Greetings,
A couple of weeks ago I published a post wherein I expressed my excitement over the return of one of my all time favorite shows, The Pretender. Not to say that I don't give my DVDs of that show a good workout on a regular basis, but this news certainly made me go back to and start diving into it again. And that made me remember how many good episodes there were, on an individual basis. So, naturally, I thought a good way that I could help usher in this new chapter of The Pretender would be to go back to the fantastic original show and do a top ten list of my favorite episodes. As I do.
Now, as always, you can read this whether you've watched the show or not, but this is, probably more than any list I've ever done, for the fans of The Pretender. First off, there will be some major spoilers. Second, I'll be talking about a lot of things that will be best understood by those who know the ins and outs of this show, its plot, its characters and so on. And explaining all of that here would take far too long. That's why I did a post all about this show, as I've mentioned before, called "The Great Pretender", where I went into a lot of detail. So you can read that first to see what all my fuss is about, and if you're interested, you can go and load up your Netflix queue with the DVDs. Then come back and read this. But, for now, my fellow fans, we will embark on my top ten episodes of The Pretender. Oh, and by the way, this was an EXTREMELY difficult list to narrow down.
#10. "Scott Free" (Season 2) - I noticed through the run of this show that many of Jarod's "projects" had to do with repairing families that had been broken in some way. I will assume that this was a conscious decision by the writers, due to his constant longing for the family he lost long before. Here, he tries to help an ex-con who is being blackmailed into committing a robbery. That's bad enough, but the guy has a son with whom he was just reunited and does not want to risk going back to jail and losing him again. Now, one of the things that makes this episode especially good is the presence of a great guest cast. We have Justin Louis a.k.a. Louis Ferreira, who some of you may know as Art Blank from Saw IV, and a fantastic character actor named Dennis Arndt, who has been in everything from CSI to Life Goes On to Ally McBeal. Oh, and hey there, baby Drake Bell! Good things are in store for you, my friend.
#9. "Hazards" (Season 2) - The basic plot of this one is that Jarod acts as a hazmat expert investigating some violations at a plant. But really, there is something so topical about this episode, and I mean topical today. You see, Jarod's big, real world discovery in this episode is the Twinkie, his first of which he offered to pay twenty dollars for. And did. Now, we all know that we've had some ups and downs with Twinkies in the past year or so, but I can't help but feel the decision to bring them back was made by a person who saw this episode. Why? Well, frankly, it comes in handy when Jarod gives the bad guy his comeuppance. Seriously, though, being trapped in a vat of Twinkie cream doesn't really feel like that much of a punishment, even if someone tries to trick you into thinking it's something else.
#8. "Not Even a Mouse" (Season 1) - Or "Jarod's First Christmas" as I call it. Or "Hey, Jarod, Let Me Teach You About Mistletoe". Moving on, before I embarrass myself ... more. In this one, Jarod is posing as a medical examiner in order to find out what really happened concerning the death of a homeless man named Christmas George. And, again, it is a pastry which helps us get justice for the victim. Of course, being that it's Christmas, that pastry would be fruitcake, which Jarod apparently thinks is delicious. You know, for a guy who is pretty much a genius, he has a thing or two to learn about blending in with society. Being in the Fruitcake Fan Club is going to make one very conspicuous.
#7. "Pilot" (Season 1) - I love a good introduction episode, and this is one of the best. You would expect a show like this to have its pilot be a full on origin story for the main character, but it's really not that at all. Probably because the entire series is based on Jarod trying to find out what his origins are. No, in this first episode, we jump right into the foundation of what the show will become. Jarod's helping a wronged person, whilst Sydney, Miss Parker and The Centre are chasing after him. Good. Let us know what we're in for straight away, so we can start falling in love with it.
#6. "School Daze" (Season 4) - Hey, remember that awesome movie Kindergarten Cop? Well, this is kind of like that movie, except no kindergarten. This time Jarod is tasked with educationally babysitting some fifth graders. He is also searching for a boy on the run because he was the sole witness to a murder, and now a hit man is after the kid to keep him from testifying. So Jarod has to protect him, as he does. Now, despite the heavy subject matter, this episode actually has a lot of funny moments. And none rings truer to me than when all the single moms find out that Mr. Brody (Jarod's name du jour) is not married, thus prompting them to show up at his door with - what else? - food. Hey, I'm not judging. I would have been right there with those ladies and a crock pot of stew. Oh, there I go again.
