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The Movie: This NBC drama was an audience favorite that ran from 1996-2000. The series starred Michael T. Weiss as Jarod, a man with an extraordinarily high IQ classified as a "pretender." In other words, he can effortlessly slip into another person's life without skipping a beat - one week he can be a doctor, and the next week he can turn up as a police officer. The show's premise was offered almost unlimited possibilities: the series could have Jarod go into different fields all the time, giving every single episode the potential to have the character find himself in a fresh environment. Yet, while the situations were different each week, the series still had plotlines that tied the series together. While searching for his past, Jarod tries to help those in need and try and escape from Miss Parker and her operatives, who want to capture Jarod and take him back to the Centre, a secret facility where Jarod was researched on and tested since he was young. With a great performance from Michael T. Weiss, "Pretender" remains a clever and suspenseful drama that stands up well. Although a couple of TV movies were run afterwards, this fourth season of "The Pretender" was the final run for the series. 4th Season 1999 67. 4- 1 25 Sep 99 The World's Changing - Jarod is once again a prisoner at the Centre, although he gets help in escaping and finds himself helping a couple targeted for extermination by Lyle and his sweepers. 68. 4- 2 2 Oct 99 Survival - Jarod impersonates an officer at the Criminal Investigative Division in order to investigate the hanging suicide of an officer at the training grounds in Texas. 69. 4- 3 30 Oct 99 Angel's Flight - A tarot-type card showing a demonic angle tossing a young female angel into the fire helps Jarod track down a teenage girl who has come under the spell of a magician. 70. 4- 4 6 Nov 99 Risque Business - Miss Parker tracks Jarod using an internet order, while Jarod poses as a sex therapist in order to track down the man who attacked a young female psychologist. 71. 4- 5 13 Nov 99 Road Trip - Jarod sends Miss Parker, Sydney and Broots on a "Wizard of Oz" odyssey while he tries to help a young woman he has fallen for deal with the fact that she has cancer. 72. 4- 6 4 Dec 99 Extreme - While Jarod infiltrates a thrill-seeking gang to find the real cause behind a failed bungee jump, Miss Parker discovers a link between Lyle and the murder of a missing waitress. 73. 4- 7 11 Dec 99 Wild Child - Jarod encounters memories from his childhood when he tries to rescue a newly found "wild child" whom research scientists have secretly used for past experiments. 74. 4- 8 8 Jan 00 Rules of Engagement - Jarod assumes the identity of an FBI agent to find out while two brothers have taken hostages in their father's hospital room and demanded $41,342.72. 75. 4- 9 15 Jan 00 'Til Death Do Us Part - With Jarod's help, Miss Parker finally discovers who murdered her lover, Thomas, and also learns the shocking truth behind Brigette's marriage to her father. 76. 4-10 5 Feb 00 Spin Doctor (1) - Jarod investigates the suspicious suicide of an FBI agent who saved his life years earlier, while Miss Parker arranges a reunion between Sydney and an old student. 77. 4-11 12 Feb 00 Cold Dick - Jarod is tricked into assuming the identity of Las Vegas detective Dick Dixon, an identity that gets him punched in the nose by everyone he's introduced to - even Wayne Newton. 78. 4-12 19 Feb 00 Lifeline - Jarod helps an undercover agent whose boss has put unreasonable demands on her and even cut her off from her family in order to bring down a gun/money laundering operation. 79. 4-13 26 Feb 00 Ghosts from the Past - When Jarod infiltrates a gang of white supremacists in order to prevent the murder of a pastor's family, he encounters a man he tried to bring to justice years prior. 80. 4-14 11 Mar 00 The Agent of Year Zero - Miss Parker and Jarod make another shocking discovery about Mr. Lyle after he volunteers to be the American sponsor of a Cambodian man about to become an American citizen. 81. 4-15 25 Mar 00 Junk - Jarod poses as a drug addict to save the daughter of a man who years earlier worked as an orderly at the Centre - and who tried to protect a young Jarod from a drug experiment. 82. 4-16 22 Apr 00 School Daze - Miss Parker is shocked to discover that Raines's dead wife is, in fact, very much alive, while Jarod becomes a substitute teacher to find a young boy targeted for murder. 83. 4-17 29 Apr 00 Meltdown - Jarod enlists the help of the FBI to trick a group of small-time criminals into revealing which one of them killed a young girl during one of their previous robberies. 84. 4-18 6 May 00 Corn Man - Jarod tries to find two women abducted while hiking in the mountains and Miss Parker continues his advice to keep digging for information about her mother's death. 85. 4-19 13 May 00 The Inner Sense (1) 86. 4-20 13 May 00 The Inner Sense (2) - Jarod's father calls with news that he's found his sister, Emily, and Miss Parker and Jarod simultaneously discover that they have a sibling in common - a half-brother named Ethan. The DVD VIDEO: Fox presents "Pretender" episodes in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, and the episodes look generally quite good. Sharpness and detail are good throughout, with only the occasional hint of softness here-and-there. The presentation suffers from some very slight edge enhancement and a trace or two of pixelation on occasion, but the majority of the episodes remained crisp and clean. Colors remained rich and nicely saturated, with no smearing. SOUND: The Dolby 2.0 presentation sounded crisp and clear, with no concerns. EXTRAS: Commentary on "'Till Death Do Us Part" and "Rules of Engagement" by creators Craig W. Van Sickle and Steven Long Mitchell, as well as supervising producer/writer Ethan Matthew Lawrence and exec producer Tommy Thompson. A commentary with co-creator Craig W. Van Sickle, co-producer Juan Carlos Coto and actor Michael T. Weiss is included for "Cold Dick". The flip side of the final disc also offers up a pair of featurettes: "Looking for Chip Greenfelt" (how the crew was playing poker on-set quite often throughout the second half of the series) and a 2-part piece (18 minutes total) that explores the series and the final season: "Jarod's Mythology". Final Thoughts: "Pretender"'s fourth season DVD box set provides very good audio/video quality, as well as a nice helping of supplements. Recommended for fans. |