vilakins | The Pretender 301, 302, 303

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the pretender

The Pretender 301, 302, 303

I am one of the few people not watching (or interested in watching) Torchwood. I have seen more Pretender though, and here are my reactions to the next three episodes, or more exactly, two and a bit.

301: Crazy

At least I think it's called "Crazy"; Epguides and PretenderCentre seem to have different ideas. According to the latter, it's "Collateral Damage. I am puzzled.

I am also puzzled about how everyone got out of SL27 without being burned (except maybe for Broots's arm), and how Jarod got away. As for Gar, I didn't think he was one of the many down there when the bomb went off. I think Lyle killed him and dumped him there as a convenient scapegoat because Sydney was far too useful to be thrown to the wolves of the Renewal Wing.

OH NO, POOR TRAGIC SYDNEY! Sydney is blind, and I really thought Jarod was crazy for quite a while. He does a damned good impression of someone near to breakdown, and certainly convinced me because he's using his own past. Perhaps he finds it therapeutic to talk about it, or decided that it was crazy enough to convince anyone he was a real nutter. Or probably both.

I have to wonder just how big the Centre is, with that large complex and all those satellite offices. Certainly big enough for Parker never to have met or heard of Lyle before he turned up. Do we find out who the Triumvirate is? I thought Mr Parker was a member, but he certainly isn't at this point. Does it perhaps change with circumstances?

Ahahaha: Harry Houdini, who knew how to get out of straitjackets. And indeed, Jarod does; it's really another Pretend and Avenge! I was very relieved.

And yep, I thought the Parker twin would be Lyle. Poor Parker. So Daddy pulled strings to get Lyle back after the Red Rock fiasco, because he's his son. I rather think he's the child Daddy really wanted, not his so-called Angel. Oh no, poor tragic Parker!

A thought: is Angel her name, or a short form of it (Angela perhaps)? Or is she called Muriel or Mildred (I think I saw an early parcel from Jarod addressed to M Parker) and understandably refuses to be known by it?

302: Hope and Prey

Ahhh, as soon as I saw Jarod entering Tribal Land, I thought there'd be a vision quest involved somewhere. Points for it not being his though, but his father's. It seems he's just known as Major Charles. Is he perhaps Charles Charles Charles, rather like Major Major Major Major in Catch-22?

Lyle thinks Parker is attractive despite being his sister, and not in a brotherly way. Ewww! Good answer, Parker.

Wow, what did they do to "ghost" Fenigor? I'm so glad they didn't do that to our Syd, and also delighted that his sight's coming back--and his sense of humour when he says that he can see what matters and that Parker is blurry but there. :-)

And now we have a new mystery, the Circle of Fire which is shown on the gun, the cave wall, the patch Jarod finds, and in which Angelo sits at the end. I'm wondering if the patch shows the symbol of Charles's squadron (or whatever they call it in the US) which was adopted as that of a group opposing the Centre. I'm also not convinced about the identity of the guy who shot Catherine Parker: is he Jarod's genetic father, or Charles. As I said to Astro, I think Jarod has two mummies and two daddies--or three if you count Sydney. :-)

I have to say that Angelo's gift is well within the realms of SF here, as is Jarod's, and I can see why the writers didn't want to lose it last season.

303: Once in a Blue Moon

I hate serial killers, women-haters, and rapists, three overlapping groups which seem over-represented in police series which is why I refuse to watch most of them. I didn't want to watch this either, and when Jarod said he wanted to meet the killer in person, I decided I just couldn't and made do with reading a synopsis to pick up any B story. I did have time to see Sydney in little round specs though. :-)

I am horrified about Sydney forcing a very upset child Jarod to get into the mind of a monster, though I can see that he in turn was forced. OK, so the missing Annie was Raines's daughter; was that the real point of this ep? That Raines once had a family and some love in his life? So what? SS officers and concentration camp guards were fond of their families too. I wonder what happened to his wife; did they say?

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. OK, so the missing Annie was Raines's daughter; was that the real point of this ep? That Raines once had a family and some love in his life? So what?

