids or grandkids, they can’t grow old or sick, one of them never has to care for the other, and things never evolve between the two of them just hanging out together.Chidi enjoys that stasis for many times longer than earthbound relationships last, but gets to a point where the eternal lack of change, growth or newness is a problem for him. In keeping with the metaphor of the forest-door allowing heaven’s residents to enjoy heaven because having somewhere else to go makes heaven finite, Chidi realizes that he has already experienced everything there is to enjoy with Eleanor, and has to move on somehow.
I’m not the biggest fan of the show either but like that’s where the philosophy comes in
Almost like the wave returning to the ocean or something.
“The wave returns to the ocean”If you read this as some form of non-existence then you’re doing it wrong.
I think the implication is that they go on to be part of a greater consciousness, woven into the fabric of the universe itself.
That sounds a bit like splitting hairs. Maybe he wasn’t bored right at the moment, but he knew that he WOULD BECOME bored if he didn’t move on.
Or he’d become unhappy. Or he’d become angry. Characterizing Chidi’s joyful and peaceful embrace of the future and change as “boredom” is comically facile. When someone moves out of their parents’ house to go to college out of state, do you actually think they are only doing it because they’re “bored”?
When people move out, it’s generally because there are specific things they want to do or have or experience that they can’t if they stay where they are. But in Chidi’s case, everything he can think of to do or have or experience, he’s already done. Furthermore, he has no idea what, if anything, is beyond the door; for all he knows, once he goes through, he might simply cease to exist. He’s not walking TOWARDS something he wants, but AWAY from what he no longer wants.I mean, they pretty clearly state that the whole reason for having the door is because “anything becomes boring when you do it for eternity”.
Yeah… Chidi is going into the unknown, something he has not experienced yet. He is at peace with the person he has become and is ready to become something else.And I’m now imagining a manipulative parent sniveling, “You’re moving away from me because you don’t love me anymore! I’m boring to you!” Yeesh.And, no, they have the door because a prison is a prison, even if it’s nicely appointed. People need to know they can leave.
In many cases, yes. But ultimately you are referring to people with very limited lifespans when you talk about college. Being at peace, and being ready to go to your final rest is qualitatively the same as boredom.
Qualitatively? Nonsense. I’ve experienced feeling bored and I have experienced feeling peaceful and the two experiences have very little to do with each other. I mean, consider the difference between someone saying, “I am ready to leave,” and someone saying, “I have to leave.”Or, to put it another way, if I have a large slice of chocolate cake and decline to have another, it does not follow that I am “bored” of cake.
He was at peace because he had done everything he ever wanted to and spent as much time as he wanted to with Eleanor. He was tired of existing. You can call it at peace, but nobody who wanted to do more things in the world in which they live would choose to leave permanently. I would say it’s the same idea from another angle.
“The idea that immortality would get boring”Lol people get bored in their normal lifespans my dude. Try being bored for 1000 years and then get back to us
THANK YOU. I left a response to this effect on another comment, but RIGHT?!
Anyone who sees this moment as “cold” must have watched this episode while vacuuming or doing taxes or something. Chidi’s late embrace of Eastern philosophy comes as a wonderful surprise.
Dude probably thinks Nirvana is just a grunge band from the 90s
BTW, While I do believe it is fine to call people who decide to enter the portal bored, I do believe that the characterization of Chidi’s decision as cold or some sort of insult to Eleanor is stupid.
Yeah, honestly, even if Chidi really was saying that he was overwhelmed by ennui and needed to die, their parting was extremely loving and obviously meaningful to both of them.
Totally. A better read would have been to include Chidi’s mind getting wiped for the experiment at the end of season 3. The most painful breakup is the one where they don’t even remember you.
Clearly not. Existentially fulfilled is, like, slightly different than “bored.” And his breakup was warm, caring, and thoughtful, not cold. What a silly take.
