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Ross McGee Geller, Ph.D., is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom called Friends (1994–2004). He is portrayed by David Schwimmer.
Personality
- This section is (partially) copied from Wikipedia. There may be an updated version available.
While he is smart, polite, caring, thoughtful and kind, Ross is often clumsy and socially awkward - taking the characteristics of the stereotypical "loser nerd". He is sometimes shown to have a good sense of humor. He is the only member of the group of friends with a doctorate and, as such, can be arrogant. In most cases, his arrogance backfires or gets the best of him. In later seasons, due to his two failed marriages and ruined life, he starts developing breathtaking anger management issues and also shown to easily be irritated, often breaking into angry outbursts over minor things, even showing signs of sociopathic behavior. For example, in The One With Ross's Sandwich, Ross is fired from the museum after yelling at his boss for eating his sandwich. This behavior leads to him taking on a more antagonistic role in most episodes in the later seasons.
Ross seems to have a childlike need to always be right. Such as in The One Where Heckles Dies, when he finds out that Phoebe doesn't believe in evolution. Shocked by this, he spends the rest of the episode pestering her and trying to get her to believe in evolution. He is angered when Phoebe asks him why he has this need for everyone to always agree with him. He seems to find people irrational if they won't conform to his point-of-view.
Ross' childishness was more emphasized and apparent at the beginning of his and Rachel's relationship in which he began spending (if possible) even more time at Monica's apartment and their relationship reverted back to when they were teenagers which in the same episode Monica reveals she hated him during their youth. However this isn't unique to one particular episode and they have at times shown traits of typical sibling relationships even at their adult age throughout the series; rash outbursts, competitiveness, and physical confrontations are examples of such. Perhaps the cause of his childlikeness is his parents. As he was the favored and academically gifted child who received the more credit and praise in comparison to Monica, he can't always be blamed for his sometimes enlarged ego. Also, he doesn't respond well when his parents don't give him the acknowledgment they always do and was clearly distraught over Jack's Porsche being given to Monica as a peace offering for ruining her childhood memories claiming that he was a "medical marvel." Ross is also perfectly comfortable with lying to his parents especially if it wouldn't tarnish the extremely high mantle they placed him on his entire life. He framed Chandler for making him smoke marijuana in college and when this was revealed in "The One Where Ross Got High", he refused to tell Jack and Judy despite it being years and he had not done so since and once considered informing them in a letter simply out of sheer cowardice.
Ross, despite being socially awkward, dates a large number of women throughout the series. Due to his unsuccessful marriage to Carol Willick, he started to develop fierce amounts of paranoia and insecurities when it comes to women. Monica states that before Carol left Ross for Susan, he was never paranoid or jealous... even though it was obvious to everyone except him that all his previous girlfriends were cheating on him. Due to this, he does not seem to even trust Rachel to be faithful to him and is often prone to jealousy and is quick to suspect his girlfriend's of cheating on him. Most of his dates are disrupted or completely ruined once his paranoia or geekiness get the best of him.
These paranoias and insecurities often causes conflict in his relationships; for example, when Rachel began spending a lot of time with a co-worker of hers named Mark Robinson, out of paranoia he came to mistakenly suspect that she was having an affair, when in reality she only ever considered her relationship with Mark to be platonic. She eventually becomes so fed up with Ross's jealousy that she announces that she wants to take a break from their relationship. When Ross later tries to reconcile with her by phoning her at her apartment, he overhears Mark's voice in the background; in reality Mark had come to comfort her as a friend after hearing she was upset after calling her after her fight with Ross, but once again out of paranoia Ross mistakenly thinks he is there to have sex with her and angrily hangs up. Convinced now that his suspicions about her affair with Mark were right and his relationship with her is over, a depressed Ross gets drunk and the sum of the alcohol, his emotional vulnerability and a promiscuous woman named Chloe causes him to have sex with her. He does not learn he had been mistaken in thinking Rachel had sex with Mark until the following morning when he hears a message Rachel left on his answering machine, telling him she wants to work on the relationship. The pair gets back together only to break up again when Rachel discovers Ross's indiscretion with Chloe.
Ross's jealousy also becomes apparent during his relationship with Emily Waltham, when he fears that she is growing too close to Carol's lesbian partner, Susan Bunch. His jealous streak rears its ugly head again when he dates his student, Elizabeth Stevens, and ultimately accompanies her on her spring break vacation to ensure she does not stray.
Despite being financially secure, Ross is notoriously cheap. He gets his hair cut at the bargain chain Super Cuts; steals toiletries and other amenities from hotels, and refuses to tip anyone. He is often mocked by his friends about his annoying habits of correcting people's grammar and avoiding straightforward dialogue when nervous.
He tries to convince his friends to act for the best in difficult situations, even though such actions may be difficult to carry out. In season 2, he encourages Joey to audition for Another World after being fired from Days of Our Lives, despite Joey's refusal to present himself for a two-line part of a secondary character. In season 7, he buys Phoebe the bike of her dreams but threatens to take it away from her because of her reluctance to learn how to ride it. When he discovers that Joey has a crush on Rachel, he tells him to tell her about it and go for it instead of hiding it ... even though he has problems with the idea of Joey and Rachel. Above all Ross is a very sweet, loving and adorable guy who is always looking out for everyone's best interests and often the most mature compared to the rest of the gang, despite his ego, outbursts, and paranoia.
Series
Before the show He was born to Jack and Judy Geller and raised by them on Long Island, New York. He is the older brother of Monica. When Ross was younger, he dressed up as a woman (with his mother's clothes). He did a song of the following "I am Bea / I drink tea / Won't you dance around with me?". Growing up attended the same high school as Rachel (as did Monica) where he eventually developed a crush on her which he kept to himself. He befriended a student named Will Colbert, who was frequently bullied by Rachel. Dealing with the fact that she never seemed to notice his feelings for her in a very immature way, Ross co-founded a "I-Hate-Rachel" Club with Will. To spite her, the two of them spread a rumor about her that everyone in the entire high school (apart from Rachel herself) heard about, the rumor in question being that she, as Ross put it, "had both male and female reproductive parts" and that, as Will put it, "her parents flipped a coin and decided to raise her as a girl."
