Pretender: Every Picture Tells A Story

[kerravonsen]

Well, I'm joining in the chain of Pretender watching which RedStarRobot, astrogirl2 and vilakins are perpetuating. I'm skipping the pilot, because I already re-saw it relatively recently. So we go with the first episode (is it the first or the second?) "Every Picture Tells A Story".

Sydney has the meccano Empire State Building from the pilot in his lab!

The department where Sydney works is called "psychogenetic" something or other. He seems to be working exclusively with twins. And he doesn't seem to have any assistants.

Miss Parker and Sydney snarking in the lift about "do you want to talk to me about it?" - the look she gives him! Ha! I wonder who would out-snark the other, Miss Parker or Snape?
And it's interesting that Miss Parker has formed her self-understanding as "someone who is stronger than my mother, who was weak". She thinks that the way not to break is to be strong, immovable, rather than flexible. Chinese saying about bending willows come to mind.

Miss Parker's standard phone-answering technique seems to be to bark "What?" into the phone, no matter what time of day or night it is. And it neatly avoids having to tell us what her first name is.
It's so entertaining seeing her and Jarod on the phone.

I'd forgotten that the painting of Miss Parker On The Death Of Her Mother had been so early; it really stuck in my mind. Ah, the reveal, with the single tear on the young Miss Parker's face, and then the single tear on the current Miss Parker's face when she calls Sydney to ask him what really happened to her mother. Poor Miss Parker.

"Is Jarod my real name?"
And he had already started painting the painting at that point. Maybe the trigger of him asking Sydney that right then was "What am I going to sign this painting? Is Jarod really my name?"
And interesting that Sydney hedges the answer with "that's the name they told me"; I'm not sure whether he's trying to wash his hands of the responsibility, or trying to be as accurate and precise as he can. Probably something else completely - he is a psychologist, after all.

Okay, I assume that we are meant to deduce, from the contents of the DSA, that Mrs Parker did not commit suicide. I'm just not entirely sure how we're meant to deduce it. The sequence of events is (1) loud commotion (2) "get her out of the lift" (3) multiple gunshots. If it was suicide, there wouldn't have been multiple gunshots, just one, is that it? Or is it also that the gunshots occur after the "get her out of the lift", implying that someone killed her in order to prevent her from leaving.

Ha! I just realized that all my wibblings so far have been about the B story. Well, that's the ongoing interesting stuff, ain't it?

One thing that puzzles me about the A-story is: how does Jarod decide what Pretend to do next? I mean, he already has newspaper clippings about Tom King, so he already must have suspected something was up, and yet he still sounds surprised when he deduces that foul play was involved. Which one is it? Are there Pretends that he does, complete with newspaper clippings, ones that we don't see, where there hasn't been any foul play? And he also seems to spend a lot of off-screen time just learning new things, or doing both. Like at the start of this story, it's mentioned that he spent five weeks learning to swim, and at the same time preventing a nuclear disaster. He also mentioned that "I was a midwife once", and I don't think he's referring to his stint as a doctor in the pilot.

Thinking of the pilot, I'm reminded a bit of an episode of Stingray where Ray pretended to be a doctor, though he had the help of people that he called in favours of. Golly, what a mind-boggling crossover it would be if Ray and Jarod were both investigating the same thing at the same time, and both pretending to be someone they weren't? I'm not sure if utter chaos wouldn't be the result.

I must admit, I get a kick out of Jarod telling people the exact truth and them thinking he's joking - such as "oh, I forged my transfer papers". And I suspect he gets a kick out of it too.


One thing that puzzled me; was the fact that the bad-guy coast guard kept on postponing the woman coast guard's rank review - was there a reason for that, or was that just supposed to indicate that he was a Bad Guy?

I liked that hermit-guy, he was sort of sweet.
Oh, the look on Jarod's face when he describes listening to The Magic Flute! You really get the feeling that his childhood was bleak and regimented, and yet also that his spirit was alive enough to hold such glimpses of beauty to his heart and treasure them.

Well, I seem to have written more than I expected. Comments, people?

Comments

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

Three comments:

First: I do not (yet) own any pretender DVD's, but Miss Parker would be the reason for buying them if I ever become tempted.

Second: At two points in the series there's a Pretender/Profiler crossover and they bloody well rock.

