Anybody else think Phoebe from Friends was very intelligent?

I read an article that described Phoebe as a "dumb" character and I actually totally disagree. Sure she's superstitious and uneducated but she had a deprived upbringing and didn't go to school as a teenager. She seems really smart to me, not only did she survive on the streets and get herself into work but she learnt fluent french behind some dumpsters. She also did really well at that adult learning class she took with Rachel/Monica and manage to convince Ross (who dedicated his entire life to studying palaeontology) that there was a possibility evolution was wrong. In the what could have been episode you see she could've been a high powered stock broker. To me she seems shrewd but just a really chilled, kind hearted person. Opinions?

Reply 1

diamondluck

yup, I'm thinking this too. D:
she didn't have the same childhood as the others, growing up on streets and fending for herself. tbh she is really street smart. although, like you said, that one ep showed that she would have worked at merril lynch (dunno if i spelt it correctly) so yea, shows she has great business woman powers and is very intellectual (she was arguing about stocks etc)

i realise i have just repeated you LOL oops

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(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2

Jodie99

Original post by diamondluck

i realise i have just repeated you LOL oops

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Well, great minds do think alike :laugh:

Glad I'm not the only one.

Reply 3

diamondluck

Original post by Jodie99

Well, great minds do think alike :laugh:

Glad I'm not the only one.

haha

i also feel that joey is portrayed as stupid in the later seasons :/ like season 1 he wasn't shown as dumb or anything, then season 10 he has to get advice for a little girl :redface:

found that a drastic change :lol:

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Reply 4

Jodie99

Original post by diamondluck

haha

i also feel that joey is portrayed as stupid in the later seasons :/ like season 1 he wasn't shown as dumb or anything, then season 10 he has to get advice for a little girl :redface:

found that a drastic change :lol:

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Well he's always been a little bit of a stupid character but by season ten he became quite one dimensional, I feel like he had the worst ending.

Reply 5

username612415

Original post by diamondluck

haha

i also feel that joey is portrayed as stupid in the later seasons :/ like season 1 he wasn't shown as dumb or anything, then season 10 he has to get advice for a little girl :redface:

found that a drastic change :lol:

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I think it was less of a character change and more the fact that throughout the series each of the character's defining traits got slowly dialled up to 11. Joey has always been shown to be a bit dense in some degree (in one of the flashback episodes when Chandler was first advertising the spare room Joey moved into, Joey heard "Chandler Bing" on the voicemail and exclaimed "woah, short message!"), it just got hammed up and up as the show went on. The same goes for the whole cast as the series went on, their defining traits all got stronger and larger than life. For me the difference is how their traits and defects got resolved- Ross' obsession with his career ended with him getting tenure and his string of disastrous relationships was ended when he finally reconciled with Rachel, Chandler went from being portrayed as an emotionally stunted manchild to a proud father, Monica went from a clean freak desperate for a child to a contented mother, Rachel progressed from a spoiled brat to a successful businesswoman who finally resolved her feelings for Ross, and Phoebe was able to find true happiness while remaining as nutty as ever. Joey is the odd one out here, his character never had any real resolution, to the bitter end he was consulting children for life advice and trying to get a sex swing for his guest room. I can see them wanting to show some things never changing, but leaving Joey completely unresolved is pretty unsatisfying compared to the way the other stories were neatly tied up. Plus it meant the TV show Joey was allowed to happen :lolwut:

Reply 6

username193837

Friends ended pretty bad for Joey, they made his character dumber (to the point where it just wasn't funny anymore). He seems to be the only one that the finale was worse than the pilot. Everyone else on the show ended the show in much better circumstances than they came in. They should have made joey get a multimillion dollar movie break or something.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 7

Jodie99

Poor Joey ):
I feel like he would of made a great parent. The Rachel storyline shows he was capable of settling down. They could of done a storyline where he knocks up a girl he had a few dates with but he actually ends up falling in love with her and they end up staying together. The only problem is that meant they ended each character's story by pairing them off with kids which is just a bit boring so maybe they could've left it with Joey finding out he was going to have a baby.

Reply 8

Himeros

Completely agree - they completely intensified everyone's individual traits and Joey's just came across as the worst and most obvious.
Anyway with regards to Phoebe in the OP yeah I thought she was intelligent - I really admired her as a character. :smile:

Reply 9

Asolare

I always loved Phoebe's character, she seemed a bit like a young child - filled with hope, laughter, creativity and unstoppable. Although she might have seemed simple minded, she would say some quite mature things and was probably one of the best characters in the show... scrap that, the best.