Thankyou! I’ve seen other people have this take that Chidi is bored and it is so frustrating to me. He’s not bored, he’s satisfied. He’s complete. This stage of his existence has been fully explored and he can go on to something else. I don’t think Chidi believes that there’s literally nothing beyond the portal, and he says as much to Eleanor. What’s more, I think he knows at some level that Eleanor needs to find something else as well. After all, even after Chidi leaves, she’s still not complete. It isn’t until helping Mindy achieve enlightenment that she feels done with the Good Place.
At first, I also felt like it was a little forced, but much like the characters themselves, after a while, I realized how truly invested in their relationship I was. When he left in the finale, I cried harder than I have ever cried in response to a TV show in my life. I cried in a way I have only ever cried when I myself have just been dumped, I was so devastated. And then Eleanor found that calendar, and I was both wail-sobbing and gut laughing, and it was a deeply weird sensation.
That moment where Eleanor realises that Chidi has felt that way for some time is a real gut punch.
I didn’t even see Eleanor and Chidi as a breakup.
Yeah most of the characters eventually wanted to die. It was sad, but that was also the reason they put in the door. I wouldn’t consider that a breakup. Now maybe Jason and Janet when their relationship gets erased from his head or another show like Elliot and JD who broke up twice
Did most of them want to die though? Eleanor and Chidi and Jason eventually got there, but Tahani, Janet, and Michael all did not.
Janet and Michael weren’t human (as Janet always says “not a girl”) and Michael technically did choose to die by becoming human and giving up his immortality. He didn’t even become an infant which means he has a max of 40 years where he’ll age and eventually die and then go through the same process the humans did
Except all humans eventually attain immortality so…
Humans have different brains than the immortals though. That’s why they turn into zombies after living too long in paradise but the Judge and demons can be the same forever. They experience emotions more but that also means they burn out faster
So? Are you saying they all died because they all changed?
What? The Judge and demons still didn’t experience things like humans, that’s why it took an outside force for them to learn new things. The people in the good place and bad place never questioned whether what they were doing could stop making sense, because they had no sense of how decision making works for mortals. And why they didn’t have relationships or fall in love the same way as humans. Janet was sad that Jason decided it was his time to go, but it didn’t hurt her the way that it hurt Eleanor
Again, so what? Michael is still Michael when he becomes human, even though he is also fundamentally changed. Just like they have all been fundamentally changed by their relationships with each other.
Changing emotionally didn’t change their species? My cat feels safer and knows how to communicate with me better since I got her and I feel more loved and responsible, but that doesn’t mean she changed into a human or I changed into a cat
I’m still waiting for you to explain how that’s relevant. We saw Michael at the end. Did you get the impression that he had stopped being himself?
Yes he’s no longer a Fire Squid. Which is what he was, he just appeared human, just like a stick bug looks like a stick but is very much not a plant. Or a Texas Wasp Moth which looks like a wasp, but absolutely does not live in a wasp nest and which can’t sting you. So yes, he has similar memories, but he’s going to experience the world differently and staying the same forever would now drive him insane
Except the prospect of staying the same forever was what drove him to become a human. If Fire Squids were truly constitutionally incapable of experiencing dissatisfaction with their state/nature, Michael would never have become human in the first place.
I think he was more curious than dissatisfied. It was more of a special surprise for him- nothing was going to happen to him if he didn’t get it. They were very clear that the humans thought differently than the eternal beings
I mean, that was not my read on him at all. He bounced from person to person miserably trying to find a way to be happy and feeling useless and then literally climbed in Eleanor’s back in an effort to get through the door. Personally, I think Michael is supposed to represent a possible future path for the angels/demons just like Tahani can for at least some of the humans.
I mean I read the door thing as very Buddhist so the humans going through there to become nothingness are achieving the highest state like Nirvana. Tahani was the mostly self-absorbed of any of them so I think working to help others was her next step instead of achieving tranquility
– not sure of the exact quote, but… Janet to Michael before he goes to earth: “-and watch your blood pressure! You have blood now!”
I always assumed that Michael would have to go through the human process more than just once before attaining enough points to earn the Good Place. So yeah, he’s going to be (re)born and live as a baby and get a full human life at some point.
I mean they don’t get reincarnated if they don’t have enough points, the new system works that they’ll basically be in Limbo being challenged to improve until they earn enough points. That’s why they retrained all the demons. So he’ll die and then go through the same process- that’s why Janet warns him that the system may change by the time he dies
Tahani was the only one to CHOOSE to continue. Janet was eternal by nature. She COULDN’T die, and her compromised will was a point the show made sure to note over and over. Michael chose to become human, which implies he will, eventually, die, get sent to the afterlife, and live a few thousand lifetimes until he too is admitted to the new Good Place for however many Jeremy Bearimys he wishes to stay, and will eventually go through the forest door himself. And, if you wanna overthink it even more, Tahani becoming an architect doesn’t even imply that SHE becomes permanently immortal. A human became an architect, and an architect became human. So maybe after a couple of million Jeremy Bearimys of architecting, Tahani will decide to become human AGAIN, and live, and die, and forest door herself. Heck, there’s nothing that says she can’t just decide to quit and go straight to the door without reliving. The point being that the POSSIBILITY of change is now always there.
Yeah, the description of Chidi’s departure was… super harsh and kind of unfair? It kind of seems like the author missed the whole goddamn point of the door an what it meant. The author seemed to interpret it as some version of yelling “See ya never, bitch!” and then jumping off a cliff.
It kind of seems like the author missed the whole goddamn point of the door an what it meant.Welcome to the modern AV Club. It’s quota-filling bloggers all the way down, I’m afraid.
While I agree with the sentiment, the Good Place entry is from William Hughes, who has written for the AV Club since 2014.
Yeah, we don’t normally call it a breakup when one person in a relationship decides to die.
Maybe I’m naive but I always wished they decided together that they were done and walked through the portal together. I understand narratively why they don’t but Chidi leaving first hurt
Personally, I’m really happy they didn’t go together. Chidi was ready, Eleanor wasn’t. They were in love, but Eleanor was still her own person. I like that her (after)life went on without him. She may have been sad he was gone and missed him, but he didn’t define her.
Yeah, Eleanor needed more than love to become her best self. She needed to get past her hangup of worrying that other people were better than her. Chidi’s love no doubt helped her along the way, but it wasn’t the be-all and end-all.
But I feel like one of the main points of the show was that although we need and love each other, we are all our own people and on our own journeys. For that reason alone, them leaving at separate times seemed like the only correct path to take.
Oh, dear Jesus, the Prom. It’s a toss up between the breakup or Buffy getting the “Class Protector” award over which brings out the more hankies.Thanks for the reminder about how good that show was.
That Doctor and Donna scene had me in bits.
IIt’s been ages and I’m not even into Doctor Who anymore, but part of me is still mad about what they did with her character.
I was rather glad when Clara “reversed the polarity” and got to keep her memories later on (despite being deadish). Taste of his own medicine, that.
Yeah, it isn’t that it “borders on being just straight-up cruel,” it actually is straight-up cruel. I’m still mad too. What a terrible way yo end her arc.
Yup, no “borders on” as far as I’m concerned. Last time I rewatched Donna’s season, I stopped just before that scene because of how shitty it is.
Absolutely. Catherine Tate did such amazing work turning Donna into a relatable, admirable character (I don’t think the writing alone would have gotten her there), and then just when we’ve seen her as the best version of herself, she’s forcibly brain-wiped. I plan on remaining bitter about that for the rest of my days.
I really always thought they might come back to that at some point. It was ridiculously cruel
Donne deserved SO much better after all the character growth she received during that season. It still bothers me because she was one of, if not the best, companions since 2005.
Honestly, all of the modern Doctor’s Companions seem to get bad~horrible departures, with Martha’s being both the ‘lightest’ and most telling about how the Doctor views companions vs how the companions view the Doctor. Rose at least ended up with her own demi-Doctor in another dimension but Clara, Bill, River, Missy, Astrid, Amy& Rory, and Donna, all wound up with some pretty bad fates.
Yaz is looking like she’ll be another Martha scenario.Honestly out of them all, Clara had it the worst. She died so many times all for the Doctor’s sake. One of those death’s was even as a fully converted Dalek.
