The Pretender

November 28, 2025

The Pretender

Angel's Flight
Wild Child
'Til Death Do Us Part
The Inner Sense Part One
The Inner Sense Part Two

Season Four
Episodes 3,7,9,19 and 20

Airdates
Oct 30th, 1999
Dec 11th, 1999
Jan 15th 2000

May 13th, 2000 (Parts One and Two)

Directed by
Episode 3: Chuck Bowman
Episode 7: Michael Klick
Episode 9: Craig W. Van Sickle
Episodes 19 and 20: Frederick Kling Keller

Written by

Episode 3

Tommy Thompson

Episode 7
Joel Metzger

Episode 9
Steven Long Mitchell, Craig W. Van Sickle

Episode 19 and 20
Steven Long Michell, Craig W. Van Sickle

Starring
Michael T. Weiss
Jon Gries
Andrea Parker

Trivia
Pamela Gidley, who appears in 'Til Death Do Us Part, also appeared in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. John Lazenby, who appears in The Inner Sense Parts 1&2 also appeared in Love Kills.

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The Pretender Plot as described on The Pretender Wikipedia Page,

"Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) is a prodigy who is abducted very early and raised in a think tank called the Centre, based in the fictional town of Blue Cove, Delaware. Told that his parents have died, Jarod is assigned to the care of a man named Sydney (Patrick Bauchau), a psychiatrist working for the Centre. During Jarod's youth, Sydney mentors the boy and regularly coaches him through complex simulations designed to exploit his intellect for real life application. But some years later, Jarod discovers that the Centre is using data gathered from his responses for nefarious purposes, such as illegal black ops and engineering the deaths of others. Feeling responsible, Jarod escapes the Centre. Soon afterward, he discovers that the people whom he had long believed to be his parents actually were not, as Jarod has an anomaly in his blood that a father or mother would share — which neither of his supposed parents do.

The Centre assigns a team to recapture Jarod, consisting of Sydney, computer expert Broots (Jon Gries), and "Miss Parker" (Andrea Parker), a dogged and formidable operative who was raised in the Centre and knew Jarod since always. Though she is no longer an active field operative, she is "recalled from Corporate" during the pilot episode^[3] and put in charge of Jarod's recapture; in exchange, she would get to leave The Centre. While Sydney feels loyalty to Jarod and wishes his safe return, Miss Parker is under orders to "preferably" bring him in alive and will not hesitate to use deadly force. Fearing for Jarod's safety, Sydney at times undermines Miss Parker and will directly prevent her from using lethal methods to prevent Jarod's continued evasion of his pursuers. In the pilot, Parker questions Sydney's commitment to the Centre, telling him he can be a scientist for the Centre or "mommy" to Jarod, but not both.

Despite The Centre's resources, Jarod often stays a step or two ahead of his pursuers. While tracking down clues to his past and his parents, Jarod also targets criminals who have gone unpunished or undetected by the law. Through assumed identities (which involve different surnames, but always "Jarod" as a first name), he uncovers the truth about these crimes, and lures the perpetrators into staged set-ups that emulate the harm they have done to others, and forces them to confess their crimes. At times, he leaves Miss Parker and Sydney deliberate clues ("breadcrumbs") that point to the criminals he is targeting and why. During his adventures, Jarod also discovers the joys of early life he was denied while being raised in isolation — such as bubblegum, ice cream, a Slinky, and Silly Putty — that are often used in these traps. Meanwhile, Miss Parker, Sydney, and Broots learn more about The Centre's dark secrets, and how the institution was involved in the death of Miss Parker's mother."

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Angel's Flight

Many clues precede the appearance of the mysterious Mr. Cox, intriguing and frightening the Centre members.

Wild Child

Ms. Parker is being tracked by someone and the Centre assumes Cox is responsible. Parker asks that Cox’s office be swept, but Broots informs her that he doesn’t have an office. In fact, he's searched for any information on Cox but can't find anything on him. The only way they know he exists is because they can see him standing nearby

The Centre members follow Cox as they believe he’s been following Ms. Parker. To their dismay, they watch as he collects an animal’s remains. To add to his disturbing behavior, Broots photographs Cox visiting a funeral parlor holding mysterious black trash bags.

With that, they decide to break into Cox’s lair and leave the photos they’ve taken to show he’s being watched as well, only to find him behind the door. They admit to following him. When questioned about his connection with the funeral parlor, Cox tells the Centre members that he was trading tips with his father. His hobby is taxidermy. Cox admits he didn’t take the surveillance photos of Ms. Parker, but he’ll be keeping an eye on her.

'Till Death Do Us Part

Mr. Cox states that those aligned with Ms. Parker’s father could “find themselves an endangered species.” Cox tortures Broots to gain information, forcing his hand under a hand dryer. The Centre believe him to be the hitman hired to kill Ms. Parker’s father.

The Inner Sense Parts One and Two

Mr. Cox is discovered to be working with an unlikely character whom he aids in obtaining a newborn child. He later also helps kidnap Jared's girlfriend.

Streaming Availability

At this time, The Pretender season four is not available to stream online. YouTube is the only source for the episodes aside from the complete forth season DVD. The Inner Sense Part Two is currently not listed on YouTube.

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Episode Clips

Emma of Fans of Lenny Von Dohlen on Facebook shared two clips from The Pretender.

Hand Dryer

Chat with Ms. Parker