Ross And Rachel Were 100% On A Break

Every single Friends fan has had the same debate. Were Ross and Rachel really on a break? Was Ross sleeping with the girl from the copy place really cheating? And should Rachel have ended it? He is her lobster after all.

‘We were on a break!’ is Ross’s favourite impassioned line, which he says in every single season, following The One With The Morning After in season three, but were they?

Today is the legendary David Schwimmer’s 54th birthday, and so, today feels like as good a day as any to put the whole ‘we were on a break’ thing to rest. I mean, it’s been 23 years, guys.

There are few things in life that make me as skin crawlingly uncomfortable as when Ross calls Rachel to work things out after their fight, only for him to hear Mark from Bloomingdales in the background.

And, equally, as a woman, my gut wrenches for Rachel when she turns up at Ross’s apartment to kiss and make up, while the girl from the copy place is still there, and incidentally, hiding behind the door. Seriously, not cool, Ross.

If I speak to my friends about the whole debate, there’s a very clear gender divide. The girls are Team Rachel and the men are Team Ross. But it’s not as black and white as that.

Here’s the thing. Ross and Rachel were on a break. That is a fact.

For anyone who needs a little refresher, the fight happened after Ross kicked off about Rachel working long hours and putting her career first, despite it being the first job she has ever loved and been passionate about. It’s a dick move, obviously. But, Rachel is the one who initially mentions the break.

‘Maybe we should just take a break,’ she says, to which Ross says they should grab some frozen yogurt. ‘No, a break from us.’

Fast forward 24 hours and Ross has slept with the girl from the copy place, tried to keep it from getting back to Rachel, and then defended himself by saying he thought they had broken up.

‘I didn’t think there was a relationship to jeopardise. I thought we were broken up,’ Ross tells her, to which she replies: ‘We were on a break.’

Even Schwimmer himself has weighed in on the debate, telling Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show earlier this year: ‘Yeah, it is not even a question. They were on a break.’

The real question is not whether they were on a break – because they so clearly were. But, what we should really be debating is whether being on a ‘break’ justified him sleeping with someone else a matter of hours later.

It’s a big fat no from me.

Even after losing the love of his life and pining for Rachel for months, Ross – who we all know is a man of *principles* – can’t swallow his pride and take responsibility for the demise of his relationship.  First of all, he didn’t even bother to read her letter, albeit 18 pages front and back, before unwittingly agreeing that taking responsibility ‘does’ sound like something he do. DOES IT?!

But despite all the difficulties Ross and Rachel went through, from the likes of Paolo, Emily and Russ getting in the way, to successfully co-parenting, and even the ridiculous Rachel and Joey storyline – seriously, what were they thinking? – we all wanted them to work it out. Because, like Pheobe quite rightly says, they’re each other’s lobsters!

Happy birthday, David Schwimmer!

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