The following is a list of episodes for the NBC television series The Pretender.
The series ran for four seasons from 1996 through 2000, with 86 episodes produced, plus two television film sequels that aired on TNT in 2001.
While pretending to be a police detective, Jarod receives a case about a missing teenage chess prodigy Bryce Banks (Emile Hirsch) that reminds him of his own kidnapping by The Centre.
FBI profiler Samantha Waters (Ally Walker) arrives, believing the case is connected to eight unsolved cases from the 1980s, also featuring teenage chess experts with some similarities, like frayed paternal relationships; six of the boys were found murdered, while two remain missing.
Upon finding the kidnapper's hideout, the team discovers the two boys are still alive, having been kidnapped and brainwashed by a man they call "Father", and being renamed "Joshua".