Spotlight on Fandoms: The Pretender
"Are you a doctor?"
"I am today."
There are Pretenders among us. Genuises with the ability to become anyone they want to be. In 1963, the Centre isolated a young Pretender named Jarod, in order to harness his genius for our research.
Until, one day, their Pretender ran away.... - prologue to Pretender
Backstory for the Series
In Blue Cove, Delaware, there is a corporation on the beach. It's the Centre, and they're not quite as pleasant on the inside as they pretend for the outside world. Officially, the Centre is a think tank. Unofficially, they're willing to do anything for the biggest profit. Thirty years before the show begins, the Centre kidnaps a young genius named Jarod. As the show opens, Jarod escapes. A team has been put together to track him, capture him, and bring him back.
"Alive."
"Preferably."
Jarod goes on various "Pretends" (more on that later) and tries to save people to make up for the damage he caused while working for the Centre. The Centre trio (Sydney, Parker, and Broots) try to get him back. The pilot for the show starts with Miss Parker and Sydney (Jarod's long-time mentor, shrink, and father-figure) being tasked with trying to track down Jarod as he impersonates a doctor, a firefighter, a systems analyst, and then hacks his way into the secure mainframe of the Centre (to get funds for his continued escape). Later on, we find out that MP and Jarod were childhood friends. That's the whole set-up, except for the B-plots about Jarod's and Miss Parker's childhood together, and the truth behind Jarod's family and the death of Parker's mother, Catherine Parker, which Jarod and Parker were both told was a suicide.
The characters in Fandom are younger versions of the canon characters; they are not from the 1970's, as they would be if taken directly from canon. Their backstories have been updated to be consistent with their ages if they were born in the late 80's.
Miss Parker: Maybe I should send you to every Y.M.C.A. in the country first. Or lock you in the Bates Motel with Sydney and Broots.
Jarod: This is about that strip search in Las Vegas, isn't it?
Characters
Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) is a genius who can become anyone he wants to be. He can read a book on brain surgery in the morning and perform a flawless operation in the afternoon. He's based on a real person, but with the ability exaggerated beyond belief for dramatic purposes. Jarod (not the real person, he has nothing to do with anything) was kidnapped away from his family as a young boy, then tested for the Pretender ability/gene/whatever. When he tested higher than any other child they'd (presumably) ever done this to before, they told him that both of his parents died in a plane crash and kept him. He consequently grew up in the Centre under Sydney's watchful eye, running simulations and scenarios, getting inside people's heads and predicting human behavior (Apollo missions, building the Empire State Building, determining breaking points in negotiations, etc.).
He ultimately found out that his simulations (particularly the later ones) were being financed and used by the highest bidder (for instance, he came up with an elaborate plan for how to bomb a series of buildings with a minimum number of people that was later used by terrorists to kill people). So, he escaped, and generally spends his life with several intersecting purposes: to destroy the Centre; to find out what he can about his family; to make restitution for the evil he did, no matter how inadvertently; and to find out enough about Parker's own past and history to give her the information, so she can get distracted by that and either slow down or give up chasing him. Important to remember is that Jarod is *not* a nice guy--for as much as he's very childlike in his weekly discovery of something new (Curious George, ice cream, silly putty, etc.), in other ways he is almost feral--living only to defend himself and the weak and abused. He's also *big* into old testament style justice--an eye for an eye and all of that. And Pez. And sugar in almost any form, as would you if you grew up eating wheat germ and kelp and protein supplements and didn't have your first taste of ice cream until you were in your thirties. He can be really warm and fuzzy, but then turn on a dime in the next scene and be intensely scary.
Most, if not all, of the episodes, are told from Jarod's point of view, so that's how we know he's the protagonist. Otherwise, it might not be so clear.
Jarod: I want to know who I am. And I'd rather die trying to find out than live not knowing.
