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The Movie: Obviously, "Friends" follows the adventures of Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Courteney Cox Arquette (Monica), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), Matthew Perry (Chandler), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) and David Schwimmer (Ross). It's interesting to see how much the television landscape has changed since "Friends" first debuted in 1995. The combination of "Friends" and "Seinfeld" made for a wealth of copy-cats boasting attractive young, single people who discussed nothing and everything at once. Yet, a lot those shows never really got it right - whether it was an issue with cast or a show that really put crafting jokes before crafting characters. Now, scripted shows are fighting for space with reality programming. A show that became comfortable over the years, "Friends" hit several high-concept high notes over the course of its 10-year run (my favorite still remains "The One With The Football"), but started to wind down in its final seasons. The series finale capped off what seemed like months of promos and countdowns. This 9th Season ("The One Before The Final One", in "Friends" terms), offers some definite highlights, despite the fact that the show, at this point, had just about run its course. Monica accepts a job running a popular restaurant, and she and Chandler continue to work on improving their marriage, despite the fact that he finds himself working part of the time at a job in Tulsa. Meanwhile, Rachel finds herself falling for Joey, and Ross tries to move on with Charlie (Aisha Tyler), although there may be an obstacle or two along the way, with the two part finale, "The One in Barbados" allowing Ross and Rachel to reveal their feelings to Charlie and Joey. The 10th and final season of the series saw "Friends" going out while still managing to provide some very solid episodes. Although most of the show's fans were likely dismayed that the series was going to come to a close, the final season did do a fine job in wrapping up the show's storylines. Although the finale got a mixed reception, it seemed like a fitting way to end the show, tying up most (if not all) of the loose ends, delivered the expected turns and ended the characters rather fittingly. It wasn't an exceptional episode, but there were highlights and the writers didn't suddenly go dark in the final moments, a la "Seinfeld". The finale has Chandler and Monica witnessing the births of their twins (they were only expecting one) via a surrogate mother ("Scary Movie"'s terrific Anna Faris.) This subplot is the best of the episode, as it allows Matthew Perry to unleash a classic wave of the kind of neurotic dialogue the character's been known for, such as his debate over what's worse: "pregnancy" or "getting kicked in the nuts" and how "no one will ever know because no one can experience both." Perry's loud announcement of "Well, now we have one of each!" at finding out he has a boy and girl is also funny largely due to Perry's timing. Rachel and Ross's relationship is also wrapped up, complete with the potential drama of her leaving to Paris (Rachel scrambling to find her ticket is an easy delay while Ross speeds to reach her to tell her his feelings, but as someone who realized they didn't remember where they put their ticket when they were being called to board a nearly 1,000 mile train trip, I sympathize). Unfortunately, given the focus on the show's two main plotlines here, there's not much room for anyone else: Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) and Joey (Matt Leblanc) are given less focus here, although Phoebe and boyfriend Mike (Paul Rudd) appear to continue their relationship. And, as most know, Joey will eventually move to Los Angeles for something of a spin-off. The Leblanc character's weird gift of little birds to Monica and Chandler doesn't result in much humor from the character, though. Overall, I found the finale to be a satisfactory send-off. Other highlights from the last season include: "The One After Joey and Rachel Kiss", which continues the romantic entanglements in Barbados that occured during the prior season's finale; "The One With the Late Thanksgiving", where Monica prepares Thanksgiving dinner seemingly to an audience of herself; "The One with the Home Study", where Monica and Chandler meet with an adoption worker who notes that she'd been romanced by Joey, "The One With Phoebe's Wedding", which chronicles the chaotic preparation and event and "The One With Rachel's Going Away Party", where Rachel prepares to head to Paris, much to Ross's dismay. Season 10 219. 10- 1 25 Sep 03 The One After Joey And Rachel Kiss 220. 10- 2 2 Oct 03 The One Where Ross Is Fine 221. 10- 3 9 Oct 03 The One With Ross's Tan 222. 10- 4 23 Oct 03 The One With The Cake 223. 10- 5 30 Oct 03 The One Where Rachel's Sister Babysits 224. 10- 6 6 Nov 03 The One With Ross's Grant 225. 10- 7 13 Nov 03 The One With The Home Study 226. 10- 8 20 Nov 03 The One With The Late Thanksgiving 227. 10- 9 8 Jan 04 The One With The Birth Mother 228. 10-10 15 Jan 04 The One Where Chandler Gets Caught 229. 10-11 5 Feb 04 The One Where The Stripper Cries 230. 10-12 12 Feb 04 The One With Phoebe's Wedding 231. 10-13 19 Feb 04 The One Where Joey Speaks French 232. 10-14 26 Feb 04 The One With Princess Consuela 233. 10-15 22 Apr 04 The One Where Estelle Dies 234. 10-16 29 Apr 04 The One With Rachel's Going Away Party 235. 10-19 6 May 04 The Last One (1) 236. 10-20 6 May 04 The Last One (2) The DVD VIDEO: "Friends" is presented by Warner Brothers in 1.33:1 full-frame, the show's origial broadcast ratio. The picture quality generally looks very good, if not without a few minor faults. Sharpness and detail were generally solid, as the show appeared crisp and well-defined throughout - all of the details of the apartments could be seen, allowing viewers to appreciate the set decoration and production design work on the show. The presentation did show some minor shimmering and slight edge enhancement in a few moments, but neither issue was really a distraction. Some minor traces of pixelation and grain were also spotted in a few sequences. Colors remained bright, well-saturated and vibrant, with no smearing or other faults. SOUND: "Friends" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.0 again for this final season set. Certainly, given the material, these repurposed soundtracks aren't particularly aggressive or ambitious, but they do succeed in opening the sound out a bit, with the surrounds coming in to provide audience sounds and a bit of musical reinforcement. Audio quality is perfectly fine, as dialogue remained crisp and clear. EXTRAS: Producers Marta Kauffman, David Crane and Kevin Bright offer audio commentaries for "The One Where the Stripper Cries", "The One With the Late Thanksgiving" and "The Last One". The commentaries from the three are once again quite good, as they offer a very fine exploration of the day-to-day work on the series, as they share great behind-the-scenes stories and chat about a good deal of small details. Also included are a series of gag reels that, when played together, run nearly 45 minutes. Located within these bits are both a "final moments" montage and a bit with Conan O'Brien introing the final season gag reel. The gag reels are quite funny and get even better as they go on, as it becomes apparent that the chemistry between the actors grows stronger as the seasons go on. Also offered are a pretty solid featurette looking back at the show's ten seasons, although there's really nothing here that hasn't been brought up before, really. Still, it's a pretty good wrap-up look. Finally, "Friends of Friends" is a look at the season's guest stars and we also get the "Joey Joey" music video. Final Thoughts: "Friends" ties up the loose ends pretty well in this final season, which sees the show going out with several solid episodes and a number of pretty good ones. Warner Brothers provides a very nice DVD set, as it offers pleasing audio/video quality and a very nice collection of extras. Recommended. Fans also have the option of "The One With All Ten Seasons", which offers all 10 season sets in a limited edition case for, at most online stores, just short of $200. Finally, "The One With All The Trivia" is a PC trivia game with 3,000 "Friends" questions. |