At some point when he was 12, Ross was mugged by a 14-year-old girl (who was Phoebe). She stole his backpack, taking with her the only copy of a comic that Ross wrote, Science Boy. He only found out who was the thief, several years later.
Ironically, Rachel unknowingly returned the favor in a way after catching Ross making out with Lincoln High School's fifty-year-old librarian, when she spread a rumor regarding this all over the high school (although Ross apparently didn't know that she'd seen him doing this or that everyone in the high school knew about it until many years later). After High School, he spent some time during the summer in his grandmother's apartment (Monica's) trying to make it as a dancer. In college, he met Chandler, and they became best friends. Later in life, Ross met and fell in love with Carol Willick and over the years they got married and remained happily married for seven years, with Ross drifting apart from Rachel over time. When Carol fell in love with another woman, it came as a mentally traumatic shock for Ross which not only resulted in the culminating his divorce with her but also birthed intense levels of paranoia, insecurity, and fear in his burdened psyche.
Ross is depressed over his divorce from Carol until he is reunited with his high school crush, Rachel. He realizes that he still has feelings for her and he plans on telling her. His plans are ruined when Rachel meets Paolo, an Italian man living in the same building as her and Monica. They begin a relationship which causes Ross to become jealous and take a deep dislike to Paolo. The exception is when he overdoses on medicine during his Nana's funeral and says to Rachel, "I love you the most." Rachel, believing their relationship to be strictly platonic, tells Ross that she loves him as well. Frustrated, Ross exclaims, "You don't get it!" before he passes out with his head on Rachel's lap.
His hatred for Paolo is so great that Chandler's mom, Nora Tyler-Bing, comforts him and tells him that someday he and Rachel will end up together. Ross ends up kissing Nora, which upsets Chandler.[2] Rachel eventually breaks up with Paolo after he makes a move on Phoebe. Ross tries to tell Rachel how he feels but changes his mind when Rachel tells him that she is sick of men. When the men and women play poker, Ross and Rachel become extremely competitive. When Rachel is told that she did not receive her dream job, she becomes depressed. Ross, feeling sympathy for the woman of his dreams, allows Rachel to win the game.
Ross allows Rachel to monkey-sit Marcel, and he becomes angry when he learns that she lost his pet. His anger dissipates when Rachel gets the monkey back, and Ross decides to tell Rachel how he feels. His attempt is interrupted when Barry, Rachel's ex-fiancee', arrives at the apartment to tell Rachel that he can't marry Mindy because he may still be in love with Rachel; however, she lost interest in Barry completely when she realized what a horrible, selfish person he really was. Ross eventually had to give Marcel away when the monkey reached sexual maturity and started humping everything and after an interview with Dr. Baldharan, the owner of an animal fighting ring, Ross was relieved when Joey and Chandler then informed him that Marcel had been accepted into San Diego Zoo. The next time he attempts to make a move on Rachel, he is interrupted by the announcement that Carol has gone into labor.
While his ex-wife is in labor, Ross becomes involved in an argument with Susan Bunch, Carol's partner, about the name of the baby. The fight leads a disturbed Phoebe to drag them into a janitor's closet so they can talk it out. Unfortunately, all three are locked inside the closet. Phoebe puts on the janitor's uniform and climbs into an air vent, while Ross and Susan are let out in time for them to get to Carol. The name tag on the janitor's uniform has the name Ben on it, which leads Ross and Susan to agree on a name for the baby.[3]
Ross leaves for China, shortly before Rachel's birthday. During Ross's absence, Chandler lets it slip that Ross is in love with Rachel. Reluctant to get into a relationship with Ross, Rachel decides to move on and forget the whole thing. But during a date with Carl, Rachel finds herself fantasizing about Ross. Ross's apparition convinces her to give it a shot. Rachel rushes to the airport to pick up Ross, not realizing that he is getting off the plane with his girlfriend.[4]
Ross is happy with Julie, his new girlfriend, and he manages to temporarily forget about his feelings for Rachel. Due to a message that a drunken Rachel leaves on his answering machine, Ross learns that Rachel has feelings for him. Ross confronts her in Central Perk and storms out, only to return a few moments later to share a kiss with Rachel. With help from Chandler, Ross makes a list of pros and cons for both Rachel and Julie so he can decide which woman he wants to be with. He finally chooses and picks Rachel over Julie. But unfortunately, Rachel finds the list, gets mad at Ross and their friendship becomes strained. In The One With The Prom Video, when Rachel sees a video of Monica and herself getting ready for prom, Rachel's date, Chip Matthews didn't show up, Ross decided to go as her backup; but when he tried to ask her, it was too late. Chip showed up and left with Rachel, Monica, and Monica's date, Roy Gublik, leaving Ross heartbroken. After Rachel sees this, she walks up to Ross and kisses him, causing her to forgive for the list and they finally start a relationship.
