A Friends fan discovered a continuity detail that underlined a major issue that many reviewers had with Joey over the ten seasons.
Naturally, Joey (Matt LeBlanc), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Monica (Courteney Cox), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Ross (David Schwimmer), and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) evolved dramatically after 236 episodes spanning a decade.
But perhaps none more so than Joey.
The Days of Our Lives actor was never the brightest tool in the box, but his idiocy grew out of control, and he became such an extreme version of himself that his demeanour was virtually unrecognisable.
He was essentially Joey’s caricature.
One Reddit user has discovered a ‘small element’ that was a narrative flaw but also shows how Joey was finally wrecked.
Looking back to the third episode of season one, Chandler remembered the widespread tale that parents told their children about their pets being transported to “the farm” after they had truly died.
When Ross told the others that his parents truly did that with their dog, the rest of the group, including Joey, looked at him in amazement.
After Chandler replaced their chick and duck, Joey, who by this point had an inexplicably identical IQ to Marcel the monkey, fell for the same story 10 years later.
‘He says maybe he’ll send them to the farm Chandler took the other chick and duck too,’ noted fan on Reddit.
‘So, does Joey actually know about “the farm”?’ they wrote.
‘Season 1-4 Joey is not the same Joey at all whatsoever in the slightest in (especially) season 9-10 joey,’ replied one fan while another agreed: ‘They dumbed him down way too much’.
‘Joey got flanderised and dumbed down so much during the series; by season 10 it was criminal lmao,’ said a third.
Regardless, Friends was and continues to be the most successful comedy of all time, watched by millions of people, even younger generations who didn’t grow up with the cast – even though they and Jennifer Aniston have admitted it hasn’t aged well.
Friends is available to stream on Netflix now.
