I need to know what happened to Pete Becker
Every marginally interesting fictional character of the last 30-40 years has gotten a story, a sequel, a reboot, an origin story, a sequel to the origin story, and a deep dive artsy reboot. Except one. There is one character who I need to know what happened to next, and yet I apparently never will.
Pete Becker.
Do you remember Pete Becker? Played by Jon Favreau in six episodes of the third seasons of Friends, Pete was a multimillionaire software developer and businessman who dated Monica, then decided he needed to conquer the “physical world” and decided to try to become the Ultimate Fighting Champion, when such a thing was in its infancy. After getting destroyed in a couple fights, Monica couldn’t bear to watch anymore and told Pete it was fighting or her, and he chose fighting. So she left.
That’s a somewhat silly arc, sure. For Monica. For Pete? I need to know what happened next.
This was a dude who was so rich and successful that every office in the world used his software and he was hugging Bill Clinton in magazine photos. He was essentially Bill Gates, but (slightly) less famous — he was just eating by himself in themed diners — and much more charismatic. Sure, his attitude toward women is a bit awkward — he tosses Monica a five-figure tip as a way to get her to date him, he buys her a restaurant as another way to get her to date him, and he only wins her over when he kisses her against her will — but that is, for better or worse (worse), how TV thinks love happens.
Imagine Pete’s real, though. SportsCenter would have run new features on this dude every single day. His fights, where he’s getting destroyed and left in a body cast, would anchor the 6 p.m. episode on ESPN. You’re taking one of the richest guys in the world, ridiculously charismatic and innovative, throwing him in the octagon at a moment’s notice, and then watching him get his ass kicked over and over and refusing to quit? The TV cameras would never leave.
So what happens next? Pete insists he can’t quit, because he’s conquered everything else he’s ever tried and giving up isn’t in him. So either:
He succeeds and ends up becoming the Ultimate Fighting Champion;
He fails and sacrifices everything — his money, his livelihood — to try;
He gets killed trying;
He does give up, and that drives him crazy.
There is not a version of that story that isn’t absolutely fascinating. ESPN would be doing “whatever happened to Pete Becker?” retrospectives every year or two right through until today. He’d be ridiculously famous if he has succeeded, and ridiculously famous-er if he had failed. The Friends writers created one of the most interesting characters in the show’s run just to give Monica something to do for a while, and maybe they never wanted to continue that on (they clearly didn’t), but when you stumble onto something that good, you gotta explore it.
I know, I know, silly sitcom character. But come on, they couldn’t have made a Jon Favreau-anchored sitcom around that? James Hong will take any role; he could continue being the trainer. Add in a few business partners, maybe a convenient guest appearance from Courteney Cox, and that would have been a sitcom.
It’s too late now, obviously. Pete’s last appearance was 23 years ago (this week, actually, conveniently enough — his last episode was May 8, 1997). But I will always wish we had gotten closure on the Pete Becker story. Because it was better than anything Phoebe ever had going on.