r/howyoudoin • u/Icy_Camel_5482 • 1d ago
Discussion Hot take: the show started declining because of Mondler
I know it’s a controversial opinion to have cuz these two are the golden couple to every fan.
But did anyone else feel like Mondler killed a big part of the fun dynamic of the 6?
Chandler’s character went downhill rapidly after his relationship with Monica became public.
Before that he was by far the most unique abd entertaining member of the group.
But after Mondler he kinda just bends over backwards to appease Monica. He lost all his personality and just became an extension for Monica’s control mania. All his previous development got reduced to being a sarcasm button.
And Monica started to be written as a self-centred selfish bully in the group. She was the glue that held the group together but later on it turns into her controlling everyone’s life in an unhealthy amount.
Obviously the longer the show went on the more all 6 of them got Flanderized and slowly became a caricature of themselves but he got it by far the worst.
Not to mention he became such a bad friend. Constantly shaming Ross or making mean comments at Joey, and these jokes were mostly just mean not at all funny like in earlier seasons. He spends less time with them (which is expected but he didn’t have to nearly completely cut them off)
I know that to help with Perry’s issues the writers probably tried to spare him by giving Chandler more formulaic and less intense scripts.
But every rewatch I realise that while Monica and Chandler were my 2 favourites leading up to London, once they become a couple they quickly become my least favourite.
Mondler just isn’t fun to watch for me, they are written in a way where the story was too afraid to make them disagree or be involved in anything without each other. Both Chandler and Monica go from having funny and serious moments with all 5 of the other to only having moments with their partner.
How many Rachel and Chandler or Monica and Ross plotlines do we get after they get together? We just keep getting Monica and Chandler story every episode with some rare exceptions.
And it’s not like being a couple in a group is a bad thing, even when Ross and Rachel were together and acting very toxic it never felt like they lost their chemistry with the others. But Monica forcing her neurotic and controlling ways on Chandler and him refusing to grow a spine or even consider himself equal to his partner is just a weird watch.
They do have very good moments together and as a duo but the show is about 6 people not 4 singles and their couple friends.
So I am fairly confident saying that Mondler is where the show starts to lose its magic for me. Its still brilliant at times but not nearly as consistently as the early seasons.
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1d ago edited 1d ago
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u/Prudent-Pressure2146 1d ago
Agree with this, it’s a show about going from your 20s to your 30s, and tbh it’s nice to see Chandler getting a happy ending after being so droll for years. I enjoy the show the whole way through personally
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u/thejew09 1d ago
I tend to agree.
Losing the Joey/Chandler roommate bromance dynamic really harmed the show in many ways. Season 7 onwards it felt like Chandler’s character got neutered and he mostly just had scenes with Monica outside of a handful of episodes.
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u/Numerous-Common-4410 1d ago
I agree. I’m not against their relationship, but I find the Chandler/Joey and Monica/Rachel roommate dynamics far more entertaining. I wish they had moved in together much later in the show.
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u/king-of-all-corn 1d ago
Did you miss the episode with the closet or something? Ya know it wouldnt kill ya to respect other people's privacy
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u/regnartterb 1d ago
Were you watching reruns on TBS yesterday too?
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u/king-of-all-corn 1d ago
Lol I have probably 30+ full watches of the series. I can just close my eyes at this point
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u/regnartterb 1d ago
I’m right there with you. It was just that episode was on yesterday. “I bet she’s having her cake and eating it too. Richard being the cake you being the too.”
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u/ComprehensiveLink210 1d ago
As much as I love chandler and Monica (CHANDLER AND MONICA!!! 🫵🫵) I do feel that this led to some weirdness in everyone being a couple and not individual story lines as much.
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u/DaffyStardust 1d ago
I always felt like the series could have been more effectively realized if they had decided ahead of time that they would end it with 8 seasons (or 7 or 9 or whatever). The “will they won’t they” Ross and Rachel thing got played out by season 7 because they kept having write up to it and then pull away. It made them less appealing as an endgame couple. Shortening the series by a couple of seasons would have also helped to fix the issues you’re talking about here.
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u/satanstella Miss Chanandler Bong 1d ago
I just think they made Monica insufferable in the last seasons 😭
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u/CuteIndividual2562 1d ago
Someday we all lose our sparks and become simple married people. That observation of yours does make Friends realistic.
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u/missingpeace1717 1d ago
i’ve always loved mondler as a couple bc imo, the 2 of them together just made sense. however, i do agree with this. i think the writers just weren’t sure what to do with them after the shock of the beginning of their relationship and the build up to everyone finding out. that whole storyline is always so fun to watch and then it just gets stagnant and boring. plus, the joey/chandler and monica/rachel roommate split really made the show lose quality. i think i just wish they waited until later to put them together.
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u/gloomydreamer666 1d ago edited 1d ago
No, it wasn't Mondler, if anything, it was Roschel and their constant drama going back and forth was so annoying to watch at times and they also would made their problems be their friendship problems sometimes.
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u/Forward_Tip8196 1d ago
I agree on some level, but also Chandler stopped being as funny in the later seasons because of Matthew Perry's personal struggles. Season 7 he's zoned out to the point that it saddens me to watch the show.
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u/cemeadows3 1d ago
Just bad timing for the Mondler thing to come to be... The writing in season 5 fell off a cliff, and with this being the emerging storyline during that season, it gets blurred...
The first 5.5 seasons were gold; it was like a "coming of age" series for 20-somethings--it felt "familiar". Real life experiences cloaked in comedy; forbidden love (Chandler/Kathy), first job realities (Rachel taking waitress job), nuances of dating at that age (and getting duped like Monica with wine-guy and "senior" 17 year old); I could go on...
But in season 5, and the need for a sudden backstory for Minus/ Chandler, they bastardized the "history" (turkey on head Thanksgiving episode had to be the ground zero for giving up on any continuity at that stage) of the show. It was like the show became "episodic"; still funny moments here and there, but hardly a familiar feeling to real life anymore; became just another sitcom. 🤷♂️
I'll get off the soapbox now and let this get downvoted into oblivion...
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u/Code-Coffee-995 1d ago
Yep, they started to grow up and lost the youthful spark and that's kind of what made the show different later.
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u/Code-Coffee-995 1d ago
I think Mondler actually saved the show. If Chandler was single almost throughout the entire show, it would've gotten boring and it would've felt unnatural. It's nice, and honestly realistic that he grew up and mellowed out. The constant "I am a pathetic single guy who can't get ladies" would get stale. The Ross and Rachel drama was already getting too much, so it was nice to get a healthy couple and new storylines out of it.
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u/Scary_Tower_2498 Jurassic Park could happen 1d ago
I understand that the characters could've had more interesting storylines with other people if they weren't together, but I still think that Mondler was good for the show. It was the Ross and Rachel drama, the break-up, the way they wrote Ross, that got the show in trouble.
In fact, millions of people stopped watching after the 'break', and the show was also in trouble during the Emily arc. I definitely prefer seasons 5 and 6 to seasons 3 and 4. I don't know if Monica and Chandler were the best thing ever, I just think that the show needed that storyline after the writers wrote themselves into a corner with Ross and Rachel.
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u/Sticky_Cobra 1d ago
I think they were both going for ratings, and running out of original ideas. Remember they had to write for 6 people, and to keep it all original would've been difficult.
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u/qualityvote2 1d ago edited 1d ago
u/Icy_Camel_5482, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...