We all remember how Friends ended. We’ve seen it a million times over — it gets better and better every single time.
But what if I told you there was an alternate ending…
It’s been 15 years since the very last episode of “Friends” aired on television.
And not a day goes by that I don’t wish the show would have kept going for at least another couple seasons.
Watching the series come to an end is a hurt I will never get over.
But of course, the ending was emotional af.
I’m sure you don’t need a memory refresher on this, but in case you do:
Rachel gets a job offer in Paris, she takes the job — leaving her baby daddy, Ross, behind.
At the last second, Ross was convinced that he needed to chase Rachel down before she got on her flight and declare his love to her.
But he accidentally went to the wrong airport and lost his chance to stop her from getting on the plane in person.
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Or so we thought…
Luckily, Phoebe was able to save the day.
She called Rachel’s cell phone and tried to stall her by telling her the plane’s left “phalange” was broken.
The passenger sitting next to Rachel overheard the conversation and began to panic over this fictitious plane malfunction — causing everyone to have to get off the plane, and saving Ross just enough time to make it to the correct airport.
It was epic.
Ross was able to reach Rachel just in time to tell her he loved her.
But she got overwhelmed by Ross’ sudden outpour of feelings and got on the plane anyway.
For a moment we all thought that they might not live happily ever after, after all.
But just as the plane was about to take off, she realized that she loved him back, got off the plane, and went to his apartment.
Effectively canceling her plans to move to Paris.
Okay, so that’s the ending we know and love. But what if I told you that Ross could have gone to Paris with Rachel instead?
Blogger, Jackson Upperco, revealed on That’s Entertainment! , that he found and purchased a script called ‘The One Where Jetlag Wins’ that contained a shocking alternate ending to the final episode of Friends .
The episode was eventually named ‘The One Where Estelle Dies’.
Instead of Ross frantically trying to get Rachel her job back at Ralph Lauren, he supports Rachel’s decision to move to Paris.
The episode begins with the couple in Paris together, joking that they are “practically Parisians”.
In the spirit of becoming Parisian, Ross and Rachel attempt to shake their jet-lag and get used to France time.
But this proves to be more difficult than they expected when they end up wide awake at 1 am, starving .
They try to order room service in broken French — but no dice.
Ross hilariously decides the only solution is to steal from the hotel kitchen.
They manage to sneak cherry and pate baguette — a very questionable midnight snack.
As the couple fill up on their bizarre meal, Rachel starts to worry that she won’t be able to handle moving to Paris alone.
Ross then suggests that he could take a one year leave from his job to help Rachel get settled in. After all, he did just get tenure .
“I’ll take a sabbatical for a year. They just gave me tenure. I can do whatever I want,” he says.
This would have been the perfect ending. But there was a twist!
In a perfect world, Ross would have been able to take a year off to spend with Rachel in Paris — and then likely just end up staying there with her indefinitely.
But sadly, he overestimated the perks of tenure.
The university denied Ross’ request for a year off, completely foiling their Parisian plans.
This is what would have led Rachel to try and go to Paris alone, leaving Ross that fateful voicemail, and ultimately choosing love over her career.
The blogger had some thoughts on this alternate ending:
“I thought the story we ended up with was much funnier and more polished, but this story was better at building up to Ross and Rachel’s romantic reunion in the finale.”
Ultimately, the ending we got was the ending we got — and it’s aged perfectly. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
What do you think of the series finale of Friends alternate ending?
Which ending do you prefer?
