'Friends': Not all predictions for Emma's 18th birthday came true and they didn't see a lot coming
Popular sitcom ‘Friends’, which ran from 1994 to 2004, has continued to remain a staple of popular culture a decade-and-a-half after its finale. But April 4, 2020, is a special date. As the official Twitter account of Netflix UK and Ireland pointed out: “According to the internet, today – April 4th 2020 – is Emma Geller-Green's 18th birthday. So I guess she'll finally get Monica and Chandler's message…”
Emma Geller-Green, played by Noelle Sheldon, the unintended consequences of Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) getting back together for a day became central to the plot of the sitcom in the final two seasons. Season 10 Episode 4 ‘The One With The Cake’ saw Emma’s first birthday when all the six friends decided to make a videotape for her, a sort of time capsule for her 18th birthday.
Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), the most eccentric one in the group, comments, “She’s gonna be watching that video on a TV that hasn’t even been invented yet”. To be fair, she wasn’t wrong at all. The cast (or the characters) back in 2004 may not have imagined that Emma could be watching the video on a smartphone rather than a TV, a computer or a laptop monitor. “And they’ll be living in a floating city the humans built to escape the ant people,” Phoebe continued. Well. That, at least, has not happened. Yet.
“Hi, Emma. It's the year 2020. Are you still enjoying your nap?' Chandler (Matthew Perry) asks in the tape, before Monica (Courtney Cox) replies, “We're Aunt Monica and Uncle Chandler, by the way – you may not recognize us because we haven't spoken to your parents in 17 years.”
Thankfully, that did not turn out to be true. As one can easily tell from the Instagram accounts of all the main cast, they hang out all the time. One really wouldn’t do that if they did not enjoy each other’s company, now would they?
“You'll be all grown up by then. We'll be... Well, your grandfather and I might not be here,” Emma’s grandmother Judy (Christina Pickles) began, as her husband Jack (Elliott Gould) jumped in to say, “This message could be coming to you from beyond the grave!”
“After all, my parents died very young,” says Judy. “And my cholesterol is off the charts,” adds Jack. Yet another prediction, that has, thankfully not materialized yet. 81-year-old Gould and 85-year-old Pickles are both alive and well.
What the characters did not or could not predict for Emma, of course, is that she would be spending her 18th birthday locked up inside her home, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic that has plagued the world. But let’s forget about the grim realities for a moment. It’s Emma’s birthday after all. And hopefully, she’s enjoyed her birthday nap.