I can't believe it took me this long to finally watch Friends: The Reunion on HBO (for your information, the documentary was originally aired on May 27th last year). For someone who used to dedicate her spare time watching Friends on loop and thus claims herself as a big fan, watching the reunion a year after it was released may seem quite amiss. But it's always better late than never. I now can put my Friends' sweater on and weep tears of joy knowing that one of my childhood dreams—to see the casts once again reunite—is complete.
I started watching Friends right after high school. If I correctly recall, it was the first sitcom I ever doted on, truly addicted to, and quickly finished. Upon completing the series finale, I instantly felt the urge to watch it all over again starting from season one, and it was how the marathon went for a few years: Friends was what I always came back to at night, on the weekend, or whenever in need of a good long laugh, except for the very last episode which I avoided every time.
It was why the whisper of the reunion, which had started to surface forever ago, excited me so. When the news broke not long after and it was confirmed that there was officially gonna be one, it's easy to say that fans from over the world were beyond happy. It took me long enough to join the hype, I know, but it was worth the unnecessary wait.
For starters, the documentary is amazing. It transports me back to the time when I was still a high school's postgraduate student navigating college, watching Friends every night like it was a weapon preparing me for the real world. It also reminds me of how much of an icon Rachel Green's fashion is, how much I root for Monica and Chandler to be an endgame, how Phoebe's quirkiness has always made me laugh, how Ross has the most miserable 'Hi' in the world, and how Joey flirts with his iconic, "How you doin?". And the reunion offers everything we're dying to find out: Lisa Kudrow still has the same lovely infectious laugh, Jennifer Aniston still walks as Rachel does, Courteney Cox's vibes are still so Monica-ish, and the boys still seem the same as before only older.
Gosh, I miss Friends. No wonder people say that a good show can change your life. Whether or not I realize it, I'm pretty sure that there's a part of me that more or less has been inspired, if not influenced, by the golden trio. Even if small, Friends is a part of my life I will never get rid of, I guess.
A fanart I made in honor of Friends
Nowadays, it's pretty hard for me to find the time long enough to truly wind down and do another Friends marathon, though it remains a long-time favorite regardless. No matter how many sitcoms I have watched or will do in the future, I genuinely think it's a toughie to find another one hitting close enough to the mark to be deeply embedded in my mind as Friends does.
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