Every character on Friends has a particular charm. They all react to each other in a way that, even if you could only see the effect, it wouldn’t be hard to guess the cause. An eye roll from Joey or Chandler? Ross probably just admitted that he gave up sports to become a scientist. A frustrated sigh from Ross? Phoebe probably just told him the “truth” about gravity. Either that or he just found out that Rachel’s father is in town.
However, when it comes to Monica there always seemed to be a bit of fear involved. Here are 10 times that the characters on Friends seemed afraid of Monica.
When Rachel Hadn’t Packed Yet
After Monica and Chandler reached a new level in their relationship and decided they wanted to move in together, Rachel had to move out of their shared apartment. The key part of the moving process in most cases is packing, which Rachel had yet to start. When Monica found out, Phoebe was dragged onto the packing committee, but not before she ran to warn Chandler, Ross, and Joey about their possible fates. They all scrambled to make excuses, even Ross, who went so far as to make a fake version of his son with a pumpkin head. Why couldn’t they just tell her no?
When Joey’s Head Got Stuck In A Turkey
One Thanksgiving, Joey had the big idea to scare Chandler through the picturesque vision of a turkey with an attached human body. Of course, it was the very same turkey that Monica was going to cook for the holiday feast, which sent both Phoebe and Joey into a panic. Phoebe was the first to find him in distress and tried to pry the bird corpse off his head with no success. As they heard someone coming through the door, Phoebe pushed his turkey-covered pate onto a plate. Yes, you could still see his body coming out the other end of it, but anything so Monica didn’t freak out, right?
When Phoebe Moved Out
Phoebe was feeling the pressure of living with Monica and her restrictive rules. If it wasn’t the spilling ban, then it was the over-the-sink eating mandate that pushed Phoebe to take action. She decided to move out of their apartment…without telling Monica.
Phoebe managed to maintain a balancing act for a while, pretending that she still lived there while she slowly moved her things. Her bed was missing long before Monica even noticed anything was different. Between sneaking out every night and sneaking back in every morning, Phoebe went through so much to hide the fact she had moved out.
When Rachel Lost Phoebe’s Loaned Pair Of Earrings
Chandler wanted Monica to wear the earrings he gifted her to their anniversary dinner. Monica remembered she had loaned them to Phoebe, and then Phoebe realized that she had let Rachel wear them. When Rachel found out that the earrings were not Phoebe’s but belonged to Monica, she was visibly stressed. They looked everywhere for the earrings, especially Rachel, who had tons of experience with Monica‘s anger after misplacing quite a few of her belongings. Phoebe finally decided to tell Monica, but Rachel ended up being the one to get an earful anyway.
When Chandler Cleaned The Apartment
Chandler decided to do something nice for Monica and clean their apartment, but all Ross saw when he walked in was a very bad idea. He tried to tell Chandler that Monica wouldn’t like him moving everything around, but Chandler didn’t think it was a big deal. He continued to think it was a very sweet gesture until he called Monica at work. Chandler ended up not doing anything other than proving Ross right when Monica began to rant on and on about how other people always ruin things. Chandler was so worried about her anger that he lied and told her that Ross had a condition, which backfired when she asked Ross if it happened to be the same thing that Chandler once had.
When Chandler Was A Recipient Of The Monica Massage
It was still the honeymoon phase in their relationship when Chandler realized that a massage from Monica was akin to torture. After his first awful experience, he never told her the truth about her unfortunate talent for terrible massages. Later on, when the whole group was together, Monica tried to calm a seemingly tense Phoebe by giving her a massage, which didn’t go well.
When Phoebe felt the horror of the Monica massage, she yelled for her to stop. Utterly confused, Monica attempted to prove herself by massaging Chandler again, this time noticing him cringing in pain. Needless to say, Monica was upset and Chandler was afraid.
When Ben Wouldn’t Stop Crying
Monica truly loved baby Ben from the very beginning, but Ben wasn’t too keen on Monica at first. She tried to soothe little Ben in her arms, but despite her attempts, he wouldn’t stop crying. Ross took Ben and tried to reassure Monica by telling her that he was simply being grumpy. After Ross calmed Ben down a bit, he gave him back to Monica, but the crying started up again. His serene behavior with Ross is understandable because he is Ben’s father, but his comfort with Joey and Chandler is seriously questionable.
When Chandler Thought Monica Had Baby Fever
After everyone found out about Monica and Chandler’s relationship, things seemed to be coming together nicely. Everyone began thinking too far into the future, mentioning wedding dates, gifts, and other things that might occur given the new nature of their relationship. Chandler seemed to be the only person on a different page. He became increasingly alarmed that Monica wanted to immediately get married and have children. This fear isn’t unheard of or unique to Monica and Chandler, but it was a slight overreaction on Chandler’s part. Instead of talking to her, he engaged in a one-on-one game of fear pong in his mind, which showed up in his jumpy behavior. A simple cuddle in a comfy chair became a lifelong commitment he wasn’t ready for.
When Phoebe Didn’t Tell Monica She Was Married
Back in her younger years, Phoebe married her friend Duncan so he could get a green card. Later down the road, Duncan returned to ask Phoebe for a divorce because he wanted to marry a woman named Deborah. Despite Phoebe and Monica living together at the time of their marriage, Monica only had the knowledge that Duncan was Phoebe’s close friend. Phoebe didn’t tell Monica that they had been married, and she probably wouldn’t have if he didn’t show up to ask for a divorce. When Monica confronted Phoebe, she said that she didn’t want to feel judged, which ended up happening anyway after Monica exposed her for eating a sadness cheeseburger after Duncan left.
When Chandler Lost the Wedding Photos
Monica was feeling the after-wedding blues. Wanting to help her feel better, Chandler told her there were so many things to look forward to after the ceremony. Opening gifts, their honeymoon, and looking at the wedding photos were a few of the things that he mentioned as options to cheer her up. The idea of looking at the wedding photos seemed to spark a bit of light in Monica, so Chandler dutifully went to get the disposable cameras developed. He thought Ross had the cameras, but they were nowhere to be found. To avoid Monica’s inevitable reaction, Chandler and Ross went back to the wedding venue and took pictures took pictures with strangers from a random wedding. Chandler even kissed the unfamiliar bride to reenact a similar photo that he captured with Monica. The list of things he went through to get through this ordeal unscathed seemed endless.