Ross and Rachel's relationship becomes strained when Mark Robinson offers Rachel a job at Bloomingdale's.[5] Ross is convinced that the reason why Mark offered Rachel this job is because he's interested in her, and after eventually coming to mistakenly suspect out of paranoia that she is having an affair, he becomes insanely jealous and subsequently frequently complains about how much time Rachel is spending away from him and with Mark, leading to a number of arguments that to Rachel, who considers her relationship with Mark to be nothing more than platonic, seem completely pointless. When Rachel is forced to work on their one-year anniversary, Ross brings a picnic basket with food and candles to Rachel's office. After Rachel kicks him out of the office, Ross retreats to Monica's apartment. Rachel returns a few hours later, and they become involved in a heated argument. Tired of dealing with Ross's jealousy and a number of arguments over something that seems so trivial to her, Rachel suggests that they should take a break from their relationship. Ross later tries to reconcile with Rachel by phoning her at her apartment, but by then Mark had called her and, hearing that she was upset after her fight with Ross, offered to come round and provide her with comfort. Overhearing his voice in the background, once again out of paranoia Ross mistakenly thinks he is there to have sex with her and angrily hangs up. Convinced now that his suspicions about the affair with Mark were right and that his relationship with her is over, a depressed Ross gets drunk and then the sum of the alcohol, his emotional vulnerability and a promiscuous woman named Chloe causes him to have sex with her. It is not until afterward when he hears a message Rachel left on his answering machine telling him she wants to resume their relationship, that he realizes he had been mistaken in thinking she'd had sex with Mark. Ross does what he can to hide his indiscretion from Rachel when she tells him she does indeed want to renew their relationship, but his attempts fail and Rachel breaks up with him in a famous scene that involves the pair arguing in Monica's living-room with Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, and Joey trapped in Monica's bedroom. Embittered by the events that led up to their break-up, Ross and Rachel argue so much that their friends become caught in the crossfire.[6] Eventually, Ross and Rachel begin to accept the fact that their relationship is over and he eventually gets into a relationship with a woman named Bonnie-but when he learns that Rachel still has feelings for him, he eventually decides to choose her over Bonnie.
After breaking up with Bonnie and sending her home, Ross pursues a relationship with Rachel. Rachel has written an 18-page letter, saying that she wants him to take full responsibility for everything that went wrong in their relationship. A very tired Ross falls asleep while reading the letter, so he agrees to it without having read it. After Rachel highlights again how much Ross has grown, he can't take it any longer and yells out that he does not agree with taking responsibility. Once again, their relationship comes to an end. Ross and Rachel start power games again, which results in a number of humorous events, including Rachel making Ross apologize to a cat.[7] and even a dating war[8] and gift exchanging[9]
Rachel talks a reluctant Ross into taking Emily Waltham, her boss's niece, to the opera. Rachel quickly regrets asking Ross to do this, as he and Emily fall for each other and end up spending the night in Vermont. The relationship develops very quickly, but Ross has problems with Emily having to go back to her home in England. He solves the dilemma by proposing to her, so she can move to the U.S. They arrange a wedding in London, but at the altar, he says Rachel's name instead of Emily's.
Despite being furious with Ross, Emily decides to go through with the wedding. During the reception, Ross fails in his attempts to convince his new wife to forgive him. Emily is willing to forgive Ross until she sees him getting ready to leave for their honeymoon destination with Rachel. She runs away and Ross chases after her, leaving Rachel on the plane to Greece, but she soon returns to New York.
Ross, desperate to make his second marriage work, makes several attempts to win Emily's forgiveness. Eventually, Emily agrees to move to New York and work on the marriage, but on one condition: Ross must end his friendship with Rachel and avoid having contact with her. Ross initially agrees to this ultimatum, not wanting to go through a second divorce. But he finally realizes that he cannot end his friendship with Rachel, and his second marriage ends due to Emily's inability to trust him.
After his second divorce, his wrath went out of control such as shouting at his boss for eating his sandwich, which caused him to get fired from the museum.
Ross and Rachel get married during a trip to Las Vegas. Only trouble is, they were both drunk at the time and would never have done so had it not been for the vast amount of alcohol in the bloodstream of both ex-lovers. They decide to seek an annulment, despite the fact that Ross does not want three failed marriages. Ross tells Rachel that he took care of it, but reveals to Phoebe that he and Rachel are still married.
Ross decides to tell Rachel that they're still married but refrains from doing so when he sees how depressed she is about the fact that she has to move out of Monica's apartment. Rachel eventually finds out that she's still married to Ross, and she becomes furious with him, storming into the NYU classroom where he is guest lecturing in hopes of gaining a job as a professor in the Paleontology Department. When Rachel leaves, Ross asks the students "Any questions?" and every hand in the room is raised.
They go to a judge, but Rachel files for an annulment under false pretenses. Because of this, the judge will not grant the annulment. Because they cannot get an annulment, they file for divorce which results in Ross's third failed marriage.
On the night of Monica and Chandler's engagement, Ross and Rachel decide to have a "bonus night." When Monica sees them kissing in the hallway, she accuses Rachel of attempting to steal her thunder. Phoebe, who has been living with Chandler and Monica because of the fire at her apartment, moves in with Ross because she wants to give the couple some alone time. She later moves out. When he learns that Phoebe never learned how to ride a bike, Ross buys her a bike with some training wheels and attempts to teach her how to ride. When the holidays come around, Ross decides to teach his son about Hanukkah. Ben wants nothing to do with Hanukkah, because of his obsession with Santa. Ross, Chandler, and Joey dress up in costumes in an attempt to convince Ben that Hanukkah is a cool holiday. Ross convinces his friends, as well as Rachel's current boyfriend, Tagg to go up to the roof to watch a meteor shower. Ross and Joey are trapped on the roof because the door stopper is being used by Joey as a telescope in an attempt to spy on a lady who is showering in the hotel across the street. They finally decide to climb down the fire escape. Ross and Monica's parents announce that they are selling their home, and they invite Monica and Ross to retrieve their childhood belongings. Mr. Geller has been using Monica's boxes to prevent flood water from reaching his Porsche, causing all of the content to be unrecognizable from mold and mildew damage. Monica becomes upset when she realizes that her childhood memories have been ruined, believing that her parents love Ross more than her and have always favored him. Her father decides to give her his Porsche to prove her wrong, triggering Ross's jealous streak. On his 30th birthday, Ross purchases a sports car. However, he can't move it out of the parking spot in front of the coffee house. When Rachel is left babysitting Ben for an hour, she decides to teach him practical jokes. He pulls these pranks on his father, who becomes angry with her. Not only that, but Rachel uses her time with Ben to convince him that they really were on a break. One of Ross's students tries to convince him that he failed his midterm because he is in love with him. Ross changes the student's grade, which results in more kids telling Ross that they are in love with him so he will change their grades.
