Chapter Summaries

Adam deleted his Gone Girl manuscript after Juno warned him to erase it, then tried to distract Chandler from his obsession with Kathy. Weeks later, news reported that Amazing Amy had disappeared without a trace, and Adam suspected Juno and her allies had eliminated the threat.

• Juno called Adam and told him to delete his manuscript, and Adam destroyed the file and its hard drive before thanking her for looking out for him.
• Adam took Chandler to a club and used the dancers to try to dilute Chandler’s fixation on Kathy with new images.
• Over the following weeks, Adam helped Chandler manage his feelings while watching for news about Amazing Amy.
• Amazing Amy’s parents reported her missing, but the police found no leads and the case faded from public attention.
• Adam guessed that Juno and her allies had arranged Amazing Amy’s disappearance and felt grateful to have Juno as his guardian.

In 1998, Adam reflected on how his friends’ relationships had unfolded and accepted Chandler’s invitation to be his best man at Chandler and Monica’s wedding. As the wedding approached, Chandler and Monica prepared to marry after years together, while Adam wondered how Nora would react to seeing him beside Chandler.

• Adam agreed to be Chandler’s best man after Chandler explained why he had chosen him over Ross and Joey.
• Adam helped Chandler get over Kathy by taking him to see her perform, and Kathy later cheated on Joey with her onstage boyfriend.
• At Ross and Emily’s London wedding, Ross accidentally said Rachel’s name during the vows, and Emily left him after the ceremony.
• Adam gave Chandler and Monica privacy at the wedding, and they began a secret relationship that they kept for a year before telling their friends.
• Ross divorced Emily, married Rachel while drunk, and then divorced her, while Chandler proposed to Monica and she eagerly began planning their wedding.

Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe discussed Adam’s breakup with MAX and criticized his reluctance to settle down. They defended MAX’s choice to end things while reflecting on her new life and speculating about Adam’s future relationships.

• Monica confirmed that Adam was not bringing a date to her wedding reception, and Adam left with Chandler to pick out a suit.
• Phoebe and Rachel continued criticizing Adam for breaking up with MAX, while Monica explained that they had ended their relationship amicably.
• Monica said Adam had helped MAX attend college and find a high-paying job, and that MAX had been relieved after their breakup.
• Phoebe envied MAX’s success, and Monica reminded her that MAX’s happiness was genuine.
• Rachel and Phoebe joked that Adam might eventually struggle to maintain even one relationship, and Monica agreed.

Adam accompanied Chandler to a New York tailor to get a suit for Chandler’s wedding, where they encountered Barney Stinson trying to take over the bachelor party. Barney declared Joey his greatest rival and challenged him, while Adam promised Chandler that Barney would not disrupt his party.

• Adam reassured Chandler at the tailor shop and arranged for his wedding suit to be finished on time.
• Barney appeared and offered to organize Chandler’s bachelor party with strippers and other wild activities.
• Adam recognized Barney’s type and refused to let him take charge, while Chandler compared him to Joey.
• Barney learned that Chandler and Adam were Joey’s friends, claimed Joey was his greatest rival, and issued Joey a challenge.
• Adam told Chandler Barney would not be allowed at his bachelor party.

Adam explained Joey’s history with Barney Stinson and reassured Chandler that he would be available as best man despite medical school. After leaving Chandler’s apartment, Adam returned to his new apartment near the Medical Center and called someone.

• Adam told Chandler and Joey that he had met Barney at a tailor shop, and Joey admitted he had competed with Barney over dates.
• Joey described Barney’s womanizing and bragging, while Chandler worried Barney would disrupt his bachelor party and wedding.
• Adam promised Chandler that he would keep Barney from ruining the celebrations and said his medical exams and residency placement left him time to be best man.
• Adam left Chandler’s apartment, drove to his new luxury apartment near the Medical Center, washed up, and called someone.

Adam reflected on his breakup with MAX and spent the evening with Alice, who told him where she and William would train. Their conversation turned to the residency plans of their friends, including Bianca, whom Adam had persuaded to stay in Chicago.

• Adam remembered that he and MAX had broken up two years earlier because he had not wanted their relationship to progress.
• Alice came to Adam’s apartment, and they discussed her hospital assignment and her unofficial relationship with William.
• Alice told Adam that she and William had both chosen the Medical Center, with William entering Internal Medicine.
• Adam said Iliad had also chosen Internal Medicine, while Bianca had chosen Surgery.
• Adam had persuaded Bianca to stay in Chicago for residency after recognizing her as the doctor from Shameless.

Adam warned Alice that Meredith Grey could threaten her relationships with Steven and William, then spent the night with her. The next day, Chandler asked Adam to help write his wedding vows, and Adam offered him a romantic passage.

• Adam told Alice that Meredith Grey would join the Medical Center residency program and described her as seductive and open-minded.
• Alice considered Meredith a possible threat to her hold on Steven and William, but Adam urged her to enjoy the present.
• Alice left Adam after their night together, as she usually did.
• Chandler summoned Adam, Ross, and Joey because he could not write his wedding vows for his wedding to Monica.
• Adam quoted a passage about love and the kind of man one wanted to be to help Chandler.

