Jessica's back, and boy is she hot! Jess is the second E2 star to encounter Jarod, the super-smart Pretender who helps out the weak and misfortunate. It's one of our favorite shows here at the Koba's nest, so we were looking forward to her appearance. She did not disappoint us.
Jess played Rachel, a CIA agent who had been recruited out of college for a special simulation project. Now, ten years and a new job later, her children are kidnapped. In order to get them back, she has to do whatever the kidnappers want - which is to assasinate a prominent Senator. She encounters Jarod at the DC bus station while trying to escape from the kidnappers' net. Jarod saves her from being assaulted in the women's room, and tags along to help her. Rachel makes it VERY clear that she does NOT need his help, even though they discover that they're very much alike. Both of them were recruited at a young age, worked on simulated terrorist activities for a secret organization, and escaped when they had moral objections to those simulations being used in real-life situations.
In the end, Rachel accepts Jarod's help in saving her children while avoiding killing anyone. They discover that all of her old associates and their families have died under mysterious circumstances a few days after political assasinations. They figure out that her co-workers were coerced into performing the assasinations, then they and their families were killed to avoid disclosure.
Jessica puts in a very believable performance as a mother who has to compromise her ethics in order to save her children. Of course, we all know that Jess has done her best work as a woman who is fighting against someone who has control over her - like Reilly. Her performance was closest to her role in E2 as anything that she's done so far. The viewer really did believe that she was a strong, capable, intelligent woman who was in way over her head, but didn't think that she needed help.
This episode was somewhat of a departure for The Pretender. Usually, Jarod carefully researches the people that he helps, they accept his help quickly, and he does his thing. In this case, he stumbles across Rachel, she doesn't want his help, and she's clearly his equal. Hopefully, we'll see her character again under better circumstances.
In conclusion, I give Jessica Steen five winning poker hands out of five for a stunning performance in The Pretender.