Miss Parker (Andrea Parker) is the daughter of the CEO of the Centre. A gun-toting, chain-smoking, hard-drinking, Prada-wearing cut-throat snarling bitch in high heels, with a couple of very well-concealed and armored soft spots. We don't know Parker's first name; the only clue we have is the inital "M" on a Christmas tree ornament. In the vague show canon, Jarod and Miss Parker probably lost touch sometime in their teens, and the Parker who shows up at the beginning of the show is irritated beyond endurance that 20 years later she's being asked to find the Centre's "Lab Rat" (Golden Boy, Freak, Frankenstein Monster, among other nicknames) instead of staying in the corporate (less skeezy) section of the Centre, where she wants to be. We never get to see the transition in flashbacks from Best Friends Forever for young Jarod and Miss Parker to Oh My God, You Are So Damn Annoying/I HATE you! 20 years later. But it's a dynamic that allows for a lot of speculation. Consequently, she'll do anything (seriously, hold him hostage in a hurricane kind of anything) to get him back in custody so she can get her life back (and earn her father's approval, and, oh yeah, avoid being terminated by the Centre).
Miss Parker: God forgives. I don't.
Miss Parker: You shouldn't underestimate Jarod. And you should never underestimate me. And the next time that you send me into a building that is gonna explode, it had better blow, because if it doesn't it's gonna be your gray matter they will be mopping up with a toothbrush.
Broots (Jon Gries) On the series, Broots (like most of the other characters on the show, Broots has but one name) was MP's personal computer expert, the one who ran search engines and computer researches in trying to find Jarod. A divorced dad, he usually cringed whenever MP yelled-- except when he'd gleefully inform her of something she missed. He's very bright but uncomfortable with physical violence and the machinations of the Centre. Parker is uniformly awful to him, deserves the Worst Boss Ever award, except, again, when he really needs protection or consideration. She said later in the series that Broots was more of a brother to her than the guy who was eventually revealed to be her twin. Broots also has a crush on Miss Parker for a large portion of the series. He has a lot of respect for Jarod because the man helped him get custody of his young daughter Debbie and because of his computer skills. Jarod, also, respects Broots as an excellent father who is willing to do anything for his daughter.
Broots: I found something bizarre.
Miss Parker: What, like hair on your head?
Broots: No, that would be fantasy. This is real.
Sydney (Patrick Bachau) is Jarod's father figure, but in a real way, he's also Parker's, since her dad is so distant. He's a survivor of a childhood spent in the Nazi death camps, a twin who was used in experiments by a would-be Dr. Mengele, a shrink who now works on benign IQ programs with children at the Centre, and a guy with some huge regrets about Jarod. He's also quite fond of Parker, since he's known her since she was a kid, but it's not the kind of thing she responds to in a very positive way. A lot of their later childhood, Parker was left to the care of Sydney, at a time when her own father was neglecting her, and Sydney had to put Jarod's needs as his protege/experiment first. Also, Sydney was fairly close to Catherine Parker-- he was her therapist before she died, and probably used whatever secrets she told him to keep himself safe when later threatened by the Centre.
Sydney is a fascinating character--for as much as he's Jarod's surrogate father, he also knew how the Centre had acquired Jarod and ran experiments on him all through his childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood, even after his personal experiences being experimented on by the Nazis. Later, it comes out that there are reasons why Sydney might have toed the Centre's line, above and beyond a desire for scientific discovery. He's also Jarod's man on the inside for a lot of the series--Jarod calls him when he needs information on how the real world works (as in what to do when you fall in love [or how you tie a tie]) and for information about the Centre that he can't otherwise obtain. One of the big weekly questions with Sydney is always what did he know, and when did he know it--the man can keep a secret, that's for sure.
Miss Parker: Make up your mind, Sydney. Be a scientist or a mommy. You can't be both.
Angelo (Paul Dillon) is an autistic empath/failed Pretender, the same age as Miss Parker. He was brought in as a means of tracking Jarod--searching newspapers and internet websites, trying to pick which news stories and situations would attract Jarod's need for justice/vengeance/restitution, in the hopes that Parker and her team could get there first. He was "handled" by Dr. Raines (the aforementioned Dr. Mengele-esque character), so he's even more broken than Jarod. Angelo canonically palled around with Parker and Jarod, running around the air ducts and tunnels of the Centre when they were all younger. While later Miss Parker referred to Angelo as "Cousin It", most of her distaste was because Angelo was being used by the darker elements of the Centre to track Jarod. Angelo has an odd obsession with Cracker Jack.
