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Disclaimer & some personal notes:
Its TNT and/or NBC playground – I don’t really know which. They own the characters, dialogues, plots, quotes etc. These analysis are for pure entertainment only – mostly my own.
About the analysis:
Ok, this will NOT be an episode guide, though you will find plenty of spoilers! My analysis are purely subjective, my opinion, my take. Simply for the reason that I’m the one on the keyboard!
Disagree with me? Let it be heard! Give feedback and gimme hell if you want! Write a note or your own take!
Special Note:Don’t expect me to go into any length about the pretends, because I won’t. For me its only about the characters, their individual development in each episode and their interaction with each other. The central theme for me is the Centre-related story, and only when the pretends and the people Jarod meets along his travels, are important to his character development or the Centre-related-plot, I will pay attention. And more often than not you will wonder if the series’ main character might be Miss Parker and not Jarod. She of course is as important to the show as he is. Even when her scenes are only short in an ep., you might be surprised at the length I can go about it. It’s a personal thing. I was drawn into the series by her character, and I do regard her not only as very important but also as my favorite one. Go, and hate me for that. *grin*
Oh, and of course, obviously these have been written all AFTER I saw it all. So sometimes I can go ahead of the series – I will try to not do it too much though and try hard to not dwell on it a lot.
And take into account that these analysis are NOT betaed! My first language is German so please don’t mind the inevitable errors!
Review of ‘Wake Up’
Season 3
Ep. 318
Note: written with the help of Zsazsa game online needforspeed – where I lacked the words to portray MP’s emotional turmoil, she helped me out a great deal – thanks for that!
Holy Damn! I still haven’t recovered fully from this episode – and it’s been a while since I’ve seen it first. Aside from being overwhelmed by sadness for MP and feeling downright devastated with her, I was also saddened to see Thomas go. I liked him, I really liked him – and me being a J/MP-shipper, that says a lot.
I know I might be aggravating other J/MP’s out there who never cared for the Thomas romance, but I can’t change the fact that I loved this short affair. She soooo deserved it.
It started out nicely, with MP dreaming about her mother, and their conversation about love. That something tragic was in the air, I knew the moment that dream turned into a nightmare.
The use of her dream with her mother was handled nicely and drove the meaning of the ep to the point. She is fundamentally shaken by this, and who wouldn’t be! And it goes all downhill from there.
Just moments later she finds Tommy shot on her porch. (Geez, I was holding my pillow so tightly, if it would have been a breathing pet or *gasp* person, I would’ve made a headline in the news. ‘Woman squeezes friend to death in emotional outburst’)
Being Miss Parker is not an easy life to live. Being the person she is, showing emotions is not a concept she knows a lot about. Growing up without a mother, seeking for her father’s attention, love AND affection which left it’s marks on her, made her become the seemingly cold-hearted, emotionless, bitter Ice Queen.
But then a guy finally came along, walked into her life, tore down those walls brick by brick. And her life changed. Dramatically so. Thomas never gave up on her, he insisted that she moves to Oregon with him, leaving the Centre, her ‘family’ and *her father* behind. It became so obvious how deep he managed to reach and touch her.
After such a shattered childhood, a woman who NEVER let anyone close, finally learned how to love someone again. She was afraid to feel, she was too scared to show her emotions, because it meant weakness and vulnerability and most of all she was frightened of getting hurt again.
The tragedy is, that the moment she finally allows herself to open up, it happened again.
Whoever doesn’t feel her pain here, can’t possibly be human. If the one thing that you are afraid of beyond anything, that you fight to avoid at any cost, happens to you anyways …. who wouldn’t be shattered into a million pieces by it?
Only…. she isn’t. So much loss, so much tragedy, but she comes out of it still fighting, still kicking. It had been her way to survive ever since she lost her mother, fighting back, kicking around and shielding off every emotional attachment to others.
Her scene in the police station is heartbreaking. She is in a state of complete shock, and the officer – all business – interrogates her professionally detached. She IS the prime suspect, especially after he was told she owned a gun, the gun with which Tommy was shot.
There is one scene, in which the officer leaves her alone shortly, she sits there, tears in eyes and still fighting to comprehend.
