Pretender
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Pretender |
| Original title | The Pretender |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Year (s) | 1996-2000 |
| length | 44 minutes |
| Episodes | 86 in 4 seasons |
| genre | Drama , mystery |
| idea |
Steven Long Mitchell Craig W. Van Sickle |
| First broadcast | September 19, 1996 ( USA ) |
| German-language first broadcast |
March 26, 1997 on VOX |
| occupation | |
| |
Pretender is an American television series. It is about the gifted Jarod , a boy imprisoned by a secret organization called The Center . His talent is expressed above all in the fact that he can put himself in the shoes of every human being, that is, he can also pretend to be them ( English “pretend”, hence “pretender” ). In the center his skills are used to carry out various experiments. When he grew up, however, he managed to break out. He is now helping people with their problems and bringing justice.
The series takes place in the same series universe as the series Profiler .
history
As a young child, Jarod was shielded from the public and taken to the center because he is a child prodigy . He lived there for many years and constantly had to conduct experiments / simulations under the direction of psychiatrist Dr. Sydney Green perform. On the one hand one would like to test Jarod's abilities and understand them better, on the other hand Jarod makes an important contribution to the solution of complicated problems. For example, the flashback of an episode shows that Jarod solved the power problem of Apollo 13 , or how he simulates the behavior of a serial killer in order to predict his next move.
Jarod has also made friends at the center, like young Miss Parker. His brother is also trapped in the center, but he doesn't know this at the time.
One day when he grows up he runs away - this is where the series begins. He will from now on by Miss Parker and Sydney on behalf of the Centers sought because, first, can not do without him and his abilities there and we want to avoid, secondly, that the public of the activities of the Centers experiences. However, that doesn't stop Jarod from helping others and doing good. He also helps his “hunters” again and again and is constantly trying to find out more about his past.
Jarod finds important traces of his family in the course of the series. He finds his brother, who however dies. He later found his father again. In a later episode he will hand over Gemini to him . Gemini is a clone of Jarod that the Center created without his knowledge. When Jarod finds out, he frees Gemini to spare him the fate of his lost childhood.
The final episode of the series ("Endgame") was left open to possibly continue the series in another season. This has not yet happened.
There are also two Pretender TV films that were previously only shown in German on Premiere . They continue the series after the 4th season and still solve most of the previously unexplained secrets.
consequences
Jarod always chooses an environment where a mysterious incident recently occurred that he learned about from the newspaper, television, or other people. Jarod clears up this incident, punishes or convicts the guilty party and lets them be held responsible.
Jarod tries a new job in almost every episode. You can often see how he acquires the skills necessary for his new profession with the help of literature or small experiments and exercises. His special talent helps him - as a matter of course - to understand even the most complex relationships immediately.
In a side story, Miss Parker and Sydney try to find Jarod. Jarod is always one step ahead of his pursuers - he often gives them an indication of his current whereabouts at the beginning of the episode. Jarod always manages to escape more or less narrowly.
Most episodes end with a phone call, initiated by Jarod, with Miss Parker or Sydney.
characters
Jarod
Jarod (played by Michael T. Weiss ) is a pretender (a person with special skills, such as a computer-like memory or the ability to empathize with others). Jarod can be whoever he wants to be.
The ongoing theme of the series is the search for his family and his self-discovery.
Family: Jarod is the eldest son of Margaret and Major Charles. The two have three children: Jarod, Kyle and Emily. While searching for his family, Jarod manages to find his father Charles, his sister Emily and his brother Kyle. Jarod never has the opportunity to get to know his family better because the center keeps getting in the way of family reunions. In addition to the two siblings, Jarod has a half-brother with Miss Parker - Ethan. He is the son of Major Charles and Miss Parker's mother Catherine. Jarod is desperately looking for his mother Margaret over the course of the series. Although he has eye contact with her twice within the series, he never manages to meet her in person because Miss Parker interferes with them both times.
Since he was brought to the Center as a child , he has to rework his entire childhood - from various sweets to his first love. Jarod has a thing for PEZ . The small figures with the sweet content are his constant companions. He is allergic to pistachios.
Jarod also has a very close relationship with his mentor, Sydney, who is like a father to him.
Miss Parker
Miss Parker is played by Andrea Parker . She is chasing Jarod. Like all characters in the series, she too has to grapple with secrets of the center and her own past. Her personal trauma is the role of her father (a high-ranking Center official ) in her life and the mysterious death of her mother Catherine Elaine Parker. Except for Jarod and her father, nobody on the show knows Miss Parker's first name. This is also not mentioned in any episode.
In episode 8 (Season 1), Miss Parker wistfully unwraps a Christmas bauble that reads “To: Mom. Merry Christmas. Love, MP 1969 ”. This is probably an indication that her first name begins with M.
In one episode of the fourth season, Miss Parker is addressed by a friend as "Monica". You can tell from the way she flinches violently when the name is mentioned in the scene in question that it seems correct. However, she is never addressed by her first name again, which cannot conclusively clarify whether Monica is actually her name.
Miss Parker is the daughter of Mr. Raines (which she only learns in the second TV movie Island of the Haunted ) and the twin sister of Mr. Lyle. She has another half-brother, Ethan, who is also Jarod's half-brother. She's the main pursuer of Jarod. Her mother was Catherine Parker. Miss Parker has been in the Center from an early age , where she met Jarod, made friends with him and gave him his first kiss. As a teenager she went to boarding school. She then trained as a cleaner and later became the head of the security service.