Miss Parker: [about Angelo] Cousin It woke up and remembered he was Liberace.
Mr. Parker (Harve Presnell) is the CEO of the Centre, Miss Parker's father, and probably ultimately responsible for multiple murders, poisonings, kidnappings and other corporate nastiness. He wins Worst Father Ever award while acting like a Texas Santa Claus. He lies, conceals, manipulates, and threatens his way through the series. He is also probably directly connected in some way to his wife's death. The man regularly uses his daughter's abilities and job performance to secure his own position at the Centre, while criticizing and manipulating her into sticking around.
Brigitte (Pamela Gidley) was a Centre "cleaner" or assassin, assigned to the Jarod pursuit at the beginning of second season along with Mr. Lyle. Blonde, attitudinal, and addicted to red lollipops. Half-way through second season, she was tasked to kill Mr. Parker, and was thwarted by Miss Parker. She re-appeared and attempted to capture Jarod again, and failed. During third season, she re-appeared yet again... and was then engaged to Mr. Parker. And bore his child (Parker's half-brother). It made about as much sense on the show as it does here.
Mr. Lyle (James Denton) was brought in during the first ep of second season, because the Tower and Triumvirate (Centre bigwigs) weren't happy with the progress on the Jarod hunt. He never really made any better progress in that arena than Sydney, Broots, and Miss Parker, but he was a very nasty bad guy for the next three seasons, in between faked deaths, murders, and revelations of his background. He is occasionally missing a thumb cut off by the Yakuza, and is hated and feared by the rest of the regulars. Except possibly Brigitte, but let's not get into that. Naturally, his family history is just as murky as every other Centre employee's except for Broots (who may be the only genuinely *good* person on the entire show).
Mr. Lyle: When in doubt, lie.
Mr. Raines, (Richard Marcus) formerly a medical doctor, William Raines is probably the nastiest person on the show, and that's saying something. Torture, murder, genetic experimentation, you name it, he's done it. Bald, creepy, and drags an oxygen tank along behind him as he constantly wheezes. He's been shot, burned, and shot again, and he keeps rising from the dead to torment the other characters. He purposely addicted both Jarod and Sydney to heroin just to watch them go through withdrawal. Yes. That kind of nasty.
Gemini (Ryan Merriman) made as much sense as any other plot point that had to do with relations on the Pretender. His origins are pretty darn spoilery, so we'll leave them. Poor kid got raised by Mr. Raines, though, and is consequently even more screwed up.
Sam the Sweeper - (Sam Ayers) He's the usual muscle backing up Miss Parker; acts like a thug, is loyal to the Centre, and was not hired for his ability to think. He does get some good scenes with Debbie Broots, though. (Debbie Broots - bringing out the softy in everyone through her magical aging skills.)
Kyle - (Jeffrey Donovan) Another Pretender, raised in the Centre; he and Jarod were friends for a time when they were both very young, but were separated and denied contact fairly early on. Completely nuts, as you would be if Mr. Raines purposely raised you to be a psychopath/sociopath and virtual killing machine. He escaped the Centre, wound up in jail, faked his death, and eventually met up with Jarod again. Basically, what Jarod would have been in anyone's hands other than Sydney's. (not dirty)
Kyle: I decide who lives or dies.
Thomas Gates (Jason Brooks) A carpenter who originally worked (off-screen) with Jarod on one of his Pretends (as a good guy/ally), Thomas first shows up to do renovations on Parker's house. It turns out that Jarod actually sent Thomas there with the intent to do a little bit of matchmaking, since he a) thought he'd be good for her or b) be enough of a distraction to keep Parker off her game. For a while, it works.
The brother Parker and Jarod shared (Ethan) (Tyler Christopher) - The Pretender should have been a soap opera with the amount of long-lost relatives that came out of the woodwork. Ethan was the son of Jarod's father and Catherine Parker, who (it has been theorized, mostly by fans) was brought in because they couldn't justify a Parker/Jarod kidlet. No, no affair; more genetic manipulation. Ethan hears voices-- possibly those of the dead-- which try to protect him and tell him what to do. I, uh, yeah. *facepalm*
Other Stuff:
The Tower. Not the Tower of London, though there are some similarities. The Tower is the controlling element at the Centre... except when it's the Triumvirate.
