The first episode of Friends aired on September 22 1994. It became an international sensation and was translated into many languages. It is said to have impacted and cultivated the culture of ‘found family’ as friends. 

Friends is so distinct because each character can hold the show by themselves. And there is no one lead around which the whole show is constructed.

Through contracts and royalties the Friends cast reportedly still earns about 20 Million each year. Warner Bros. earns about 1 Billion dollars each year through reruns of the series and Friends merchandise. 

Since the finale episode on May 6 2004, except for one rare occasion, the whole cast has never been in the same room together.

Hopes of the fans were majorly hit when it was announced that the filming of the episode was delayed first in March, then in August last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now after almost two decades, the most recognisable set of actors are back together to refresh our memories.

The episode is largely unscripted and starts with the actors walking around The Friends set and being candid with each other. We learn about their memories associated with each iconic prop on set and the audience is sure to get as teary eyed as the cast in these moments. 

Even without a script, we see the team with great repertoire and chemistry. The viewers will certainly feel that the actors share a lot of the core traits with the respective fictional characters they played.

We see the casting team explain the difficulties they faced while casting each character and how risky the shooting was given, at any time one of the actors could leave due to scheduling conflicts and more. 

The audience will also learn the reason why The Friends creator took relatively new actors and why they were against popular faces even though it might have made the audience initially, more likely to watch the show.

During the table-reads of popular episodes, the dialogues sparkle and come alive, once again reminding us of how perfect the casting of each character is. And with frequent spells of laughter throughout the episode from Lisa Kudrow, we see the flashes of cheerful Phoebe that we have all loved for long.

Bringing in celebrities who are fans of the show and sharing their opinions and feelings on each character and their favourite episodes makes us realise that no matter who you are, you can always relate to Friends and they will always be there for you even on bad days. It was a really awesome surprise to see big celebrities like Mindy Kaling, Malala Yousafzai and David Beckham gush about the show.

The episode has a lot of bloopers reels to which the cast reacts and we learn about the lesser known behind the scene shoots, facts and rituals.

Aside from answering the infamous ‘Break’ question, there is also a Janice ‘Ohhh Myyy Goddd’ level reveal in this episode regarding Ross and Rachel. It is going to make you pause the episode and take a deep breath to register the shock. We learn that David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston had a crush on one another during the shooting of Friends!!  This must be the reason for the insanely good chemistry Ross and Rachel had. The actors were actually falling for each other during the show.

The episode ends with a fashion show but with a twist. You’ll see Justin Bieber, Cara Delevingne and Cindy Crawford in new avatars. Stay tuned for that. 

Friends: The Reunion was everything I imagined and expected it to be. It reminds you of the simpler times when you first watched the series and fell in love with it. I highly recommend all Friends fanatics to watch this episode and then inadvertently be inspired to binge watch the whole show again. 

Rating 5/5