REPORT: THE PRETENDER 2001
FILE #: M1

The movie begins with a group of men discussing the Centre’s characters, as well as their current state. The discussion brings up questions such as “what would happen is Miss Parker were to find the truth about Catherine Parker” and “was Jarod really stolen from his parents as a child”.

The action begins with the explosion in the subway in Washington, DC (ep. Inner Sense), in which were Jarod, Miss Parker and Ethan. Miss Parker is in the havocs. While trying to get up, Miss Parker sees her mother coming up and she’s using a tear-shaped ring. She asks for her daughter’s hand, and when she gives it to her, Catherine says that her father knows all the secrets. When the ring flashes in front of her, Miss Parker “awakes”. Sydney is examining her and concludes that there’s no damage. She told them about the dream and she believes that it was her mother the one that saved her after the explosion. Miss Parker leaves her office and Sydney questions himself about Jarod’s whereabouts and hopes that the same person who saved Miss Parker also saved him.

In another place, Jarod is dreaming with the experience to which he was subjected by Lyle and Raines (ep. Back from The Dead Again) and wakes with a start. Ethan greets him while watching the DSAs. Ethan mentions his half-sister’s name and tells Jarod that she wants him back. On the TV, there’s a report about the subway’s explosion, saying that there weren’t any injured persons. Jarod is hoping Miss Parker to be all right and Ethan tranquilizes him saying that the voices are telling him that she’s ok. In another report, an assassination by a serial killer is being told. Besides the assassination, there’s also a NSA agent who was injured during the operation. The agent’s name is Edward Ballinger and, as soon as Jarod’s sees his photograph, he recognizes him. Ethan asks him who the man is and Jarod tells him that they did something special, while he remembers when he told him that they were going to escape that night from The Centre.

Miss Parker and Broots are in Mr. Parker’s house. When they reach there, they don’t find him. They find his dinner plate and next to it the DSA player. Miss Parker turns it on and watches the DSA of the last time she was with Raines alive. While they search the house for clues, they find out that Mr. Parker didn’t slept there and that he was on the phone when someone attacked him. To know to whom he was talking to, Miss Parker uses the redial option on the phone and the person who answers it is her brother, Lyle.

Miss Parker and Broots return to The Centre and find Lyle talking to two oriental girls. Lyle denies knowledge about his father’s whereabouts and questions his sister about the voices. Miss Parker is sick of him and when she walks away, Lyle shows her his new thumb. He says that it belonged to Raines and that he took it from him because he wasn’t using it anymore, because he is dead. Lyle goes back to his oriental girls and Miss Parker orders Broots to continue to search for something helpful.

Two NSA agents are trying to read a text but are out of luck. Jarod arrives and tells them that it is written in Apache and that Americans used this dialect as a code during World War II. He introduces himself as Agent Jarod Morse to Agent Andrea Zane, Ballinger’s former partner. She explains him that the serial killer that tried to kill Edward is known as Chameleon. When Jarod asks why they are calling him that, Zane tells him that it’s because he can become anyone he wants to be.

Miss Parker is talking to Sydney about Jarod. They are in a room filled with things he left behind during the years: pictures of his mother, toys, candy… The conversation leads them to Miss Parker’s Inner Sense. Sydney asks her if in her dream she sees a tear-shaped ring flashing in front of her eyes. Miss Parker answers him that she never told him about the ring and Sydney says that Catherine Parker saw that same thing and that, at some time, she asked him to help her developing her Inner Sense. Miss Parker asks him to do the same thing for her, but this dislikes Sydney, because shortly after helping Catherine she was gone.

