This Friends Theory Might Prove That Joey Was Actually a Genius the Entire Time

Reddit user references a season 7 episode and pancakes to break down why Joey might have been manipulating the group

By Jenna Mullins Aug 07, 2015 9:23 PMTags
Matt LeBLanc, Friends, Best TV QuotesNBC

Could this theory be any more mind-blowing?!

(Sorry, as a Friends fan it's scientifically impossible to not use the Chandler Bing inflection at least once when talking about the show. Deal with it.)

When it comes to fan theories, this one isn't as earth-shattering as something like "Rachel was dead the whole time" or something like that. But it's a theory that's interesting, funny and could very well be 100 percent true. Those are our favorite theories.

Reddit user ojcoolj put forward this idea on the website and since it couldn't immediately be disproven, it got lots of attention. Basically, they are convinced that Joey (Matt LeBlanc) is a super genius and used his wits to troll and manipulate his friends.

You remember Joey, right? He was the "idiot" of the group. He once ate everything in his fridge because it broke and he didn't want anything to go bad. He also got himself locked into an entertainment unit by a robber. He's not very bright.

Or so he wants us to believe.

You remember the season seven episode where Joey dates a girl name Erin (Sex and the City's Kristin Davis) and ultimately ends up falling for her? At first he wasn't into her as something more than a one night stand, but Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) convinced him to give her a chance. And he did. In the end, however, it was Joey who got his heart broken when Erin was the one who did the dumping. Ojcoolj's theory is that Joey did all this just so Rachel would make him some pancakes.

In the beginning of the episode, Joey told Rachel that when he lived with Chandler (Matthew Perry), his roomie would tell his one night stands gently that Joey wasn't interested and then he made them pancakes. And, Joey insists, Chandler would make extras for Joey. So why wasn't Rachel, Joey's current roommate, making him pancakes?!

At the end of the episode, Joey is so heartbroken over Erin that Rachel finally offers to make him pancakes. That makes Joey very, very happy. The theory is that Joey planned the whole Erin thing just so Rachel would feel bad enough to make him pancakes. 

We told you it was a small theory, but we love it regardless. And there's evidence. It's 6-fold:

•Joey loves food. Duh. He's done crazy stuff in the name of food before.
•Joey can't cook. Or he doesn't want to cook, because throughout the series we mostly see him ordering takeout
•A woman not being into Joey? Since when?! He probably planned the pancakes ploy with Erin
•Joey was rich enough at this point of the series to pay Erin to help him with his pancakes plan
•Joey screaming "finally!" at the end of the episode could have meant that "finally" his planned work
•Joey's sensitive nature toward dating was mostly a brand new personality trait in this episode, so we would believe that he came up with this crazy, intricate plan over Joey actually starting to care about a girl he just wants to hook up with.

Regardless of whether you think this theory is legit or just a moo point (a "cow's opinion," if you will), isn't it kind of cool to think about Joey being this evil genius the whole time and everything he did was just some manipulative game?!

NBC
NBC
NBC

BRB, going through the entire series to see if we can find more evidence for the Joey Is an Evil Genius theory.

Watch: Marta Kauffman on "Friends" Reunion Rumors

(H/T Buzzfeed)