Rachel Green

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Rachel Karen Green
First appearance	"The Pilot"
Last appearance	"The Last One"
Created by	David Crane Marta Kauffman
Portrayed by	Jennifer Aniston
Information
Occupation	Waitress at Central Perk (seasons 1–3), Buyer and Personal Shopper at Bloomingdale's (seasons 3–5), Executive at Ralph Lauren (seasons 5–10)

Rachel Karen Green or Greene (born May 5, 1969) is a fictional character on the popular U.S. television sitcom Friends (1994-2004), played by Jennifer Aniston.

Background

Rachel appeared in the Pilot episode running into Central Perk in a rain-soaked wedding dress in search of her old friend Monica Geller, with whom she had had little contact since high school (except that she came to the Gellers' house for Thanksgiving during their freshman year of college as seen in a flashback scene). Rachel, unlike Monica, was popular during high school, and had always been promiscuous, which is steadily reflected in a comical sort of way throughout the series until the last couple of seasons. Rachel had fled her wedding to Barry T. Farber (or Barry Finkle, as has also been mentioned) having discovered she desired the gravy boat that she had been given as a wedding gift more than she desired Barry, Rachel was stuck in a state of arrested development, an adult woman who emotionally had not outgrown adolescence. Rachel's parents are rich and generally disapproving of her lifestyle in the city. Her mother, played by Marlo Thomas, was comically snobbish and her lack of hands-on mothering skills came into when she offered to be the nanny to Rachel and Ross's baby. Her father, Dr. Green was stern and intimidating, as seen in his behaviour toward Ross when Ross and Rachel were dating. In comparison to her sisters, however, Rachel was definitely the most grounded and down to earth Green daughter. Her sister Amy (played by Christina Applegate), was rude and shockingly tactless, while her other sister Jill (played by Reese Witherspoon), was spoiled and vain. Rachel's on-again and off-again relationship with Ross eventually produced a baby, Emma. Rachel's pregnancy was actually the second one of the group after Phoebe had acted as a surrogate to her brother's children. The show ended with Rachel getting back together with Ross. It is unknown whether or not they would marry again (They had drunkenly married on a trip to Las Vegas at the end of season 5). However a hint is dropped in the season premiere of the spin-off Joey where Joey states that all his friends were married, settled and started a family.

Personality

Rachel's personality evolved somewhat over the series. Early on, the focus was on her as a spoiled daddy's girl stereotype, although later in the series, especially after having her baby, Rachel became less self-absorbed. However, she was still the friend most focused on image and very selfish. She was often described as one of the most popular but also one of the snobbiest girls in school, and (Aniston's then-husband) Brad Pitt even once guest-starred as a jilted enemy from high school still angry at her treatment of him. Image-conscious Rachel had had a nose job at some point when she was a teenager, due she claimed, to a deviated septum. Flashback episodes show the teenaged Rachel with her much larger nose and the insinuation is that the operation was for image rather than necessity, a fact seemingly confirmed by a flippant comment from her sister Amy regarding Emma - "Do you ever worry that she's going to get your real nose?" After an unhappy stint as a waitress, she was encouraged by her friends to follow her interests into the world of high fashion. Her focus on image and fashion often came at the expense of any domestic skills, of which she was mocked for having few. In one episode, for example, she memorably used meat when making the group a trifle for Thanksgiving dessert after misreading the recipe.

Relationships

Over the course of the series, Rachel had over 20 different sexual partners, only 5 of which were in the context of a relationship.^[1]