I’m still angry about that.
Sam and Diane on Cheers set the template for heinous sitcom breakups, going all the way to, yes, Ross and Rachel. There’s stuff in there that’s definitely Not OK by today’s standards, but it’s so raw and gutting. Plus that end. “ . . . Wow. “
I haven’t really re-watched Veronica Mars but I loved the Logan and Veronica relationship.I did rewatch Buffy and although I was really into the whole Buffy/Angel relationship when I was a teenager, I really hated their angst and whole deal when I rewatched the show as an adult. I don’t think I liked Buffy with any of her boyfriends particularly.
Angel was toxic as fuck. Putting aside all the vampire stuff, he was an old man and she was FIFTEEN.
I believe 16. Assuming the seasons in any way match real time, the Angelus arrival was mid-season in season 2 and she turned 17 in that episode.
Yeah she was like 15-16 and he was like 200! I think it felt ok to me cuz I was a teenager myself at the time, and she was clearly much more mature than he was despite his age, but looking back on it now; yeesh!
While Angel was toxic, the whole Buffy/Spike romance later on was pure hemlock.
Buffy’s best boyfriend was Riley, but ironically she was too mature for him.
I think they were good in the fourth season, but their fifth season relationship was a mess. He was clearly struggling with losing the connection to the Initiative and she didn’t care and she didn’t want to open up and rely on him the way she’d been able to with Angel. And Riley got so passive aggressive about her powers. Angel and Buffy at least seemed to support each other, I think that Angel just wasn’t going to be able to have any healthy relationships. I liked his relationship with Cordy, but that also seemed like it would have ended badly with his curse.
I think the the opposite is true. He wanted a normal relationship as he was a fairly normal person (or as much as he could be considering he was part of a super secret military force that fought demons) but she couldn’t handle a normal relationship with a normal guy. Remember the whole theme about her being the slayer making her drawn to the darkness too. In the end, he couldn’t handle the fact that no matter what he did or said, she could never love him
She was, essentially, a superhero. They don’t get to have relationships because they have a higher calling. We except that trope when it comes to male superheroes. At the end (as we discover from the Angel series) she is out there living her best life with whatever guy takes her fancy. I whole-heartedly approve.
She was a woman whose purpose was greater than his (and they both took ‘purpose’ extremely seriously). He couldn’t handle that.
I watched all of Buffy/Angel in 2020 and I did not give a damn about their relationship at all. It wasn’t until Angel turned up in the finale of Buffy that I was like, “Oh, hey has a personality now.”
Worth noting that part of the reason that Donna Noble was the best companion tenth Doctor was because their relationship was entirely unromantic. They were best friends not lovers and their relationship was awesome. I realize you can still have break ups between friends and agree that Ten having to erase Donna’s entire memory of him was a rough one.
That’s why Donna is prob my fav New Who companion; not a hint of romantic chemistry. Just solid friendship, and I can’t imagine Silence in the Library being as brilliant as it was w/o that kind of dynamic. If she’d been some doe-eyed “The Doctor will save me!” type of smitten tag-along, my favorite story would’ve turned out crap
Their comic chemistry is so much stronger than the supposed “romantic” chemistry of any number of on-screen pairings. They have that real, “I can make fun of them because they’re my mate, but don’t you dare try it” energy.Also, “CAMPTOWN RACES?!”
If married couples count, my vote is for Tony and Carmella Soprano’s blowout at the end of “Whitecaps.” It was Scenes From A Marriage, New Jersey style.
Another HBO series- Big Love- is what got it for me. When Bill and Barb started slipping in the fourth season, the (paper) divorce, the priesthood dilemma, etc, despite the whackadoo circumstances it really was a perfect example of two people incredibly in love growing apart by differences fundamental to their own identities. The scene with the three wives in Barb’s new car in the final episode is just masterful, and there is barely any dialogue.
