The Miss Parker Page
We've had a lot of fans ask us to dedicate a page to the infamous "Miss P", so here it is.

We don't know Miss Parker's first name yet (although she once whispered it to Jarod when they were children), but know her initials are "M.P." (from a holiday decoration Miss Parker made for her mother, as shown in the first season Christmas episode). Miss Parker is also the person who, as a child, gave Jarod his first kiss. Miss Parker initially had an unhealthy amount of hero-worship for Mr. Parker, and believed her mother was a manic-depressive weakling. She has since come to know that her mother, Catherine, was something of a "freedom fighter" before her untimely death, and had attempted to rescue children (including Jarod) from The Centre.

Miss Parker also discovered that her father wasn't the driving force behind The Centre she believed him to be, and that he probably isn't really her father at all. "Timing" seemed to indicate that Catherine Parker's "friend" Ben Miller is most likely Miss P's biological father. (Miss Parker was apparently conceived when Catherine Parker was in Maine visiting Ben's bed-and-breakfast.)

In the first season, Miss Parker made a "deal" with her father that if she could capture Jarod and bring him back to The Centre, she herself would be allowed to leave the place and pursue a life of her own choosing.

Miss Parker is often protrayed as a bundle of angry confusion. She spent most of her life believing she knew the people around her, believing she was free and safe and powerful... But only recently she's come to realize that she doesn't really know or understand most of the people in her personal "circle" (including Mr. Parker); that she isn't free (The Centre all but owns her, and she even had to make a deal with Mr. Parker to try to get out of there.); she certainly isn't safe; and she doesn't have the power and control over herself and others (especially Jarod) that she would like to have. Realizing that things around her are often well beyond her control, Miss Parker responds by trying to control everything. She does this through intimidation. She dehumanizes and belittles others: we've seen her refer to Angelo as "Jello brain" and "Cousin It", and to Jarod as "Frankenboy", for example. She's often refered to Syndey as a "quack", complained about Broots' sexless relationships with women over the internet, and berated Jarod as a science experiment gone awry... By knocking down everyone else around her, she attempts to make herself look "tall".

Miss Parker often threatens people with physical violence, and swears and throws things when she's particularly angry. Some fans see her as a sort of pseudo-male: walking around in suits and pants, pointing a gun (a phallic symbol if ever the was one) in people's faces; behaving in a sexually promiscous fashion (of which she purports to be proud); talking tough, smoking, and drinking (sometimes to excess)... She's got the "men behaving badly" syndrome down pat. This certainly isn't a "healthy" way to behave. There's a part of her that understands the fallacy of her behavior, however, and Miss Parker often comes down as hard on herself as she does on others.

Her desire to "be male" seemingly stems from the fact that Mr. Parker always wanted a son; and Miss Parker feels that she can never quite live up to her father's expectations and wants. By donning male clothing and putting on aggressive aires, she manufactured for her father the image of the son he never had. This supposition seems to be supported by information in the "Bloodlines" episode. When it was revealed to Mr. Parker that he DID have a son -- Miss Parker's fraternal twin brother, whom Mr. Parker was lead to believe had died at birth -- Mr. Parker responded to the news with smiles and excitement. "It's a gift.... I have a son," he said with a tone of wonder in his voice, while ignoring his daughter, Miss Parker, who was standing right next to him. To this rebuff, Miss Parker responded by stealing the PRODIGY Red Files from her father's desk. If she could find out everything she could about Jarod and could recapture him, she believed, she'd not only gain her own freedom from the Centre, but would also gain her father's respect... even if she was "just a girl" in his eyes.

In the first season we learned that MissParker has an ulcer that will, a doctor warned, kill her if she doesn't stop working in her stress-filled environment. As was mentioned before, she later made a deal with Mr.Parker that if she was able to return Jarod to The Centre, she could leave The Centre (and its stresses), and go on with her own life... So far, she's been unsuccessful in doing any of those things.