The point, I think, is - as sydney says - even the Devil deserves a little privacy. It doesn't mollify any of the horrible things he's done, but it does show that some part of him at some point was something resembling human.

At least I think it's called "Crazy"

It is. I have no clue where "Collateral Damage" comes from.

I think Lyle killed him and dumped him there as a convenient scapegoat

I was thinking that, too, but I seem to remember

redstarrobot talking me out of it using reasoning that I do not now remember. :)

Perhaps he finds it therapeutic to talk about it, or decided that it was crazy enough to convince anyone he was a real nutter. Or probably both.

Very probably both. And it really is convincing, you have to admit. :) I was pretty sure he was pretending the serious mental illness, even though he is really good at it, but I think he was definitely using a lot of his own very real trauma to do so. I also think it's probably significant that he chose that particular Pretend just then. Poor guy really was under immense psychological strain.

I have to wonder just how big the Centre is, with that large complex and all those satellite offices.

I don't know exactly, but I'm pretty sure the answer is some variant on "very." The branch in Delaware, big as it is, isn't even the main office.

Ahhh, as soon as I saw Jarod entering Tribal Land, I thought there'd be a vision quest involved somewhere.

Not the first time the show has used Magical Native Americans, although I did at least like the guest character, who was much less cliche than he could have been.

Lyle thinks Parker is attractive despite being his sister, and not in a brotherly way. Ewww!

Lyle is a sick, twisted man. Seriously. :)

and his sense of humour when he says that he can see what matters and that Parker is blurry but there. :-)

I love that line. It seems to me to have so many resonances. :)

I have to say that Angelo's gift is well within the realms of SF here, as is Jarod's,

Yeah. They might not call it that, but as far as I'm concerned, this show is definitely SF.

I hate serial killers, women-haters, and rapists, three overlapping groups which seem over-represented in police series which is why I refuse to watch most of them.

Um... yeah... You should brace yourself for more of that, I'm afraid... :)

I didn't want to watch this either, and when Jarod said he wanted to meet the killer in person,

I thought those scenes were quite well done, personally, certainly in terms of the acting, but I can see why you'd want to skip it.

I am horrified about Sydney forcing a very upset child Jarod to get into the mind of a monster, though I can see that he in turn was forced.

I'm not even so much sure he was forced, in this case, as desperate to help someone he actually knew. Which doesn't make it less disturbing.

That Raines once had a family and some love in his life? So what?

I think it's interesting, and perhaps adds a bit of richness to his character, but it certainly didn't make me feel any more sympathy towards him, overall. I think it does explain some of his unreasonable hostility towards Jarod, though.

I wonder what happened to his wife; did they say?

Not yet. :)

The branch in Delaware, big as it is, isn't even the main office.I did at least like the guest character, who was much less cliche than he could have been.

I did too, and the descendant of rabbis. :-)

I love that line. It seems to me to have so many resonances. :)

Me too, and Sydney sounded so find of her. I always smile when Sydney does; he has such a lovely and genuinely happy smile. Damn, but they're all such good actors.

Um... yeah... You should brace yourself for more of that, I'm afraid.

Serial killers, rapists, women haters, or all three? Give me a list of episode titles and I'll just read up on those unless it's easy to FF the A story. This is a major squick of mine and why I stopped watching Numbers really, really early.

I'm not even so much sure he was forced, in this case, as desperate to help someone he actually knew. Which doesn't make it less disturbing.

It doesn't, and lessened my pleasure at Sydney having his sight back.

I always smile when Sydney does; he has such a lovely and genuinely happy smile.

He does. It's beautiful. And it gets to me all the more, because that guy really has so little to smile about.

Serial killers, rapists, women haters, or all three?

Um... some combination thereof?

Give me a list of episode titles

I... kind of can't. It's something of a continuing storyline that pops up occasionally in the midst of episodes about other things. Um. Hopefully it's not central enough to ruin things too much for you...

It doesn't, and lessened my pleasure at Sydney having his sight back.

