Okay, so The Pretender was on TV while I was a university student and some terms I had cable, most terms I did not. So I have no idea how the series ended and in particular, I was curious about Jarod’s history.
I remember that Ms. Parker started to look into the mystery of how Jarod became to be the guinea pig in the “pretender” experiment. And I vividly remember a scene in which she discovered some long-forgotten “birthing room” or something with an examination table with stirrups and such. She looked horrified as is she was realizing that Jarod’s mother may have been some kind of prisoner/slave/experiment.
About this time, Ms. Parker started to seem a bit more sympathetic towards Jarod – instead of just ruthlessly trying to recapture him.
I also remember vaguely getting the feeling that she was wondering about her own history (and I started speculating, probably erroneously, that maybe she was his half-sister or something.)
So how did all that get tied up? Or did the series just die before there was any resolution?
Actually TNT was kind enough to make a movie to help tie up loose ends. They ended up making more loose ends however.
Ms. Parker and Jarod shared a brother (not Angelo), however they weren’t related. (Jarod’s father and Ms. Parker’s mother)
Mr. Raines and Mr. Parker were brothers
Ms. Parker could possibly (probably) be Mr. Raines’ daughter
Ms. Parker inherited a bit of a psychic gift from Mommy. (She sees dead people)
Ms. Parker has to keep trying to catch Jarod until they both die of old age, but they will never be able to follow through on their true feelings for each other.
Wow. Wait… Angelo was that really creepy pretender weirdo genuis guy right? Who was the brother that Ms. Parker and Jarod shared? I remember kinda figuring that Raines was Parker’s pappa…
Angelo, I believe, wasn’t related to either Jarod or Ms. Parker. He was another of the kids at the Centre and had his real “self” destroyed by Raines.
I actually loved Angelo.
I think the shared brother was Kyle. He had a bit of a psychic gift too.
I saw the series backwards: I started with the 2 hour movie that actually was the end, and then saw the other episodes in no particular order. It’s been so long since I saw the end that I don’t remember how we got from the last episode of the series to the movie.
Cool premise for a show, but I stopped watching when the main motivation for all the characters became tracking down their extended family trees. I simply couldn’t stand all the “Luke, I am your father” moments. Just didn’t seem feasable that somebody would care so much about family that they weren’t raised with. Especially since the show set up a really cool villian in the shodowy organization that raised Jarod (what was it called?), but then failed to give the organization anything cool and sinister to do that hadn’t happend 20 years before the time the show took place.
And I missed the bits with Ms Parker’s psycic abilities, but if I hadn’t stopped watching before that, I would’ve then.
Jarod was based on the true story of Fredrick Demara, who, without any training, would assume fake credentials and pretend to be trained in jobs he wasn’t qualified for (including doctor!). The book “Great Imposter” was writen about him if anyones interested (as well as a movie by the same name, which I haven’t seen).
Well, Ms. P only got her psychic gifts at the very end. I can forgive it, because so much of the other stuff was high on the unbelievable scale. For example: the Jarod clone.
And they spent two hours on the Jarod clone. As soon as I heard the code name of Gemini, I got it (well, at least that he had some sort of double/clone/twin). Jarod’s a genius yet it takes him most of the show to figure it out!
I think that the first season dealt mostly with Jarod running around and either stopping current Centre projects or ones he’d help start. Can anyone confirm?
I loved the premise, but after the first two seasons, I had huge issues with the continuity of the story. One that I remember involves Ms. Parker, Mr. Parker and Bridgit (Bridget?). [spoiler]Mr. Parker had gotten Bridgit (his wife, also an assassin type figure) to kill Ms. Parker’s possible lover, Thomas. He had planned this so that after Bridgit had his kid, Ms. Parker would kill her. (At least that’s how I understood the episode.) Yet, the very next episode plays out as if none of that happened! Yarr.
The season ender at one point had them all being stuck in a fire in the “dungeon” at the center, and there was fire and explosions and it was all really exciting. It was one of those times where I really waited all summer for the new season. And they completely glossed over the entire escape. “Boy that sure was a close escape wasn’t it! Now, this episode…”.
I think the writers just got tired or something. It was a great show for a few seasons but it just lost its way. Malodorous, that’s a good point. Every one was “connected” somehow, they were family or grew up together, yet it never really paid off. <yawn>
And then, the network just pulled the plug. Rather rude!
The first season almost always centered on Jarod finding some random (non-Centre related) evil-doer and using his skills to give said evil-doer a big heaping load of justice. He would then scedadle out the door just before Ms. P and friends closed in on him. It was fun to watch, though got formulaic towards the end of the season.
So realizing they were going to have to spice it up a little, I was hoping they would realize they had a great villian for Jarod to go mono-a-mono with, a huge, ethicless corporation that undertook such fascinating projects as raising super-genius children to exploit. And that was 20 years before the series started. What evil plots and sinister ends was the Centre working towards? What evil creations had they come up with?
Instead, I got endless episodes of Jarod trying to find his parents, in which the main goal of the Centre appeared to be f*&ing with people by hiding their family trees, just to be dicks. Admitedly, their were a few Centre centered episodes, but in my memory anyways, they always delt with things the Centre had done decades ago. I don’t know if they ever got past this, as I stopped watching
They deal with things the Centre did yrs before because what it was is Jarod was forced to make or invent things as a cjild.The Centre later in life used his own inventions and ideas to kill hundreds of people.Jerod being moral toward others survival and not wanting what he did to be used to kill,would go after old Centre records because he made the things. Mr Kyle was Ms Parkers brother. Not Angelo.It was one or theother and she did a DNA check. Mr Parker was Ms Parkers father,the old guy who ran the Centre,the bald cancer guys boss. Jerod also took it upon himself in late episodes to go help out the ppl who had hurt and kept him in Centre,and rescue their kids and family or help solve murders,because his sense of lost family was greater than his anger.One episode he saves Sydneys son. One episode he solves the murder of the cancer guys daughter. The only issue I ever had was that MsParker hunted Jerod but it seemed she had no reason to want to,being that she too was exploited& lied to,and lost family due to the very place she works for. All in all most of the Centres people were helping Jerod as much as hindering him. Sydney gave Jerod clues and help. Angelo frequently warned him of danger, and most even ran into him directly but never just took him back. I always got the impression most were secretly rooting for Jerod to escape totally,just following orders on the surface. Sydney even blew up the boss O2 tank to stop Jerod from dying. If anyone wants to see the full series Hulu Plus has it.
Theres also some episode that implies that MsParkers mother cheated on Mr Parker and he was not really the biological father anyhow.yet she stays loyal to him afterward,knowing her father is actually the nicer old guy.