Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Part 2: Miss Parker, Sydney and Broots

Miss Parker recently decided to leave the Centre to move to Oregon with Thomas Gates (see 2.8) and start a new life (Ties That Bind). Instead, Thomas was murdered by someone within the Centre. Brigitte confessed to the crime (see 3.14) before she died, but said she was under orders (Till Death Do Us Part).

Shaken by her discovery of Project Gemini, Miss Parker attempted to follow in her mother's footsteps and rescue Jarod's clone, which she didn't have time to do before Jarod and Major Charles did so themselves (see 3.14). 2.2 What happened to Miss Parker's mother?
A: Wow. Good question. Miss Parker believed that her mother, Catherine, committed suicide in an elevator when she was young. Twenty-six years later, Jarod was able to "hear" what happened in one of his DSA recordings, dated 4/13/70 -- he concluded she was shot four times while in the elevator, right after a session with Sydney (according to him, she was manic-depressive), and a few months after she was beaten (which Miss Parker witnessed). Centre personnel were around and had to drag Miss Parker away, screaming, but as far as we know, she only saw her mother's body. Angelo witnessed the attack, which took place outside the elevator. (Bloodlines).

However, we discovered in 'The Inner Sense' that Catherine did not die in that elevator, but in fact faked her death with the help of Mr. Raines (see 3.3), who also hid her for the next 7-odd months in his Forest House. It seem she was (unwillingly) pregnant with Ethan, and wanted to save at least one of her children from the Centre (see 2.10). She gave birth to Ethan, after managing to tell a teenaged Jarod who he was (Raines later suppressed those memories). Minutes after the baby was born, Raines coldbloodedly executed Catherine, and cremated her body. But the entire thing was recorded on DSA, which Raines tried to destroy many years later, but Broots recovered.

Catherine was believed to have been killed (and was probably in line to be killed) for rescuing children from a Delaware orphanage before the Centre could take them, and trying to rescue them from the Centre itself. Jarod claims Catherine was preparing to rescue him and six other children from the Centre when she was killed. DSA footage shows her with Mr. Fenigore, planning to rescue Jarod, Timmy (the boy who would later be called Angelo) and Miss Parker from the Centre the day before she died; she discovered what Mr. Raines had done to Timmy the morning she died (see 3.4). It was also Catherine who sent Jarod's parents to Harriett Tashman to hide; she was very outspoken against Project Genesis (see 3.14.

It appeared for a while that the same people who were presumed to have killed Catherine were responsible for an attempt on Mr. Parker's life, working through Brigitte (fans have speculated that this may have been staged, as a test of Miss Parkeršs loyalty) (Toy Surprise). And Mr. Fenigore (see 3.9) told Jarod and Miss Parker that Jarod's father killed Catherine (though we don't know if he was referring to Charles, or some as-yet-unknown biological father). Miss Parker had the chance to confront Charles in 'Donoterase'; Charles claims he had intended to help Catherine rescue Jarod and Miss Parker from the Centre, that he was shot and left for dead by Mr. Raines and his gun stolen. (Donoterase). All money is currently on Mr. Raines as the triggerman. The latest weird development, though, is that Catherine Parker's grave is empty (Corn Man).

Mr. Parker continues to maintain that Catherine committed suicide; he did grieve for the loss of his wife, as seen in a DSA, although immediately after, he told Sydney to never speak of the murder, and that "life goes on". He apparently bought her faked death, beleiving it a Centre execution, or simply chose never to investigate it. Miss Parker had finally begun to accept that her father was probably lying about his knowledge of her mother's death, but Charles told her Mr. Parker had been blackmailed with Miss Parker's safety into remaining silent. On a tip from Angelo, Miss Parker checked Center Archive 543 (CA543) and found the gun which killed her mother, stolen from Charles -- it a had a circle of fire emblem on the hilt and Angelo told her to "follow the circle". (See 3.13.)

Jarod continues to investigate the murder (for his own reasons) and also discovered Catherine's 'getaway' (see 2.3), where she stored a folder of baby pictures and records labelled 'Rescued' (Mirage). He also found Catherine's safe deposit box (Keys), which contained the record of her beating, the list of children she had intended to rescue, and her diary, among others things.

