Audiences began rooting for Rachel and Ross ' union since the very beginning of Friends , openly voicing their frustration with Rachel ’ s obliviousness to Ross ' feelings for her . The episode that would ultimately transform the friends ' relationship for the remainder of the series was the first season finale " The One Where Rachel Find Out " , in which Rachel finally learn of Ross ' true feelings for her , at the same time discovering she actually feel the same . However , the episode nearly went unwritten because , at the time , few friends writers was expecting the couple 's relationship to morph into the phenomenon that it ultimately became . The episode was first suggested by director James Burrows ; the writers felt that it was time to alter the couple 's dynamic in order to avoid the repetitive " he 's pining , she 's oblivious " pattern , using the work of author Jane Austen as inspiration on how to finally shift the pining arc from Ross to Rachel . Because stakes for the episode was unprecedentedly high , " The One Where Rachel Find Out " became Friends ' most reworked episode . The couple 's first kiss at the end of season two 's " The One Where Ross Find Out " was met with deafening applause from the studio audience . Crane admitted that keeping viewers interested in their relationship for ten years was challenging . Jonathan Bernstein of The Daily Telegraph believe that they accomplished this by " dangl [ ing ] the possibility of a Ross and Rachel recoupling through several cliffhangers without ever putting them back together . " According to Encyclopedia of Television author Horace Newcomb , Ross and Rachel 's ever @-@ changing relationship " converted the traditional amnesic plotlines of the situation comedy into ones akin to episodic drama . " Meanwhile , writing for The New York Review of Books , Elaine Blair agreed that Friends created " a sense of chemistry between two characters while also putting obstacles in their way , setting us up for a long @-@ deferred union . "