Ross dates Mona, a woman he meets at Monica's and Chandler's wedding reception. The relationship is going well, until Ross finds out that Rachel is pregnant due to their night of passion. Ross decides to have Rachel move in with him, which causes his relationship with Mona to end. Ross misses out on two opportunities to reunite with Rachel, and they decide to remain close friends and roommates. In The One Where Rachel Has A Baby Part 1, Judy Geller suggests that Ross propose to Rachel. At the middle-end of The One Where Rachel Has A Baby Part 2, Rachel gives birth to her and Ross's daughter, Emma. Joey picks up the ring Judy gave to Ross after it fell out of his bag, but when he showed it to Rachel, it caused her to mistakenly believe he was proposing to her and say "Yes." Although Joey eventually clears up the confusion, Ross is understandably bothered by the fact that she agreed to marry the former. This results in Ross being briefly furious with Joey.
Throughout the beginning of Season 9, Phoebe and Joey firmly believe that for Emma's sake as well as their own, Ross and Rachel should get back together. They attempt to manipulate events to make this happen by setting both Ross and Rachel up on awful blind dates, but this backfires when the latter two realize Phoebe and Joey intentionally ruined both of their nights in order to manipulate them. Ross and Rachel get into a fight about dating which leads to Rachel moving back in with Joey before they get manipulated. Later Ross develops a crush on an attractive paleontology professor named Charlie Wheeler but appears to have missed a chance to become an item with her when she falls in love with Joey, also to the chagrin of Rachel who has realized that she has developed feelings for Joey. However, after spending some time with Ross, Charlie realizes she has much more in common with him than she does with Joey and breaks up with the latter. Joey later sees Ross and Charlie kiss and feeling both hurt and betrayed, goes to Rachel's room and kisses her.
Ross and Charlie have a healthy, good relationship to begin with until she is reunited with an ex-boyfriend, Benjamin Hobart. She ultimately decides she still has feelings for him and ends it with Ross. Rachel and Joey meanwhile break up when they realize they are not comfortable with taking their relationship anything beyond platonic after getting used to it being exactly that for so long. Ross helps Rachel to move out of her office when she is fired from her job at Ralph Lauren, and they coincidentally meet up with Mark on the street outside. Ross doesn't remember him until Rachel reminds him of the fact that Ross was insanely jealous of Mark. Ross's old jealousies are briefly reignited until he learns that Mark is married and has twins, then he supports Rachel trying to get the job opening at Louis Vuitton until he learns that she is offered a position in Paris. Ross is upset when he learns that Rachel intends to leave the country, and very angry when she gives all of her friends at a party they threw to give her a proper send-off a heartfelt, one-on-one goodbye but does not speak to him. When he later confronts her, however, she tells him this was really just because she found it too emotionally hard after everything they had been through, and the two spend the night together. Ross is encouraged that they are restarting a relationship until she tells him that was the perfect way to say goodbye. Later realizing he still loves her, he goes to the airport with Phoebe and expresses his feelings, but she walks away and boards the plane, flustered. He sadly goes home and hears a message she left him on her answering machine, revealing she changed her mind and got off the plane. He then turns around and sees her standing in the doorway, and they passionately kiss, embrace and get back together, promising never to break up again. Thus, Ross's story throughout the series ends with him finally, and eternally, rekindling his relationship with the love of his life.
The Break
Mark Robinson
Mark Robinson, his rival whom Ross utterly despises
Ross took an instant dislike to Mark upon meeting him in "The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister", taking the fact that Mark offered Rachel a job after overhearing her complaining about being unhappy with hers at the Moondance Diner as a sign that he has a crush on her. Although Rachel believes that Ross is being paranoid and overreacting (which up to a point he admittedly was, after losing Carol to Susan), it later turns out Ross was right-Mark does have a crush on Rachel. Although she was unaware of this while she was in a relationship with Ross and only ever considered her relationship with Mark to be platonic, the paranoid Ross mistakenly suspected she was having an affair with him. In "The One Where Ross and Rachel Take A Break", Mark insists on coming to Rachel's apartment when she calls him, upset after a fight with Ross, and it is Mark's presence at the apartment which causes Ross, overhearing his voice in the background after phoning Rachel and mistakenly thinking he is there to have sex with her, to become convinced that his suspicions about her affair with Mark were right and that his relationship with her is now over, which (after he angrily hangs up) leads to him drunkenly having sex with Chloe.
The next morning, Ross tries to prevent Rachel from learning about his affair with Chloe, but she finds out anyway from Gunther. This results in Ross and Rachel having a fight at her apartment and then breaking up in tears and obviously increasing Ross's hatred of Mark. Mark is delighted when he finds out and asks Rachel out on a date, infuriating both Ross and Gunther in "The One With The Tiny T-Shirt", and Ross has to be talked out of attempting to intervene by Chandler, and is delighted when he later learns Rachel broke up with Mark after realizing she really only agreed to date him to get back at Ross for what he did (and Mark's attitude towards Ross throughout this discussion with Rachel shows that the dislike is mutual.) In "The One With Princess Consuela", Mark returns for the last time in the show after 7 seasons of disappearance where he finds Ross and Rachel moving stuff out of her office. After he leaves, Ross seems to consider him a nice guy and asks Rachel if they had met. When Rachel reminds him of who Mark is, however, he gets jealous all over again and not for the first time strongly indicates his feelings for Rachel are still intact when he states that he doesn't want Rachel going to dinner with Mark, claims that maybe he'll give her a job as his 'sex-retary' and even tells Rachel he still distrusts as well as dislikes him and likely thinking back to the two times Ross and Rachel broke up and the hostility between them after the breakups that went on for a while. When Rachel comes home from dinner, she says that dinner was great and that Mark is so sweet resulting in Ross calling him a smarmy letch but the latter calms down almost instantly when Rachel announces that Mark is married with twins, and, seemingly embarrassed, wonders "Should we send something?" This seems to indicate that he has finally gotten over his jealousy and dislike of Mark, and is now considering making friends with him, but likely went back to hating him when he learns that he offered Rachel a job in Paris. Whether or not Ross, after getting back together with Rachel, ever did become friends with Mark is unknown, though unlikely, given what had happened in Season 3 between them: the breakup between Ross and Rachel and being apart from each other for 7 years, and in Season 10: giving Rachel a job in Paris, indicating that Ross will always hate Mark for being responsible for Ross and Rachel's breakup, them being apart for 7 years and everything Ross and Rachel went through for the rest of the show until the last episode.