In 'Unhappy Landings', Broots tracked down many of the children Catherine rescued; all had died suddenly in the last six months. One of them, a girl named Dara Andrews (put up for adoption by Catherine through a lawyer, Michael Steinberg), left a bracelet labelled SL-27. Dara showed above average intelligence, and a talent for submersing herself in theatric roles. (See 3.10)

2.3 Who is really Miss Parker's father? Who is her twin brother?
A: There is evidence to suggest Mr. Parker may not be Miss Parker's real father. Catherine escaped to visit her friend Ben Miller for two weeks every April (Mirage); the two eventually became lovers. In 'Exposed', Jarod finds and gives to Miss Parker a family portrait of her mother and Ben when she was a baby; Miss Parker does the math, and discovers she was born nine months after one of those April visits. (Her birthday, by the way, is January 3.) We don't know if Mr. Parker is aware of Miss Parker's true parentage (if it is, in fact, the truth; the producers seem to have abandoned this storyline).

Miss Parker's twin brother is Mr. Lyle. Mr. Raines took him when he was born, telling Mrs. Parker that the boy was stillborn. Miss Parker was unaware that a twin had ever existed until she saw a security recording of her own birth. (Bloodlines). Jarod's research and genetic testing revealed the identity of the twin. (Crazy)

Whether or not Mr. Parker knew the twin was alive is uncertain. He appeared to be in shock when Miss Parker told him, but some fans believe he was faking.

2.4 Who is Sydney?
A: Sydney is a psychiatrist in the Centre's Psychogenic Research Department. He seems to be responsible for training (and, by default, raising) a number of children with various talents, just as he did with Jarod. According to Jarod, part of Sydney's job is to "make rounds down Corridor 15," which may refer to the residential wing, or perhaps laboratories such as the Simulation Room.

Sydney seems to have remained with the Centre in order to protect Miss Parker and Jarod; it didn't help that he was being blackmailed by the Centre, who lied and told him an intern of his whom he was quite fond of had died in a car accident, with Sydney at the wheel. Mr. Parker orchestrated the cover-up and the blackmail, but swears he only did it under Triumverate orders. The intern was actually alive. (Spin Doctor)

Sydney and his twin brother were raised outside Lyons, France. His family (including their parents, Jean and Greta) was taken to the Dachau concentration camp during World War II although they were Catholic, in order to allow a Nazi doctor to experiment on the twins. Only Jacob and Sydney survived; the rest of their family died in the gas chambers. After their camp was freed by the Allies, they returned home, only to find that home destroyed. The twins attended Yale together in the States.

Sydney has an 18- or 19-year-old son, conceived when his mother worked at the Centre. She left to protect Sydney, who didn't know about the boy's existence until recently (see 2.6).

2.5 Who is Jacob? What is his connection to Sydney and the Centre?
A: Jacob is Sydney's twin brother, who worked for the Centre before he and Sydney were in a car accident which left Jacob in a coma, where he has remained for several decades. Sydney was driving and blamed himself, visiting his brother's bedside every Christmas. Jarod also paid Jacob a visit; due to research by Jarod, Jacob came out of the coma long enough to write him a note forgiving Sydney, and give the three their first clue to SL-27. (Under the Reds)

It may have been Jacob who first brought Jarod to the Centre; Jacob was apparently later involved in the rescue of the children which may have lead to Catherine's death. At the time of the accident, he and Sydney were arguing about what the Centre was doing to obtain 'the children'. The Monday before the accident, he was seen arguing with Mr. Raines, presumably about the same thing (Mr. Raines pulled a gun on him). When Jacob regained consciousness, Mr. Raines ordered Miss Parker to kill him before he could talk; she and Sydney worked together to save Jacob from Mr. Raines' Sweeper team.

Unfortunately, it was less than a year before Jacob contracted a rare disease. While it brought him out of his coma, it also killed him a day later. Before he died, however, he answered Sydney's questions about Jarod's past with a single word: 'GENE'. (Indy Show)

2.6 Who are Michelle and Nicholas?
A: Michelle Lucca Stamatis used to work for the Centre, where she became romantically involved with Sydney, "the love of my life". She left Sydney when the Centre threatened to kill him if she didn't, without telling him that she was pregnant with his son, Nicholas. She remarried and Nicholas was raised not knowing about Sydney.

Sydney reentered Michelle's life when a tip from Jarod revealed Nicholas' existance (Bulletproof); he first met Nicholas when his son's adopted father was dying (Parole). While Nicholas was not what you'd call accepting of Sydney's existance, he and Sydney formed a kind of peace after Nicholas was kidnapped by terrorists (and later by Mr. Lyle; he was rescued by Sydney and Jarod) (Flesh and Blood).

2.7 Who is Broots?
A: Broots is a computer and electronics technician/researcher assigned to help Miss Parker find Jarod. He's very good at his job, and very scared of Miss Parker and Mr. Raines (although he has been known to grow a backbone when pushed). He is also, like Sydney, fully aware of the "soul-stealing" tendancies of The Centre, but is too afraid to leave. Broots has a 10- or 11-year-old daughter, Debbie, of whom he recently won custody, and an on-line girlfriend, Delilah. He has been actively helping Miss Parker and Sydney search out the mysteries of the Centre; he's even aided Jarod once (Past Sim) and been helped by Jarod (Betrayal).

