Friends: Every Season Finale Ranked Worst To Best

Though The One At The Beach ranks in the lower half, it featured one of the series' greatest cliffhangers.

With the episode based in Montauk and the gang all staying together, Ross ends the episode by walking down a hall towards the rooms. On one side is his and Bonnie's - Phoebe's friend - room. On the other, Rachel's.

It was the perfect culmination to an episode ripe with Ross and Rachel drama. They had kissed earlier in the episode during a strip game of Happy Days, while Rachel was shown to be jealous at Ross and Bonnie's relationship due to her still having feelings for Ross herself, something that Monica notices when she attempts to paint his nails and serve him margaritas.

The season three finale was also crucial in the development of Phoebe's relationship with her family. The whole reason for the gang being in Montauk was because Pheebs was pursuing a woman who apparently knew where her father was. Instead, the woman in question, Phoebe Abbott, was in fact her birth mother, adding an intriguing new layer to Phoebe's tragic life. Really, this would have served well as a cliffhanger.

It's a season finale that worked on many levels, but other finales simply achieved this better.