#5. "Donoterase" (Season 3) - Okay, let's just get this out of the way. The title - what's up with that "word"? Funny story. Apparently, one day, to ensure that nothing written would be lost, the writers wrote the words "Do Not Erase" on the top of their idea board. Makes sense. But then someone else saw it and asked what "Donoterase" meant, because it would seem that those three words were squished into one. Alrighty. Now the writers could have just said, "No, that's not a word", but, in the spirit of the mythos, they just said it was a secret of the show. And it did, in fact, makes its way into the episode. Moving on. This is easily the best of the season finales. There is just so much that happens here, and it is done brilliantly. We get to see Jarod reunited with his daddy, who is played by George Lazenby, and it's really quite moving. Also, Miss Parker starts to discover some secrets about her mother's death, which is her own mystery that she's always trying to solve. And then, there's airplanes and shootouts and cloning. Of course, The Centre starts cloning people. It's The Centre. What did you expect? And who did they clone? Well, not only did Jarod get to meet his father, but himself as well. Yes, he kidnaps his own clone. FANtastic! Best thing about that, actually, is that we finally get some scenes with Michael T. Weiss and Ryan Merriman, who had been playing young Jarod in the flashbacks. So, yeah, this one is a serious thumbs up moment.
#4. "The World is Changing" (Season 4) - And from the season three finale to the season four premiere. I didn't say this previously, but in that last episode, Jarod got captured by The Centre at the end. It was a good way to close a season, and having him back at The Centre was a good way to start a season. No doubt the fans spent the summer trying to figure out what exactly was going to happen to Jarod once he was back in that prison. Well, a lot. And I blame it all on Mr. Lyle. I mean, he's always pretty vile, but he was absolutely atrocious in this episode. Being all mean to my Jarod, throwing him in cages, hosing him down so he's all dirty and wet and shirtless and ... okay, you know what, I can probably forgive Lyle for some of this. As could many of the female fans. But still, must we be so vicious. Relax, though, Jarod escapes yet again. Of course, he does. Now I must take this moment to mention one of the guest stars here. It's none other than, someone else from the Saw franchise, Tobin Bell, one of the best and most underrated actors ever. He plays an albino...named Mr. White. Yep. Because, much like a gorgeous woman who does things to make herself less attractive, even the most creative of shows must be unoriginal sometimes. Balances out the universe and whatnot.
#3. "Murder 101" (Season 3) - And Jarod is a teacher again, but this time in college. He's a professor in a criminology class, which was previously taught by a man who disappeared, leaving behind his pregnant wife. A man who is later found to be dead. Jarod tries to solve the case with the help of these students, because they are in something called the Vanguard Program for the super smarties. Oh, and because he thinks the murderer is one of them. Well, at least, he didn't feel that way about the fifth graders he was teaching before. Or after, because that was season four and this is ... oh, forget it. Again, I have to give a shout out to one of the guests, Tamara Braun, who does a great job playing a very arrogantly intelligent, and kind of sassy, young woman named Claire. She actually almost came across like a baby Miss Parker. And that is what the world needs.
#2. "Wake Up" (Season 3) - Okay, I know that most of what I'm writing here centers around Jarod. He is the main character after all. But not with this one. No, this episode belongs to Miss Parker. Not only the character, but the actress, Miss Andrea Parker. I cannot even begin to tell you how phenomenal she was here. I mean, we have seen Miss Parker from so many angles. We've seen her annoyed, determined, deliciously evil, sometimes compassionate and even amusing. But here, she is ruled completely by her emotions of grief and anger over the loss of a man she loved, and it is so heart wrenching. I was completely blown away by the performance she gave here. If there was ever a doubt in anyone's mind about Andrea Parker's gift as an actress, this should take care of any of that.
#1. "Ghosts From the Past" (Season 4) - I think it goes without saying that The Pretender was never a series that would have a clip show, but they kind of do it here,just a little bit. That's mostly because this is an episode wherein Jarod's past "pretends" are revisited by Sydney, Broots (What's up, Uncle Rico?), Miss Parker and Angelo, played wonderfully by Paul Dillon. They get word that one of the enemies Jarod has made is out to get him, and they try to figure out who it is, so they can helo him. Or catch him, depending on which one of them you're talking about. All the while, Jarod has infiltrated a white supremacist group in order to stop the bombing of a church during a unity rally. I really can't explain why this is my favorite episode; it just is. Perhaps, there are too many reasons. Maybe it's the great acting or the fantastic story. Maybe it's the hilarious way that Miss Parker acts when she sees Broots' excited reaction to being in something of a revival meeting. Maybe it's the sight of Jarod, sitting on the roof of a church, getting down with his bad self to some gospel music, as only Jarod can do. Or maybe it's all of that.
And there you have it. I certainly hope all the fans of The Pretender enjoyed reading this and reminiscing with me about such a wonderful show. And I hope no one was annoyed at my schoolgirl crushing on Jarod. But, most of all, I hope you're all as excited as I am about it coming back. I hear books will be involved. May they, one day, let me contribute, so all of that fan fiction I wrote won't go to waste.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