And Thirdly: As the seasons progress, the series moves from SF to fantasy, with the WooWoo factor growing by the episode in the final season. This most seriously does NOT work for me. But Miss Parker still rocks. And Raines is still most wonderfully creepy. A seriously bad guy with actual depth to his character, I can't at this moment think of a single other series that offers that.

As for Miss Parker's first name, we do get to hear it at some point in the series, but it's a blink and you miss it sort of thing when she meets an old classmate. I don't remember what it is, other than that it isn't Andrea.

BTW, the person in the icon might be Cally, but the sentiment is pure, unadulterated Miss Parker. :-D

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I'm only in season 2, but it's already clear to me from a couple of little things that the show definitely takes place in Science Fantasy land. I'm hoping that having already accepted this fact will prove helpful for me down the road. :)

[kerravonsen]

No, it really does get much worse, culminating in absolute ga-ga crap fantasy in the final movie special. I can't recall when it jumped the shark, but it had definitely done so by the end.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been warned about that, and will be bracing myself. If nothing else, I figure fic can fix everything. :)

[kerravonsen]

True, but to fix this... would take "it was all a dream" level of fixings.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Well, with TV movie sequels, there's always the option of simply declaring them non-canonical. :)

[kerravonsen]

With this particular one, yes, that is what I tend to do.

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

RE: Miss Parker's name
Actually, I don't think we get to hear it at all. Both Giusseppe and Patrick call her "Parker", don't they?

HEE, icon. Cally is cool. And yes, that's very Miss Parker. I do so adore her.

Total agreement on what is really only the last 3 or so eps. But before you get there, it continues to rock a lot.

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

It's been too long for me to remember exactly, but I do recall thinking at one point "ZOMG, he just called her by some girly first name! And I didn't catch exactly what it was!"

I may now have to buy the DVD's just to get the final answer to this question...

Have another Parkerish icon without her actually in it ;-).

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Yay for the perpetuation of the chain! Man, I love the fact that this ten-year-old show is suddenly undergoing this random renaissance on this little corner of LJ. I know two people besides me watching it for the first time, and two or three besides you who are re-watching some of it now. And a few others who have mentioned various degrees of interest. The memetics of it are fascinating. :)

Anyway, it's still impossible to shut me up about this show, so, yes, I have lots of comments!

Sydney has the meccano Empire State Building from the pilot in his lab!

It took me a ridiculously long time to notice this. Somebody finally pointed it out to me about two-thirds of the way through the season.

Ha! I wonder who would out-snark the other, Miss Parker or Snape?

I think the snark would quickly build up to lethal levels and they would both die. :)

And interesting that Sydney hedges the answer with "that's the name they told me"; I'm not sure whether he's trying to wash his hands of the responsibility, or trying to be as accurate and precise as he can.

It's always hard to know with Sydney, but I'm inclined to think it's more the latter, and that he doesn't want to give Jarod the impression of false certainty.

Ha! I just realized that all my wibblings so far have been about the B story. Well, that's the ongoing interesting stuff, ain't it?

Ha! Yes. I've written a reaction post or two that's consisted of something like six paragraphs of analysis of the B-story, followed by "Oh, and Jarod did some stuff, too, I guess." :)

I mean, he already has newspaper clippings about Tom King, so he already must have suspected something was up, and yet he still sounds surprised when he deduces that foul play was involved. Which one is it?

I don't know about this particular story, but my general feeling is that he has a very, very good instinct for when something probably is foul play, and those are the situations he inserts himself into. (At least, if they also happen to touch on his personal issues. :)) And there are a lot of times he acts surprised at stuff that it's quite clear he knew all about beforehand, so that may just be all part of the pretending.

He also mentioned that "I was a midwife once", and I don't think he's referring to his stint as a doctor in the pilot.

Yeah, he refers to a lot of stuff over the course of the series that we don't see on-screen, or only just glimpse very briefly. I think the guy packs his time very, very full. :)

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

I love the fact that this ten-year-old show is suddenly undergoing this random renaissance on this little corner of LJ. Actually, part of the joy of my type of fandom is finding the afterlife of old shows...

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

It is rather wonderful, isn't it? :)

[kerravonsen]

(smiles at icon)

Yeah, it's funny how much better some shows seem with hindsight. Maybe they mature like wine in oak barrels or something.