Ross

Rachel is perhaps most famous for her turbulent relationship with Monica's brother Ross Geller. Ross had apparently harboured a crush for Rachel since ninth grade. When Rachel moved to the city, Ross tried to re-kindle his affection, and after a rocky start the two finally got together in "The One With the Prom Video". After an argument over Rachel's friendship with a male co-worker, Rachel announced that they were taking "a break." Ross, thinking that Rachel was ending the relationship, got so drunk that he slept with "the hot girl from the copy place," Chloe. When Rachel found out, she broke up with Ross in a famous scene that involved Ross and Rachel arguing in Monica's living room while the other four friends were trapped in Monica's bedroom. From then on, the two shared an almost-on again-almost-off again relationship. When Phoebe fixes Ross up with her "bald friend Bonnie," Rachel is clearly jealous when she sees that Bonnie is no longer bald, with beautiful flowing hair. In the episode at the beach, where Phoebe learns the true identity of her birth mother, Rachel convinces Bonnie to shave her head again. When Ross asks her why she did it, Rachel admits that it's because she still has feelings for him. While Ross is next door breaking up with Bonnie, Rachel pens a rather long letter to Ross ("18 pages, front and back!" as Ross repeatedly said throughout the episode.) asking him to take responsibility for their first break-up. However, Ross falls asleep while reading the letter, and later bluffs that he agrees with what the letter has to say. Afterwards, after reading the entire letter, which basically asks him if he will take responsibility for all the things that went wrong in their relationship, he finds out he strongly disagrees. He tries to swallow his pride and act like he accepts it; however, when the pair are in bed, and Rachel is saying she's glad she didn't accept her mother's advice "once a cheater, always a cheater" he finally snaps. A very loud "WE WERE ON A BREAK!" is heard being shouted by Ross from the bedroom and they angrily break up again. Rachel's jealousy of Ross's girlfriends continues when Ross meets Emily, and Rachel deliberates for some time before deciding not to go to London for the wedding, citing that "it's Ross" and that it would be too painful. However, she later changes her mind and against the advice of Phoebe she flies to London just in time to see Ross before the ceremony. This results in Ross saying Rachel's name instead of Emily's at his disastrous wedding ceremony in London. When Ross's new bride does not appear at the airport for their honeymoon, Ross instead invites Rachel to accompany him to Greece. However, Emily making a show at the last minute, sees Rachel getting on the plane as Ross' companion. When Ross sees Emily running away, he chases her, abandoning Rachel on the plane to Greece. When Rachel returns from Greece, she is determined to tell Ross what she didn't get a chance to tell him in London - that she still loves him. Despite Monica trying to talk her out of it, she tells him, but immediately realises how funny it sounds, leaving a bemused Ross to consider the comical state of his marriage thus far. Later, on a trip to Las Vegas, the two got married after a drinking binge. Unable to get an annulment, they had to divorce, despite Ross's panic over being a "triple divorcee." Rachel and Ross later had a baby, Emma, who was conceived after a one-night stand, although they chose to remain just friends and live together to raise Emma. Eventually, in the final season, Rachel and Ross finally got together for good after she almost moved to Paris for a new job. In the first Episode of the spin-off Joey, Joey revealed that Ross and Rachel eventually got married by saying that everyone of his friends got married.

Monica

The other friend Rachel was closest to was Monica, her friend since high school. In their high school years, it is revealed that Rachel was a popular cheerleader with a string of boyfriends while Monica was her less attractive and overweight best friend. They remained close however, and later became roommates after Rachel ran out on her wedding and went to Central Perk looking for Monica's support in the show's first episode. Monica didn't expect their relationship to last however when in a flashback episode (shown as when Rachel was celebrating her engagement with Barry with her friends, Monica remarks: "10 bucks says I'll never see that woman again in my life".) Their living situation lasted for the first several seasons until eventually Chandler moved in with Monica. Rachel's moving out drew the two women to tears. Later, they had a near falling out when, on the day of Monica's engagement to Chandler, Monica caught Rachel and Ross kissing, and accused Rachel of always trying to "steal her thunder".

Career

Rachel got her first job as a waitress at Central Perk. She turned out to be hopeless, taking long breaks to sit with her friends and regularly mixing up orders. In the third season, after encouragement from Joey and Chandler she quit her coffee shop job to enter a career in fashion, working as a personal assistant at Fortunata Fashions. Later on, she got a job as an assistant buyer at Bloomingdale's with the help of colleague Mark, but after Mark leaves and her boss Joanna dies, her department is closed out and she is demoted to personal shopper. She then became a buyer at Ralph Lauren, where she memorably had an affair with her assistant, Tag Jones. In some episodes when acquaintances are impressed by Rachel's occupation and query whether Rachel knows Ralph Lauren himself, she always reply that she does not. In the final episodes of the last season, Rachel was fired from Ralph Lauren when her boss overheard her having a job interview with Gucci. She was then offered a lucrative job in Paris with Louis Vuitton by her ex-colleague Mark, and accepted, leading to Ross' anguish in the show's finale episode, however Rachel decides to stay after realizing she loves Ross.

Surname

Some inconsistency in the spelling of the surname has led to confusion as to the correct spelling. In the credits it is spelled as "Green" when referring to the surnames of her parents. However, within the show itself it has been spelled "Greene", including when her name was written on an invitation sent out by Ross and a subsequent RSVP.^[2] The name plate on her office door also says Greene. The subtitles of the DVDs change: in the earliest seasons' DVDs it's spelled Greene, then changing it to Green.

Production

• Two of Jennifer Aniston's real life boyfriends portrayed characters on the show: Tate Donovan as Rachel's boyfriend Joshua during the fourth season and Brad Pitt as Will, a high school classmate whose intense dislike of Rachel was revealed when he came to Thanksgiving dinner in "The One with the Rumor." (Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were married by the time the episode aired.)

Notes and references

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