» The Pretender Options

[Lady Lana]

I've been missing this show more than usual lately. Still no chance of them actually giving us closure?

[Onlooker]

I don't know about closure, but the Season 1 DVD will be out in a couple of weeks. I can hardly wait. I think that was my favourite season, too, when he was out in the world and discovering everything while helping all sorts of people. I much preferred it to the later seasons when much greater emphasis was placed on the backstory/mystery which, frankly, ended up strangling itself in all the unlikely and contradictory revelations.

I never really wanted Jarod and Miss Parker to become an item. Just because they were the two mains stars of the show doesn't mean they have to be romantically involved. The highly competitive respect and regard that they had for each other was just right. They were peers. Not every male/female relationship has to be sexual.

This post has been edited by Onlooker: Mar 7, 2005 @ 3:16 am.

[shing]

Yay, a Pretender thread!

A friend of mine, who I haven't talked to in a while, called me out of the blue a few days to excitedly tell me that she just bought the DVDs. Of course, I immediately head to the nearest mall and purchased one myself.

I'm making my way through them and holy crap, I have forgotten how friggin' good this show was. I don't have TNT so I haven't seen the show since it was cancelled nor have I seen the 2 movies (prophecies? wtf?). Hope they release all the seasons and include the 2 movies.

Jarod and Pez! I forgot about that. Miss Parker rocks! Broots rocks! Sydney rocks! This whole freakin' show rocks!

And a few months ago, I found out that the building used as the exterior of The Centre is actually located a mere 20 mins south of where I live. How sad is that?

[Sir_Fireboard]

Cover art and specs for the second season on DVD. I'm glad to see a Jarod and Miss Parker commentary on there.

[Onlooker]

Thanks for lettng us know. I've been waiting for it.

[Black Nemesis]

Does anyone know just why the hell Ms. Parker hated Jarod so much? Her character was always the least likeable character. She was much better during the 1st season when she was leading sweeper teams to walk into superglued floors and falling hook, line and sinker for one of Jarod's traps than when she was making intimate phone calls to Jarod on one end then pointing a gun at him the next episode.

1st season was the best. Jarod's "bicentennial man" thing was more prominent. Plus they didn't need to add ten different characters and go all out with the bread crumbs of Jarod's past.

[scair]

Does anyone know just why the hell Ms. Parker hated Jarod so much? Her character was always the least likeable character.

I actually felt bad for Miss Parker. In spite of outwardly being the toughest character on the show, she was so often a pawn of 'Daddy.' And I thought that her hatred of Jarod was supposed to be a cover for unresolved feelings for him(see: Island of the Haunted). Hackneyed, maybe, but she didn't seem to be very good at expressing any feelings except anger.

[isiscloud]

I, too, feel sorry for her and that most of her "hate" is really jealousy that Jarod got out and she's stuck there, especially after her boyfriend died and she found out it was The Centre. She was definitely a pawn and didn't realize it until then. She changed and that's why they brought in Jamie Denton as Mr. Lyle--she wasn't as tough on Jarod as The Centre wanted her to be.

The show also went down in quality when she became more sympathetic and brought in more "family" stuff, but I do love me some Jamie Denton and I'm glad he was added to the cast!

[scair]

I, too, feel sorry for her and that most of her "hate" is really jealousy that Jarod got out and she's stuck there, especially after her boyfriend died and she found out it was The Centre.

Good point! I also think that some of her jealousy is due to the fact that Jarod COULD just walk away. For all that she was never incarcerated like Jarod, she was incapable of leaving like any sane person would because of her need for Daddy's approval. Jarod should be the person more damaged and bitter, but she is.

[Kanel]

Does anyone know just why the hell Ms. Parker hated Jarod so much? Her character was always the least likeable character.

I LOVED Miss Parker, all the way through. She was so conflicted and interesting: mean, funny, vulnerable and kick-ass, all at once. She had that hard attitude just barely covering her pain over... well, everything, really: her constant ache to have her daddy acknowledge and be proud of her, as well as love her; the loss of her mother and Jarod, who was a childhood friend to her, one of the few friends she had, as it seemed; and the bitterness over where her life was taking her. All of it hidden behind that cold, sharp - and dangerous - exterior.

Yes, I think it's safe to say I liked Miss Parker. Andrea Parker's portrayal was spot on, too, which added volumes to the character IMO.

As to why she hated Jarod, I agree that she was envious of his getting out, when she couldn't. Perhaps she also had a vague envy of his family: he had memories of a normal, loving family outside of the Centre, and he could hate Blue Cove and everything it stood for without reservation. She, on the other hand, couldn't hate the Centre without also hating her father. Again with the conflict. The angst!

Also, didn't her father say, at least in the beginning, that she couldn't leave The Centre until Jarod was caught? I'm fuzzy on the details, but that's an impression I can't get rid of.

I didn't like it when they started adding family members willy nilly, though. Jarod had a sister, OK. Then he had a brother. Then another brother. And Miss Parker had a twin brother. And a baby brother, and then suddenly we find out that her mother and Jarod's father also had a baby..? Enough, already!

[Onlooker]

That's what I thought. This show choked on its back story. They were so anxious to keep the mystery going that they kept adding things and twisting back and forth until none of it made sense.

Even Mr. Lyle. When they first brought him in he was totally and irredeemably evil. And then they started to soften him up. The Jarod's brother plot I quite enjoyed and it was rather well done but what are the odds of having two geniuses in one family? They certainly did a good job of keeping Mr. Parker elusive. You never knew where you were with him. But, again, that marriage and new baby plot made absolutely no sense.

I always liked it best when Jarod was out interacting with others and setting them to rights!

This post has been edited by Onlooker: Jun 16, 2005 @ 4:15 pm.

[Kanel]

I always liked it best when Jarod was out interacting with others and setting them to rights!

Heh! Those were the parts that never interested me at all. I kept thinking they got in the way of the ongoing hunt for Jarod and the dynamics in the team Miss Parker/Sydney/Broots; the relationship between Miss Parker and Jarod, or Sydney and Jarod; or the internal power struggles within the Centre.

But I liked the recurring pez. ;-)

[Sir_Fireboard]

I loved The Centre parts of the show as well; I usually skipped past Jarod's 'justices' on the second viewing and just focused on Miss Parker and the gang.

[Onlooker]

I was exactly the opposite, I usually skipped the Centre parts and just loved Jarod's "justices", which were always fitting and proportionate. I loved seeing him deal with different surroundings and jobs all the time. I guess being able to do anything and everything is pie in the sky stuff for most people so its wonderful to be able to experience it, even if only vicariously.

[Cynthia187]

I loved the episodes where he sneaks back into the Centre...priceless...lol