Miss Parker, like Jarod, is a pretender. This is only clarified at the end of the fourth season or in the feature films. She has the gift of "inner sense", a type of intuition that she also occasionally lets her hear her mother's voice. Miss Parker, like her brother Ethan, inherited this gift from her mother.
Sydney
Dr. Sydney Green is played by Patrick Bauchau . He was a mentor and surrogate father for Jarod and is in constant telephone contact with him. Like Miss Parker, he has to cope with his past - especially the mysterious circumstances of the accident of his twin brother, who fell into a coma and later died, preoccupy him.
Sydney has an illegitimate son named Nicolas with ex-girlfriend Michelle. For a long time Sydney knew nothing about his son. He grew up with his mother and her husband. When his son is captured by rebels in a war zone, Jarod helps Sydney with the rescue operation.
Sidney loves Jarod like a son of his own, but since he wants to protect Jarod, he tries to be neutral towards him. Both when Jarod was still in the center and after his escape. Sidney Jarod helps out again and again, whether with the escape or with his advice.
Broots
Broots is played by Jon Gries and is a computer expert at the center. Over time, Sydney and Miss Parker have become his second family, even though Miss Parker doesn't treat him very nicely most of the time. He is divorced and has a daughter named Debbie.
Mr. Raines
Mr. Raines is played by Richard Marcus and is a senior staff member at the center. Mr Raines forms a mysterious, unscrupulous antithesis to Sydney. His goals can hardly be determined, as he behaves contradictingly in the course of the series. So at the beginning of season 4 he's suddenly very religious.
A special feature of Mr. Raines are the (always squeaking) oxygen bottle, which he always pulls behind him, and the nasal cannula or the tube to the oxygen bottle. He has needed them since a major fire in the center that severely damaged his lungs. He is the biological father of Miss Parker and Mr. Lyle. Mr. Raines is the brother of Mr. Parker, but was given up for adoption as a baby. His name before adoption was Abel Parker.
Mr. Raines becomes head of the center at the end of the second feature film ( Island of the Haunted ) after Mr. Parker jumped from an airplane and is believed to be missing.
Angelo
Angelo (played by Paul Dillon), like Miss Parker and Jarod, grew up in the Center. Mr. Raines tried to artificially make Angelo a pretender, but it failed. Angelo has been an empath ever since.
Mr. Parker
Mr. Parker is played by Harve Presnell . He ran the center (with interruptions) until the end of the second feature film. A kind of family tradition, because his grandfather was the crypt guardian on the island of Carthis. There he killed his entire family, emigrated to the USA and founded the center. Until the 2nd film "Island of the Haunted", Mr. Parker was mistaken for the father of Miss Parker and Mr. Lyle. But he is actually the uncle of the two. Mr. Raines is his brother. He ran the center until Season 2, when he had to go into hiding temporarily.
Mr. Parker was married to Catherine Parker, the mother of Miss Parker, Mr. Lyle and Ethan. Together they had an adopted daughter Faith. Mr. Parker married Brigitte in season 3, who carried a child of his in season 4, although it was never determined whether the child is his or Mr. Lyle, with whom she was having an affair. Brigitte died giving birth to the male baby, previously known as "Baby Parker". In "Island of the Haunted" (2nd feature film) he jumps out of an airplane and is believed to be dead.
Mr. Lyle
Mr. Lyle - played by James Denton - is the twin brother of Ms. Parker. When he was born, Dr. Raines was declared dead and brought to foster parents by him. His real name was Bobby Parker, but he took the name of his adoptive father, whose first name was Lyle, who abused him as a child.
Later, Mr. Lyle was trained as a killer by the Center . After Mr. Parker's disappearance, he takes over his place in Season 2 and desperately wants to catch Jarod. While trying to kill Jarod, he shoots his brother Kyle. At this point he is already being chased by the Center (he fell victim to a plot by Mr. Raines, Mr. Parker and Ms. Parker). When it becomes known that he is the son of Catherine Parker, he is accepted back into the Center .
Lyle is a sociopath. He has no qualms about killing, which he has already proven in his own girlfriends and his wife.
Catherine Parker
Catherine Parker is also played by Andrea Parker. She is the mother of Miss Parker, Mr. Lyle and Ethan. On April 13, 1970, she faked suicide to give birth to her youngest son, Ethan, in Mr. Raines' home, unbeknownst to the Center. She doesn't really die until a few months later, when Mr. Raines shoots her after giving birth to their son Ethan. Catherine has “inner sense,” a special gift that she inherited from Miss Parker and Ethan.
Kyle
Kyle, Jarod's younger brother, is played by Jeffrey Donovan . He's also a pretender and, like Jarod, was kidnapped from the center as a child. During his stay at the center, Mr. Raines trained him to be a killer. Kyle dies in season two when he intercepts a shot by Mr. Lyle that was actually intended for Jarod ("Showdown in the Desert"). Jarod then donates Kyle's heart to a terminally ill boy.
Adaptation
In episode 40 (Mikey's burst trouser seam / The competitor) of Disney's Great Break , the second part of the double episode (The competitor) is about a boy named Jarod, who is new to school and defeats every student in his specialty. At the end of the episode he says that every child is the best at something, and he is the best at being the best. This boy looks very much like the young Jarod from the Pretender flashbacks. His ability to defeat all children in their specialty is another analogy to Pretender-Jarod. At the end of the episode, men in dark suits and sunglasses come and take Jarod with them in a fighter jet.
Web links
- Pretender in the Internet Movie Database (English)