Name: Phoebe Buffay, the Mystery Ingredient of Friends
Uploaded: 2019-05-13T17:09:09.000Z
Duration: 14 min 45 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Sometimes Phoebe Buffay can feel a little superfluous on Friends,

I've always felt kind of like an outsider.

You know, the rest of you have these connections that go way back.

Major storylines don't usually revolve around her,

because she never dates anyone in the group,

and we only see her live with other friends briefly.

So on one level, it's easy to see Rachel's point

that if anyone were to be phased out of the group, it would be Phoebe.

But if you were to take Phoebe out of the show, the mix just wouldn't work.

Because she's the mystery ingredient that spices things up,

Phoebe's edgy, layered personality adds complexity to a series that,

We have it all. We have crushed, cubed, and dry -- watch -- ah.

So what is it about Phoebe that the whole group together and adds that extra special magic?

"PHOEBE BUFFAY: THE MISTERY INGREDIENT OF FRIENDS"

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Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you? Everybody!

Phoebe is the secret mastermind of the group.

She uses her insights about other characters to pull invisible strings.

I like to think of myself as the puppet master of the group.

Phoebe, the puppet master, can be a bit of a troublemaker.

Tell him who you originally wanted to hook up with that night.

Oh my God! Monica, he's the stripper from your bachelorette party!

and even straight up meddling in her friends' personal lives.

We could set Ross and Rachel up on horrible dates, so they'll realize how good they are together.

Phoebe's interference can have a good or bad immediate effect.

Yet Phoebe's friends need her straight-talking and boldness

because she pushes them to confront their true feelings about things.

Now you know how you really feel about it.

She helps Rachel see that she's still in love with Ross,

If someone I was still in love with was getting married--

and at another point, she confronts Ross about his love for Rachel.

Now he's using this three divorces reason because he wants to stay married to her because he loves her.

She pretends to seduce Chandler to get him to openly admit he's dating Monica.

And in the series finale, her phone call to Rachel --

Something is wrong with the left Phalange.

creates a frenzy on the plane and delays Rachel's flight,

which gives Ross the opportunity to confess his love just in time.

Phoebe seems to take some pleasure in stirring up drama and then sitting back and watching it play out.

Like when she uses her friends' lives as material for her book.

Monic...Marsha and Chester are planning on seeing a movie Sunday night.

Marsha thinks they're supposed to meet at 6. Chester thinks it's at 7.

So you knew we were gonna miss the movie?

We get the sense that Phoebe is studying these people

and manipulating them far more than we realize.

in the long run, she's helping her friends move closer toward what they truly want.

We can understand Phoebe's role in the friend group by looking at the Triple Goddess archetype.

The idea is that there are three female figures: the maiden, the mother, and the crone.

So on Friends, Rachel would be the naive and beautiful maiden of the group.

Monica is the practical, mature mother figure.

That's not to say that Phoebe's an old woman,

but that she has world experience, perspective and insight beyond her years.

There are children coming into the world in this very building, and your negative fighting noises are not the first thing they should be hearing.

She sees the big picture more clearly than her friends do.

You love her, you always have, you have a child together.

And for the audience, Phoebe serves the function of commenting on the other characters.

She points out what's going on with them even when they can't see it themselves.

It's clear that she's always a whole lot of steps ahead of everyone else.

- Oh my god, I can't believe it! - Holy mother of God!

Phoebe's world-wisdom and savvy come from the extreme trauma and tragedy she experienced in her past.

My mom had killed herself and my dad had run off.

And I was living in a gremlin with a guy named Cindy who talked to his hand.

The show makes a joke of how terrible Phoebe's childhood was.

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Phoebe Buffay, the Mystery Ingredient of Friends

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