Friends - Ending Explained

The series long-arc is defined by the Ross and Rachel reunion. After ten years of breakups, other marriages (Emily), and a child (Emma), they finally commit to each other in the last minutes of the finale. Another major revelation is Monica and Chandler’s secret romance starting in London at the end of Season 4, which evolved from a one-night stand into the show's most stable marriage. The finale reveals that Monica and Chandler’s surrogate, Erica, is having twins (a surprise to the couple), and the group finally leaves the apartment where they spent their youth, symbolizing the end of an era.

One popular fan theory suggests that the entire series is a meth-addled hallucination of Phoebe, who remains homeless and is staring through the window of Central Perk at five strangers she wishes were her friends. Another interpretation posits that the characters are all patients in a psychiatric hospital, with the apartments and coffee shop representing different wards of the facility. A more literary reading suggests the characters represent the Seven Deadly Sins, with Phoebe as Lust, Monica as Pride (or Wrath), and Joey as Gluttony.