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

One thing that puzzles me about the A-story is: how does Jarod decide what Pretend to do next? I mean, he already has newspaper clippings about Tom King, so he already must have suspected something was up, and yet he still sounds surprised when he deduces that foul play was involved. Which one is it?

I think we're supposed to deduce that he uses his Pretender skills to decide that something's not right with this scenario, but he doesn't know quite what until he's 'on the ground' an talking to people. Maybe he can tell someone's innocent, or maybe he can just see an unlikely connection he wants to check out. Actually, I'd guess that at least some of the time he shows up somewhere, finds no crime, and moves on. We just don't see those eps.

One thing that puzzled me; was the fact that the bad-guy coast guard kept on postponing the woman coast guard's rank review - was there a reason for that, or was that just supposed to indicate that he was a Bad Guy?


Yup, pretty sure it was just a cliche' way to indicate he was a Bad Guy. And also to maybe wonder why he was blocking her promotion-- which in this case, was that he had something to hide, and couldn't use having anyone closer in rank to him.

And it's interesting that Miss Parker has formed her self-understanding as "someone who is stronger than my mother, who was weak". She thinks that the way not to break is to be strong, immovable, rather than flexible. Chinese saying about bending willows come to mind.

Yup. I am entirely sure her father encouraged that, out of what he probably perceived as a wish to protect his daughter. But god, it makes me hate him to think that. But he *did* tell her over and over that she killed herself, which is a complete lie.

Okay, I assume that we are meant to deduce, from the contents of the DSA, that Mrs Parker did not commit suicide. I'm just not entirely sure how we're meant to deduce it. The sequence of events is (1) loud commotion (2) "get her out of the lift" (3) multiple gunshots. If it was suicide, there wouldn't have been multiple gunshots, just one, is that it? Or is it also that the gunshots occur after the "get her out of the lift", implying that someone killed her in order to prevent her from leaving.

Yup, exactly. Too many gunshots. And... the rest, I think, we'll never know for sure, because they retconned it so many times, the sequence of events changing, and this was so early in the series that I don't think they knew for sure who they wanted to pin it on. The important part is:

1) four gunshots.
2) Dead Catherine with no gun.
3) Miss Parker sees body and goes to pieces. *hugs her*

Miss Parker's standard phone-answering technique seems to be to bark "What?" into the phone, no matter what time of day or night it is. And it neatly avoids having to tell us what her first name is.

I adore that about her. If you're calling her, you better be ready to get her on the phone, attitude included.

Ah, the reveal, with the single tear on the young Miss Parker's face, and then the single tear on the current Miss Parker's face when she calls Sydney to ask him what really happened to her mother. Poor Miss Parker.

Is that who she calls? I always assumed it was her father. Because we never get any real follow-up to this. *hmm*

[kerravonsen]

Is that who she calls? I always assumed it was her father. Because we never get any real follow-up to this.
Somehow I assumed it was Sydney... I think (a) because he'd indicated early in the episode that he was willing (even eager) to talk, and (b) doesn't Miss Parker say "my mother" when she asks the question? She wouldn't use that phrase with her father, I don't think.

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

Oooo. Good point. Which just tells you how messed up she is, that she does actually call Syd after that, and want to look at the past again. On the other hand, I thought later episodes contradicted that, so on no! Must rewatch! :>

And how angry she must be with Jarod, for showing her this; as much of a relief as it probably is, it also cuts the floor right out from under her.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yay, reviews I can actually read right away! Of course, as you don't have to wait to watch with someone else, you will probably pass me like everyone else in no time. :-(

Maybe the trigger of him asking Sydney that right then was "What am I going to sign this painting? Is Jarod really my name?"
Good point. And was the painting addressed to M Parker, or was that a later package? I'm thinking she's Muriel or Mildred or something she hates. Why else conceal it so assiduously?

One thing that puzzles me about the A-story is: how does Jarod decide what Pretend to do next?
You and me both. I thought he maybe pretended himself into the victim role and worked out there was foul play, but that doesn't always hold water. I am now almost at the end of S1, and the A and B stories have more equal screen time which is good. The As do get a lot more interesting though IMO.

I wasn't sure about Jarod at this point, though the deadpan lies were fun (and they continue). He has so grown on me though. He has this really touching innocence and joy at the unexpected wonders of life.