Mark was ultimately defeated by Ross when Ross confessed his love to Rachel and she got back together with him and throwing away the job Mark got her, thus Ross finally managed to avenge his love for Rachel by busting Mark.
Friendships
Ross and Chandler in college
Ross and Chandler go quite a way back, being roommates in college. They are best friends, not to mention brothers-in-law.
Ross often comes into conflict with Phoebe. His rationality and Phoebe's self-devised beliefs lead to conflict over the theories of evolution, gravity, and whether or not Phoebe's dead mother has been reincarnated as a cat. It is revealed in "The One With The Mugging" that Phoebe once mugged Ross during her homeless years. The evening Ross finds out that Carol is a lesbian, he and Phoebe almost have sex in the club that is to become Central Perk. Fortunately, they are interrupted by their friends. Despite their conflicts, Ross and Phoebe rely on one another for advice and support. For example, Phoebe turns to Ross when she has problems with Mike and Ross turned to Phoebe when he wants to prevent Rachel from going to Paris. Ross is also the one to obtain Phoebe a bike after hearing her complain of never having one as a child.
Ross and Joey's relationship in the earlier seasons initially appeared somewhat tenuous and largely existing due to their mutual association with Chandler, with Ross' smarts being a particular source of annoyance for Joey perhaps more so than the rest. However, as the series progresses they quickly become good friends and grow much closer, to the point of even napping together (Much to their embarrassment when the rest of the gang finds out). By the later seasons, Ross himself refers to Joey as his best friend, while Joey goes so far as to initially feel reluctant of being in a relationship with Rachel due to Ross' potential (and eventually factual) disapproval, although the latter eventually agrees to deal with it for Joey since it had been so long since Rachel and Ross were together at that point. Regardless, the two are supportive of each other and frequently attempt to help each other in whatever problem comes, with Joey especially providing aid when it comes to relationship advice. Ross is often annoyed by Joey's less-than-stellar smarts, though this is rarely a cause of rift.
Will Colbert, his former high school buddy
Ross and Will Colbert were friends in high school and together co-founded an I-Hate-Rachel-Club. They held regular meetings in Ross's bedroom and at school. The last time they saw each other was at Lance Davis's graduation party. They reunite and get reacquainted in "The One With The Rumor", where Will comes over for Thanksgiving. Ross and Will are quite friendly to each other despite the time apart but are at odds when Will becomes hostile towards Rachel. Will gets upset when he learns that Ross went out with Rachel when he and the former had a pact about the club because it had the word "eternity" in it. When the two men reveal the rumor they made about Rachel being a hermaphrodite and Rachel becomes tearful and upset, Ross and Will smile happily, but when Rachel stormed out, Ross felt guilty at his actions while Will continues smiling. Later, when Rachel tells everyone about Ross making out with the high-school librarian, Ross gets furious and soon decides to get back in the club and high-fives Will. Will then becomes shocked to learn that Ross got Rachel pregnant but proud that they're not getting married. He tries to high-five Ross again, but Ross ignores it. It is unknown what happened between them after Will left at the end of the episode.
Family
Monica Geller, his sister
She is Ross's younger sister who has become close to her brother during the past ten years. Also she has become his best friend, to console him every time his marriage or relationship fails.
Parents
Jack and Judy Geller, his father and mother
Ross is the older brother of Monica Geller-Bing, and he is the favored child of their parents. He was described as a "medical marvel" when he was born because his mother was originally believed to be barren. (There may have been some discrepancies when the writers came up with the story, as in another episode Jack Geller mentioned that they got married after Judy got pregnant because apparently, the dog thought her diaphragm was a chew toy).
Monica and Ross are extremely competitive, as demonstrated in "The One With The Football" where it is revealed that every Thanksgiving during their childhood they had taken part in a football match called the Geller Cup. This family tradition ended in its sixth year after Monica broke Ross's nose. In their childhood and teenage life, Monica and Ross were also very violent with each other. Monica once hit Ross with a giant pumpkin and Ross once jammed a stick through the spokes of Monica's bike, causing her to flip over and hit her head on the curb. In their adult lives, they have a close sibling relationship, though if either brings up something embarrassing, the other will try to top it, causing a snowball effect which often ends in Chandler asking "What did I marry into?" In "The One With the Inappropriate Sister", they tell Rachel how they used to wrestle when they were younger. Ross is also typically overprotective of Monica.
Ross is allergic to lobster, peanuts, and kiwi as revealed by Monica in "The One With The Baby On The Bus."
Ross, Monica, Jack and Judy are all Jewish, as professed in the episode "The One With The Holiday Armadillo."
Ben Geller, his son
Ross has two children, Ben and Emma. The oldest, Ben, is Ross and Carol's son. He was conceived before their divorce. Born in "The One With The Birth," Ben lives with Carol and her partner, Susan Bunch. He is named after the name on a janitor's uniform worn by Phoebe as she attempted to escape from the janitor's closet that she, Susan, and Ross were trapped in while Carol was in labor. At first, Ben is a shy boy. But an afternoon spent with Rachel transforms him into a mischievous prankster. He is played by Cole Sprouse.
Emma Geller-Green, his daughter
The youngest, Emma is Ross and Rachel's daughter. She was conceived in a one-night stand near the end of Season 7. Emma lived with Ross and Rachel until one of their fights caused Rachel to take Emma and move back in with Joey. She remained there for the rest of the series until Ross and Rachel got back together in the series finale.
Ross is shown to be an extremely caring and committed father, doing as much as he can to make sure the children are looked after correctly. He gets angry at Chandler and Joey for leaving Ben on a bus in Season 2, but his playful side also came out when he tricked Monica into thinking she had damaged Ben's brain by banging his head on a wooden pylon during a game. He is also very caring towards Emma when they're seen together.