Triumvirate. We only meet one of the Triumvirate - Big Mutumbo, the representative from the African continent. Ruthless as hell. The Triumvirate puts out directives like the Tower does about how the Centre is run. How it's set up, and who's really in charge, is something of a mystery. But there wouldn't be as much potential backstabbing and confusion if they ever explained it. Also not clear is Mr. Parker's exact relationship to the Triumverate, but at least when the series starts, he seems to answer to them. Lyle, Brigitte and Raines seem to fall in and out of their good graces depending on the plot.
WTF is up with all the phone calls?
Jarod's on the run. He doesn't want to be found. However, since he has no idea who he is, he has a need for the familiar. Unfortunately for his psyche, the familiar in this case is Sydney and Miss Parker. So, he calls Sydney for fatherly advice, to find out what Sydney knew/knows about his family, and occasionally if he needs help with something. His relationship with Parker is more complicated-- anywhere but on television, what Jarod does to Parker would be considered stalking-- he knows most, if not all, of the intimate details of Parker's life (including her medical history) and calls her regularly to harass her about them, her reasons for making the choices she did, or to feed Parker's guilt complex about her mother and what her mother would think of her actions. He sets her up with Thomas (just because he liked the guy and thought Thomas would be good for Parker). Plus, every piece of information that he feeds Parker about her own past might be the piece that distracts her enough to let him escape her one more time (she does get close fairly regularly), or just keep her from pulling the trigger on him.
He's also very probably the reason for her ulcer. That aforementioned strip-search is just the beginning of the stunts he pulls on her.
That being said, Parker has her moments. There's at least once when Parker has the information about Jarod's family's current whereabouts in her hand, and she sets the envelope on fire without even reading it. She shoots at him several times, almost hauls him in at least three times, always prevented by circumstances and not her conscience. For as much as there's crazy UST and a definite relationship between the two that was once friendly, and for as many times as they end up working together because they both want the same things, there's also hatred there.
It's not all moonlight and roses, kids.
That's all very nice, but why should I watch?
Personally, I watch for the f-ed up characters and relationships, and the raging case of UST between Jarod and Parker (seriously-- four years, no kissing). In the last movie, they just about acknowledge the soul mates thing, but it never really gets a satisfying conclusion. Pretty much like the entire show. Lots of the later canon makes no sense at all, some of it is inherently contradictory and retconned, and Jarod's pretty much always eluding capture and righting the wrong in his own unique fashion. However, the characters are strongly written, the issues between them are real, and the acting is very good (especially if you ignore Jarod's hair during the pilot and Season One). It's a great little gem of a show with what is usually a happy ending (relatively speaking). Some eps shine due to great guest characters, but they're all at least good.
"I Run. You chase." Jarod runs, Parker chases-- although there is the question of exactly why Jarod keeps in touch at all-- if he didn't want to be found, he probably wouldn't be. The first two seasons are fairly coherent and concentrate on this, while Jarod does various "Pretends" and helps "the weak and abused." By third season, the secondary characters were starting to get confusing (although there were still many great eps), and it all kind of unraveled during fourth when plots started contradicting previous episodes (and let's not even mention the wrap-up movies. They sucked. End of story. Though they did have some awesome dialogue. Well, the first one did. The second one was just on some really, really bad crack.)
In conclusion...
Fanfiction and Resource Links
The Centre
For any information you might need. Really complete, with a comprehensive timeline.
Catherine's Fanfiction Recommendations
All kinds of Pretender stories, too many to really run down. Types for every taste in fanfic, though.
Vids: Thank God for YouTube. StuckHereWithNoTV has several good Pretender vids. So does leochick. Do a search on Pretender, Jarod, and Miss Parker on YouTube, and even more come up.
Right! Well, now you know the basics. All four seasons of Pretender are available on DVD from Amazon.com and BEST BUY, if you are interested in learning more about the series.
[ooc: written by: dorkybroots, jarodpretends and mparkerceo. Mixed bunch of opinions from each of us.]
