9 Ups & 3 Downs From Friends: The Reunion

2. The One Where They All Meet, Again

That your writer was already tearing up within the first ten minutes was a fine indication that this was going to be a journey.

The cold open to the special noted that the core cast had only been in the same room together once since the finale aired in 2004, so it was only right that emotions were running high as they each made their way through the door to what is aptly named the Friends Stage.

In order, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Anniston, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox, and Matthew Perry arrived, each more emotional than the last. Anniston, for example, asked for the tissue box almost immediately, whereas Cox entered the stage already teary.

Upon the cast members' arrival, they each took a look around the stage that, really, made them the stars they are today. It was nice, albeit a bit eery; seeing Central Perk without a single coffee patron isn't right.

This was the perfect way to begin the special. Consider the actual opening shot, too; it began at the final scene in The Last One, a shot of the door in Monica and Chandler's apartment, before panning round to show the old Friends stage. It was legitimate television beauty.