All Of The Love Triangles On 'Friends'

When people think of the relationships on Friends , most folks usually think of two couples: Chandler and Monica, the "friends first" couple that meets every single one of our relationship goals, and Ross and Rachel, the "will-they-won't-they" pair that eventually did. Romantic relationships aren't the crux of the show by any means (the show would have been more aptly titled Lovers, if so) but there were certainly more romances than just the two iconic pairings — and a heck of a lot more romantic drama than most people remember looking back, namely some seriously dramatic Friends love triangles.

Friends was filled with plenty of romantic entanglements, some of which got in the way of the friendship between the core six. At the end of the day this group always put their friendships first, but there were certain episodes where that ground was just a tad shaky. Sometimes the heart wants what it wants, even if "what it wants" is its roommate's current girlfriend or the mother of its best friend's baby. Love was sometimes seriously risky business for these friends, but we can thank the TV Gods for having every situation work itself out by the 24-minute mark.

So in honor of all that hilarious tumult, here are Friends' most memorable love triangles:

1. Chandler, Kathy, & Joey

It's tough to get in the way of a friendship as strong as Joey and Chandler's, but it turns out a pretty redhead could do just that. After spending some time with Joey's girlfriend Kathy, Chandler starts to fall for her. Eventually it's revealed that the feelings are mutual, and the two kiss. Chandler tells Joey, who is understandably pissed — so pissed that Chandler has to make it up to him by spending Thanksgiving inside of a box. Joey eventually forgives Chandler and gives him his blessing to go and get the girl — who ends up cheating on Chandler with her co-star.

2. Phoebe, Coma Guy, & Monica

Phoebe and Monica see a cute guy walking down the street — and then see him get hit by a car and fall into a coma. Yikes. After visiting him in the hospital, Phoebe and Monica begin projecting their fantasies on Coma Guy and begin fighting over the unconscious man. Unfortunately, Coma Guy was better as a fantasy than a reality and neither Phoebe nor Monica took this guy out in the real world.

3. Phoebe, Hot Cell Phone Guy, & Rachel

When Phoebe and Rachel find the cellphone left behind by a hot guy, they naturally argue over which one of them gets to give it back to him and thus spark the start of a passionate love affair. It turns out that the answer to said argument is Phoebe — except the owner is not exactly the hot guy they originally thought. The hot dude's boss (who is just shy of 70) comes to retrieve the phone, and Rachel "steps aside" in order to let Phoebe go out with him. How generous.

4. Ross, Charlie, & Joey

Ross finally meets Charlie, a beautiful, brilliant woman who isn't bored to death by dinosaur talk... and Joey goes out with her first. Eventually, Charlie and Ross hook up in Barbados, which is perfectly fine — because Rachel and Joey are doing the same thing. Speaking of...

5. Ross, Rachel, & Joey

Ross wasn't exactly thrilled to see his best friend Joey macking on his baby momma Rachel, no matter how "fine" he said he was with it. Fortunately for Ross, the relationship fizzled out when they both smartly realized how weird it was that they were considering dating in the first place.

5. Mike, Phoebe, & David

Phoebe was head-over-heels for David, until he had to go to Russia for a research study that was meant to last "until he achieved the molecular distillation of subatomic particles" — so, forever. When he miraculously came back, Phoebe was dating Mike and had to pick between the one that got away and the best thing that ever happened to her. Ultimately, Phoebe picked Mike after both he and David proposed to her at the same time. Good girl, Pheebs.

6. Chandler, Monica, & Richard

Monica's first real relationship on the show was with Richard, an older friend of her family's. They broke up after he didn't want to have kids, but apparently Richard always held a torch for Monica because he wanted her back the second Chandler started thinking about proposing. Eventually the truth was revealed: the only person who had Monica's heart was Chandler, which she proved to him by proposing in their candle-filled apartment. Aww!

No matter what love triangles this six got mixed up in, at the end of the day, friendship trumped all. Who cares if the web of hookups between them was a bit tangled along the way?

Images: Warner Bros. Television (8)