Jarod was stolen at a young age and brought to the Centre so he barely knew anything of his parents or his life before that. He grew up in the Centre with Sydney, his trainer and the person he had most contact with, who was the closest thing to a father figure he had. When he was eleven he met Miss Parker, a mysterious little girl who surprised him one day and gave him his first kiss. Not long after that he witnessed her mother's death: shot to death in an elevator by somebody in the Centre. Jarod witnessed a lot of tragedies at the Centre, which is one of the things that lead him to escape the Centre in 1996.

The main reason for his departure was the fact that he found out that his "sims" were being used for evil, not good, like staging military coups and other things more horrible. Feeling guilty and resentment for this exploitation of his abilities he fled the Centre to make up for what he blames himself for by doing good and avenging the innocent. This is the main premise for The Pretender . Once outside his genious allowed him to take on any type of job imaginable while he scanned newspapers and city streets to find situations where he could help innocents who were wrongly hurt or killed by unscrupulous individuals. Ironically, even as smart as he was, because of being isolated at the Centre for so long, he didn't know what ice cream, fake dog poop, or even Christmas was.

Each episode he discovers something different which reveals his magical innocence despite his exponential intelligence. Jarod uses his delightful wit to get revenge on the criminal in each episode, assuring they would do their dirty deeds no longer. This usually involves placing them in nearly the same situations they put their victims in, or at least fool them into thinking they are in the same situation. This retrobutive justice is one of the hallmarks of his mission.

When Jarod escaped, obviously the Centre wanted him back, so they sent two individuals Jarod-hunting: the vicious Miss Parker and Sydney. They, with a "sweeper" team began scouring the country following leads and tips trying to find and capture Jarod. But his intelligence always kept him at least one step ahead of them, except for a few rare occasions. But even when they got close, Jarod always slipped away. His ability to escape sticky situations and vanish into thin air is comprobable to Batman's. What compounded the Centre's need to find him is the fact that Jarod stole all the Centre's DSAs pertaining to him, a mini-CD visual record from hidden cameras of all his sims, basically his life at the Centre. He also stole millions of dollars from the Centre.

Jarod even helps Miss Parker, Sydney, and Broots (a computer nerd who helps track Jarod from the Centre) to find him. He will always taunt them with ambiguous clues as to his whereabouts and what he's doing. He will do things like send them a race car arcade game if he is playing a race car driver, or a special-effects dummy if he is a special-effects technician. But even with these clues Miss Parker, Sydney, Broots, and other characters like Brigitte, are never quick enough to catch him. This really angers Mr. Raines, the sinister old man hooked to an oxygen tank due to a lifetime of smoking who is very high-ranking at the Centre. He is also suspect in the murder of Catherine Parker, Miss Parker's mother.

There are clues dropped here and there that suggest that Jarod might have romantic feelings for Miss Parker, and vice versa. Even with her mean spirit (which is mellowing out) and passionate pursuit of Jarod, romantic tension between them is present which makes their relationship very dynamic, and impossible.

Jarod gets clues of his own once in a while as to the identity of his parents, which he knows very little about. Thanks to Sydney and a mysterious mole in the Centre, he has obtained a picture of a lady that might be his mother and possible locations. He got a war medal that supposedly belonged to his father. His pursuit for his past is just as passionate, if not more, than the Centre's pursuit of him. He got the medal from his brother Kyle, who was programmed to be a sociopath by Mr. Raines. In the episode entitled "The Dragon House" (season 1's finale) he encounters Kyle for the first time, a killer, kidnapper, and expert escape artist. He apparently was killed in that episode, but evidence suggests that he will be back. Also in "The Dragon House" Jarod nearly meets his mother again, and a mysterious girl who looks to be his sister. This reunion is tragically cut short by Miss Parker, Sydney, Mr. Raines, and some sweepers.

The character of Jarod is an ingenious invention by the creators and writers of The Pretender. Each week the writers marvel viewers with their wit and intelligence that is required to write about such a witty and intelligent character. The beauty of the show and the character is that literally anything is possible. With Jarod being so free to be anything, only the imagination limits the possibilities. This is why it is virtually impossbile to make a prospection as to what lies in store for Jarod in the future.