Erika's Season Three The Pretender Show Comments


10/17/98. Jarod loses his mind. He is more gorgeous than ever as if that could be possible. Well, well, we find out it is just a Pretend (he is a little too textbook) to help another, and screw with the people at The Centre and get a little free therapy on the side. Miss Parker is (gasp) the sister of Mr. Lyle (no thumb). Jarod is as usual quippy and mischievous/sneaky. Sydney loses his sight (but gains some "insight"). sigh as someone with some tv knowhow some of the jump cuts between the characters were very sloppy with heads obviously not at the same angle as a nanosecond earlier (ie two takes with two separate camera angles one a two shot the other a closeup) nitpicky i know but really it took them how long to give us a season premier and they give us those shots??? And how come there was a huge klieg light shining on the tree Jarod is sitting in when he is setting up the psychiatrist (there was no light there during the flashback scenes). Details, people! In the following episodes we learn Jarod's father is implicated in Mrs. Parker's death. Angelo tells Miss Parker (who finds the murder weapon) to "follow the circle". Meanwhile Jarod helps a Native American man escape death by bounty hunter, has a prophetic dream in which he meets his father. Now we are beginning to understand why he left the Centre. They were trying to control him more and more as his conscience started to question the simulations they were asking him to do. One thing Jarod hates is being lied to and manipulated by a pretty face. The plotlines are getting better and better, trying to weave the characters together more closely. Some fans think MP and Jarod are destined for some love action with each other this season. They certainly have softened her character somewhat. Even quit smoking. Maybe is is just shock over being Mr. Lyle's sister. Gross. She has a great putdown line for him about opposable thumbs, hee. 1/2/98 Jarod goes under cover as ATF agent Jarod Miner to help Sydney recover his long lost and now found son from kidnapping Appalachian freedom fighters. Mr. Lyle decides to use the situation to his advantage. Damn evil man, but he is great isn't he. When push comes to shove he is still manipulative and like all evil power hungry idiots begs for mercy when he is on the wrong end of the gun. Gives Jarod something to get riled up about. I won't spoil the ending but Jarod reveals his deepest anger/vengeance over Kyle's loss and his deepest pain over the fact he doesn't have family or anyone to show him how much he is loved. sniff. We love you Jarod. Sydney's character really is getting a chance to be explored and Miss Parker has a soft spot for kids of people she works with. Jarod's loss from year's at the Centre continue to affect him intensely. He helps others knowing his own pain from having been used and betrayed. Great action drama. on 2/13/99 an excellent show. Full of humor, camp, foreshadowing, backpedaling, and Miss Parker's got a guy, "Thomas" and a good one at that. I LIKE him a lot. He's helping her face her past about her mom. Jarod, after all the pretending, actually has a genuine moment. It was a beautiful thing. He looked great, had obvious fun playing the part of Argyle's rescuer from mafia type bad guys. He just had the old smile and glint in his eye. Sigh, finally a script MTW can sink his teeth into. I tell you I was "satisfied" yessiree. 2/20/99 Jarod helps a woman find out the truth about her adopted father, exposes a murderer, and ferrets out racism in a small southern town while pretending to be a pool shark. While visiting the show's newsgroup people are complaining about his hair and all the makeup he wears. Interesting coz a week later his hair style does change a bit. Meanwhile Brigitte weds Mr. Parker and she is up to something with Mr. Lyle (dastardly and evil my bet). MP gets her britches in a twist when BP and MrP come by for dinner to meet her new love Thomas. Broots discovers BP faked her medical chart to look like infertility. MP calls BP on it at the wedding who replys it would be a miracle to give birth (leading newgroup people to wonder if she is really a man or if Mr. Lyle and she are sleeping together). As usual everyone has a happy ending and Jarod wanders off into the nite alone. 2/27/99 Jarod goes down near the Grand Teton Mountain range and almost dies in the cold. Man even in terrible pain he is sexy. He has to fend off a wolf even. But I thought it was very soap operaish. I normally like the episodes where they include spiritual other worldly events, but who writes this stuff? plus Jarod is clean shaven the entire episode. Sorry but any man would have scruff by morning. Broots to the rescue again. MP meanwhile collapses and Angelo keeps saying she needs Faith. Well while she is undergoing surgery for internal bleeding from an ulcer she has flashbacks to when she and Jarod were kids in the Center. They think they are going to see a dead body but meet Faith, there for experimental drugs for Leukemia (you mean the Center is not all evil? Plot twists a plenty) but she eventually succumbs and we find out when Jarod and MP are both near death that Faith comes in a wraithlike state to tell them to keep fighting and pull through. Jarod's hair is still the same cut basically but in this one his bangs hang down over his forehead and not swept back which I like. We find out Faith was MP's adopted sister. 5/2 unfortunately Miss Parker's wonderful boyfriend Thomas gets killed off by The Centre psychopaths we all love to hate (guess who? the initials are ML and BP). I thought this was one of the best eps I have seen. It was great drama. I cried and cried over her heartache and loss. My only concern is with the writers. None of the characters ever get to be happy for long. I think they need to be careful not to alienate the viewers with too much xfiles type conspiracy theory and give us some of humor and the old 1st ep fun of Jarod's naive exploration of candy and pop culture. That's my two cents for what it is worth. Sigh. Back to MTW's Most Unofficial Site
This page updated September 16, 1999 using cuteFTP.