Rachel Green is the secret protagonist of Friends. The pilot and whole first season frame this as a story about a naive, spoiled young girl setting out to find herself and come of age.
“I’m gonna go get one of those job things!”
Rachel is the proxy we enter this world through.
“Welcome to the real world! It sucks—you’re gonna love it!”
Her story is a classic upward arc: young woman comes to the big city, does laundry for the first time, works hard, and makes a name for herself. She’s also the heroine of the show’s central romantic comedy which wraps with her getting her man (whether we all agree he’s much of a prize or not!).
Ultimately, Rachel is the true protagonist of Friends because she most demonstrates the message of the show—that to grow into our authentic best selves, we have to spend our twenties investing in our friends, embracing messiness, striving and failing.
“It’s like there’s rock bottom, 50 feet of crap, then me.”
Doing what scares her is what leads Rachel to a fulfilling life.
“Mom, I realize you and daddy were upset when I didn’t marry Barry and get the big house in the suburbs with all the security and everything, but God, this is just so much better for me.”