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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 'Gigolo Jarod'
Season 2
Ep. 211
What a delightful story! There was talk about ethics and some fundamental things in life, there was humor and most of all there was romance. Just a little bit of romance but the MP/JR-brigade was served well here, cuz it was the first time since ‘Keys’ that we got another glimpse of it!
If you're a relationshipper, you probably don't care. There was MPJ/R, no matter how little.
I could hear the squeals from here when MP opened the valentine’s gift and we saw the close-up shot of the heart-shaped candy. And a few might have even banged their head onto the couchtable, or beaten up a cushion-pillow while imagining the candy to be her, when she crushed the candy seemingly unmoved. ...*g*
This episode surely sparked a huge fire of hope in lots of fans and especially in fan-fic-writers. And even more so because the end (and following episodes and mostly throughout the series) didn’t quite follow suit. Since fanfic is largely about taking what the canon gives you and running with it, this episode provided plenty to work with. We fanfic ppl almost seem to REVEL in incomplete details - more for us to fill in.
But first things first. Jarod poses as a male escort for lonely women. Cynthia Sloan, a real estate millionaire has him ordered as sort of protection from men hitting on her at public appearances. His second assignment is Joyce, a middle aged housewife who after 25 years of marriage, is frustrated with her husband and looks for some adventure.
In the ongoings of the show, Jarod uncovers a supposedly accident in an old building. A little boy fell from the roof, resulting in the decision that the building is too dangerous to live in. Sloan wants the building to be taken down and rebuild it as a fancy apartment house. The people living there, lower middle class folks, protest against the take down of their home, but Sloan, prompted by her sleezy manager Frank Linden, is prepared to do whatever it takes to stay on course.
Jarod finds out that it was actually Linden who tampered with the roof, just to move things along. The main theme here is ‘home’, the building is a home to hundreds of people, who don’t want to lose it. Home, a distant concept for Jarod but nevertheless something he longs for just the same. And Jarod also discovers that Cynthia, as a little girl, lived in the same building, it used to be her home as well. This strikes a cord in her, and in the end she decides to renovate the house rather than to take it down.
In the side-plot of the pretend Jarod tries to remind Joyce of her 25 years of happiness in her family life. The woman feels alone and bored. Her kids have left the house and her husband is the typical couch potato. He doesn’t seem to be interested in her anymore, no more romance, no more passion in her life. She wants Jarod to fill in, but it is clear that she rather wants her husband to become jealous and finally show some emotions again. There are hilarious moments along this plot. Joyce, as she embarrassely takes out a pack of condoms, or when she hovers over Jarod, as if she wants to take him then and there in the living room with her husband upstairs. But of course our pretender gets away from it with a little luck, and later shows her with little subtlety how much she still cares for her family, for her husband. He invites her to his apartment, a sleezy place, perfectly fitting for a gigolo. Red bed, heartshaped pillows, and a pretender with a silk shirt, buttoned down to his stomach. Joyce is taken aback by his actions, suddenly reminded how much her home means to her as well.
The Centre hunting team on the other hand, ends up at a sex-store, on their latest lead on Jarod. And its…….belly-laugh quality. Broots acts outright embarrassed to have to go into one of those places. Something that Miss Parker doesn’t buy for a second. Inside the shop, the owner, Lucky Lafontaine, tells them that Jarod hasn’t been really interested in the sex-stuff he sells, but rather on why people would buy it. What the sex would mean in a relationship, in love. Jarod had also written a book ‘The saddest little Valentine’, an apparently cheesy love-novel, with one of those too cheesy covers that are sold at supermarket counters. Miss Parker takes it and is shocked by the cover. A woman lying regally on a bed, dressed only in a sexy negligee, and with a drawing of MP’s face! She hides the book from Sydney, and takes it with her.
She does read it, and this scene is the highlight of the episode. We hear Jarod’s voice-over as she reads it. A little girl, living in the bowels of horror, meeting a little boy who brings back the smile to the beautiful girl. And all the while we see a flash-back, of young Miss Parker going down the stairs in a sim lab to meet the young Jarod. As their eyes meet, they both smile. A smile of two young children who only have themselves left in the world to make them happy for a little while. But as Jarod writes, as long as the girl stays put, stays caught up with the house of horrors, she’ll remain the saddest little valentine.