How I Met Your Mother had some devastating breakups. Marshall and Lily’s breakup at the end of Season 1 (even though they got back together). Ted and Robin in Season 2 (though they had to breakup; they just wanted different things in life). Barney breaking up with Nora because he thought he and Robin were getting back together only to learn that she didn’t break up with Kevin.
It’s not a breakup, but “Bad News” is one of the most gut-punchy episodes of television ever.
I’m not sure why this list is missing Kevin and Nora’s breakup from The Leftovers.
Friends has lost a lot of cred in recent years, and, as the entry says, “We were on a break” grew real old real quick, but the Ross-Rachel break-up episode really did have some incredible acting.
I realize I’m posting this a year later, but anyway…That scene also felt entirely organic, and not something you’d expect to see in a sitcom. Rachel’s reaction when she realizes the girl was still in Ross’ apartment when she went over is some of the best acting of the show’s entire run. And his refusal to leave despite not having anything he can say to fix things is a perfectly rational response to the fear he was feeling over what would happen if he DID leave. As long as he’s in the apartment, there’s hope.
Supergirl has lots of writing issues but the episode where Alex and Maggie broke up was well done and sad. Though the reason they did (Alex wanting kids) was a short-sighted and limiting development for Alex.
That Hughes comment on The Good Place, which misses the point completely in its rush to be snarky, is a good embodiment of the garbage fire the AV Club has become in the venture capital era.
I didn’t think it was possible to miss the point of the Good Place’s finale so hard
Halt and Catch Fire has its fair share of break-ups and they were usually pretty devastating because of how well developed the characters are.
Feel like that show never got the props it deserved
They were also unflinchingly realistic about it. Based on every other TV show you’ve ever seen, you assume the couple who’s on the rocks when the series opens will eventually patch things up and fall back in love, but…they don’t. Season 3 ends with their divorce.
The Ross and Rachel breakup and all that drama was more annoying than devastating. Both of those characters sucked during that whole controversy.
I liked the Taylor Townsend shout out. She made season 4 of the OC so much fun; I am glad Autumn Reeser has had a good career on the Hallmark Channel.
To this day I still say (in my head) the word “asleep” the way Anniston accusingly does it in response to Ross’s failure to read the letter. That show was of its time and doesn’t hold up all that well but there was some great acting moments throughout its run.
Doctor Donna’s disappearance is made all the more heartbreaking by her granddad’s knowledge of what happened to her. She has forgotten, and therefore, suffered intense pain during the mindwipe, but just vague phantom pain afterwards. But her granddad, whose name I forget now, knows. He knows what she had, and what she did, and what she lost, and he gets to grieve that for her. She doesn’t even get to grieve it herself, and he cannot share it with her.
Wilfred Mott.
Although both of them could be toxic to the other, Eric and Donna’s (first) break-up on That 70s Show still gets to me. Both when it happens at the end of the one episode, and the whole It’s a Wonderful Life themed following episode (honestly even the episode after that, too, although it’s undercut by the whole Funland trip for the other characters). Despite some of the flaws of that show, Topher Grace and Laura Prepon both nailed all the serious acting parts when they were given them.
Forced?Chidi and Eleanor were a pretty great couple. I bought that hook, line and sinker. No one I’ve met who’s seen the show would call that relationship “forced.” There was more of an obstacle course to their relationship which is found in most television (tension, the will-they/won’t-they/the Annie of it all), but that was going to naturally happen when reality can be reset in an instant.
Break-ups with Kristin Bell are 2/8 of this list. I’m not devastated, bump me up in line please and thank you. Haven’t you lived a sufficiently fulfilled and perfect life, Dax Sheppard?
Princess Carolyn’s breakup with Ralph in Bojack always broke my heart, though her break up with the show’s only mature character, Vincent Adultman, was pretty rough too.
He was too focussed on his career at the Business Factory.
Bojack firing Princess Carolyn in “Best Thing That Ever Happened” was the most devastating to me and they definitely played up the breaking up analogy. That final scene of her begging Bojack for another chance and him bluntly saying “No” hit like a hammer. And the worst part is that Bojack is 100% in the right to do so since in the previous episode, PC caused him to lose both a major career opportunity and the ability to patch things up with Kelsey.Likewise the end of the finale with Bojack and Diane. Even though it’s never said outright, it’s clear they will never even speak to each other again and you fully understand why.
