10 Terrible Friends Storylines That Should Have Been Cut
3. Mark
Just when things are going well for Ross and Rachel, the showrunners introduce Mark in season three. A successful designer at Bloomingdale's, he manages to get Rachel a job working with him, a major boost for her fashion career. Ross is jealous about the whole situation, and it's the amount of time Rachel spends with Mark that starts the couple on the course to their break-up.
It was a real twist in the end that Ross and Rachel end up separating only a season after they actually get together, but the shameful part is that this all began because of Mark. He was clearly a character designed to stir up trouble, but you would think the couple would have been stronger at this point than to allow a third party to interfere with them. It wasn't what fans wanted at all, and if the pair had to break up, then it would have been a stronger story arc for the pair to deal with their own issues, rather than have someone else involved.
While many people have argued over the years that Ross was too controlling over Rachel's friendship with the designer, the irony is he was right all along - Mark did have feelings for Rachel, and he doesn't wait long to ask her out after the pair split. It's a bit of a slap in the face for fans who had longed for Ross and Rachel.