We know very little about Broots' past, except that he has a brother, and was dangerously sick with the measles when he was 12, resulting in a lengthy hospital stay. (Road Trip)

2.8 Who is Thomas Gates?
A: Thomas Gates was a 'fix-it man', a neighbor of Miss Parker's who restores old houses. Miss Parker hired him to renovate her house -- the one her father gave her on graudation, where her family lived before her mother died. According to Thomas, he worked on Wall Street before leaving the rat race; he and Jarod met while Jarod was taking down a crooked building contractor. Jarod arranged for Thomas and Miss Parker to meet, hoping they would fall in love. She did, and eventually told him about her own work with the Centre. Thomas actively persuaded her to leave, even turning down an apparently hefty bribe from Mr. Parker.

Thomas was killed soon before he and Miss Parker would have left for Oregon. Miss Parker's and Jarod's attempt to investigate his murder brought no results, initially. But a tip from Jarod led Miss Parker to a surveillance file the Centre kept on Thomas, and the codename of the agent responsible for the surveillance (and, presumably, murder) -- Rumor. A file left mysteriously in Miss Parker's house revealed that Rumor was, in fact, Brigitte; Jarod denies all responsibility for locating the file -- smart money bets it was Mr. Parker, but there's no actual proof. ('Til Death Do Us Part) There is also no proof of who was giving Brigitte her orders. (See (3.8.

Thomas was played by Jason Brooks, who portrayed Peter Blake on 'Days of Our Lives' for several years. His other roles include 'The Descendant', 'Making It Home', 'The Alibi', 'Captain America' and 'Bloodmatch', as well as guest appearances on "Early Edition", "Doogie Howser, M.D.", "Baywatch" and "Friends".

2.9 Who is Faith?
A: Faith was a little girl Miss Parker, Jarod and Angelo encountered at the Centre when they were children. She and Miss Parker swore to be best friends, but Faith died of leukemia only a few weeks after they met. Years later, Miss Parker discovered that Faith was in fact her sister; she had been adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Parker to provide her with a home and medical care, knowing she had only a short time to live. Any other connection she may have to the Centre is unknown, but she was important enough to both Jarod and Miss Parker that she appeared to them when they were facing their own deaths more than 20 years later. (At the Hour of Our Deaths)

Faith was played by Caitlyn Wachs, best known for her role as Chloe Waters on "Profiler".

2.10 Who is Ethan?
A: When Major Charles and Margaret were trying to conceive Jarod and his siblings at Nu Genesis (3.11), that lovely place took sperm samples from Major Charles. Unbeknownst to her, Mr. Parker had Mrs. Parker empregnanted with that sperm, hoping to produce a child with both the Pretender abilities, and Mrs. Parker's 'inner sense' (see 2.11). Ethan, Jarod and Miss Parker's shared half-brother, was born nine months later; it was to protect him that Mrs. Parker faked her death. Unfortunately, after her real death, he was raised first by Mr. Raines, then by foster parents (whom Raines later murdered). He did in fact, have the 'inner sense', which Raines spent 20+ years manipulating to make Ethan fear it, essentially driving him insane, and putting him completely under Raines' control.

Emily (see 1.14) was the first to discover Ethan's existance; her notes led Jarod to him at the same time that Miss Parker's investigations into her mother's death lead her to the footage of her pregnancy. They both caught up with Ethan just as he was about to carry out a Centre plot to blow up apeace convention. Jarod convinced him to give up the plan, but it was too late to stop the bomb. When last seen, Ethan, and his brother and sister, were all jumping out of an exploding subway (The Inenr Sense).

Ethan is played by Tyler Christopher, probably best known for playing Nikolas Cassadine on 'General Hospital' for three years. His other appearances include the movie Catfish in Black Bean Sauce and appearances on "Angel" and "Charmed".

2.11 What is the 'inner sense'?
A: According to Catherine Parker, the 'inner sense' is a kind of sixth sense she possessed, guiding voices protecting her and helping her to make decisions. It was an ability the Centre apparently wanted badly, as they impregnated her secretly to gain a Pretender with the same sense (see 2.10). Catherine also said Miss Parker has the same 'inner sense', but we've seen no evidence of it, other than a finely honed sense of when someone is trying to kill her and a good instinct for investigation.

In Ethan, the inner sense also manifested itself as voices, driving him to something resembling schizoprenia. One of those voices, Jarod believes, is Catherine Parker herself, trying to guide her youngest child ('The Inner Sense').