I think it's a good example of Sydney's simultaneous light and darkness. Here he is, having what seems to be genuine compassion for a deeply evil man who's hurt him personally, which is lovely, but part and parcel of that involves him doing truly disturbing things to someone he cares about, and perhaps refusing to recognize just how disturbing those things are. That complexity, which makes me both want to hug him and smack him, is one of the things I love best about Syd as a character. And I do get the very definite sense that, these days, he regrets a lot of what he did in the past.

You mean Lyle and the dead Chinese bride? If it's just a thread and not a major episode, I think I can handle it, but I seriously hope he gets it by the end of the series, like that Damon bastard did. Ick.

I may cut back on how much I watch; it's been pretty intensive lately.

I mean Lyle and... a lot of things. Because, without saying too much, the stuff we learn about him and his backstory gets a lot worse than that. Mostly, it is just a thread in which various things are hinted at, though occasionally it gets highlighted in ways that are, um, yeah, pretty disturbing. You may want to watch out for bits of "Agent of the Year Zero" (4x14), in particular, now that I think about it.

Oh, shit. I was so enjoying the series up till now. It's still worth watching despite my deep and abiding hatred of that sort of thing?

I admit to being biased, but I'd say the answer is a definite "yes." That's one small part of the show, not a major focus, and the really disturbing things are just hinted at and never shown. And you've got some awesome stuff coming up in seasons 3 and 4, really.

Even if you're really sensitive on that particular topic, I'd hardly recommend bailing on the show pre-emptively. I just... figured you'd might want a warning. Maybe you can think about applying the fast-forward button a bit when they start poking into Lyle's background. "He's one sick fuck" is really pretty much all you need to know, anyway. :)

OK, thanks. I think I can handle that if they keep it fairly low-key. I do like the rest so much I'd be sorry to have to flag it like other series.

You can tell me if you think I'm wrong when you get there, but, really, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It is The Pretender, not The Lyle Show. :)

~~I might watch The Lyle Show.~~ :)

The Lyle thing very rarely turns up, IIRC. There's, like, one hint a la the one you've seen, and the episode Astro mentions which has slightly more focus, which may or may not be something you're up for, depending, and I think they're both way off in S4. It's handled really differently than the Blue Moon thing; much more is suggested or implied than is ever confirmed, more to spook people out on atmosphere than actually be part of any plot. If you can handle Lyle up till now, you'll be fine, with the possible exception of one episode that you might choose to handle like this one.

Thanks! I'm happy to either read that ep in synopsis or FF if that would work, and I couldn't see it doing so for this one. I think I can handle the rest OK. :-)

You might want to give that ep a try and see what you think; it's much more spooky suspense than police procedural. (It's actually the B plot, rather than the A plot, so it's much more like the ep where Broots and Syd explored SL-27 than like Blue Moon. You go "ewww" because it's implying something twisted, but way more is implied than is said.)

I'll give it a go, then. :-)

I'm not surprised that you've been put off Torchwood by some of their earlier stuff, but the current story is scarey without being horrific (at least so far), and I think that you might like it.

People do seem to be enjoying it. Is it a serial that runs for five days, or something?

That's exactly right. It's one story in five episodes being shown on successive nights.

Perhaps because the extra time has allowed for greater story development, it rather reminds me of some of the classic British TV SF that I saw as a child circa 1960m "Quatermass and the Pit" and "A for Andromeda", in style if not in content.

It might be worth a look, then.

It's far and away the best thing that Russell Davies has ever dione in my opinion.

This does not make it a good thing in my own opinion. I do not think much of RTD or his writing. Actually, going by the comments I've seen, I'll keep right on not watching Torchwood. :-)

Fair enough. I don't hate RTD with a passion, as many seem to do. I think he has both strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Some of his stuff for Who has been abysmal, but some (eg "Turn Left") has been pretty good IMO. And I feel grateful to him for bringing Who back, which has had some escellent episodes from Stephen MMoffat in particular.

I have hopes for Moffat, and the new Doctor. I admit to liking a couple of RTD's eps (Gridlock and Turn Left), but he got very self-indulgent about Rose, Daleks, Cybermen, massed choirs in space, and huge season finales that didn't make sense and left nasty tastes in my mouth. But yes, that he brought Who back is a Good Thing. :-)

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