The Most Toxic Fictional Friendships On TV That We Love Watching Anyway

When Euphoria begins, Cassie and Maddy are the best of friends, and their friendship is at the heart of much of the series' first season. The problem with each character is that they are incredibly selfish people who do whatever they desire, ultimately leading to a massive problem when Cassie and Nate have an affair.

The betrayal clearly indicates that these two aren't great friends to one another, and it all blows up (mostly via flashback) at the end of the season. Granted, the showrunners kept the confrontation on the lowdown until the end. Cassie and Maddy are a perfect example of a type of friendship many have throughout their lives, and that's what makes it so compelling – it's relatable.

Serena and Blair's friendship in Gossip Girl is arguably the strongest, but that doesn't mean it isn't toxic. Watching the series, you can see that these two besties have a strong relationship with one another, and their complicated dynamic is at the forefront of the series' best stories. Unfortunately, when you look closer, you see their relationship was incredibly toxic.

Repeatedly throughout the series, they use each other's past against them, including when Blair tells a room full of people that Serena had killed someone. She also told a bunch of ivy league schools that she was a drug abuser, and it went both ways. Essentially, anything said in confidence was fair game, and they each weaponized the others' past against them.

Another problem between the pair was how they often supported each other's bad relationships. It's one thing to support a friend's significant other, but not when the relationship is clearly bad for them. Add to that all the times they went after one another in public, used men to hurt one another, or jeopardized their future, and you're left with a couple of people who should have stopped being friends a long time ago.

Pretty Little Liars' premise revolves around a group of friends who come together as they're tracked by a mysterious person identified solely as “A.” Alison, Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily all come together and become close friends after falling off. Still, the underlying issue is that it would never have happened had they not been collectively tracked by “A,” suggesting their friendship is less about close ties and more of a necessity.

Throughout the series, they conflict, often lashing out when they feel cornered. Aria and Spencer are two of the closest friends in the group, but their relationship is only skin deep. On numerous occasions, they belittled or dismissed the other, became suspicious of each other's motives, and much more. Most notably, both girls were willing to torment the other without hesitation during the dollhouse torment event. There are plenty more examples, but essentially, these people weren't good friends.

You don't have to look beyond the first episode to see that Sheldon and Leonard's friendship isn't healthy. While they are close, and it's clear Leonard considers Sheldon a friend, his idiosyncracies take over Leonard's life. Sheldon is so demanding he forces Leonard into awkward and difficult situations, often forcing him to eat what Sheldon wants to eat, watch what Sheldon wants to watch, and so on.

As the series progresses, their relationship grows, though it's still constrained by Sheldon's constant demands for others to conform to his way of life. Sheldon does this to everyone on the show, but his closest relationship is with Leonard. When the series concluded and Sheldon was awarded the Nobel Prize, he acknowledged everything Leonard did/meant to him in his acceptance speech, so it ended in a lovely way, but only after years of mistreatment and one-sided respect.

Ed, Edd n Eddy revolves around the eponymous Eds as they live close together in a suburban cul-de-sac in Peach Creek. There are plenty of other characters outside their inner orbit. Still, the show is aptly named, as it focuses on the friendship between Ed, Edd, and Eddy, as it's a very close relationship that's not entirely based on their first names being the same.

At various times throughout the series, the Eds would do or say things that suggested their friendship wasn't as strong as it appeared. Particularly in the fourth and fifth seasons, Edd and Eddy had a somewhat tumultuous relationship, as Eddy often favored Ed over Edd. This kind of favoritism isn't unusual in a close circle of friends, but it became so bad it's questionable if they are even true friends by the end.

Friends follows the lives of six people in their twenty-somethings as they mature and endeavor to make it through life's trials and tribulations. Everyone on Friends is close, but Monica and Rachel's relationship is arguably the strongest. The two childhood friends reconnected in adulthood and remained incredibly close throughout the series.

On the surface, they seem like the best of friends, but in reality, their relationship is one of dependence and necessity. Rachel dropped Monica as her BFF after high school and didn't invite her to her wedding. When she runs away from her groom, she heads to her old friend, Monica, who takes her in.

From there, Rachel remains close to Monica, but it's clear they wouldn't have reconnected had Rachel's life played out the way she planned. Over time, Rachel matures into a strong, independent person. Still, for most of Friends, he's little more than an unapologetic parasite who's only with Monica and the others out of necessity.