One thing that’s wonderfully weird and wacky about The Pretender series is just how important names are in distinguishing the good guys from the bad and the shifting allegiances between. In that, the good guys are almost never referred to except by their “first” names & the bad guys are usually referred to only by their last.
For instance, we have Jarod who, obviously, doesn’t know his full real name…except that by season four he really should. He (and the audience) by this point have met his dad, Major Charles. Adopted or otherwise, his surname should match his father’s. But we’re never even told the major’s last name. He’s always just referred to as the Major or Charles or Major Charles. Same as Jarod’s mom is only Margaret, his sister Emily, and his brother Kyle. Ethan, his half brother, is a special case we’ll get back to. But it’s especially weird how it’s never brought up because it’s established it would be an important piece of identity to Jarod himself. Throughout all the pretends in the series the one thing he never relinquishes is his given name despite the fact it would make it harder for the Centre to find him.
But that’s just the tip of this iceberg, things get more complicated when you look at the Centre crew. Because, of all of them, Angelo has the simplest relationship to his name. It is literally given to him by Dr. Raines’ after the experiment that gave him his abilities. And because it is a given name we know Angelo is one of the good guys.
Same could be said for Sydney & Broots. While the name Sydney can be a last name, it’s origin as that are English/Scottish while Sydney himself is specifically described as Flemish. More importantly, in spite of his degree & training, his title as doctor is never referred to by other characters. Like Jarod & Angelo he’s established as a good guy by his first name only. Broots is interesting, because while he’s occasionally referred to as Mr. Broots and it’s more likely his surname; functionally it works as a nickname.
“But what about the villains?” I hear you ask. All of them, with the exception of Brigitte (who is arguably the 2nd most on the fence character in the series) go by a title. Be it Mr. Parker., Mr. Raines, or Mr. Lyle. The title is emphasized at some point in every episode. Which makes Miss Parker one of the more fascinating exceptions to the rule.
Because where her mother & half-Brother serve as the only two plot-important characters with a first & last name (emphasizing they are both a part of the centre but ultimately opposing forces against it), Miss Parker is in a weird position where her name codes her as a villainess with the good guys but she’s referred to as Angel by her dad, othering her from the villains crowd. So, basically, her internal conflict is constantly reinforced for the viewers depending on who she is dealing with.
Like I said, names in this show are wild!
