I'll be there for you.【俗人专栏】

I'll Be There for You

The Rembrandts - Return of the 90s

By [E介俗人]

It's the most astonishing scenery in TV history that full six of casts of "friends" gathering together publicly and presenting us a reunion show, via HBO, the soaring video-steaming service provider, based on the states after 17 years when the finale was shooting.

Time fleets and youth fades. It's worth crying that all of them are aging and time curve marks on their faces. "Joey" has doubled his body figure to rebel against the unstoppable process of aging. Fortunately, "Phoebe" remains basically the same young-looking as "Phoebe". For the past 20 more years, we've witnessed these six "friends" becoming "families", who have each other's back.

This reunion show brought us back to the good old days- the time we watched the shows, again and again, laughing unexpectedly and contingently. By the way, also back to the good old days, the show "Friends" was the perfect English learning material for most Chinese English learners, who can glance at the unique and totally non-Chinese-style social lives of the United States, where was on its prime time during the twentieth century, without any doubt. With the booming of the Internet, of course not that convenient as nowadays, we could sail on the Internet- namely Information Expressway, a 1990s old saying, which this remarkable show can be searched and downloaded easily online, combined with English-Chinese subtitles. When I was a middle school student, at the age of 15 or so, luckily I got an opportunity to watch the whole seasons and received enormous fun, though those days were really tough due to the pressure of study from the peers, teachers, and parents. Definitely, there was my good memory, and it does cultivate some initial understandings of this wonderful world for me, a naive and not-sophisticated teenager.

The world is changing and as global citizens, non of us can sideline it. Especially in the year 2020, Covid-19 has changed the pattern of the global permanently. The past year of 2020 alarms us one topic that no one can avoid- remember the things we've lost and cherish the things we own. This is also why we can see millions and millions of online audiences rates 9.5 on Douban, a Chinese-based media reviewing platform, which is a noticeably high score. "Friends"' friends leave such high evaluation not just because reunion show itself, but merely nostalgic feelings about our old missing times.

People miss the old days, the time of youth. They wish they could have such a brunch of friends, who could be their spirit families. More importantly, "friends" in the show can hang out every night together, which impossible for workers today who have to work overtime inevitably. As for me, I'm not that young boy anymore. Things that happened to me, good or bad, all were gone by wind and are the cornerstone for the rest of my life. I also gained strength from the show, not just simply laughing and that sexual hints- which I didn't realize most of them when I was young, but not now- but I could see the characters have the courage to challenge the unfairness of lives, smile at the horrible situations and give the hands of each other when one confronted with tricky questions. Anyway, people always have to grow up, because life is suck.

Compared to one of my friends, who is extremely crazy about the show, watches it dozes of times, names herself Rachel, one of the names of the female cast from the show, as you know, I am just only kicking off my second times of watching the whole seasons, but this time I can't wait to watch this reunion episode. Seeing the gathering of the whole cast group on my screen, the best time of my day is calling.

The theme music wedges into our minds. The reunion show starts and ends with a special editing version of this song. The identical spring fountain where the friends played with each other,  the odd gestures, the "dadada" hands clapping sounds, and the lyrics, all remind us of the happiest moments.

Anyway, "I'll be there for you."

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