Miss Parker (Andrea Parker), who's battling her own demons with the question as to whether her father, Mr. Parker, is really her biological father, is trying to keep business as usual by attempting to track down Jarod and bring him back to The Centre. See, The Centre, an organization that works with genius children and develops their abilities to carry out assignments of the extra-difficult sort, took Jarod from his parents at a young age and kept him isolated there for 30 years.

He has since escaped and uses his gift to elude Miss Parker and The Centre, while trying to find out who he really is. This ability to pretend to be virtually anyone (lawyer, doctor, policeman, etc.) is a natural gift, and is believed to be a "key" to the Centre's continued success. This is why Miss Parker is looking for Jarod.

At the open of the movie, Mr. Parker (Harve Presnell) is in a room at The Centre in a catatonic state and no one seems to know how to snap him out. Meanwhile, Jarod is pretending to be an archeologist at a university in Boston, trying to find a location, which dons a strange symbol that has eight skulls in a circle. It turns out, Jarod has a photograph of his mother and Miss Parker's mother standing in front of an ivy covered wall that has the estranged symbol on it. Jarod believes that finding this location will give him assistance in locating his mother, and furthermore, explain who he is.

After locating the building, Jarod discovers a map, among other contents in a covered up area behind a wall, showing a small island off the coast of Scotland. This island is nicknamed, "The Island of the Haunted." Jarod also discovers that his mother has made a stop at this location too. And after speaking to the owner, he finds out that a light blue box is missing from the other items there.

Miss Parker is in pursuit of Jarod, but is always one step behind and has to turn to Angelo, also a resident at The Centre, who has psychic powers and is known as an empath. Angelo is able to point her to the island that Jarod is heading to and she rushes off.

The problem with the island, besides the eerie nickname and monk-like inhabitants, is that shortly after Jarod and Miss Parker arrive, a deadly storm is blowing in and the evacuation bell is rung. The two miss the last boat and are trapped on this spooky island that contains answers to questions that they both have. They are just about the only human beings that remain on the island - emphasis on humans.

While this is going on, back at The Centre, Sydney (Patrick Bauchau) and Broots (Jon Greis), two members of the center who often help Miss Parker track Jarod, are helping her to try and find out if Mr. Parker is really her father by stealing a semen sample from the lab to compare it with her DNA.

One problem with the movie occurred during the storm, called "The Devil's Storm." It appears that the Devil's bark is louder than his bark, because the storm lacked to convince that an evacuation was necessary. The storm barely lasts the night, and in a later scene, while Jarod is searching the island, there is no trace of the snow and rain that fell earlier. It takes away from the believability that there was a need to evacuate the island, and becomes more of an excuse just to get everyone else off the island.

There also seemed to be too many links between Miss Parker, her family, Jarod, and his family. The plot and story ran closer to a soap opera story line then something seen on prime time, and those who have never viewed the series will not be able to follow very well. The history of Jarod and The Centre are not covered properly in the beginning, and the inevitable ending tried to take a twist, but fell short. A few flashbacks might have helped to make it clearer.

If the aim of this movie was to get more viewers to tune into the series, then, "Huston, I think we have a problem," but if it was done for the exclusive purpose to give Pretender fans an extra hour of the show, then mission accomplished.

For more information, please visit TNT's website www.tnt.tv.com.

Chris Wood used to date a model, but is now single, so ladies look out!

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