Crisis

Grace Cuiming Li

          This is the point at which it is 1) necessary for the protagonist to make a decision about what action to take, or 2) the events place the protagonist at a low point. The decisions involve no great soul searching, philosophical pondering, nor consideration of possible consequences beyond the solving of the immediate problem. The greatest amount of thought is devoted to the actual mechanics of carrying out the decision. The low point is the failure of a plan, or circumstances that put the protagonist in some sort of trouble. Examples in the same episode include: Ross must tell Rachel he should never to see her again for his marriageís sake and Chandler is afraid it may be the end of his relationship with Monica after they ruined the weekend together. More often, the protagonist finds himself in trouble: Joey finds some similarities in Chandler's and Monica's stories about the weekend, and figures out the truth. Nevertheless, he must keep this a secret, hence, putting him into a dilemma.