For a show about hugely likeable characters and their various failures to launch, Friends had some oddly dark episodes: Phoebe's mom killed herself, her mother abandoned her and then basically shunned her for his new family even after they'd met, and Joey manages to manically depress a dog. But the show also had some very odd episodes: Joey goes from a perfectly functioning human being to a barely capable, very obviously developmentally retarded man-child for the sake of a few gags (like his French speaking episode), and Ross goes from geek to horribly vain, teeth-whitening, spray-tan wearing Gelboy. Characters get utterly sold down the river in the interest of raising a few smiles, and nobody suffers more than Ross (though the portrait of Chandler as a young man does make you question why anyone would want to be his friend at all). Not only does the elder Gellar child again ignore his occupational duty by banging a student, he also commits incest - or almost does - on TWO separate occasions for the sake of some giggles. It's revealed that him and Monica once made out at a party, unbeknownst to them, and that he (along with everyone else) is sexually attracted to his own cousin. Those shouldn't be story lines in Friends, and certainly not for the character who was once presented as the grounded one.