Clicked on this article just to verify Danny and Mindy made the list. I know a lot of people have problems with just how awful Danny could be, and I agree with them 100% on paper… but their chemistry sold that relationship so hard for me. Their second breakup was even more devastating- I sob every time I watch the scene where Mindy goes to measure her closet to see if a crib will fit.
Alexis and Ted breaking up was similar to a situation i was in and, thus, killed me more than just me loveing the characters and the show itself. Though, that was more than enough to get me bawling…
There’s something so deeply unfair about Alexis and Ted breaking up. She’s learned to be less superficial and see the goodness in Ted beyond his seemingly bland exterior, and he’s become more realistic and started to see Alexis for who she really is (and still loves her) rather than the idealised “prettiest girl in town” he first fell for. And despite all that, the reality is, here and now, they can’t have their relationship without holding each other back. And they both know it.Both actors killed it in their breakup scene.
The only thing “devastating” about Ross and Rachel was whenever those two toxic people got back together. Both of them were horrible and made each others lives miserable. Completely toxic relationship.
Holly’s breakup with Michael on The Office was a brutally effective depiction of romance thwarted by regular old circumstance instead of conflict. I didn’t really feel bad for the characters, Holly was a clunkily written (though brilliantly acted) character who basically existed as a prop for Michael, and Michael has to be one of the most despicable characters that ever existed without being an outright villain. But on a human level, it was tough to watch two people go through that. No anger between them, nothing but hurt.
Ah, this is a zombie article/listicle. I see we’ve entered that phase of herbenation of the AV Club staff fucked-over-ness. Welp, time to axe it from my routine like deadspin. It’s been good. Maybe The Dissolve can reboot in this age of patreon/niche subs and have an arts & culture space like Defector has shown success with in sports, ish.
They’ve been playing the hits for a while now. At least this one is only 12 months old.
We didn’t actually see it, but finding out Kevin and Winnie don’t end up together after The Wonder Years really made me realize that any high school relationship is essentially meaningless, outside of the experience of naive love and heartbreak.
Honestly, Ross was the worst friend and I was glad for that breakup. I get that he was insecure because of his first marriage but the guy did some outright despicable interactions that got played for laughs. He was such a self-centered hypocrite that even his breakdown from seeing Rachel and Joey together fell flat to me. Particularly when you consider he was dating Joey’s extremely recent ex at the time.
All the Friends reruns on TBS have done was make me hate the guy more as I’ve seen multiple episodes where it’s pretty clear that he’d fit in with the Seinfeld crew. Just toxic as hell with no awareness for the needs of others. Wouldn’t even look past himself to spare the feelings of others (seen frequently with Phoebe interactions and how he’s the only one who doesn’t go along with the others in humoring her, often getting outright derisive of her beliefs/quirkiness) despite frequently needing it for his own feelings.
It also never made sense to me why he, as the largest Fried, did not simply consume the others.
Mandatory, even a year later.
No Six Feet Under?
I must be too old, because I think Friends was the only one I’ve seen out of these. I watched some of The Mindy Project, but I can’t remember if I saw the break up in question.Can someone pick something from Thirtysomething or 90210 for me?
I’m going to mention Don and Megan in ‘Mad Men’. Not because they should have been together – God, no – but because Megan thought she was going in with her eyes open but still bought Don’s advertisement of what a successful man should be. I know a lot of viewers hated Megan, and yeah, she could be a brat at times, but I don’t think she deserved to fall victim to Don’s fruitless quest for capital H Happiness. Their final scene together is devastating because Don realises what he’s done to her and seems genuinely sorry – and it’s too little too late. He broke Megan’s heart when she was so sure that was the one thing he couldn’t do.
Ted Lasso and Michelle. Such an adult depiction of how sometimes love and devotion aren’t enough, run out, fade, and all the other imperfections of 2 people trying to be 1. Like Ted and Alexis, but much, much sadder.