At the NSA, the agents explain to Jarod what the Chameleon did (and in who he became). In Ballinger’s office, Zane tells Jarod that he has already killed 4 statesmen and shows him what Eddie had in his wall: a 5-pointed star, each one with the dead statesman and the fifth one with the text “Someone important to your world”. Jarod recalls from another moment with Eddie at The Centre. Eddie is saying that they are going to terminate is program and kill him and Jarod assures him that they are going to escape together then. The other agent involved in the case enters the office and announces that they got a location on the Chameleon. They leave and when they there, they shoot. But, instead of shooting at a man, they are shooting at a deflated clown. In the room, Jarod finds the same star, but this time she’s surrounded by photos of him. Jarod doesn’t say anything to the others and keeps them.

Sydney is helping Miss Parker to relax, so she can concentrate on the voices. Miss Parker starts to hear static, but sometime after she hears the initials “TT”.

Jarod speaks with Ethan about the photos he found at the Chameleon’s hiding-place. After talking about it for a while, Jarod reaches the conclusion that the photo has been digitally attached to the bodies and that it must have something to do with The Centre. So, he calls Sydney.

Sydney is relived to be speaking with Jarod and tells him that he doesn’t know anything about the photos. The connection fails and Ethan starts hearing the letters “TT” and Miss Parker says that she heard it too. Jarod asks Sydney what that means and if it has something to do with him. After that, he finishes the connection saying that he wants the truth. Miss Parker says the same and asks Broots to find everything he can on the subject.

At the NSA, Jarod recalls another moment with Eddie at The Centre. Afterwards, he receives a phone call. It’s the Chameleon that wants to know if Jarod got the photos he left for him. The Chameleon informs Jarod that he has a flaw in his character and that that is the necessity of helping everyone in need. Then he tells him that this is a game and finishes the call saying that Eddie is awake. The agent enters the office and says that Eddie has just woken up.

They leave to the hospital and burst into Eddie’s room, with their guns drawn. Eddie shows up and recognizes Jarod. Immediately, Zane asks them if they met at the Training Centre and Jarod confirms that they met at the Centre. When she leaves the room, they embrace, but after this, Eddie mistrusts Jarod and holds his gun at him. Jarod tells him that he is the same person, and after Eddie remembered the moment when they escaped from The Centre together, he puts his gun down. Eddie tells him about the Chameleon and about a simulation he was performing before he escaped called “Star Points”. This simulation consisted in creating cover-up identities for the top 5 NSA agents. Eddie then tells Jarod that 4 of these agents are already dead and that he is not letting him kill the last one. He also says that he feels like he knows him and Jarod says that he’s getting that same feeling. Jarod asks Eddie if he knows anything about “TT” and when he is about to say something about it, a helicopter arrives with a shooter that hits Eddie, killing him. Afterwards, Jarod calls Ethan to know if he got anything more and, at the end of the call, Ethan remembers that the first T means Tommy.

Miss Parker is reliving the dream again and this time she almost hits Broots. He says that he discovered that “TT” means Tommy Thompson and that he worked at The Centre. Broots gets in the car and they both drive off.

In the office, Jarod is remembering another moment with Eddie at The Centre. Agent Zane enters and speaks with Jarod about the feeling she got from Eddie. She tells him that although he was a good person, she always had the feeling that he was hiding something and that she gets that same feeling from Jarod. Another agent comes in and puts a tap on Jarod’s phone to locate the Chameleon’s calls. The phone rings and it’s him. During the call, he tells Jarod that he wants to know what is going to happen when he kills someone important to his world, while holding an origami – like the one Jarod made. They are able to trace the call: it was made from Blue Cove, Delaware.

Miss Parker and Sydney talk about Tommy Thompson and he tells her that Mr. Parker didn’t like him for some reason unknown to him. Broots shows up, saying that he was able to access his files, but that he wasn’t the only one and that Mr. Lyle had already done it.

The NSA Agents are in Blue Cove. The place where the call was done is some kind of boat. Inside, they find lots of objects like the ones Jarod found over the years. Zane starts talking about the kid’s stuff and about the opera binoculars and the sign language book that they find there. Meanwhile, in the outside, Mr. Lyle arrives with two sweepers. They talk with the agent, explaining that they are with the company. When the agent tells him that his thumb is bleeding, Lyle answers him that “robbing body parts isn’t what it used to be” and starts jogging again. Inside, Jarod watches the exchange.