MP is openly moved by it, but still tries to suppress the truth of those words.
The story is about home, and about love. Jarod is on a quest to find out what love is about. In one scene he asks a guy about culprit, and is confused and amazed at the story behind it. He calls Sydney and asks if the one love in a persons life would be worth fighting for. It seems to be the matter between Joyce and her husband that he is after, but the viewers – and especially us shippers – are easily tempted to see it as a metaphor for his personal dilemma. If his feelings for MP would be worth pursuing, if she would be worth fighting for. Sydney catches on and immediately asks him if this has anything to do with the book he had left for MP, but Jarod just stays elusive with his answer, explaining only that the book ‘speaks for itself’.
The valentine he sends her of course speaks novels! It’s a heart shaped candy, ‘Be my Valentine’ it says. And since Jarod has discovered the meaning of Valentine gifts, what more do we need to proof his feelings for her?
As said, a delightful hour. A good pretend, on both accounts. The Cynthia part as well as the Joyce part is fun to watch. I enjoyed both the woman’s acting. They were acting great along side MTW. Cynthia with just the right amount of toughness as well as softness that makes it right. A good looking woman, rich, successful but lost and unhappy.
Sappy as it may sound, I cried at the end. It was just so sad, to watch Jarod and MP alone and lonely in their respective apartments. She on the couch looking forlornly at the gift he sent her, not lost on its meaning but lost on how to react to it.
And him, well Jarod’s predicament gets often hit over our head with a broomstick, so that I often get annoyed by it, but not this time. We feel how empty his life his, how lonely he is out there. We see it in his eyes, and hear it in his voice. I was heartbroken at this! And that he is lying there in his ridiculous clothes of a gigolo, shirt still buttoned down, on this bed that is meant to see some action going on rather than a lonely man on a phone! MTW rarely looked better!
It’s a great scene, and adds to the feeling of this ep. The music running in the background is perfect. Responsible for yet another tear running down my cheek.
A solid hour, and this last scene alone grants it a 5 point rating. But the rest was good as well. It’s thought provoking and I do enjoy shows that do that, but I usually tend to go with my heart rather than my mind, and therefore it’s a no brainer for me to rate it above average, top notch actually!
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 2
Ep. 211
What a delightful story! There was talk about ethics and some fundamental things in life, there was humor and most of all there was romance. Just a little bit of romance but the MP/JR-brigade was served well here, cuz it was the first time since ‘Keys’ that we got another glimpse of it!
If you're a relationshipper, you probably don't care. There was MPJ/R, no matter how little.
I could hear the squeals from here when MP opened the valentine’s gift and we saw the close-up shot of the heart-shaped candy. And a few might have even banged their head onto the couchtable, or beaten up a cushion-pillow while imagining the candy to be her, when she crushed the candy seemingly unmoved. ...*g*
This episode surely sparked a huge fire of hope in lots of fans and especially in fan-fic-writers. And even more so because the end (and following episodes and mostly throughout the series) didn’t quite follow suit. Since fanfic is largely about taking what the canon gives you and running with it, this episode provided plenty to work with. We fanfic ppl almost seem to REVEL in incomplete details - more for us to fill in.
But first things first. Jarod poses as a male escort for lonely women. Cynthia Sloan, a real estate millionaire has him ordered as sort of protection from men hitting on her at public appearances. His second assignment is Joyce, a middle aged housewife who after 25 years of marriage, is frustrated with her husband and looks for some adventure.
In the ongoings of the show, Jarod uncovers a supposedly accident in an old building. A little boy fell from the roof, resulting in the decision that the building is too dangerous to live in. Sloan wants the building to be taken down and rebuild it as a fancy apartment house. The people living there, lower middle class folks, protest against the take down of their home, but Sloan, prompted by her sleezy manager Frank Linden, is prepared to do whatever it takes to stay on course.
Jarod finds out that it was actually Linden who tampered with the roof, just to move things along. The main theme here is ‘home’, the building is a home to hundreds of people, who don’t want to lose it. Home, a distant concept for Jarod but nevertheless something he longs for just the same. And Jarod also discovers that Cynthia, as a little girl, lived in the same building, it used to be her home as well. This strikes a cord in her, and in the end she decides to renovate the house rather than to take it down.
