Chandler and Monica weren’t originally supposed to end up together, but Cox’s Instagram post indicates that the scene in question is what lit the spark toward their firework romance. “To give a little backstory, Chandler and Monica were supposed to have a one-night fling in London,” she wrote. “But because of the audience’s reaction, it became the beginning of their love story.” Listening to the way the studio audience loses their collective marbles once Monica’s head pops up from under the covers is a testament to Cox and Perry, who made audiences fall in love with their characters and in turn, in love with them as a couple. “In this scene, before we started rolling, he whispered a funny line for me to say,” she added. “He often did things like that. He was funny and he was kind.”
There are a lot of justified complaints to lobby against some of the humor in “Friends” that hasn’t particularly aged well, but Chandler and Monica are one of the healthiest depictions of a relationship on screen. The duo started out as friends and established a solid foundation of trust and appreciation, later evolving into genuine, romantic love. Watching this behind-the-scenes clip is a clear showcase that the success of that relationship was not just in the writing but in the authentic performances by Perry and Cox.