Friends: Season 5
Divorce number 2 is immediately on the cards as the fifth season opens with "The One After Ross Says Rachel." As of this point, Ross's character undergoes some extreme personality changes (which apparently lost David Schwimmer many female fans). His incessant whining drives all the Friends to distraction, especially in "The One Where Ross Moves In" with Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc). Later things get uncomfortable both at work and at home when he goes through a period of rage ("The One with Ross's Sandwich"). While all this downplays his failed relationship with Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), the real idea is to allow focus on the secret pairing of Chandler and Monica (Courteney Cox) after a night of passion in London. This made for a return to the show's appealingly silly atmosphere as poor Joey is caught in the middle of everyone's secrets. Building to "The One Where Everybody Finds Out," the silliness pauses for some genuinely touching interplay between Perry and Cox. The previous year's semi-serious thread about Phoebe's (Lisa Kudrow) birth gets forgotten fast: to distract the viewer she's introduced to Gary (Michael Rapaport) in "The One with the Cop." This leads to some hilarious parodying with Phoebe interrogated about apartment hunting, and the guys excited and then scared in "The One with the Ride-Along." She's more than over him by the time of the two-part finale, "The One in Vegas," though, especially since she missed out on London. Just in case fans thought Chandler and Monica had permanently stolen the spotlight, a cliffhanger shocks expectation again with Ross and Rachel bursting out of a chapel....--Paul Tonks