Later, alone in her house, she goes through all the emotions I imagine one would, after such a horrible experience. She can’t find sleep, tosses and turns, cries tears that she had kept back for hours and clutches to a piece of Thomas that meant not only smelling him, holding on to him, but also brought back some – now - hurtful memories of their time together.
Then we see her at the police station again, when the first suspect is interrogated. And there she finally loses it. She passes the officer and comes down on the – obviously – drugged suspect like a ton of bricks. It’s a complete breakdown we witness, and it aggravated me to no end to see that scene. Not because I couldn’t stand watching her like that, but because I sooo wanted to beat the crap out of him as well.
This was Andrea Parker’s episode and she delivered in spades! Through her facial gestures and her eyes – those eyes – she conveys all her feelings. And feelings here she showed in an amount unseen before. She screams, she fights, she cries, she mourns, she gets drunk, she breaks down and she collects herself up again and vows revenge.
Jarod, from a safe distance, is at her side all the way. Something that warmed my heart, because he is finally allowed to be a friend. She accepts it for a change and she actually wants him to help her! It might not say a lot in terms of their relationship, because here she is simply too preoccupied with different things, but it still was a welcome change.
I was also sorry to see officer Miller die. Another innocent victim of the Centre. But this is essentially what The Pretender is about. Innocent people die, and no one – not even the series’ hero can do anything about it. This is something that I always ‘enjoy’ in this show, that the good ones not always win, they die and they die mostly in vain.
All the characters had great scenes here and some got to shine in special light. Broots was working his ass off to help her find some clues and he showed enormous amount of sympathy for her. Sydney is at her side throughout the ep., offering her support and help wherever he could. Daddy P. is also remotely supportive but – as always – shrouded in mystery but there still was a bit of suspicion on my side. He acts genuinely worried for her. But I yelled at the screen when he keeps silent at Brigitte’s verbal attack on her. He only gets up and in between them, when it threatened to become a blown out cat-fight.
Lyle, he actually shows, in a fleeting moment, some sympathy, but his expression at the end is unreadable. Brigitte challenges her unmercifully and has a good stand off with MP. We didn’t see much of Raines here, only briefly at the cemetery, but one look into his face was enough to call him a suspect as well.
We all know the Centre is behind this somehow, but we stay in the dark who or how many of them are into it.
Its TNT and/or NBC playground – I don’t really know which. They own the characters, dialogues, plots, quotes etc. These analysis are for pure entertainment only – mostly my own.
About the analysis:
Ok, this will NOT be an episode guide, though you will find plenty of spoilers! My analysis are purely subjective, my opinion, my take. Simply for the reason that I’m the one on the keyboard!
Disagree with me? Let it be heard! Give feedback and gimme hell if you want! Write a note or your own take!
Special Note:Don’t expect me to go into any length about the pretends, because I won’t. For me its only about the characters, their individual development in each episode and their interaction with each other. The central theme for me is the Centre-related story, and only when the pretends and the people Jarod meets along his travels, are important to his character development or the Centre-related-plot, I will pay attention. And more often than not you will wonder if the series’ main character might be Miss Parker and not Jarod. She of course is as important to the show as he is. Even when her scenes are only short in an ep., you might be surprised at the length I can go about it. It’s a personal thing. I was drawn into the series by her character, and I do regard her not only as very important but also as my favorite one. Go, and hate me for that. *grin*
Oh, and of course, obviously these have been written all AFTER I saw it all. So sometimes I can go ahead of the series – I will try to not do it too much though and try hard to not dwell on it a lot.
And take into account that these analysis are NOT betaed! My first language is German so please don’t mind the inevitable errors!
Season 3
Ep. 318
Note: written with the help of Zsazsa game online needforspeed – where I lacked the words to portray MP’s emotional turmoil, she helped me out a great deal – thanks for that!
Holy Damn! I still haven’t recovered fully from this episode – and it’s been a while since I’ve seen it first. Aside from being overwhelmed by sadness for MP and feeling downright devastated with her, I was also saddened to see Thomas go. I liked him, I really liked him – and me being a J/MP-shipper, that says a lot.
I know I might be aggravating other J/MP’s out there who never cared for the Thomas romance, but I can’t change the fact that I loved this short affair. She soooo deserved it.
It started out nicely, with MP dreaming about her mother, and their conversation about love. That something tragic was in the air, I knew the moment that dream turned into a nightmare.