"I am today."
There are Pretenders among us. Genuises with the ability to become anyone they want to be. In 1963, the Centre isolated a young Pretender named Jarod, in order to harness his genius for our research.
Until, one day, their Pretender ran away.... - prologue to Pretender
Backstory for the Series
In Blue Cove, Delaware, there is a corporation on the beach. It's the Centre, and they're not quite as pleasant on the inside as they pretend for the outside world. Officially, the Centre is a think tank. Unofficially, they're willing to do anything for the biggest profit. Thirty years before the show begins, the Centre kidnaps a young genius named Jarod. As the show opens, Jarod escapes. A team has been put together to track him, capture him, and bring him back.
"Alive."
"Preferably."
Jarod goes on various "Pretends" (more on that later) and tries to save people to make up for the damage he caused while working for the Centre. The Centre trio (Sydney, Parker, and Broots) try to get him back. The pilot for the show starts with Miss Parker and Sydney (Jarod's long-time mentor, shrink, and father-figure) being tasked with trying to track down Jarod as he impersonates a doctor, a firefighter, a systems analyst, and then hacks his way into the secure mainframe of the Centre (to get funds for his continued escape). Later on, we find out that MP and Jarod were childhood friends. That's the whole set-up, except for the B-plots about Jarod's and Miss Parker's childhood together, and the truth behind Jarod's family and the death of Parker's mother, Catherine Parker, which Jarod and Parker were both told was a suicide.
The characters in Fandom are younger versions of the canon characters; they are not from the 1970's, as they would be if taken directly from canon. Their backstories have been updated to be consistent with their ages if they were born in the late 80's.
Miss Parker: Maybe I should send you to every Y.M.C.A. in the country first. Or lock you in the Bates Motel with Sydney and Broots.
Jarod: This is about that strip search in Las Vegas, isn't it?
Characters
Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) is a genius who can become anyone he wants to be. He can read a book on brain surgery in the morning and perform a flawless operation in the afternoon. He's based on a real person, but with the ability exaggerated beyond belief for dramatic purposes. Jarod (not the real person, he has nothing to do with anything) was kidnapped away from his family as a young boy, then tested for the Pretender ability/gene/whatever. When he tested higher than any other child they'd (presumably) ever done this to before, they told him that both of his parents died in a plane crash and kept him. He consequently grew up in the Centre under Sydney's watchful eye, running simulations and scenarios, getting inside people's heads and predicting human behavior (Apollo missions, building the Empire State Building, determining breaking points in negotiations, etc.).
He ultimately found out that his simulations (particularly the later ones) were being financed and used by the highest bidder (for instance, he came up with an elaborate plan for how to bomb a series of buildings with a minimum number of people that was later used by terrorists to kill people). So, he escaped, and generally spends his life with several intersecting purposes: to destroy the Centre; to find out what he can about his family; to make restitution for the evil he did, no matter how inadvertently; and to find out enough about Parker's own past and history to give her the information, so she can get distracted by that and either slow down or give up chasing him. Important to remember is that Jarod is *not* a nice guy--for as much as he's very childlike in his weekly discovery of something new (Curious George, ice cream, silly putty, etc.), in other ways he is almost feral--living only to defend himself and the weak and abused. He's also *big* into old testament style justice--an eye for an eye and all of that. And Pez. And sugar in almost any form, as would you if you grew up eating wheat germ and kelp and protein supplements and didn't have your first taste of ice cream until you were in your thirties. He can be really warm and fuzzy, but then turn on a dime in the next scene and be intensely scary.
Most, if not all, of the episodes, are told from Jarod's point of view, so that's how we know he's the protagonist. Otherwise, it might not be so clear.
Jarod: I want to know who I am. And I'd rather die trying to find out than live not knowing.