Jarod and Miss Parker seem to have a sort of "sibling rivalry" going between them. They try to upstage and often annoy the heck out of each other. Their private conversations are often curt and abbreviated. They tease each other mercilessly with threats and promises (of information). When Miss Parker seethes with sensuality, Jarod most often deliberately refuses to respond to it. When Miss Parker puts on a dominant stance (such as in Miami when she, briefly, held Jarod captive), Jarod deliberately refuses to be submissive. When Miss Parker thinks she has all of the answers, Jarod deliberately confuses her with more questions... Considering how "combative" they often are, it was something of a surprise when in the second season (after almost a year of animosity between them) Jarod made romatic overtures to Miss Parker (in the "Gigolo Jarod" episode). True to form, however, Miss Parker kept the battle between them going by deliberately rebuffing Jarod's invitation: She took the candy-heart gift he sent her and crushed it between her teeth.

In the "Bank" episode, Jarod and Miss Parker's relationship seemed to get a LITTLE less antagonistic. The two of them worked together to save the life of Mr. Fenigor, and took turns defending one another from bank robbers. When one of the robber tried to stroke Miss Parker's face, Jarod stepped in and told him to leave her alone. Later, when Jarod was wrestling with the bank robber, Miss Parker intervened and saw to it that the robber couldn't reach a gun he wanted to use on Jarod. When the robbery was over, and Miss Parker had returned to her home, Jarod called her and the two of them spoke for a while. Forcing back tears Miss Parker told Jarod that she was frustrated by the fact that they had been so close to learning the truth about their pasts, yet had been thwarted by the robbers (and Centre operatives who tried to assassinate Mr. Fenigor). In soft tones, Jarod comforted her, telling her that she'd figure everything out some day and so would he.

It had been hinted that perhaps Jarod and Miss Parker were twins, but Jarod put that misconception to rest in the "Bloodlines" episode. Although Miss Parker does have a fraternal male twin, it's not Jarod. It's Mr. Lyle. And Miss Parker's "fight" for her father approval and recognition only increased when she realized that Mr. Parker was willing to search the globe and "pull strings" in Europe and Asia to see to it that his son, Mr. Lyle, was returned to prominence in The Centre (even after Lyle's betrayal of The Centre and the murder of a satellite office full of its employees). "Daddy" will seemingly do anything for his son... while leaving his daughter to fend for herself when the going gets rough.

The "Bloodlines" episode also revealed that Jarod's biological father ("the man in the dark suit") was the one who had murdered Catherine Jameson-Parker, according to Mr. Fenigor. When she heard this, Miss Parker "went ballistic", chasing Jarod through the bowels of SL-27 with a gun, shooting at him. The second season finale cliff-hanger episode, left both Jarod and Miss Parker face-to-face in SL-27 when a bomb exploded. Miraculously, neither were injured in the blast.

When she was in college, studying in Japan, Miss Parker had an affair with Tony Tanaka. Knowing he and his father were members of the Yakuza (the Japanese mafia) didn't seem to phase Miss Parker a bit. When Tony showed up at The Centre as part of a plot involving Mr. Lyle and the kidnapping of a Federal witness, Miss Parker, who speaks fluent Japanese, acted as Tony's interpreter, and grinned about the "long... HOT summer" they'd spent together during their college years. She was also on hand to assist Tony with the transfer of funds from his bank account to Mr. Lyle'sCentre account. When she discovered that one of Tony's hands was covered in bandages, she asked him what had happened to him.

He informed her that his father, Sammy Tanaka, was "a very exacting man" who didn't tollerate failure. As punishment for one of Tony's misdeeds, Sammy had had one of Tony's thumbs cut off. It was customary, Miss Parker later explained to Mr. Lyle, for the yakuza to "take the little finger of the offending party". When Mr. Lyle asked, "What's a guy got to do to lose a thumb?" Miss Parker answered, "Good question." [When Mr. Lyle's deal with the yakuza fell through, he was tracked down by Sammy Tanaka's men and deprived of one of his thumbs as well.] Although Miss Parker seemed concerned over Tony's maimed hand, she showed no fear or concern over the fact that Tony (and his father) were decidedly dangerous men.

ON TO THE MISS PARKER GALLERY

This is Catherine Parker (seen with Miss Parker as a child). Once "Catherine Jameson", and a close friend of Harriet Tashman, she had studied to be a nun but never completed her vows. She was a woman of compassion and great personal integrity who fell in love with the wrong man: Mr. Parker. At first, her marriage to Mr. Parker was a good one -- especially when their daughter was born -- but it soon deteriorated. At one point she was so despondent that she even refused to wear her wedding ring (and eventually removed it to a safe deposit box and found by Jarod, who then passed it along to Miss Parker).