Sydney speaks to Jarod about the pictures and about Eddie’s last simulation (“Star Points”). He also asks him about Tommy Thompson and Sydney informs him that he is the second person to mention that name to him. Jarod asks Sydney to try and get the names and the simulation.

Miss Parker waits for Lyle at the parking lot and when he arrives, she asks him about “TT” and about her father’s whereabouts. Lyle says that he doesn’t know anything and that she should stay away from it. Miss Parker threatens him, saying that if something happened to her father and she learns that he knew about it, he’s going to regret himself. When she goes away, Lyle calls to the infirmary and asks to cut someone’s anesthesia, because he’s going to talk to him. Miss Parker is not that far away. In fact, she’s with Broots and they listen to everything. They follow Lyle to SL-20 (infirmary) where they find Mr. Raines ALIVE!

Lyle talks to Raines and tells him that he wants answers, while Raines is telling him that he wants his thumb back.

Looking at the photos again, Jarod realizes that each one’s hands are forming the symbols for sign language. Therefore, the first one is forming the letter G, the second one an H, the third one an O, the fourth one an S, and the last one a T. So, Jarod concludes that the Chameleon is telling him that he is a ghost.

Broots, Sydney and Miss Parker are still at The Centre. They are telling Sydney about Raines being alive and how important he is. They realize then that Raines must be kept alive, because he is the key to their questions.

In the NSA, Zane is talking with Jarod about the secrets that the Chameleon mentioned. Jarod tells her that his goal is to divide them and it’s only natural that he says things like that. At that very moment, Jarod receives a package. He opens it, and inside there’s one of his notebooks. He says that he had forgotten it in a taxi and returns to his office. Zane doesn’t buy it and asks the other agent to run a search on Jarod.

Jarod opens the notebook and, inside, he finds articles about diplomat’s killings, as well as a photograph of his mother with tears drawn in with an ad to his mortuary service. Jarod goes to the place in the ad and finds a coffin there. He opens it and a bird flies. There’s also an origami like the ones Jarod used to make. Jarod remembers that, one time at The Centre, he made one and Eddie told him that another guy told him that the origami was a crow and not the Greek God of Retribution. The guy was another pretender called Alex. Jarod puts everything together and realizes that Alex is the Chameleon.

Lyle is at the parking lot, again, when he receives a phone call. The person in the other side of the line orders him to kill Raines. Lyle obeys and returns to the infirmary. Sydney hears everything and tells Miss Parker about it. Miss Parker and Broots are able to reach to the infirmary first, but before removing him from there, Miss Parker asks him about Tommy Thompson. Raines tells her that if he started speaking more about him, he would have to speak about her mother as well. He adds that he would do that when he is in safety. Mr. Lyle reaches Raines’ room, and before removing the curtain, he shoots his gun. When he opens it, he verifies that he didn’t kill Raines because he wasn’t there.

At Mr. Parker’s, Raines is with Sydney, Miss Parker and Broots. They want to know more about “TT” and about his relationship with Catherine Parker. Raines tells them that it was Catherine who insisted that Raines hired him. When they start to question him why Mr. Parker didn’t like him, Miss Parker asks Raines if her mother and Thompson were lovers. Raines explains that Mr. Parker didn’t like Thompson because he blamed him for Jarod’s escape. Sydney says that he didn’t have anything to do with Jarod and Raines tells them that he can’t believe they didn’t know that Jarod didn’t escape alone.

Jarod talks with Ethan about the day when he ran away from The Centre and explains to him that there were three pretender who escaped then: him, Eddie and Alex. He remembers the escape itself. When they reached a place called “Rehydration Core”, Alex fell and Jarod was unable to save him.

At the same time, Raines is telling Sydney that the records were erased because of Alex. He goes on, saying that Alex was taking to the Triumvirate and they decided to let Eddie alone.

