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THE PRETENDER

Pretending to know what exactly Jarod is would be ridiculous. He's a pretender. So far, so good? He always pretends to be someone else, he's hiding from that dark and strange secret organization, The Centre.

The show is in a way a mixture of The Fugitive and certain elements of The X-Files. But it really is an idea of its own, it's a show that can - often unlike The X-Files - provide real fun, but it also creates shivers of excitement and pity and compassion. Never did I await a new episode of a show this much. Michael T. Weiss, who plays Jarod, portrays his character with so much devotion that it is an absulute must-see-event to watch him perform his play. The cast of The Pretender is perfect, which is seldom for an ensemble show.

The Pretender is a show with an appeal that's not often to find in television. It is a simple concept, but it is television and drama at its best. And - as much as I like the Chris Carter series - it is a show that doesn't scare people off the tv with ugly scenes, and it has a much more positive outlook on the future. Jarod is a hero, somehow a tragic hero when one thinks of his past. But he isn't the monster the Centre wants him to be, he has developed a conscience. It is a conscience that knows what is right and wrong, a conscience that makes him live just to help other people. That's his only reason to live.


May 18th, 1998