Friends' Weirdest Theory Is The One Where Phoebe Is A Cold War Spy

Throughout its ten-year run, viewers got up close and personal with the characters on "Friends." And while we learned a great deal about the group's respective personalities and origin stories, Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) always remained an enigma. A New York-bred eccentric who experienced tragedy at a young age and lived on the streets before finding gainful employment as a masseuse, Phoebe's criminal resume always surprised her friends, who only knew her as an adult. 

According to one fan theory from Reddit user motorbiker1985, Phoebe's past as a juvenile delinquent might be even more sinister than previously thought. Motorbiker1985 posits that Phoebe wasn't just your average street urchin engaging in some light crime to survive — they believe that her background suggests that in the late '80s, she might have served as a Cold War spy. "Phoebe is by far the weirdest character in the show, but it is very likely her weirdness is a clever disguise designed to cover her activities as a spy in the Eastern bloc. The evidence is all there," they write.

If you're struggling to imagine the person who serenades strangers in coffee shops with renditions of "Smelly Cat" as a government agent, you're not alone. But put aside your past conceptions of Phoebe, and let's journey into an alternate universe where this pacifistic vegetarian has been recruited to a high-stakes underworld where she dabbles in government secrets.

To paraphrase Liam Neeson's character in "Taken," Phoebe Buffay has a unique set of skills — and they don't necessarily fit with the way she grew up. "Friends" lore states that Phoebe was raised with her twin sister Ursula in upstate New York by her father Frank (who abandoned the family) and her mother Lily (who committed suicide when Phoebe was 14-years-old). Phoebe's family circumstances meant that she never completed her education, yet Motorbiker1985 points out that she speaks multiple languages, including English, French, and Italian. Another fan also reinforces this theory by bringing up the character's nonchalant attitude toward torture.

Phoebe's criminal history is also well-documented throughout the show. She admits to mugging young, nerdy boys as a teenager, including Ross (David Schwimmer), and when she dates a cop (played by Michael Rapaport), he mentions that after they met, he went through her criminal files where he found "some pretty weird stuff." Then there's the international element. In Season 4, Episode 10, Phoebe tells her friends that she lived in Prague, presumably in the late '80s before she moved in with Monica (Courteney Cox). Also notable is Phoebe's lack of ID: In Season 7, Episode 11 she mentions to Joey (Matt LeBlanc) that she can't go to Minsk with David (Hank Azaria), the guy she likes, because she's not allowed to have a passport.  

How do all these disparate pieces fit together? Motorbiker1985 suggests that Phoebe was recruited by some government agency that noticed her criminal talent, trained her as a spy, and sent her to Prague during the '80s when the Cold War was still in effect.

By the time we meet Phoebe, she's a masseuse and aspiring folk singer who lives with her grandmother, subscribes to New Agey beliefs, and spends a lot of time with her friends in a coffee shop. If she was at one point a Cold War spy, how did she end up here?

Motorbiker1985 has thoughts on this too. They suggest that it's possible that Phoebe's assignment in the Eastern bloc didn't work out. Whether she was betrayed, failed at her mission, or pretended to be insane in order to secure her release, they argue that Phoebe was somehow freed from her espionage activities, returned to New York (sans passport, of course), monitored by officials, but eventually left alone. By the time viewers meet Phoebe, the only thing still tying her to her previous life overseas is her favorite alias — Regina Phalange. Replying to the entire thread, one Redditor simply wrote: "Love it, well done." Another wrote: "This is awesome ... I'm on board 100%."

Phoebe the spy is a compelling theory, but likely not one that the "Friends" creators intended for viewers to take away from the series. Then again, it makes more sense than the idea that Phoebe is a time traveler.