Catherine was diagnosed as "manic-depressive", but that diagnosis may have been a false one created by agents at The Centre bent on lessening Catherine's credibility. When she discovered what was going on in The Centre, she risked -- and eventually lost -- her life trying to rescue the children (including Jarod) who were being exploited there. Catherine also found and shielded Jarod's family from The Centre by ensconcing them at Harriet Tashman's farm. She'd managed to save all but a handful of the children in The Centre: those children Jarod whom referred to as "the unlucky ones". Among those children were Jarod and Angelo. (Viewers haven't seen the other ones yet.)
Her death in an elevator at The Centre (on 04-13-70) was originally labeled "suicide", but that is unlikely when given the fact that, in DSA transcriptions of the incident, four distinct gun shots could be heard. On the day of her death, too, Catherine had threatened to exposed Raines' experiments on Angelo (then Timmy), and was in the middle of a plan to smuggle Angelo and Jarod out of The Centre.

Shortly before these incidents took place, Catherine had also suffered a severe beating (at whose hands, viewers haven't yet been told). Jarod found the medical records of that attack and forwarded them to Miss Parker in the "Keys" episode.The incident took place on November 27, 1969 (Thanksgiving Day). Miss Parker has an abbreviated memory of that event. Although she apparently didn't see the beating herself, she could hear it when it was happening, and saw her mother immediately afterwards: bruised and bloodied. Miss Parker also saw Dr. Raines fleeing the Parker house immediately after the incident, carrying something (but viewers haven't been told what yet).Sydney also has information about Catherine's beating, from Catherine herself after the fact, but keeps that information privileged under the auspices of doctor-patient confidentiality.

When Miss Parker first saw the medical reports pertaining to this incident, she accused Jarod of "faking" them. He swore to her that he would have never faked something as serious as this. "I didn't want to have to tell you, but I couldn't withhold a key to your past."

In the "Bank" episode, Miss Parker received from Jarod several letters her mother Catherine had written shortly before her death. The first letter read: "March 20, 1970. I'm counting the days until our trip to Europe. How excited I am at the prospect of showing you the world. For now, though, my friend and I must ammend some of the ugliness that exists around us. But I promise, you and I will put all of this behind us on April 14th. All my love, Mom." (Catherine Parker was, of course, murdered on April 13th, so her promise to her daughter could never be fulfilled.) The other two letters Miss Parker got from Jarod were written the day of Catherine's death. One, written at 2:00 am concerned the failed attempt to rescue Timmy from The Centre; and the other, written at 7:00 am expressed Catherine's worry that she coldn't trust the people around her.

Miss Parker said it wasn't unusual for her mother to write her letters like these. Catherine often gave Miss Parker such letters for her birthdays and on holidays. Miss Parker was mightily concerned, however, that the only reason why she found out about these particulars letter was because Jarod had managed to steal them from a strong box in Mr. Parker's house. When Miss Parker found out about the robbery, she asked her father about it, but he lied to her saying that nothing of value had been stolen. (He also refused to acknowledge to her that Jarod was the thief, even though Jarod had specifically left Mr. Parker a Spiderman PEZ dispenser as proof that he was the trespasser.)

Apparently, unbeknownst to her family and to the big-wigs at The Centre, Catherine Parker had amassed a great deal of information about The Centre's projects and hid it away in several safe deposit boxes around the country. Jarod has been able to locate some of the boxes and found among their contents: notes to Miss Parker from her mother, Catherine's wedding ring, and Catherine's diary.

In the "Bloodlines" episode, Mr. Fenigor revealed that Catherine Parker had been murdered by a man in a dark suit... who was Jarod's father. Believing that Jarod's parent was responsible for the death of Catherine, Miss Parker is now doubly anxious to "get" Jarod.

Back to the Pretenders_Archive at Fortunecity.

For More on Miss P check out: Miss Parker's Safe Haven @ Geocities
See Also Millicent's APAS: Andrea Parker Appreciation Society and join her unofficial association of Miss P fans!