In response to his loneliness after his divorce from Carol, Ross adopts a Capuchin monkey named Marcel. The relationship is troublesome at first, but the two grow quite close. This lasts until Marcel's sexual drive, which causes him to hump inanimate objects and people's legs, forces Ross to donate him to a zoo. After expressing horror at the thought of giving Marcel to Dr. Baldharan, a man who owns an animal fighting ring, Ross is relieved when Joey and Chandler inform him that Marcel had been accepted into San Diego Zoo. An underlying joke is how comparable Ross and Marcel's relationship is to that of a live-in couple.
Ross feels the urge to see Marcel again but is told by the zoo that Marcel is dead. But a zoo keeper informs Ross that Marcel has been stolen. It turns out that Marcel is now a famous mascot for Monkey Shine beer and is starring in Outbreak 2: The Virus Takes Manhattan. (The monkey, Katie, who played Marcel, played the monkey in the real movie Outbreak).
Marcel's favorite song is "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which is how Ross gets Marcel's attention when he is at the set of the Outbreak movie. Ross, later in the series, admits to how unusual his purchase was, saying in The One With Unagi, "Remember when I had a monkey? What was I thinking?"[10]
Ross's relationship with Rachel's father, Leonard is nothing short of deepest mutual loathing. During Rachel's party in "The One With The Two Parties", Dr. Green catches Ross wearing his glasses and having one of his cigarettes and earlier Ross makes some joke about vascular surgery being a game while in "The One With The Race Car Bed", during dinner, Rachel tries to have the two men bond, although at the end of this episode they bond a little by making fun of Rachel's flaws and of her renter's insurance, later they started disliking each other again.
Later, in "The One With The Stripper", Dr. Green reappears in the show after 5 seasons of disappearance where he learns about Rachel's pregnancy and is shocked to hear that Ross is the father of his first grandchild and is not happy that he and Rachel aren't getting married. He goes to Ross's apartment where he and Mona are dating. An argument ensues and Mona eventually finds out about Rachel being pregnant from Ross, almost resulting in Ross and Mona's relationship ending. Dr. Green makes his last appearance in "The One Where Joey Speaks French" where not much hatred actions happen between them and Dr. Green asks Ross if he has knocked up any of his other daughters lately, which Ross says no, just Rachel. In Dr. Green's final moment when he comes out of his room, he gives Ross a deadly look, hearing Ross tell Rachel he's never having sex with her again (although it does later happen). It is presumed that later Dr. Green becomes Ross's father-in-law and Ross becomes Dr. Green's son-in-law when it's hinted that Ross and Rachel had married again.
Ross has a good relationship with Rachel's mother, Sandra. In every episode Sandra appeared in, she and Ross appear to respect each other and don't seem to clash at all. It is presumed that later Sandra becomes Ross's mother-in-law and Ross becomes Sandra's son-in-law when it's hinted that Ross and Rachel had married again.
Ross doesn't have a very good relationship with Amy Green, mostly because of her behavior, her personality and because of having Emma's ears pierced. It is presumed that later Amy becomes Ross' sister-in-law and Ross becomes Amy's brother-in-law when it's hinted that Ross and Rachel had married again.
Ross and Jill's relationship seems to be quite okay. During Jill's 2 appearances, she and Ross have a brief relationship, but that ends when Ross realizes that if something happens between him and Jill, nothing may happen with him and Rachel... but they still remain friends. Rachel hints to Ross to break up with Jill, Ross gets the hint and he says he will when he meets up with her at their date; however, Rachel forces Ross to call Jill up right at that moment in the Central Perk.
Romances
Carol Willick, his ex-wife and mother of his son
Ross divorces his first wife of three years, Carol, when she reveals that she is a lesbian and began having an affair with Susan Bunch, whom she met at the gym. After the initial post-relationship complications had been overcome, however, they have been generally able to get along and share custody of their son, Ben. Ross even achieves mutual respect with Susan after Phoebe makes them realize that they would all be parents to Carol and Ross' son. Ross later helps Carol and Susan reconcile when they have an argument about Carol's parents' disapproval of their marriage.
The two are shown to be very close despite what happened between them and they like to help each other out as shown throughout the series for example in The One Without The Ski Trip, when Carol consoles Ross when he is depressed after his split with Rachel and he fixes her truck. Also, they spend time together with Ben when he is able to get an audition for a TV commercial in The One Where Rachel Smokes.
In an alternative reality storyline shown in flashbacks during the show, Ross is still married to Carol but their sex life is stagnant. Not realizing that she is a lesbian, Ross suggests to Carol that they have a threesome, to spice things up, to which Carol instantly agrees. The other person in the threesome turns out to be Susan which ends as a twosome when the two women show no interest in Ross. Later on, Ross is forced to accept that his wife is a lesbian and ends up consoling Rachel after she discovers that her husband, Barry, is having an affair as well with the neighborhood dog walker.
Rachel Green, his true love, his wife and mother of his daughter
Ross' relationship with Rachel is the most well-known and probably the most complex relationship of the series and they are each other's soulmate.
Rachel and Ross have had an on and off relationship during these past ten years. At first, Ross gained a crush on her in 9th grade and has developed since. They dated for a year only to break up on their first anniversary, leaving them both devastated and heartbroken, which causes the two to not be able to stand each other for a while, but they eventually become friends again. In Vegas the got married resulting in divorce, moreover, in season eight she gives birth to their child Emma. The last episode results in the couple reuniting together again, and the two re-marry after the series[11]
Throughout the majority of the first season, Ross tries to admit his feelings to Rachel but is never successful. At the end of the season, Chandler convinces Ross to stop pursuing her. Ross leaves for an archaeological dig in China, shortly before Rachel's birthday party. During Ross's absence, Rachel finally learns of his feelings for her. She rushes to meet him at the airport so she can tell him that she feels the same, and is heartbroken when he arrives with his new girlfriend, Julie.
