Do you consider yourself a genius, or do just pretend that you're smarter than everyone else? What's interesting about The Pretender is its concept - a genius with the ability to seamlessly fit into any line of work or circumstance he encounters, a pretender. Sounds pretty simple, right? More specifically, when a young boy named Jarod is kidnapped and intellectually oppressed by the mysterious institution known as The Center, he flees his captors and begins an exhaustive quest to locate his unknown parents. As he matures into a man, still searching, Jarod (Michael Weiss) uses his special intellectual gift for the good of humanity, helping the unfortunate victims he reads about on a daily basis.

Hitting the airwaves in 1996 at a time when television fans were deep in the throws of The X-Files, The Pretender definitely feels as if it's a show from the same era. The second season is where the show found its own sense of maturity, along with its main character, Jarod, whose relationship with his mysterious mentor/psychologist/instructor, Sidney (veteran actor Patrick Bauchau) became the single most interesting relationship of the show. Not only was Sydney Jarod's father figure, but he also served as a key source of antagonistic conflict between the two characters, since he also had knowledge of Jarod's true family ties. That, to the show's credit, was the heartbeat of the anticipated mystery on a weekly basis.

Offered up in 1.78:1 widescreen anamorphic, The Pretender looks great after all these recent years. Given the show's cleanliness and rich color intensity, it feels like a brand new show all over again. If you haven't seen the show up until now, the crisp and energetic visuals alone may hook you in for the ride. In the audio department, you'll have to pretend it's something other than Dolby Digital Surround. If you're looking for the thunderous five-channel experience on this title, you're probably better off expecting to experience the show as close to the original airing as possible. Although the track underachieves in format, it's still a clean ride and doesn't hinder the overall atmosphere the series provides.

Aside from the 24 episodes themselves, which see Jarod sliding into a wide variety of alter egos (an anatomy professor, an Indy car driver, a gigolo, an FBI agent, and DEA psychologist to name a few), the four-disc flip set serves up a disjointed three part featurette spread out over the set in segments. At the end of the first three discs, you'll find each featurette and discover such interesting facets of the show as the approach to the second season at large, it's loose direction after season one, and Jarod's quest to learn more about himself and his family history. For example, Part 2 of the featurette series focuses on Jarod's identity with thoughts from series creator Craig van Sickle, writer Tommy Thompson, co-creator Steven Mitchell, actor Jon Gries (Broots), and Jarod himself, Michael Weiss. Here you'll learn about the storylines and inner details of such episodes as The Indy Show, Unforgotten, Hazards, Past Sin, Collateral Damage and more. If you love Indy racing, keep an eye out for Mario Andretti.

Also featured, as a special extra is a commentary track on the show's two-part season finale, Bloodlines. Here, creator Craig van Sickle reunites with co-creator Steven Mitchell and both team up with Michael Weiss and actress Andrea Parker, who played the lovely and forceful Catherine Parker character. In the midst of nervous laughter, we do hear enlightening but sporadic stories of the show's production, which take us from working on location to set design, various conceptual ideas, the underlying mythology, and various themes of family. Although all four seem happy to be back together again for the commentary, it's clear they weren't quite reacquainted enough to keep fans interested in the collective reflection of the show. If you love the show, you won't be disappointed, but if you're used to the more in-depth and highly informative tracks on the market, you'll have to be patient with this one.

The Pretender: The Complete Second Season is a great trip back to the mood of television during the mid-90s. The show's concept and backstory kept fans wanting more each week, for four years. In the land of TV, that's a lifetime. With clean visuals, 24 entertaining episodes, and decent feature value, fans of the show will be more than happy to put this one on their lists. If you missed the "genius" that is The Pretender, that's the great thing about DVD, you can catch up at your leisure.