Adam’s borrowed romantic lines convinced Chandler to use them as his wedding vows. Adam warned that Monica might steal the vows for herself, so Chandler gave the notes to Adam to keep until the wedding.

• Joey and Ross praised Adam’s romantic line, and Chandler insisted that Adam write it out as his wedding vows.
• Adam decided the lines suited Chandler and Monica’s relationship and wrote the vows for Chandler.
• Adam warned Chandler to hide the vows because Monica might take them and use them herself.
• Chandler and Ross realized Monica might do that, so Chandler handed the vows and Joey’s notes to Adam for safekeeping.

Barney Stinson joined Ted, Lily, and Marshall at MacLaren's Pub and heard them praise Adam Duncan, whom he recognized as Joey Tribbiani's handsome friend. The four continued talking about Adam, leaving Barney eager to connect the two men in his mind.

• Ted, Lily, and Marshall discussed Joey Tribbiani and recalled his dinner with Adam during freshman year.
• Lily and Ted teased Barney about how Adam could outshine him, and they named Adam Duncan.
• The narration recounted how Barney met Ted in a restroom, tricked him with a fabricated story, and recruited him as a wingman.
• Barney learned that Adam knew Joey, described Adam's appearance, and confirmed that he had met him.
• Lily, Marshall, and Ted shared how Adam had remained a frequent topic among them despite their growing distance from him.

Adam met Barney at MacLaren's Pub, where he used real science to counter Barney's attempt to get invited to Chandler's wedding. Adam warned Barney not to interfere with the wedding, and Barney backed down under his scrutiny.

• Lily invited Adam to MacLaren's Pub, where he met Barney and caught up with Marshall and Lily.
• Barney asked why Adam had not invited them to Chandler's wedding, and Adam explained the Six Degrees of Separation Theory.
• Lily teased Barney for passing off invented theories as science, and Adam warned him that disrupting a wedding was wrong.
• Barney insisted he only wanted to meet the bridesmaids, but Adam recalled how Barney-like antics had ruined Zhang Wei's wedding plans.
• Adam confronted Barney about his intentions toward Chandler's wedding, and Barney raised his hands in surrender.

At MacLaren's Pub, Adam exposed the loophole in Barney's Bro Code and defended the need to respect boundaries. Barney then argued that bachelor-party dancers were essential foreplay, leaving Adam to consider hiring them for Chandler and Monica's wedding celebrations.

• Adam warned Barney not to cross his friends' boundaries, and Ted, Lily, and Marshall agreed.
• Barney claimed he would add Adam's rule to the Bro Code, but Adam revealed that Barney had reserved the right to reinterpret the rules, prompting Ted to confront him.
• Barney admitted he would remove the clause, then asked Adam whether he planned to hire dancers for the groom's bachelor party.
• Adam remembered that Monica's bachelorette party had included male dancers and struggled to guarantee Chandler would not be at a disadvantage.
• Barney described bachelor-party dancers as foreplay and urged Adam to hire female dancers for Chandler's party.

Adam warned Rachel against hiring dancers for Chandler and Monica's bachelor and bachelorette parties, arguing that the parties should stay low-key. Joey proudly revealed that he was wearing women's underwear, only for Rachel to recognize it as hers.

• At MacLaren's Pub, Adam rejected Barney's argument that couples needed sexual novelties to spice up their wedding night, and the group changed the subject until Barney left to pick up women.
• Adam asked Rachel about the bachelorette party and persuaded her to avoid hiring dancers, saying he would not hire any for Chandler's bachelor party either.
• Joey arrived wearing women's zodiac-year underwear and proudly described its styles and materials.
• Rachel angrily recognized the underwear Joey was wearing as hers.

Joey apologized to Rachel for wearing her underwear after Adam explained that he had crossed a boundary. Four weeks later, Adam took Chandler, Joey, and groomsman Ross to Chandler’s bachelor party, but he suddenly shouted for the limousine to stop as it kept speeding on.

• Joey explained that he had borrowed Rachel’s underwear to prove to Phoebe that he was a real man.
• Adam told Joey that taking Rachel’s intimate clothes without permission had crossed a line, and Joey apologized to her.
• Four weeks later, Adam set off with Chandler, Joey, and Ross for Chandler’s bachelor party on the night before the wedding.
• Ross complained that Adam had not arranged a limousine for any of his three weddings, and Joey joked that Ross might marry Rachel again.
• Adam suddenly yelled for the limousine to stop, but the car continued speeding onward.

Adam realized the limousine driver had been paid by Barney Stinson to take the group to a bachelor-party surprise, so he redirected the car to the hockey game. On the way, he explained how his growing resemblance to Sheldon’s extraordinary memory and imagination had transformed his medical abilities.

• Adam noticed the limousine was off course, confronted the driver, and ordered him to take the group to the gym beside the kindergarten.
• Adam identified Barney Stinson as the person behind the detour and described his extravagant attempts to impress women.
• Adam told Chandler, Joey, and Ross about Sheldon’s photographic memory and powerful imagination, then reflected on how he was gradually acquiring similar abilities.
• Adam promised the group front seats for the hockey game, and Chandler, Joey, and Ross cheered.

Adam gave Chandler a lavish bachelor party, redirecting the group from Barney’s planned stunt to a hockey game and feast. At the wedding venue, Nora arrived and exchanged pointed remarks with Adam and Monica’s family.

• Adam arranged front-row hockey seats for Chandler, Ross, and Joey, while deciding to teach Barney a lesson after the wedding.
• Barney learned that Adam had diverted the bachelor party, then paid the dancer and watched her perform alone.
• Adam took Chandler and the others to an extravagant dinner, and Chandler accepted the gifts while resolving to plan a dream bachelor party for Adam someday.
• The next afternoon, Adam stood with Chandler and Monica at The Plaza Hotel to welcome guests before their wedding.
• Nora arrived in a gold dress, greeted Chandler and Monica, and exchanged a meaningful glance with Adam.
• Monica introduced Nora to Judy and Jack, and Adam warned Jack not to make jokes about Nora’s gender for Monica and Ross’s sake.

At Chandler and Monica’s wedding, Adam helped smooth over tensions involving Chandler’s parents and Monica’s family. He escorted Nora away from the banquet hall, where she nearly confided in him before Amanda appeared, leaving Nora to enter the restroom alone and calm her racing heart.

• Monica sent her parents to speak with Ross after her father’s jokes upset Nora, and Monica’s mother scolded him for making the wedding awkward.
• Nora thanked Adam for supporting Chandler, and Adam said it was his duty as Chandler’s best man.
• Chandler’s father, Helena, arrived in a black women’s outfit and flirted with Adam, prompting Nora to angrily tell Helena to behave.
• Monica led Helena away to meet her parents, while Adam reassured Nora that Helena had not meant to hurt her.
• Nora went to the restroom, and Chandler asked Adam to take care of her; Adam interrupted Nora when she tried to speak and introduced her to Amanda.
• After Adam and Amanda left, Nora entered the restroom and leaned against the wall to calm her pounding heart.

Nora worried that her past involvement with Adam had almost been exposed, while Adam handled Joey’s late arrival and arranged for the wedding to proceed. Chandler and Monica’s ceremony began with their families and friends gathered at the chapel, and Monica entered as the bride.

• Nora blamed Helena for provoking her outburst and wondered whether Adam had noticed her feelings or rejected her because of her age.
• Joey called Adam to say he could not arrive in time to officiate, but Adam told him he could do so only if he arrived early and changed into proper clothes.
• Adam reassured Rachel that he had planned for Joey’s delay and had Monica’s preferred officiant ready at the venue.
• Chandler entered the chapel escorted by Nora and Helena, then praised both of them before going to the altar.
• Adam and Rachel, followed by Ross and Phoebe, took their places, and Adam told Chandler that Joey would not officiate.
• Monica entered the chapel in her wedding dress with her parents as the guests stood.

Monica and Chandler had their long-awaited wedding at the Plaza Hotel, with Adam preventing Joey from interrupting the ceremony. After they exchanged vows and rings, Pastor John pronounced them married, leaving Monica and Chandler celebrating their dream wedding.

• Monica's parents walked her down the aisle and congratulated her, while Monica reflected on how her career and relationship had changed their view of her.
• Adam stopped Joey from officiating in his bloodstained World War II uniform and made him sit in the back row.
• Monica and Chandler exchanged their marriage vows, with Monica reading her vows and Chandler reciting his Spider-Man-inspired confession.
• Rachel handed Monica her ring, and Adam handed Chandler his before they exchanged rings.
• Pastor John pronounced Monica and Chandler legally married, and they kissed as the guests applauded.

At Chandler and Monica’s wedding reception, Adam helped Chandler dance by lending him his shoes, then spent the evening dancing with the women. After Adam secretly visited Nora in her room and returned to the banquet, Phoebe called him out in front of Chandler, Monica, and Rachel.

• Adam posed for wedding photos with Chandler, Monica, and the others before they went to the banquet hall.
• Chandler struggled to dance because his new shoes were slippery, so Adam switched shoes with him and helped him start the newlyweds’ first dance.
• Merlin invited Adam to dance, while Ross was repeatedly rejected by women who wanted to dance with Adam.
• Adam danced for half an hour, then left the reception and went to Nora’s room.
• Adam returned to the banquet, where Phoebe shouted, “Adam, you’re busted!”

At Chandler and Monica’s wedding celebration, Phoebe revealed that Rachel was pregnant, and Adam correctly guessed that Ross was the father. Rachel remained unsure what to do, while Adam decided to leave the matter to her and focus on his own plans after the wedding.

• Adam reassured everyone that he was devoted and principled after Phoebe joked that Rachel’s baby might be his.
• Phoebe pressed Rachel to reveal the father, and Adam guessed it was Ross, prompting Rachel to confirm it.
• Rachel asked everyone to keep the news from Ross until she told him herself, and they agreed.
• Adam and Monica urged Rachel to tell Ross the truth and marry him, but Rachel remained conflicted.
• Adam stopped pressing Rachel and turned his attention to graduation, residency training, and settling a debt.