Jarod comments with Ethan that he doesn’t even want to think about what these years have been for him, due to the injustice that Alex had to endure.

Miss Parker reaches the conclusion that if she joins Alex and Thompson’s paths, maybe they will lead them to her father.

In another place, Alex is with Mr. Parker, who is ties up to a chair. Alex says to Mr. Parker that he can’t kill him now, because he is already dead.

At the Centre, Broots finds the conversation between Mr. Parker and Mr. Lyle and shows it to Miss Parker. In the call, Mr. Parker told Lyle to stop his madman (meaning Alex).

Miss Parker meets Lyle in the parking lot again and, grabbing his new thumb, tells him that she knows a little about a lot but that she doesn’t know the why. After some torture, Lyle confesses that Alex kidnapped Mr. Parker, and then explains to his sister that what her father meant with “his madman” was that Lyle was the one in charge of Alex, after he was found. Lyle took him to the Triumvirate in Africa and tried to mold him, but that was an impossible task. Alex started to report directly to the Triumvirate and he couldn’t control him. Now, he wants revenge.

At Miss Parker’s office, Broots arrives with good news and bad news. The good ones are, he found Tommy Thompson’s address, and the bad ones that there are two separate addresses in Westbrook, Maryland. It seems that he was sent to Maryland, after some time in the Renewal Wing. Miss Parker decides to go to one of the addresses, while Broots goes to the other.

Ethan hears the voices again and finds Tommy Thompson’s addresses. Afterwards, he calls Jarod and faxes him the addresses. Ethan says that he’s going to find Miss Parker, because the voices are telling him that he must help her. Jarod is a little bit confused and, almost immediately, he receives a call from the Chameleon. Jarod puts his cell phone near the tap, which means that the other agents won’t be able to hear their conversation. However, they can still trace the call. Jarod tells him that he knows he is Alex, and then the Chameleon tells the differences between them, while leaving fingerprints along the house. Alex asks Jarod if he has anyone that is a constant in his life, but he doesn’t mean his family. Then, goes on to say that The Centre has no power over him anymore, and when Jarod takes the newspaper from his drawer, Alex says that he killed his own family. They are able to trace the call to one of the addresses that Jarod has.

Miss Parker is in one of the addresses given to her by Broots. The house is some kind of lab. Although Miss Parker doesn’t know, there is a bomb ready to explode. Miss Parker is looking at some bottles and finds a ring like the one that her mother is wearing in her dream. She puts it on, and when she turns it, the ring shines in the bomb’s direction. Miss Parker runs and the bomb explodes. She is now in a set like the one in her dream, and everything that happens is the same. Catherine appears and the ceiling is falling, but when her mother is getting close to her, is Ethan who shows up and rescues her. Miss Parker then realizes that what she saw wasn’t a dream, but a premonition.

Jarod enters another house and finds Tommy Thompson dead. When he hears a noise, he finds Broots hiding in a closet. Jarod must arrest him, warning a very terrorized Broots not to talk.

Miss Parker and Ethan arrive to Mr. Parker’s house, when Sydney is downloading the simulation that Jarod asked for. Miss Parker asks Sydney if he heard anything from Broots and he tells her no. Sydney also informs her that when he arrived, Raines was already gone. Miss Parker says that she went to the other address, but that when they arrive there, they only saw police cars and an ambulance. When Sydney turns to leave, Miss Parker asks him to warn her if he hears anything from Broots.

In the NSA, Broots is in the interrogation room with Agent Zane. Jarod comes in and asks her if he said anything, and she tells him that he didn’t even tell her his name. Jarod then starts to interrogate Broots, or should I say, he did the questions and answered them for Broots. After Jarod reaches the conclusion that Broots has nothing to do with the case, he leaves telling Zane that he is going to check on Broots’ story.

Ethan tells Miss Parker that he used to see the same thing she does and then he asks her to tell him about their mother.

