Monica Geller deserves a fair share of the hatred that Ross Geller receives. She receded from the girl who talked about her compromised taste in men, to a happily married snob. Once her and Chandler’s relationship was set in stone, she couldn’t stop passing judgment on other characters.
Monica caused intentional injury to her friends. There was a time when Monica maintained the plate-throwing-Pictionary moment was accidental. And there came a time when she held strongly onto Rachel’s hand for messing with her wedding cards. Here are ten reasons why Monica went from being bad to becoming the worst.
Always The Hostess To Putting Words In People’s Mouths
It wasn’t Monica’s duty to be the hostess of the group in the first place. But she took pride in that job. She owned it. When Chandler and Joey exchanged apartments with Monica and Rachel, she cleaned and readied the apartment to perfection. It was Rachel’s apartment too. Monica, on the other hand, worked for two days straight to put it together for everybody. The caregiving aspect was central to her character.
The erosion of Monica’s caregiving happened with her marriage to Chandler. She didn’t want to cook the Thanksgiving turkey. She didn’t think it was fair that every year the burden fell on her. Worst of all, she didn’t have the guts to say it to her friends. She asked Chandler to make the announcement instead.
Judging Rachel’s Life Choices After Getting Married
Monica made her mistakes too. At Ross’s wedding, she came looking for Joey but slept with Chandler instead. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Monica always thought she was free to do whatever she liked, like invite her ex-boyfriend’s son as a date. She hated it when people made fun of her for dating young Ethan. But suddenly Rachel was a slut because she’d kissed two guys in one night.
Rachel was an archetype of a free-spirited girl. God forbid Monica was one. If Rachel made out with co-worker Tag, so did Monica.
Being Hypocritical
Monica slept with Paul on their first date. Paul may have laid the groundwork for the fifth date kind of revelation but Monica showed him some extra sympathy for the no snap in his turtle. He spent the night with her, at the end of which Monica said she was in trouble, big time!
As an adult, it was okay for Monica to sleep with guys on the first date. And yet somehow she shamed Rachel for her doing this in the past. Whenever Monica was passing judgments on Rachel, she was just being a bully.
I’m Engaged!
Monica wanted marriage more than anything. The whole independent, taking charge of your own life, living by your rules was a facade. Everyone she dated was a potential suitor to her. Richard, Pete, Paul were all prospective husbands to Monica. There isn’t anything wrong with desiring marriage. It’s noticeable how the show-makers had to sell Monica into marriage to keep up with the pace of its success.
So when Monica and Chandler finally got engaged, it seemed like she was the only one getting engaged. She kept saying the engagement party was just hers. She actually thanked people for being at her apartment on her special night. It was incredibly mean of Monica to have everyone raise a toast to her. Where was Chandler in all of this?
Ridiculing Her Brother
It’s been established how the night of Chandler and Monica’s engagement belonged only to Monica. Her night..her celebration…and so on, so forward.
When Ross and Rachel kissed in the hallway, Monica made a big deal about it. She raised hell in her living room, only to have others become a party to this little incident. Chandler didn’t care about Ross and Rachel’s brief kiss, but Monica made a point of salvaging her ego by insulting Rachel and Ross’s love life. Monica, no more the girl who ordered a decaf for runaway bride Rachel or calmed Ross down when Carol moved her stuff out.
Hijacking Phoebe’s Wedding
Monica came a long way from the girl who freaked out over misplacing her green ottoman. There’s isn’t an iota of doubt to Monica’s managerial skills. But hijacking someone’s wedding, and making arrangements as if it was your own? The moment Monica became Phoebe’s wedding planner, she drove Pheobe crazy. She needed Phoebe at the rehearsal dinner at 18:00 hours. Phoebe was insulted for not knowing the military time. And this was just the beginning.
Monica disrespected Phoebe’s wish of wanting a simple wedding. She ordered an ice sculpture, fired Marjorie from playing the drums because steel drums didn’t really say elegant wedding. The potstickers weren’t vegetarian anymore and Phoebe’s finance couldn’t go to the bathroom anytime he wanted!
Physical Abuse
Part of Monica’s OCD was her propensity to get violent and experience anger attacks at times. As understood from the Pictionary incident in “The One With All Poker.” Monica repeatedly kept saying she was gesturing and the plate slipped out of her hand.
Monica was fairly competitive too. She wrestled Ross to prove she was quick as a cat, hit Rachel with a sock, ran after Janine. But worst of all, she hurt Rachel’s hand once she learned Rachel had forgotten to send out her wedding invitations. By the by, Rachel was pregnant at the time. So essentially, Monica was hurting a pregnant lady for something that hadn’t even gone wrong.
Incredible Need To Please People
The Monica that fans knew called people out for their wrong-doings. A few instances in light of this argument would be informing Rachel people had jobs to buy stuff, forbidding Mrs.Geller from smoking pot around the food. Earlier she didn’t seem to mind when people were mad at her.
But when the same Mrs. Geller was mad at Monica for not being invited to Rachel’s baby shower, Monica couldn’t just let it go. She powdered her ass because of the nervousness. She repeatedly apologized to Sandra even though Phoebe was in charge of the invitations. Monica was counting on Sandra to be mad at Rachel, so she could swoop in and be like the daughter Sandra never had. No wonder Phoebe said she had a new respect for Chandler.
Regressive Mindset About Marriage
Monica was obsessed with marriage. She wanted it more than anything in the world. It’s unsurprising that she’d judge people for not getting married. Monica even called out Rachel for not getting married before she did. For Monica getting married before her beautiful, desirable friend wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
“Maybe you’re feeling a little resentful. Maybe ah, maybe you thought you’d get married first! Maybe you can’t stand the fact that your formally fat friend is getting married before you!” So that’s self-deprecation, single-shaming, body-shaming all in one. Great going, Friends!
The Secret Closet
Apartment 20 was neither Rachel’s nor Chandler’s. It only belonged to Queen Monica. Even though both her mates paid the rent for it, things moved according to Monica’s will. First Rachel couldn’t move the Ottoman or decorate with the seashell lamp. Then Chandler couldn’t bring his Barca lounger.
The one time Chandler spent all his day cleaning the apartment, he feared for his life. Monica dealt strongly with messers at her apartment, while all these years she hid a secret closet with stuff. And when Chandler asked to share that closet, Monica was afraid he would mess her messed-up closet.
