8 PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE www.thephilippinetribune.com June 3-9, 2021

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By Lea SalongaMY early to mid-20s were marked by a few notable things: living in New York (with stays in London and Boston in between), being able to do some interesting work coupled with travel, and the TV show “Friends,” which aired every Thursday night (I didn’t accept any phone calls for that precious half hour). Although at the time there re-ally wasn’t a whole lot I could relate to (for example, my mother still lived with me, and I wasn’t exactly the most sexu-ally active adult in town), save for this one thing: the closeness I had with my own little circle of friends. And this was the premise of the show, accord-ing to cocreator Marta Kauff-man, that “Friends” was about that time in your life when your friends were your family. “Friends” enjoyed a 10-year run, from 1994 to 2004. It began with fresh faces upon which the expressions of anxiety about work and rela-tionships seemed constantly painted, and ended with weddings, children and mov-ing out to the suburbs once you’ve “found your lobster.” Ross and Rachel did end up together. By the way, they

were on a break!Sense of nostalgia

Seventeen years after the series finale, “Friends: The Reunion” special began streaming on HBO Max. Of course, I was go-ing to see this on the first day, prepared with a full box of tis-sues and my sense of nostalgia. And yes, it did not disappoint. The special, hosted by James Corden with guest appearances by David Beckham, Reese With-erspoon, Tom Selleck, Mindy Kaling, Justin Bieber, Cara De-levingne, Cindy Crawford, El-liot Gould, Christina Pickles, Lady Gaga, Kit Harrington and BTS just to name a few, took us back on a trip down memory lane to favorite episodes, bloop-ers and even a fashion show of some of the more outrageous costumes and outfits worn throughout the series. I was half expecting someone to walk the runway with a turkey on his head, but no such luck. We got to hear Lady Gaga sing “Smelly Cat” with Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), and the orig-inal barbershop quartet Ross (David Schwimmer) sent to ser-enade Rachel (Jennifer Aniston).

Personal favoriteHowever, my personal favorite part of the special was the table

I’ll be there for you

Cast of “Friends”: (seated, from left) Courteney, Cox, Jennifer, Aniston, Lisa Kudrow; (standing) Mat-thew, Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer