10 best friendships in Netflix shows

Best friendships are precious and often hard to come by, aren’t they? We all want unconditional friendships as much as we want unconditional love, but sometimes the only sure-fire way we can experience either is through Netlfix shows.

In the case of friendships, you know the shows I’m talking about. The ones where gal pals ride the highs and lows together and are there for each other no matter what. Even when their friendships get tested and hit rough patches, they find a way to work things out.

As we all know, that is ideal, but it doesn’t always necessarily happen in real life. Sometimes, it’s helpful to experience such reconciliations vicariously. But sometimes even in fiction, it doesn’t work out that way. However, there are even takeaways for us in the breakups.

Some of the best friendships in the following shows are more realistic than others, but all offer something, whether it’s escapism into a fantasy friendship you wish could exist in real life to more realistic ones you totally could see happening.

10 Best friends in Netflix shows

They’re also great picks if you’re looking for Netflix shows to bond over with your best gal pals, or you want to capture that Galentine’s vibe anytime.

1. Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and Mary Anne in The Baby-Sitter’s Club

A kids show? Really? Yes!

These girls are way more mature than I was at that age. Heck, they may be even more together than I am now! After all, they’re enterprising and entrepreneurial, having formed their own business. Together, they navigate the trials and tribulations of running a company, going to school and raising parents.

2. Erin, Orla, Clare and Michelle in Derry Girls

If you’re a grown woman, you survived your teenage years. Congrats. But did you do it amidst the turmoil of the political conflict in Northern Ireland during the 1990s?

That sounds like it would be incredibly stressful and scary, but leave it to the Derry Girls —Erin, Orla, Clare and Michelle— to find the fun and humor in it thanks to all of their inappropriate misadventures. If you never got in trouble in high school, but wish you had, hang with these four. No matter what awkward situation they find themselves in, they go all in together!

3. Anne and Diana in Anne with an E

Anne Shirley and Diana Barry are “bosom friends” —kindred spirits with whom they can share their deepest confidences and reveal their innermost souls without fear of judgment. Well, at least Anne can. I’m not sure Diana knew exactly what she was getting into when she became friends with Anne, but she soon finds that Anne is a feisty dreamer, a fierce friend and truly a lifelong devoted bosom friend.

4.  Maddie, Dana Sue and Helen in Sweet Magnolias

Maddie, Dana Sue and Helen have been best friends since high school and are still there for each other now that they’re all grown up and navigating the challenges of juggling romance, careers and children. It’s wholesome comfort viewing for when you just need an example of how friends help friends and what the unconditional bond of BFFs looks like.

5. The sisters and nurses of Nonnatus House in Call the Midwife

This is my personal go-to whenever I need some quality girl time. The ladies of Nonnatus House, both the sisters and the nurses, are so compassionate and thoughtful.

Whether they’re trying to help an expectant mother through a difficult delivery, bring cheer or comfort to the residents of  Poplar in general, or are supporting each other through their own personal trials and tribulations, I always feel inspired to be a better friend (and person!) after seeing how Sister Julienne, Shelagh, Trixie, Lucille, Phyllis, Valerie and all the others do it.

6. Emily and Mindy in Emily in Paris

If you move to a different country like Emily Cooper did and are lucky enough to find a friend like Mindy Chen, you’re pretty lucky indeed. I envied the fast ease with which they became Parisian besties. This is either a “you love it or you don’t” kind of show. I was squarely in the “Loved it!” camp not only because of the romantic tension between Emily and Gabriel, but also because of Emily and Mindy’s friendship. I’m excited to see more of it in season 2!

7. Abby, Phoebe, Delia and Jo in Girlfriends Guide to Divorce

When self-help guru Abby McCarthy finally publicly reveals her marriage is over, her career also takes a nosedive. What’s a girl to do when she’s suddenly single, in her 40s and having to reinvent herself? Rely on her divorced friends, Phoebe, Delia and Jo, for guidance and moral support as she learns to navigate her new reality.  It’s sort of reminiscent of Sex and the City —except grown up and set in L.A. But these ladies share that same kind bond.

8. Grace and Frankie in Grace and Frankie

Grace and Frankie never really liked each other but they suddenly find themselves having to live together and rely on each other after their husbands inform them that they are in love with each other. Being women of a certain age, this understandably throws them for a loop. But together they learn that being resilient and facing life’s challenges is a whole lot easier with a good friend to laugh with, cry with and continue growing with.

9. Bloom, Aisha, Musa, Terra, and Stella in Fate: The Winx Saga

Bloom had no idea she was a fire fairy until she almost killed her parents. Alfea College’s headmistress, Ms. Dowling, convinces Bloom she can help her if she enrolls in the school that’s located in the Otherworld. Bloom arrives an outsider but lucks out by being assigned to live with Aisha, Musa, Terra, and Stella.

It’s rough going at first. Bloom has never really had friends and is private and standoffish, but her suite-mates aren’t easily deterred. They all soon learn the most potent magic of all is friendship —which they’re going to need if they’re going to survive the Burned Ones and other supernatural secrets and power plays that plague Alfea’s realm and threaten the other seven.

10. Tully and Kate in Firefly Lane

Tully Hart and Kate Mularkey have been friends forever. Well, maybe not that long but over 30 years. Since they were teenagers and Tully moved to Firefly Lane in 1974. It seems their bond is the unbreakable variety that will last a lifetime, but in 2003 both are struggling and have endured something that leaves them not even on speaking terms anymore.

As Chalke said in an interview with The Wrap, “I don’t even know, to be 100% honest, what the actual last straw is.”

Will they make amends and salvage their lifelong friendship? That’s not the only question fans want answers to or why they’re looking forward to a Firefly Lane season 2.