Because of a message that a drunken Rachel leaves on his answering machine, Ross learns that she has fallen for him. After arguing in Central Perk, they share their first kiss[12]. A confused Ross messes things up when he creates a list of Rachel's and Julie's faults and best attributes, and they don't get together until a while later[13]. Their relationship lasts for a year until out of paranoia Ross begins to mistakenly suspect that Rachel is having an affair with her co-worker Mark, and his subsequent jealousy breaks them apart. Mark then comes round Rachel's apartment to provide her with comfort as a friend after calling her and hearing she was upset after her fight with Ross; when Ross telephones her at her apartment in an attempt to resume his relationship with her, he overhears Mark's voice in the background and once again out of paranoia mistakenly thinks he is there to have sex with her, angrily hangs up. Convinced now that his suspicions about her affair with Mark were right and his relationship with her is now over, Ross gets drunk in order to cope with his subsequent depression and then the sum of the alcohol, his emotional vulnerability and a promiscuous woman named Chloe causes him to have sex with her, not finding out until afterwards that he had been mistaken in thinking Rachel and Mark had sex. When Rachel finds out, she breaks up with Ross. (The scene was so emotionally intense that both David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston reportedly cried near the end of the episode and continued after it was shot.) The two share an "almost on-again, almost off-again" relationship over the years. They are even married during a drunken night in Las Vegas. This isn't resolved until weeks later when Ross, unable to get an annulment, realizes that they have to get a divorce. He begins to panic over the fact that he is going to be divorced for the third time. Later in the series, they sleep together and conceive their first child, Emma. After Emma's birth, a slight misunderstanding causes Rachel to mistakenly think Joey is proposing to her-although Joey later clears up the confusion, Ross is disturbed when he learns Rachel said yes when she mistakenly thought Joey was asking her to marry him, which again indicates Ross' feelings towards Rachel are still intact. Afterward, Ross and Rachel start to raise Emma in Ross's apartment until a fight causes Rachel to move back in with Joey.
In the final episodes of season ten, Rachel loses her job at Ralph Lauren and is offered a job at Louis Vuitton in Paris, France. She tells Ross that he is the most important person in her life, and they sleep together. Ross, hoping the next morning to get back together with Rachel in "The Last One," finds out that Rachel sees the night as, "the perfect way to say goodbye." When Ross rushes to the airport to tell Rachel that he wants her to stay, Rachel is emotionally overwhelmed and she boards the plane anyway. Upon returning to his apartment, Ross hears a phone message left by Rachel. While recording the message, she realizes how much she loves him and that she wants to stay in New York. The final part of the message contains her desperate effort to deplane while being resisted by a flight attendant. Ross, not knowing whether she was able to get off the plane, is happily surprised by her sudden presence in his front room. The pair kisses, promising each other that, "This is it. No more fooling around." They hold hands in the final scene of the series.
In the season premiere of the spinoff series Joey, Joey mentions that all of his friends have married, settled down and started families. This implies that Ross and Rachel have remarried, but it cannot be confirmed if they have more kids.
Emily Waltham, his ex-wife
Ross's second marriage, to a woman from England, appears more hopeful than his first ... even though he and Emily do have a whirlwind romance. The wedding takes place in London, in a half-demolished building, where Emily's parents were married. Joey and Chandler are both the best man, and Monica is a bridesmaid. (Phoebe cannot attend as she is too far into pregnancy, and Rachel only comes at the last minute.) While reciting his vows, Ross says Rachel's name instead of Emily's. While Emily agrees to go through with the wedding, Ross's mistake leads to the complete breakdown of the relationship. Ross attempts to reconcile with Emily, who insists that Ross never sees nor speaks to Rachel ever again. Ross is originally unable to decide, but Rachel tells him to just give Emily what she wants without knowing what Ross had to do. In the end, Ross is unable to comply. When Emily finds out that Ross has been spending time with Rachel, she announces that she cannot trust Ross. The marriage is quickly dissolved, and she becomes engaged to another man. On the night before her wedding, she leaves Ross a message on his answering machine, saying she is having doubts about getting married. Rachel accidentally deletes the message and convinces Ross not to call her back.
Career
At college, Ross trained for a career in paleontology (on a dare), completing his Ph.D. He later became employed at the New York Museum of Prehistoric History. At one time, Ross claims to have, "given up a career in basketball," to become a paleontologist.[14] He also claims that he would have been good at advertising and that he invented the phrase, "Got Milk?"[15] After Monica questions this claim, Ross turns to Joey and mentions that he, "should have written it down." He also claims to have had the idea for Jurassic Park and Die Hard stolen from him.
Ross's love of dinosaurs is a running joke throughout the series. When asked which he prefers - sex or dinosaurs - Ross has a tough time deciding which he would rather give up. In high school, he got a 1250 on his SATs. It is said that he was obsessed with dinosaurs even then.
After the director of the museum eats half of Ross's favorite sandwich and throws the rest in the trash, Ross is forced to take a "sabbatical" from the museum due to his subsequent rage. His anger is amplified by the stress of his second divorce, as well as the knowledge that Chandler is dating Monica his sister. Due to his divorce, Ross has to move in with Chandler and Joey.
Ross finds a job as a professor at New York University. He causes a stir among his colleagues when he dates one of his students, Elizabeth Stevens. He is given tenure, despite it being clear that he is a mediocre teacher who forgets classes, bores his students to sleep, and gives away grades without even looking at students' work. Ross reveals that his students usually give him bad evaluations at the end of the year, but passes this off as them being distraught over the fact he won't be teaching them again.
Ross' scientific commentaries aren't always very well received. Most of his papers on sediment flow rates are supposedly widely discredited, and he only gets negative publications in scientific journals. But he is invited as a keynote speaker at a paleontology conference, where he delivers a very-well received talk, implying that there are people who agree with his ideas.
Real paleontologists were asked on Reddit if Ross was a good one. They had mixed responses.[16][17]
Age
Although Ross's age is treated inconsistently by the show's writers, the best evidence is that he was born on October 18, 1967.
