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Robert Tamayo

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Friends Again: Joey

While I personally consider Ross to be the funniest of the Friends, I believe that Joey is the most virtuous of the guys in the group. I have a friend who disagrees with that based on the argument that Joey is a womanizer who sleeps with women and never calls them back. While he is certainly the most promiscuous of the Friends, he doesn't seem to approach that from a bad place; in one episode, he genuinely feels remorse for having led women on and proceeds to call his old dates one by one to apologize.

However, I'm not basing my argument on how Joey treats women. Instead, I'm basing it on how Joey treats men, specifically the other guys.

Joey is the only Friend who actually displays a virtuous character in his male friendships. In one case, he is dating a woman named Charlie, whom Ross has a crush on. Charlie in turn has a crush on Ross, and Rachel has a crush on Joey. It's a love square, but Joey is the only one who remains noble. Joey finds out that Rachel likes him, and he decides that he just can't "do that to Ross". Charlie breaks up with Joey and then finds Ross in the hotel. Ross doesn't have the same strength of character, however, and proceeds to hook up with Charlie. Thus, the strength of Joey's virtue shows.

Chandler is not without fault, either, as he actually makes out with Joey's girlfriend while Joey is still dating her. Sure, Chandler "feels bad" about it afterward, but it's a clear demonstration of the weakness of his character and his sneaky tactics at getting women. Joey doesn't need to play tricks and steal his friend's girl - he just needs to be Joey.

Joey also demonstrates an affectionate love for the girls in the group. When he thought that Phoebe was pregnant, he proposed to her to help her take care of the baby. When he found out it was Rachel who was really pregnant, he proposed to her as well.

All in all, Joey is by far the most virtuous of the male Friends. He's also hilarious and genuinely likable.

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