The Pretender - plotholes and retcon?
I've recently been doing a rewatch of The Pretender.
For those who don't know anything about this show, it aired from 1996 to 2000 and had a couple of movies. It was about Jarod, a genius who could become anyone he wanted to be and would travel around the US uncovering different things and helping the weak and abused while digging up things about his own life. Jarod grew up in a place called The Centre, which exploited him forcing him to create simulations, and basically kept him prisoner. Jarod is pursued by Miss Parker, a once childhood friend, who has her own past secrets to unlock. She's as much a prisoner of The Centre as Jarod in many ways.
Her father runs The Centre. Her mother died when she was a little girl. She has a twin brother, a psychopath named Mr Lyle.
The acting in this show was brilliant. Michael T Weiss was Jarod and he was just so gifted at conveying emotion just with his eyes. Jamie Denton played Mr Lyle, a really good-looking man, who appeared charming on the surface, but was soooo creepy. Honestly, he used to give me chills. Miss Parker was played by Andrea Parker, and she was amazing. She played her part so well, torn between chasing Jarod and the tragedy of her own past.
Anyway, the show had four seasons. I kind of wonder if they knew they were going to be cancelled before they wrote the last few episodes because the last two episodes at least just don't fit with other events of previous seasons. Here's why.
The Inner Sense, parts 1 and 2
It's revealed that Miss Parker's mother, Catherine, didn't die in an elevator. That she faked her death so she could disappear. She had found out she was pregnant, but that her husband had her artificially inseminated with the sperm of Jarod's father.
This doesn't work for me. Reasons:
1. The faking of her death was too public. She was supposedly shot in an elevator. Miss Parker, as a young girl, was not that far away.
2. The first time we find out about her death, there's a video where she cries out "No. Leave me alone." Or something like that. So that doesn't fit.
3. The night before her death, she was supposedly working with Jarod's father to rescue Jarod, her daughter and also Timmy/Angelo, who had been subjected to an experiment by Dr William Raines. (She got there too late) So why would she now trust Raines to perform her 'autopsy'. And how could they have possibly faked it on the DSA when Raines is seen with one of those tools used to saw into bone (I think that's what it was for).
4. In the DSA where Miss Parker sees her mother in the house where she hid until the baby was born, it was dated June. Catherine's 'death' was in April. Where had she been for two months?
5. If she'd been working with Major Charles (Jarod's father), why didn't she just go to him to help her?
So yeah, those are my thoughts.
Other things that don't fit. The actress who played Miss P was a lot younger than Michael T Weiss, yet in the DSAs showing their childhood, they looked to be the same age. We are never actually told how old Jarod is, but it said in the intro in the first season that the Centre 'isolated Jarod' in 1963. We know that Jarod was about 4 when he was taken from his family. When he's shown in 1970, he looks to be maybe about 12. So in 1996, that would make him 38. It's a bit of a plothole.
I'd love for this show to be rebooted, with some of those plotholes fixed The creators have released a couple of novels, but that's about it. Either the books didn't sell well enough or they just ran out of ideas. I don't know. It's just one of those shows that I would like to see come back in some form or another.
For those who don't know anything about this show, it aired from 1996 to 2000 and had a couple of movies. It was about Jarod, a genius who could become anyone he wanted to be and would travel around the US uncovering different things and helping the weak and abused while digging up things about his own life. Jarod grew up in a place called The Centre, which exploited him forcing him to create simulations, and basically kept him prisoner. Jarod is pursued by Miss Parker, a once childhood friend, who has her own past secrets to unlock. She's as much a prisoner of The Centre as Jarod in many ways.
Her father runs The Centre. Her mother died when she was a little girl. She has a twin brother, a psychopath named Mr Lyle.
The acting in this show was brilliant. Michael T Weiss was Jarod and he was just so gifted at conveying emotion just with his eyes. Jamie Denton played Mr Lyle, a really good-looking man, who appeared charming on the surface, but was soooo creepy. Honestly, he used to give me chills. Miss Parker was played by Andrea Parker, and she was amazing. She played her part so well, torn between chasing Jarod and the tragedy of her own past.
Anyway, the show had four seasons. I kind of wonder if they knew they were going to be cancelled before they wrote the last few episodes because the last two episodes at least just don't fit with other events of previous seasons. Here's why.
The Inner Sense, parts 1 and 2
It's revealed that Miss Parker's mother, Catherine, didn't die in an elevator. That she faked her death so she could disappear. She had found out she was pregnant, but that her husband had her artificially inseminated with the sperm of Jarod's father.
This doesn't work for me. Reasons:
1. The faking of her death was too public. She was supposedly shot in an elevator. Miss Parker, as a young girl, was not that far away.
2. The first time we find out about her death, there's a video where she cries out "No. Leave me alone." Or something like that. So that doesn't fit.
3. The night before her death, she was supposedly working with Jarod's father to rescue Jarod, her daughter and also Timmy/Angelo, who had been subjected to an experiment by Dr William Raines. (She got there too late) So why would she now trust Raines to perform her 'autopsy'. And how could they have possibly faked it on the DSA when Raines is seen with one of those tools used to saw into bone (I think that's what it was for).
4. In the DSA where Miss Parker sees her mother in the house where she hid until the baby was born, it was dated June. Catherine's 'death' was in April. Where had she been for two months?
5. If she'd been working with Major Charles (Jarod's father), why didn't she just go to him to help her?
So yeah, those are my thoughts.
Other things that don't fit. The actress who played Miss P was a lot younger than Michael T Weiss, yet in the DSAs showing their childhood, they looked to be the same age. We are never actually told how old Jarod is, but it said in the intro in the first season that the Centre 'isolated Jarod' in 1963. We know that Jarod was about 4 when he was taken from his family. When he's shown in 1970, he looks to be maybe about 12. So in 1996, that would make him 38. It's a bit of a plothole.
I'd love for this show to be rebooted, with some of those plotholes fixed The creators have released a couple of novels, but that's about it. Either the books didn't sell well enough or they just ran out of ideas. I don't know. It's just one of those shows that I would like to see come back in some form or another.