Month and Day
Two episodes state Ross's birthday as October 18. In, "The One Where Emma Cries," Ross names that date as his birthday, as well as in, "The One With Five Steaks and an Eggplant", where he is taken to a Hootie & the Blowfish concert as his birthday present. However, in "The One With George Stephanopoulos", when Joey and Chandler buy Rangers tickets to celebrate Ross's birthday on the 20th of October, Ross says that his birthday was, "seven months ago." In "The One With Joey's New Girlfriend", when Gunther asks Rachel when her birthday is, claiming to be making a list of people's birthdays, Ross says, Mine's December, before being cut off by Gunther.
Year of birth
In, "The Pilot," which aired in September 1994, Ross exclaims, "I'm only 26, and I'm divorced." That means that Ross was born in 1967 - assuming that in using "26," he was not projecting forward to his upcoming October birthday. A person born on October 18, 1967, would be expected to graduate from college around 1990. But we later learn that Ross and Chandler were Class of 1991. The discrepancy is not that great and could be explained by Ross having taken some time off between high school and college, perhaps when he tried to, "make it as a dancer," as revealed by Monica in "The Last One". Although in, "The One With Ross' Library Book", Ross replies to an attractive woman that he skipped fourth grade after her comment that he looks younger than she expected. But this could easily not be true, meaning that he only says that to impress her. In, "The One With The Videotape", while Ross is telling the "western Europe" story to try to get a girl into bed, he claims that he backpacked across Europe in 1983. Then he whispers to himself, "I was thirteen?" implying he was born in 1970 or 1969.
Ross describes himself as 29 in seasons 3, 4 and 5. In season 3, he tells Chandler, "Thanks. I'm twenty-nine," when offered chocolate milk. In season 4, when the guys try to party without Gandalf, they all say they are 29.
In "The One with Ross's`Wedding Part 2" one of Emily's relatives thinks Monica is Ross's mother and Monica says "I'm a single mom with a 30-year-old son," talking about Ross. Later, in season 5, when trying to reconcile with Emily, Ross says that if they don't stay together he will be divorced for the second time before age 30. If these references are true Ross was born in 1967 or 1968.
Production
Although the producers were coy about the friends' religious backgrounds, it is revealed that Ross and Monica's father is Jewish and their mother is not. That said, Ross is seen attempting to get his son Ben to celebrate Hanukkah, by dressing up as a character he invents named the Holiday Armadillo. On another occasion, Chandler alludes to Ross being Jewish when Ross goes to steal a Bible from a hotel and Chandler says, "Besides, it's a New Testament! What are you gonna do with it?" Ross simply shrugs and says he'll learn about Jesus. Finally, he notes that he bought his sister Monica a Hanukkah present when others are participating in a Secret Santa.
Trivia
- Ross shares a distinction with Chandler, Joey, and Rachel in that he has kissed all five of his friends:
- Rachel - Their first kiss was off-screen in high school, with Ross claiming he did it because he needed chapstick ("The One With The Routine"). Their first real kiss takes place at Central Perk ("The One Where Ross Finds Out").
- Monica - During a party in his college dorm room, Ross mistook Monica for Rachel on his dorm room bed ("The One Where The Stripper Cries"). He was Monica's, "first kiss ever!"
- Phoebe - He and Phoebe make out in a bar ("The One With The Flashback") and kiss at midnight on New Year's Eve ("The One With All The Resolutions").
- Joey - Ross kisses Joey as a favor in "The One With Barry and Mindy's Wedding".
- Chandler - Ross admits that Chandler kissed him off screen whilst drunk in "The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister".
- He is the only member of the group with a Ph.D.
- Ross is often the last person in the gang to find out about important things within the show. For example, he's the last to find out about Chandler and Monica dating, Chandler and Monica's engagement, Rachel and Joey dating, and Rachel's pregnancy.
- He is the only male member of the group to be a biological father; He first gets Carol pregnant who gives birth to their son Ben and later he then gets Rachel pregnant who gives birth to their daughter Emma. Joey never produces any children during the show, and Chandler adopts twins with Monica.
- During the series, Ross slept with 14 women.
- Ross hates ice cream, as mentioned in "The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs".
- When Gunther was asking Rachel her Birthday, Gunther said he was counting Birthdays, so Ross started to say it was December, his Birthday is actually in October. ("The One With Joey's New Girlfriend"). Although, in Season 1, Joey and Chandler present tickets to Ross for his birthday on October 20th (the anniversary of his first time with Carol) he states here that his birthday was months ago.
- Only 2 of Ross' weddings are seen on-screen - his wedding to Emily in The One With Ross's Wedding, Part 2; and his wedding to Rachel in The One In Vegas, Part 2 (although the wedding in Vegas happens in a chapel and Ross and Rachel are seen stumbling out due to being drunk).
Photos
![Ross and Phoebe [almost] got mugged](/wiki/File:Friends_episode209.jpg "Friends episode209.jpg (19 KB)")
Media
References
- ↑ by Rachel's Dad in The One With The Race Car Bed
- ↑ The One With Mrs. Bing
- ↑ The One With The Birth
- ↑ The One Where Rachel Finds Out
- ↑ The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister
- ↑ The One Without The Ski Trip
- ↑ The One With The Cat
- ↑ The One With Joey's New Girlfriend
- ↑ The One With Chandler In A Box.
- ↑ "The One With The Monkey", "The One After The Superbowl, Part 1", "The One After The Superbowl, Part 2"
- ↑ In the first episode of Joey, Joey says "I was HAPPY in New York! Okay, and I tried really hard to keep things from changing. But everyone else got married, and had kids, and moved on." to his sister, implying that Ross and Rachel got married at some point after Friends ended.
- ↑ The One Where Ross Finds Out
- ↑ The One With The Prom Video
- ↑ "The One On The Last Night"
- ↑ "The One With The Mugging"
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3oznwh/we_are_scientists_from_the_society_of_vertebrate/?
- ↑ https://upvoted.com/2015/10/24/an-actual-paleontologist-grades-friends-paleontologist-ross-gellar/?utm_content=bufferbfc17&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer