Blogging About The Pretender

There is one episode I have actually deleted my review of. Once I write another I'll post it here. This is my favorite of ALL new shows. and in the top 3 of my favorite shows of ALL TIME.

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) Jarrod learns Two Things

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 life', and most importantly, 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 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 the depth of his feelings and how Sydney really feels, all at the same time. 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. No one could call it a conflict of interest or dis-barrage Sydney about the emotional umbilical cord he has with Jarrod -the main reason he keeps those feelings to himself most of the time. 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 the first truly open conversation Sydney has with well...really anyone except Jarrod.

My original title "How they discovered something worth knowing" was taken from a chapter of C. S. Lewis the Silver Chair. I finally realized the word 'they' didn't work. Sydney doesn't really learn anything he didn't already know. Rather Jarrod learns two things he never knew before.

The Pretender: Extreme (1999) Season 4 episode 6

The Centre is more exciting...weirdly

Jarrod's part of the episode is actually pretty mediocre and mundane. No character development or even any interesting characters. As far as the strength of his pretends, this might actually be one of the weaker episodes of all four seasons. But Sydney and Co are enthralling. On-par acting with a pretty driven mission. Jarrod sends them on a genuine detective story that he'd planned all in advance and by the end all three of them realize exactly the kind of twisted devil they have looking over thier shoulder. In the form of Mr. Lyle. Mr. Raines always a roaring lion and seething devil. While dangerous and intimidating, he wasn't one for false smiles flat-out demeaning sassiness, hands off approach while demanding results or anything that's been making Ms. Parkers life a nightmare recently. Much less the outright torture and murder the three Centre protagonists discover him to be. Mr. Raines has officially passed the title of 'devil' to a new overseer.

I just hope Ms. Parker remembers this level of cooperation she had with Jarrod when the next episode comes. Because she tends to get amnesia about how she actually treats and regards our titular character from episode to episode. It got kind of disappointing.

The Pretender: Road Trip (1999) Season 4 Episode 5,

Everyone is in Rare Form

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

Speaking of the Wizard of Oz plotline it was a beautiful romp with all three of the main characters from the center perfectly happy to be following Jarrod's clues and jumping through his hoops. 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. And Sidney seems more than a little amused as he goes running around like rats in a maze. "Perhaps Jarrod wants us to run around like rats in a maze" And he's actually excited and jumping through those hoops. Maybe he feels that he owes Jarrod this after keeping so many things secret for so many years. They are the 3 musketeers and it's beautiful. Broots shows the most emotion he has ever shown outside of talking about his daughter. And by the end the three of them are just standing there like "Jarrod has a point."

The one time Jarrod assumes something other than the best about someone - the one time he goes with what makes sense rather than what is right in front of his face - he is 100% wrong and you can see real regret in his eyes. He's always really good at reading emotional cues and micro-expressions 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 conclusion about 'the cop' and about Zoe that almost anyone would jump to when they meet a woman trying to get out of a bad relationship, especially when it is with a man protected by a badge. Zoe and Jarrod seem to be each-others first honest and deeply committed relationship. Which makes it the most meaningful thing in the world. There is another revelation at the end that I will NOT spoil.

The Pretender: The Inner Sense: Part 2 (2000) The Series Finale

Too many things out of Nowhere...

8 February 2024 - 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 mystery, no event destroyed their relationship, just a lack of interaction.

I don't think they had 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.

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

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 infuritating 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 Jarod just keeps crossing thier path. Sydney the caring, guilt-ridden soul who once he dealt with hisfeel;ings 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.

Arrow: Elseworlds, Part 2 (2018) Season 7, Episode 9 10/10

Oliver finally figures it out!

Oliver wasn't around for most of Barry's adventures and he has always seen Barry as someone who laughs everything off running around without a care in the world. Here, after seeing RF's taunts for himself he finally realizes Barry's carefree attitude is a REJECTION of everything bad that's happened to him, not an *absence* of bad things happening to him. Barry's attitude is a refusal to live in darkness, not an absence of difficult circumstances or things to take seriously. Going all the way back to when The Flash first showed up in Starling City in season 3 of Arrow, Oliver always dismissed Barry as someone who could afford to be happy all the time because he never had anything that could bring him down. And while Oliver had walked in Barry's physical shoes in the Flash portion of the crossover, that probably only reinforced his belief that Barry's life is a sappy, emotional and smooth ride compared to his own. Everyone likes him and he has a team and family at his back. Now, walking a bit in Barry's Mental shoes, seeing Reverse Flash shred Flash for 'being so weak you couldn't stop me from killing your mom' Oliver FINALLY gets that Barry could have been...well more like himself actually and simply didn't let himself be dragged down into that darkness. He'd met Thawne briefly, fought against him at the end of Flash season 1 but never really understood who Thawne was to Barry. He'd heard, once that Barry was stuck in some personal issues having something to do with Dr. Wells, but that was it. And to hear Oliver *validate* him, rather than simply be there for him was probably the greatest compliment Barry could ever have been given. For Barry, that was paradise. Barry Allen in the Green Arrow get up looks and for a brief moment even sounds like Roy Harper. Which was a pretty amazing thing. Roy was at Oliver's side for 2 years, his only protégé on the team and died/disappeared to protect Oliver's secret. And after they got back from Arkam and were safe in A. R. G. U. S. Barry was the one giving the advice for a change. Which is always awesome.

Superman & Lois (2021–2024) 8/10

The most glaring problem has a built in answer

Well most glaring other than the fact that it's as much about Clark and Lois as a couple than it is about Superman saving the world...which is also built into the fabric of the show. It isn't confirmed until the end of season 2 but this series takes place on another Earth in the multiverse. While the heroes of Flash don't realize this, we as the audience knew at least 5 other Earths did survive the Crisis of Infinite Earths. In the season 2 finale General Lane mentions that Clark is the only Super-powered hero on this Earth. Meaning there is no native Flash and no native Supergirl.

They kept a general continuity of things that could be read either way. John Diggle's comment about fighting alongside Superman could have been possible on Earth Prime since post-Crisis they have always lived on the same Earth. This Earth's Oliver Queen did know them, and is as dead as ours. There is no native Supergirl on this Earth, anymore than there was on Earth-1. The lack of any mention of Supergirl was conspicuous -- because of the assumption that this was Earth-38 Clark and Lois now living on Earth Prime. You'd actually have to watch the last episode of Arrow to see why some Earth's merged and others didn't. Tal-Rho and General Anderson are original characters...but Tal-Rho is unique. General Anderson is a proxy for any human authority-figure who doesn't understand that Superman is anything but Superman.

Lana Lang Cushing is the single most annoying character in the show. Superman can have kids. Traditionally Superman cannot procreate with humans because what we think of as Kryptonian physiology, is incompatible with an Earth humans for making offspring. In Supergirl Lois and Clark could have a kid because they were on the asteroid of Argo City when Lois became pregnant. No yellow sun means no powers, no powers means Clark is essentially human and they can get pregnant. I bet a lot of people watching this show were wondering how Lois and Clark could have had kids if there was no mention they'd ever gone to Ago City. It's never actually stated is even a thing here. Maybe Generals Lane and Anderson wouldn't be surprised to learn Superman can biologically have kids. Anderson was surprised Superman had a human Life...at all. Ultimately this show is part of the multiverse...but our heroes, THIS Superman and Lois are not connected with the heroes of the other shows. Diggle mentions having fought alongside Superman which still works because Team Arrow is a group of self-made heroes without superpowers. By establishing these characters before telling us, they let us go with our assumptions for a while and develop our own opinions but this is not Kara's cousin Clark and his fiancé now living on Earth-prime. Although they are played by the same actors.

The last few minutes of the Crisis on Infinite Earth's crossover showed that Earth 12, Earth, 21, Earth,19, Earth 96 and Earth 9 and a version of Earth-2 with Star-girl survived crisis. The merging of the multiverse was people and things from Earth-38, Earth2 and Earth-3. Most of, but NOT the entire multiverse was destroyed. Which explains Why Sam and Lucy Lane are such completely different characters from the show Supergirl. Although the old world-new world differences Supergirl and Barry spent a few episodes getting used to could have explained that.

Postscript: almost everyone goes over the top in both drama and emotion in season 3. Far more real-world problems, which I was fine with but a lot of people had trouble with. Tension/dissension that feels like it's mostly there to make something of the production. And for once most of the discontent, assumptions, arrogance and attitude does not come from Lana Lang Cushing. She actually seems pretty chill 3x04 on. Instead it comes from practically everyone else. Most especially John Henry Irons and Jordan Kent.