The Pretender Reviews

The show as a whole first, then the individual episodes I hold familiarity or appreciation for.

At first I was missing 2 reviews...but I found them. they actually WERE being updated.

The Pretender (1996) An AMAZING series ... Until the last 8 episodes 2 June 2024

Back then the term 'savant' didn't exist. It's like high-functioning autism. And that's what Jarrod is. The main character is guileless, compassionate and when it comes to popular culture, ignorant. Not saying this to disparage but rather the laud the series. Jarrod is driven by empathy and altruism. I only discovered the show this year and I think it is GOLD. For approximately 4/5's of itself. Ms. Parkers transition from all business and cold to a woman searching for answers with what other characters call an infuriating moral compass was a delight to watch. She would do anything for Broots and goes out fo her way for Sydney. They are seriously like the three musketeers and Jarrod just keeps crossing thier path. Sydney the caring, guilt-ridden soul who once he dealt with his feelings of guilt and culpability - being part of keeping Jarrod locked away in the Centre all these years-- was the closest thing to a father Jarrod ever knew. Which I suppose he had always been. He practically raised Jarrod since he was 4. It was heart-warming.

But when Sydney learned he had a son during season 3 and Jarrod found his father and then lost him again at the end of season 3, the bond between the two of them seemed to dissolve. Well it didn't dissolve like implode the characters just didn't interact anymore. Instead almost everything was about Ms. Parker and the other two musketeers (Sydney and tech-geek Broots) trying to solve the ever vague riddle that was Ms. Parkers father, the 'truth' if such a thing exists about Bridget and Mr. Raines (which by the way there isn't any) and the increasingly sickening behavior of Ms. Parkers brother Mr. Lyle. The utter lack of consistency in the characters in season four was matched only by the utter lack of contact the trio of characters at the Centre have with the titular character of the series...the man they'd been chasing -- then helping, then being helped by and finally just generally collaborating with -- for the past 3 years.

It became a convoluted mess full of smoke. And however interesting the individual missions Jarrod assigned himself, the main, thru plot of the series, or the lack of one, made it hard to watch. Hard to take very seriously even.

The Pretender: Crazy (1998) Season 3, Episode 1

Brilliant Episode; Harbinger of Better Things

Speaking as someone who could legally be considered crazy, schizophrenic and disassociatve ,I love this episode. In high school and college I did personal research on the different kinds of schizophrenia and other related disorders, for both Gen Psych and for myself, so I knew that The Pretender was doing research in order to blend in among people with these problems, not to deal with problems that had manifested. But he wasn't being deliberately misleading like he sometimes is. He was always, in every episode doing research not for his own sake but to pull of whatever he had to professionally pull off in that episode. Sydney realizes, as does the doctor in charge of the facility that he did just enough to get himself put away there.

At the end of last season Sydney finally took a stand and cast aside all other considerations. His loyalties to The Centre no longer trumped his doing the right thing. He couldn't fix what happened to Jarrod but he could help now. And that is something which allows for such growth for the change in Jarrod and Sydney's relationship. He's had this attitude before but now he flat out says "I'm not interested in saving myself. This may be my last chance to help Jarrod...or you." Talking to Ms. Parker. It was pretty brilliant! Also, I laugh as Jarrod is telling his life story in such a way that he knows it will be dismissed as his delusions. Everything that is built here is destroyed in season 4 but so what, now right now things are growing. All our charters are in thier prime. It's bleeping amazing.

The Pretender:Parole (1998) Season 3 episode 6

A Beautiful Thing

Jarrod has a journey of discover in this episode. That is he discovers and learns one important, surprising and touching thing after another, and not along the same path. Jarrod's genuine surprise at the seediness and exoticness of the criminal or even blue-collar world is a nod to his innocence as well as his inexperience. He learns how easily people can be taken advantage of and fall into the trap of 'making the most of a bad life'. And by listening in on Sydney's conversation with his son, learns how Sydney TRULY feels about him. Sydney has kept his feelings inside as best he could for the last 2 years. His parental feelings of Jarrod that is. He was always his protector, friend and clearly guilt-ridden over the part he played in keeping Jarrod locked up. Sydney previously flat out lied to Jarrod, denying any parental feelings. And now through eavesdropping Jarrod learns Sydney really feels and the depth of his emotions. Sydney was always the closest thing to a father Jarrod ever knew and for the first time Jarrod learns that Sydney felt and feels the same way. The emotional umbilical Syd has with Jarrod is seen as a continuing problem by the others at the Centre, including Ms. Parker most of the time. Which is why he keeps them so deeply buried. With none of them around Sydney admits to his son Nicholas the depth of those feelings. It was a heartfelt declaration trying to convince Nicholas that the man who raised him is every bit his father as if they'd shared the same DNA. It's also the first truly open conversation Sydney has with well...really anyone except Jarrod.