In the side-plot of the pretend Jarod tries to remind Joyce of her 25 years of happiness in her family life. The woman feels alone and bored. Her kids have left the house and her husband is the typical couch potato. He doesn’t seem to be interested in her anymore, no more romance, no more passion in her life. She wants Jarod to fill in, but it is clear that she rather wants her husband to become jealous and finally show some emotions again. There are hilarious moments along this plot. Joyce, as she embarrassely takes out a pack of condoms, or when she hovers over Jarod, as if she wants to take him then and there in the living room with her husband upstairs. But of course our pretender gets away from it with a little luck, and later shows her with little subtlety how much she still cares for her family, for her husband. He invites her to his apartment, a sleezy place, perfectly fitting for a gigolo. Red bed, heartshaped pillows, and a pretender with a silk shirt, buttoned down to his stomach. Joyce is taken aback by his actions, suddenly reminded how much her home means to her as well.
The Centre hunting team on the other hand, ends up at a sex-store, on their latest lead on Jarod. And its…….belly-laugh quality. Broots acts outright embarrassed to have to go into one of those places. Something that Miss Parker doesn’t buy for a second. Inside the shop, the owner, Lucky Lafontaine, tells them that Jarod hasn’t been really interested in the sex-stuff he sells, but rather on why people would buy it. What the sex would mean in a relationship, in love. Jarod had also written a book ‘The saddest little Valentine’, an apparently cheesy love-novel, with one of those too cheesy covers that are sold at supermarket counters. Miss Parker takes it and is shocked by the cover. A woman lying regally on a bed, dressed only in a sexy negligee, and with a drawing of MP’s face! She hides the book from Sydney, and takes it with her.
She does read it, and this scene is the highlight of the episode. We hear Jarod’s voice-over as she reads it. A little girl, living in the bowels of horror, meeting a little boy who brings back the smile to the beautiful girl. And all the while we see a flash-back, of young Miss Parker going down the stairs in a sim lab to meet the young Jarod. As their eyes meet, they both smile. A smile of two young children who only have themselves left in the world to make them happy for a little while. But as Jarod writes, as long as the girl stays put, stays caught up with the house of horrors, she’ll remain the saddest little valentine.
MP is openly moved by it, but still tries to suppress the truth of those words.
The story is about home, and about love. Jarod is on a quest to find out what love is about. In one scene he asks a guy about culprit, and is confused and amazed at the story behind it. He calls Sydney and asks if the one love in a persons life would be worth fighting for. It seems to be the matter between Joyce and her husband that he is after, but the viewers – and especially us shippers – are easily tempted to see it as a metaphor for his personal dilemma. If his feelings for MP would be worth pursuing, if she would be worth fighting for. Sydney catches on and immediately asks him if this has anything to do with the book he had left for MP, but Jarod just stays elusive with his answer, explaining only that the book ‘speaks for itself’.
The valentine he sends her of course speaks novels! It’s a heart shaped candy, ‘Be my Valentine’ it says. And since Jarod has discovered the meaning of Valentine gifts, what more do we need to proof his feelings for her?
As said, a delightful hour. A good pretend, on both accounts. The Cynthia part as well as the Joyce part is fun to watch. I enjoyed both the woman’s acting. They were acting great along side MTW. Cynthia with just the right amount of toughness as well as softness that makes it right. A good looking woman, rich, successful but lost and unhappy.
Sappy as it may sound, I cried at the end. It was just so sad, to watch Jarod and MP alone and lonely in their respective apartments. She on the couch looking forlornly at the gift he sent her, not lost on its meaning but lost on how to react to it.
And him, well Jarod’s predicament gets often hit over our head with a broomstick, so that I often get annoyed by it, but not this time. We feel how empty his life his, how lonely he is out there. We see it in his eyes, and hear it in his voice. I was heartbroken at this! And that he is lying there in his ridiculous clothes of a gigolo, shirt still buttoned down, on this bed that is meant to see some action going on rather than a lonely man on a phone! MTW rarely looked better!
It’s a great scene, and adds to the feeling of this ep. The music running in the background is perfect. Responsible for yet another tear running down my cheek.
A solid hour, and this last scene alone grants it a 5 point rating. But the rest was good as well. It’s thought provoking and I do enjoy shows that do that, but I usually tend to go with my heart rather than my mind, and therefore it’s a no brainer for me to rate it above average, top notch actually!