The use of her dream with her mother was handled nicely and drove the meaning of the ep to the point. She is fundamentally shaken by this, and who wouldn’t be! And it goes all downhill from there.
Just moments later she finds Tommy shot on her porch. (Geez, I was holding my pillow so tightly, if it would have been a breathing pet or *gasp* person, I would’ve made a headline in the news. ‘Woman squeezes friend to death in emotional outburst’)
Being Miss Parker is not an easy life to live. Being the person she is, showing emotions is not a concept she knows a lot about. Growing up without a mother, seeking for her father’s attention, love AND affection which left it’s marks on her, made her become the seemingly cold-hearted, emotionless, bitter Ice Queen.
But then a guy finally came along, walked into her life, tore down those walls brick by brick. And her life changed. Dramatically so. Thomas never gave up on her, he insisted that she moves to Oregon with him, leaving the Centre, her ‘family’ and *her father* behind. It became so obvious how deep he managed to reach and touch her.
After such a shattered childhood, a woman who NEVER let anyone close, finally learned how to love someone again. She was afraid to feel, she was too scared to show her emotions, because it meant weakness and vulnerability and most of all she was frightened of getting hurt again.
The tragedy is, that the moment she finally allows herself to open up, it happened again.
Whoever doesn’t feel her pain here, can’t possibly be human. If the one thing that you are afraid of beyond anything, that you fight to avoid at any cost, happens to you anyways …. who wouldn’t be shattered into a million pieces by it?
Only…. she isn’t. So much loss, so much tragedy, but she comes out of it still fighting, still kicking. It had been her way to survive ever since she lost her mother, fighting back, kicking around and shielding off every emotional attachment to others.
Her scene in the police station is heartbreaking. She is in a state of complete shock, and the officer – all business – interrogates her professionally detached. She IS the prime suspect, especially after he was told she owned a gun, the gun with which Tommy was shot.
There is one scene, in which the officer leaves her alone shortly, she sits there, tears in eyes and still fighting to comprehend.
Later, alone in her house, she goes through all the emotions I imagine one would, after such a horrible experience. She can’t find sleep, tosses and turns, cries tears that she had kept back for hours and clutches to a piece of Thomas that meant not only smelling him, holding on to him, but also brought back some – now - hurtful memories of their time together.
Then we see her at the police station again, when the first suspect is interrogated. And there she finally loses it. She passes the officer and comes down on the – obviously – drugged suspect like a ton of bricks. It’s a complete breakdown we witness, and it aggravated me to no end to see that scene. Not because I couldn’t stand watching her like that, but because I sooo wanted to beat the crap out of him as well.
This was Andrea Parker’s episode and she delivered in spades! Through her facial gestures and her eyes – those eyes – she conveys all her feelings. And feelings here she showed in an amount unseen before. She screams, she fights, she cries, she mourns, she gets drunk, she breaks down and she collects herself up again and vows revenge.
Jarod, from a safe distance, is at her side all the way. Something that warmed my heart, because he is finally allowed to be a friend. She accepts it for a change and she actually wants him to help her! It might not say a lot in terms of their relationship, because here she is simply too preoccupied with different things, but it still was a welcome change.
I was also sorry to see officer Miller die. Another innocent victim of the Centre. But this is essentially what The Pretender is about. Innocent people die, and no one – not even the series’ hero can do anything about it. This is something that I always ‘enjoy’ in this show, that the good ones not always win, they die and they die mostly in vain.
All the characters had great scenes here and some got to shine in special light. Broots was working his ass off to help her find some clues and he showed enormous amount of sympathy for her. Sydney is at her side throughout the ep., offering her support and help wherever he could. Daddy P. is also remotely supportive but – as always – shrouded in mystery but there still was a bit of suspicion on my side. He acts genuinely worried for her. But I yelled at the screen when he keeps silent at Brigitte’s verbal attack on her. He only gets up and in between them, when it threatened to become a blown out cat-fight.
Lyle, he actually shows, in a fleeting moment, some sympathy, but his expression at the end is unreadable. Brigitte challenges her unmercifully and has a good stand off with MP. We didn’t see much of Raines here, only briefly at the cemetery, but one look into his face was enough to call him a suspect as well.
We all know the Centre is behind this somehow, but we stay in the dark who or how many of them are into it.