The Pretender: Road Trip (1999) season 4 episode 6

The last Great Episode

8 February 2024 - 2 out of 2 users found this review helpful.

Or the next to last. All three main characters from The Cenrtre run around on Jarrod's wizard of Oz adventure. Despite her complaining Ms. Parker seems to trust that whatever they will find at the end of this yellow brick road will be worth the mystery. Sydney seems almost giddy at the though that. "Perhaps Jarrod wants us to run around like rats in a maze" and is actually enthusiastically jumping through these hoops even if that's all they are. Maybe he feels that he owes Jarrod this after keeping so many things secret for so many years. Broots shows more emotion than he has ever shown when not talking about his daughter. And by the end the three of them are just standing there like "Jarrod has a point."

Jarrod has an eye opening encounter but about more than just romance. He goes with what conclusion only makes sense or is likely - that the girl is a criminal and the cop is chasing her because he's a cop not because he's her boyfriend. But the one time he makes a conclusion based solely on the facts and the evidence- rather than the person or his own perceptions he is seriously almost disastrously wrong. He jumped to the same conclusions as anyone and realizes for the first time how trapped and alone people can be even when they do have a home. . Jarrod learns he should have trusted her, and goes with her down a journey of discovery, life and of course romance for both of them. Zoe and Jarrod seem to be each-others first honest and deeply committed relationship. So of course they are as close to soul mates as can get. And it actually works. But Jarrod still leaves because while no longer searching, he is still running.

The Pretender: Extreme (1999) Season 4 Episode 6

Slightly Ambivalent Actually

24 August 2024

Considering Road Trip had just happened this one is... a little odd. Jarrod sends the team on another trip to find the truth, namely exactly the kind of monster Ms. Parker's brother Mr. Lyle is. And Jarrod has what seems to be a pretty tame muted and motivating ride. I'm not just speaking as an audience member it's like Jarrod himself needed to recharge and couldn't be enthusiastic about whoever he was trying to help. I don't think they should have gone down this road with Mr. Lyle in the first place and increasingly...well the more the focus is on him and Mr. Raines the less of the show (about) The Pretender seems to even exist.
Also normally when Jarrod knows so many things that are going on in the Centre it's because Angelo is telling him/helping him. But this week and last week there's no real explanation given as to how Jarrod knows so much in the first place. And while that makes sense or can be overlooked in personal journeys of the team members, if Angelo didn't tell him this, how could Jarrod know such dark secrets no one on the team knew anything about? Dialogue, suspense and ambiance are still pretty solid so the show hasn't gone so far into the X-Flies meets Twilight Zone meets the Simpsons...but it's starting the descent.

The Pretender: The Inner Sense: Part 2 (2000) season 4 episode 20 (SERIES FINALE)

Too many things out of Nowhere... 1 out of 1 users found this review helpful.

...with no actual answers or closure. There are so many people and secrets in this episode that were never even hinted at in the episodes leading up to it. In fact the one thing that is consistent with previous episodes is Ms. Parkers intense and inexplicable hatred and mistrust of Jarrod. The heart of the story, other than Ms. Parker and Jarrod both searching for the truth was Sydney's relationship with Jarrod. This was especially true in Road Trip and Junk earlier in the season. But Sydney and Broots barely say anything to Jarrod the entire episode. Catherine Parker having that extra-normal sixth sense and Sydney already knowing she faked her death were never even hinted at the entire series. No one could ever have imagined Cathriene Parker HAD faked her death since who Killed her had been driving motivation for the characters the entire series. And all the sudden she hadn't even died that day? This 'revelation' and betrayal was the biggest part of this episode. Well biggest part besides having 2 people who can barely stand each other sharing a sibling in common that we'd never heard of. Which would be pretty powerful if done believably. This was anything but a natural unfolding of events. Jarrod never says goodbye to Sidney and in fact Sydney had been fading further and further away from him for at least 6 episodes. There was no event destroyed their relationship, just a lack of interaction. I don't think they'd spoken since Junk.

Weirdly this was a fitting end to what the show had become recently. The plot line which was the heart of the show was minimized to allow more time for the various Parkers to become enigmatic characters with unclear motivations. A mystery the characters at the center spent thier time trying to solve rather than finding Jarrod or communicating with him on the phone much. If you know the series you know what a big part of the story that was. A series finale should wrap up the series, not take things from across the most recent season, make them center themes, try to create further mystery in the twelfth hour. When there will not be time to address it. Ms. Parker's search for answers to her families mysteries - a recurring theme since near the end of season one - ultimately went nowhere with very few answers ever found. There should have been at least one goodbye between the four main characters.