DVD Review: Friends: Season 10

Friends, the groundbreaking series and one of the most popular TV sitcoms of all time, is releasing its tenth and final season on DVD, including 18 episodes with never-before-seen footage and extensive bonus features, including a 45-minute gag reel!

Review:
We find the seminal television series of the past decade come to a close in the Friends Tenth Season DVD release. The season begins with the awkward Joey-Rachel hookup. They soon go back to being just friends when it seems that venturing into unfamiliar “making out” territory proves troublesome and unsuccessful. I believe I speak for most when I say that I wasn’t crazy about that story line- though, the show quickly recovers and the final season finds that comfortable groove again. Once it fell back into the groove the tenth season distinguished itself from the first nine by focusing on the characters finally moving on- Chandler and Monica attempting to adopt a child and purchasing a home outside the city, Phoebe getting married, Ross’ tenure as a professor, and Rachel receiving a job offer in Paris. The final 18 episodes in the series seemed like a whirl-wind of events and changes. Understandably, Joey was quite apprehensive and panic-stricken over all the changes going on around him- it seemed the family he had acquired over the last ten years were all dispersing and moving on with their lives.

But, alas, all good things must come to an end. And that is what this final installment is about- closure. There are even a few surprises in the last few episodes. Like Ross’ supposed first kiss with Rachel while he was in college, Chandler’s first kiss with Rachel which incidentally occurs on the same day, and Monica mentioning the summer that Ross spent at their grandparents when he tried to make it as a professional dancer with Ross remarking, “Do you realize we almost made it 10 years without that coming up?” Although, we can’t expect the Friends who have all long ago eclipsed thirty years of age to continue dating, and job hopping forever, but I believe that many faithful viewers share Joey’s reluctance to say goodbye. However, I can’t think of a better way to end the television show that has become such a large part of many people’s lives. I won’t give away the ending in case there are still of you out there who didn’t watch the finale when it aired- just make sure you have plenty of tissues nearby. The final episode is a bitter-sweet goodbye if there ever was one and I’ll just say that it ends the way everyone would want it to.

The tenth season of Friends is the perfect way to say goodbye. And instead of allowing the friends to wear out their welcome to the point that the show just became a self-parody of itself, the cast and the producers decided to leave on top- just the way it should be. The Friends we grew to know and love over the last ten years have all moved on now, but we at least we have the DVDs to remember them by, and whenever we want to revisit them we can just pop a disc in the player and relive all those classic moments.

Review by Emma Loggins

Grade: A+
Staff Favorite
Official site: http://www.friendstv.com/
Buy on Amazon: Friends: Season 10