Miss Parker (Andrea Parker) is the daughter of the CEO of the Centre. A gun-toting, chain-smoking, hard-drinking, Prada-wearing cut-throat snarling bitch in high heels, with a couple of very well-concealed and armored soft spots. We don't know Parker's first name; the only clue we have is the inital "M" on a Christmas tree ornament. In the vague show canon, Jarod and Miss Parker probably lost touch sometime in their teens, and the Parker who shows up at the beginning of the show is irritated beyond endurance that 20 years later she's being asked to find the Centre's "Lab Rat" (Golden Boy, Freak, Frankenstein Monster, among other nicknames) instead of staying in the corporate (less skeezy) section of the Centre, where she wants to be. We never get to see the transition in flashbacks from Best Friends Forever for young Jarod and Miss Parker to Oh My God, You Are So Damn Annoying/I HATE you! 20 years later. But it's a dynamic that allows for a lot of speculation. Consequently, she'll do anything (seriously, hold him hostage in a hurricane kind of anything) to get him back in custody so she can get her life back (and earn her father's approval, and, oh yeah, avoid being terminated by the Centre).
Miss Parker: God forgives. I don't.
Miss Parker: You shouldn't underestimate Jarod. And you should never underestimate me. And the next time that you send me into a building that is gonna explode, it had better blow, because if it doesn't it's gonna be your gray matter they will be mopping up with a toothbrush.
Broots (Jon Gries) On the series, Broots (like most of the other characters on the show, Broots has but one name) was MP's personal computer expert, the one who ran search engines and computer researches in trying to find Jarod. A divorced dad, he usually cringed whenever MP yelled-- except when he'd gleefully inform her of something she missed. He's very bright but uncomfortable with physical violence and the machinations of the Centre. Parker is uniformly awful to him, deserves the Worst Boss Ever award, except, again, when he really needs protection or consideration. She said later in the series that Broots was more of a brother to her than the guy who was eventually revealed to be her twin. Broots also has a crush on Miss Parker for a large portion of the series. He has a lot of respect for Jarod because the man helped him get custody of his young daughter Debbie and because of his computer skills. Jarod, also, respects Broots as an excellent father who is willing to do anything for his daughter.
Broots: I found something bizarre.
Miss Parker: What, like hair on your head?
Broots: No, that would be fantasy. This is real.
Sydney (Patrick Bachau) is Jarod's father figure, but in a real way, he's also Parker's, since her dad is so distant. He's a survivor of a childhood spent in the Nazi death camps, a twin who was used in experiments by a would-be Dr. Mengele, a shrink who now works on benign IQ programs with children at the Centre, and a guy with some huge regrets about Jarod. He's also quite fond of Parker, since he's known her since she was a kid, but it's not the kind of thing she responds to in a very positive way. A lot of their later childhood, Parker was left to the care of Sydney, at a time when her own father was neglecting her, and Sydney had to put Jarod's needs as his protege/experiment first. Also, Sydney was fairly close to Catherine Parker-- he was her therapist before she died, and probably used whatever secrets she told him to keep himself safe when later threatened by the Centre.
Sydney is a fascinating character--for as much as he's Jarod's surrogate father, he also knew how the Centre had acquired Jarod and ran experiments on him all through his childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood, even after his personal experiences being experimented on by the Nazis. Later, it comes out that there are reasons why Sydney might have toed the Centre's line, above and beyond a desire for scientific discovery. He's also Jarod's man on the inside for a lot of the series--Jarod calls him when he needs information on how the real world works (as in what to do when you fall in love [or how you tie a tie]) and for information about the Centre that he can't otherwise obtain. One of the big weekly questions with Sydney is always what did he know, and when did he know it--the man can keep a secret, that's for sure.
Miss Parker: Make up your mind, Sydney. Be a scientist or a mommy. You can't be both.
Angelo (Paul Dillon) is an autistic empath/failed Pretender, the same age as Miss Parker. He was brought in as a means of tracking Jarod--searching newspapers and internet websites, trying to pick which news stories and situations would attract Jarod's need for justice/vengeance/restitution, in the hopes that Parker and her team could get there first. He was "handled" by Dr. Raines (the aforementioned Dr. Mengele-esque character), so he's even more broken than Jarod. Angelo canonically palled around with Parker and Jarod, running around the air ducts and tunnels of the Centre when they were all younger. While later Miss Parker referred to Angelo as "Cousin It", most of her distaste was because Angelo was being used by the darker elements of the Centre to track Jarod. Angelo has an odd obsession with Cracker Jack.
Miss Parker: [about Angelo] Cousin It woke up and remembered he was Liberace.
Mr. Parker (Harve Presnell) is the CEO of the Centre, Miss Parker's father, and probably ultimately responsible for multiple murders, poisonings, kidnappings and other corporate nastiness. He wins Worst Father Ever award while acting like a Texas Santa Claus. He lies, conceals, manipulates, and threatens his way through the series. He is also probably directly connected in some way to his wife's death. The man regularly uses his daughter's abilities and job performance to secure his own position at the Centre, while criticizing and manipulating her into sticking around.
Brigitte (Pamela Gidley) was a Centre "cleaner" or assassin, assigned to the Jarod pursuit at the beginning of second season along with Mr. Lyle. Blonde, attitudinal, and addicted to red lollipops. Half-way through second season, she was tasked to kill Mr. Parker, and was thwarted by Miss Parker. She re-appeared and attempted to capture Jarod again, and failed. During third season, she re-appeared yet again... and was then engaged to Mr. Parker. And bore his child (Parker's half-brother). It made about as much sense on the show as it does here.
Mr. Lyle (James Denton) was brought in during the first ep of second season, because the Tower and Triumvirate (Centre bigwigs) weren't happy with the progress on the Jarod hunt. He never really made any better progress in that arena than Sydney, Broots, and Miss Parker, but he was a very nasty bad guy for the next three seasons, in between faked deaths, murders, and revelations of his background. He is occasionally missing a thumb cut off by the Yakuza, and is hated and feared by the rest of the regulars. Except possibly Brigitte, but let's not get into that. Naturally, his family history is just as murky as every other Centre employee's except for Broots (who may be the only genuinely *good* person on the entire show).
Mr. Lyle: When in doubt, lie.
Mr. Raines, (Richard Marcus) formerly a medical doctor, William Raines is probably the nastiest person on the show, and that's saying something. Torture, murder, genetic experimentation, you name it, he's done it. Bald, creepy, and drags an oxygen tank along behind him as he constantly wheezes. He's been shot, burned, and shot again, and he keeps rising from the dead to torment the other characters. He purposely addicted both Jarod and Sydney to heroin just to watch them go through withdrawal. Yes. That kind of nasty.
Gemini (Ryan Merriman) made as much sense as any other plot point that had to do with relations on the Pretender. His origins are pretty darn spoilery, so we'll leave them. Poor kid got raised by Mr. Raines, though, and is consequently even more screwed up.
Sam the Sweeper - (Sam Ayers) He's the usual muscle backing up Miss Parker; acts like a thug, is loyal to the Centre, and was not hired for his ability to think. He does get some good scenes with Debbie Broots, though. (Debbie Broots - bringing out the softy in everyone through her magical aging skills.)
Kyle - (Jeffrey Donovan) Another Pretender, raised in the Centre; he and Jarod were friends for a time when they were both very young, but were separated and denied contact fairly early on. Completely nuts, as you would be if Mr. Raines purposely raised you to be a psychopath/sociopath and virtual killing machine. He escaped the Centre, wound up in jail, faked his death, and eventually met up with Jarod again. Basically, what Jarod would have been in anyone's hands other than Sydney's. (not dirty)
Kyle: I decide who lives or dies.
Thomas Gates (Jason Brooks) A carpenter who originally worked (off-screen) with Jarod on one of his Pretends (as a good guy/ally), Thomas first shows up to do renovations on Parker's house. It turns out that Jarod actually sent Thomas there with the intent to do a little bit of matchmaking, since he a) thought he'd be good for her or b) be enough of a distraction to keep Parker off her game. For a while, it works.
The brother Parker and Jarod shared (Ethan) (Tyler Christopher) - The Pretender should have been a soap opera with the amount of long-lost relatives that came out of the woodwork. Ethan was the son of Jarod's father and Catherine Parker, who (it has been theorized, mostly by fans) was brought in because they couldn't justify a Parker/Jarod kidlet. No, no affair; more genetic manipulation. Ethan hears voices-- possibly those of the dead-- which try to protect him and tell him what to do. I, uh, yeah. *facepalm*
Other Stuff:
The Tower. Not the Tower of London, though there are some similarities. The Tower is the controlling element at the Centre... except when it's the Triumvirate.
Triumvirate. We only meet one of the Triumvirate - Big Mutumbo, the representative from the African continent. Ruthless as hell. The Triumvirate puts out directives like the Tower does about how the Centre is run. How it's set up, and who's really in charge, is something of a mystery. But there wouldn't be as much potential backstabbing and confusion if they ever explained it. Also not clear is Mr. Parker's exact relationship to the Triumverate, but at least when the series starts, he seems to answer to them. Lyle, Brigitte and Raines seem to fall in and out of their good graces depending on the plot.
WTF is up with all the phone calls?
Jarod's on the run. He doesn't want to be found. However, since he has no idea who he is, he has a need for the familiar. Unfortunately for his psyche, the familiar in this case is Sydney and Miss Parker. So, he calls Sydney for fatherly advice, to find out what Sydney knew/knows about his family, and occasionally if he needs help with something. His relationship with Parker is more complicated-- anywhere but on television, what Jarod does to Parker would be considered stalking-- he knows most, if not all, of the intimate details of Parker's life (including her medical history) and calls her regularly to harass her about them, her reasons for making the choices she did, or to feed Parker's guilt complex about her mother and what her mother would think of her actions. He sets her up with Thomas (just because he liked the guy and thought Thomas would be good for Parker). Plus, every piece of information that he feeds Parker about her own past might be the piece that distracts her enough to let him escape her one more time (she does get close fairly regularly), or just keep her from pulling the trigger on him.
He's also very probably the reason for her ulcer. That aforementioned strip-search is just the beginning of the stunts he pulls on her.
That being said, Parker has her moments. There's at least once when Parker has the information about Jarod's family's current whereabouts in her hand, and she sets the envelope on fire without even reading it. She shoots at him several times, almost hauls him in at least three times, always prevented by circumstances and not her conscience. For as much as there's crazy UST and a definite relationship between the two that was once friendly, and for as many times as they end up working together because they both want the same things, there's also hatred there.
It's not all moonlight and roses, kids.
That's all very nice, but why should I watch?
Personally, I watch for the f-ed up characters and relationships, and the raging case of UST between Jarod and Parker (seriously-- four years, no kissing). In the last movie, they just about acknowledge the soul mates thing, but it never really gets a satisfying conclusion. Pretty much like the entire show. Lots of the later canon makes no sense at all, some of it is inherently contradictory and retconned, and Jarod's pretty much always eluding capture and righting the wrong in his own unique fashion. However, the characters are strongly written, the issues between them are real, and the acting is very good (especially if you ignore Jarod's hair during the pilot and Season One). It's a great little gem of a show with what is usually a happy ending (relatively speaking). Some eps shine due to great guest characters, but they're all at least good.
"I Run. You chase." Jarod runs, Parker chases-- although there is the question of exactly why Jarod keeps in touch at all-- if he didn't want to be found, he probably wouldn't be. The first two seasons are fairly coherent and concentrate on this, while Jarod does various "Pretends" and helps "the weak and abused." By third season, the secondary characters were starting to get confusing (although there were still many great eps), and it all kind of unraveled during fourth when plots started contradicting previous episodes (and let's not even mention the wrap-up movies. They sucked. End of story. Though they did have some awesome dialogue. Well, the first one did. The second one was just on some really, really bad crack.)
In conclusion...
Fanfiction and Resource Links
The Centre
For any information you might need. Really complete, with a comprehensive timeline.
Catherine's Fanfiction Recommendations
All kinds of Pretender stories, too many to really run down. Types for every taste in fanfic, though.
Vids: Thank God for YouTube. StuckHereWithNoTV has several good Pretender vids. So does leochick. Do a search on Pretender, Jarod, and Miss Parker on YouTube, and even more come up.
Right! Well, now you know the basics. All four seasons of Pretender are available on DVD from Amazon.com and BEST BUY, if you are interested in learning more about the series.
[ooc: written by: dorkybroots, jarodpretends and mparkerceo. Mixed bunch of opinions from each of us.]