Review Series: Toy Surprise by jerseygirl
Summary: My opinion, my take.......
Categories: Episode Commentary Characters: All the characters
Genres: General
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes Word count: 1159 Read: 1436 Published: 26/06/05 Updated: 26/06/05
Toy Surprise by jerseygirl
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 ‘Toy Surprise’
Season 2
Ep. 212




An episode full of action, suspense, character moments and new revelations about the past! What a treat! We learn that Daddy P. indeed has a heart (however small), Angelo is out to help not only Jarod but MP as well, Broots has not only a soft spot for her but also knows when to say the right things when he is allowed, and MP, well Miss Parker sure knows how to cash in when someone pisses her off!


For Andrea Parker’s performance I have this to say: Ho...ly...cow. I heard, that Andrea herself liked that specific episode a lot and I can see why. She got to show it all! The actress had to cover a quite range here, and she did so admirably.

We see her doubting her father in the beginning. Wanting so badly to believe in his sincerity but being suspicious all the same. She is determined to save her father nevertheless, but when she later finds out, that he indeed grieved for Catherine, her fire lights up once more like the new year’s fireworks in Sydney! The moment she utters ‘Let’s finish this’, we already know what Brigitte has coming and that she is in serious trouble. Nobody messes with our kick-ass-goddess and gets away unscathed!

The ‘cat-fight’ was fun to watch. The actresses show their capabilities to get tough-ball on each other and I’m sure they had a whole lot of fun doing so!


And Brigitte, played by Pamela Giddens, ah I love to hate her! Though I wonder what the heck is her real motive in here, she does a hell of a job messing with the Centre’s top three! (I mean really, did the Triumvirate give those orders or was it an independent move? Granted, MP wasn’t meant to be there, but since she was, what were Brigitte’s plans afterwards with Raines, MP and Daddy P., all dead?) Anyways, I liked her – a lot. But I was also smiling in joy and pride at the way MP finally dealt with her!


Lots of work for the extras. I immediately liked Hayes, the sweeper! A shame he goes down later on in order of following MP’s order. (though, of course, after her reprimand at the beginning, I bet he goes down fully aware that the revenge of MP would have been a much worse fate than a few bullets in his back!)


I also liked the kid, that Jarod helps to overcome his fears and self-doubt. It’s the thing about guilt that Jarod knows best. Though it feels kinda ironic, that it is Jarod who teaches the kid about it! We all know how much guilt he carries around with him, and more than once I thought to myself: hey genius, how about a look into the mirror! Nevertheless, it was a nice side-plot, for once the pretend was not the main story but we still got to see a good set-up by the pretender.


Of the character interactions, my favorite was between MP with Broots in that elevator. We learned rather a lot about both of them. We saw a new side in MP, as she suggests Broots to leave before it was too late. And Broots! Oh my, Broots! He surely knows how to talk to her in that moment. He doesn’t get often the chance to show his affection for her this openly and he does so with tact and compassion. He tells her that he might have not known her mother but was certain that Catherine only did what she thought best for her little girl. And a minute later he tells her, that little Debbie wants to grow up to become exactly like MP! It was the single most lovingly thing he could say at this moment! Great lines, great looks, tense exchanges! I’ve been waiting for something like this ever since ‘Collateral Damage’ (where MP took care of Debbie for two days) it was a moving touch. A lot of emotions went into this exchange!

They managed to throw in quite some new found hope for MP (in terms of Mr. Parker) and I felt for her at the grave – with her father as well as on the phone with Jarod. But I still wondered how much of that hope would be crashed once again by Daddy P.

Yeah and the fact, that Jarod is on the cemetery watching her from the distance, well that was… warming my (shippery) heart! The distance that keeps them apart will never eliminate his eternal quest to watch over her. And something else: I am pretty certain that she knows that he is there, too!! *grin*

In case someone wonders, I give this one 5 points out of 5! It’s a winner!
This story archived at http://www.pretendercentre.com/missingpieces/viewstory.php?sid=3225