So this season is EXTREMELY pivotal for the series. The series really hit its stride at this point and ratings sky rocketed when comparing this season opener to last season’s already impressive opening episode. As always I’ll start with our favorite duo. The third season starts out with Ross and Rachel dating. Though Ross and Rachel have an off-and-on relationship throughout the series, we get to see them truly “dating” during the last season and the beginning of this one. After that, they never really go back to a “boyfriend/girlfriend” relationship until WAY down the line. But anyway, we see Rachel finally quit her job at the coffee shop and pursue a career in the fashion industry. She begins to work at Bloomingdale’s where she meets Mark, an attractive man who works with her in her department. Ross gets extremely jealous of him and after multiple fights regarding the issue, Rachel calls for a “break”. Ross, coping with the pain, ends up getting drunk and having a one-night stand with a girl from his copy place.

Clearly, after all of that, Rachel and Ross’s break turned into a break-up. They got back together the episode after Ross’s one-night stand but once Rachel learned about the act, she was disgusted and told him they were done. Yeah, so it got AWKWARD to say the least. Eventually things got less weird and their friendships with one another resume back to normal. Well until this season’s finale, but we’ll get there.

So what’s going on with everyone else? Monica begins a relationship with Pete Becker, a millionaire who developed a crush on her while she was waitressing/cooking at a diner. At first, she only sees him as a friend, but eventually, the two begin to date. However, Pete confides in her that he wants to become the Ultimate Fighting Champion. After seeing him get beat up badly in two matches, she tells him he has to stop fighting or their relationship was over. He kept fighting, she ended it. Chandler broke up with Janice after Joey saw her kissing her ex-husband. Joey continued to get small acting roles and we see huim go through multiple casual and comical relationships. Phoebe, who hadn’t had a family member on the show except her twin sister, met her brother Frank Jr. last season and sees him a few times throughout this season. She also goes to the beach and meets a woman who turns out to be her real mother in the season finale! The parents she knew adopted her!

Speaking of the season finale, Phoebe meets her birth mom and Ross brings a new girl to the party. This is awkward for Rachel, that is until someone lets it slip to Ross that she’s developing feelings for him again. Now Ross is in a similiar predicament that he was two seasons ago, who will he choose? The girl he’s dating or Rachel? Hmmm I wonder…