Jarod finishes Broots’ profile and, after showing it to Zane, he receives a phone call from Sydney. He tells him that he found the simulation and that the next victim is the Swedish Ambassador. Jarod then calls the Embassy and they inform him that she is going to be at the Opera House Reception. Zane receives the fingerprint analysis, that were in the house and they match Jarod’s, what makes her think that he is the Chameleon. Jarod is taking Broots out of there, when he sees what is going on, and must run away with him.

Miss Parker and Ethan talk about Catherine. Miss Parker questions herself about what she meant with her father knowing all the secrets, and tells her half-brother that she always felt like her mother was watching over for her. Miss Parker receives a phone call from her father, and he tells her to be at some place at 5pm.

Jarod and Broots are in the car, together. While Broots is unable to keep himself from talking, Jarod is trying to think. Broots is telling him about Mr. Lyle’s new thumb, harvested from Mr. Raines, and then goes on to say that Alex kidnapped Mr. Parker. Jarod then tells Broots to get off the car. Broots stays alone in the street, close to having a breakdown.

Jarod reaches to the Opera House Reception where the Swedish ambassador is. Alex is at the window with a gun pointed at her, but when he pulls the trigger, Jarod is the one to take the bullet. There’s some confusion and Jarod enters the building to go after the Chameleon. When he finally gets close to him, Alex sends him down the stairs, while claiming that he was the smartest one. Afterwards, Alex says that he was the one that corrupted Jarod’s findings. He also wants to know why Jarod didn’t help him when he fell, but Jarod says that he did what he could. Alex tells him that he was always the second one for The Centre and goes on to say that it was very easy to lead Jarod to him, because of the flaw on his character. Then, he asks him what would happen if he killed someone important to his world. Jarod answers that the Ambassador is important and Alex explains that he didn’t mean THE world, but HIS world. Someone like Miss Parker. Alex takes off, leaving Jarod trapped. Agent Zane arrives with other agents and Jarod asks them to trust him.

Still at Mr. Parker’s, Ethan receives a phone call from Jarod asking him about Miss Parker. Ethan answers him that she went to her father, and then gives him the address.

Miss Parker arrives to the warehouse where her father is being kept and takes him out of the box where he is locked up (fridge?). But before they can make it to the door, Alex arrives. He says that he’s not a psychopath, that he is a sociopath, and then explains the difference between both and that it is thanks to The Centre that he doesn’t have a conscience. When asked about why we want to kill Mr. Parker, Alex says that he was the one to think that Jarod was superior to him and the one to send him to the Triumvirate. Though Alex doesn’t know, Jarod arrives and starts to climb the stairs behind him. Miss Parker says that she wants to ask one question to her father, because her mother told her that he knew all the secrets. Alex laughs and says that that is ironic and funny. It is ironic, because she’s right about her father knowing all the secrets. Although, it’s funny because he is not her real father. Jarod hits him with something made of iron that’s hanging in the ceiling in his head. When he falls, the gun he had in his head goes off. Next, they fight for a while and Alex manages to leave the room faster than Jarod. He goes after him, while Miss Parker stays with her injured father.

In a platform above the sea, Jarod and Alex are arguing, and Jarod is trying to dissuade him from jumping. Alex questions him about why he thinks The Centre wants him so badly and if he believes that it only has to do with him being a pretender. Alex falls accidentally and Jarod loses all the answers he could get.

Miss Parker is in her office when she receives a call from Jarod. She tells him that Alex’s body wasn’t found and that her father is unconscious. She also tells him that they haven’t found Broots and that Ethan is also gone. The last one left an unfinished note. Jarod asks her if she knows why The Centre is so interested in getting him back and she answers him that even if she knew, she wouldn’t tell him. At this very moment, both receive an e-mail. It’s a photograph of Catherine standing next to Margaret. While they question themselves about its meaning, we see Raines with a computer. He was the one to send the e-mails. The movie ends with Raines saying that now they’re even and calls them “my children”.