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Dean Parker | |||||||||
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 Dean Parker as portrayed by Jack Knight. | |||||||||
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| First Appearance: | |||||||||
| Jumping At Shadows | |||||||||
| Last Appearance: | |||||||||
| Keep The Peace, Part II | |||||||||
| List of Appearances | |||||||||
Dean Parker is Gregory Parker's son. He first appears in season 3 after Greg sues his estranged wife in a desperate attempt to see his son. While Dean initially intends to ask his father to drop the lawsuit and stop trying to contact him, he soon realizes the sacrifices his father makes and the importance of his job. As a result, Dean begins to visit his father more often, eventually coming to live with him and deciding to become a police officer himself.
Dean is a serious, soft-spoken young man who takes after his father more than he initially realizes. He is highly empathetic, like his father, and is even described by Clark as a "human polygraph". He has a strong sense of justice and believes in doing "the right thing".
Background[]
Dean and his mother moved to Dallas, TX, during a very difficult time for Greg. Having just seen a young girl accidentally shoot her own mother (as seen in Episode:You Think You Know Someone), Greg turned to the bottle and drank himself into a stupor. He was deemed unfit as a parent, and his family left him without once turning back.
Not much is known about Dean's life in Dallas. His mother remarried, and Dean was fond enough of his step-father that he was about to take his step-father's last name. Though Greg sent them many letters, all were marked Return to Sender, unopened and unread.
This changes when, in Jumping At Shadows, Dean goes to the SRU Headquarters to talk to his father in person. Their conversation is interrupted when Team One takes on a hot call to save a little girl in witness protection. At first, Dean sees this as his father brushing him off and prioritizing his work over his family yet again, and he nearly leaves. However, Greg convinces him to wait until after the call to continue their conversation. Dean stays with Winnie at headquarters and listens in on the call. Through this, he sees the dedication of his father in profiling the targeted girl, understanding her fragile state of mind, and bringing her back safely. As a result, Dean begins to respect his father and the work that he does. He waits for Team One to back from the call and offers to make dinner for his father, thus bringing them closer together after a long time apart.
Interests[]
In A World of Their Own, Dean is accepted into Cornell University, but he tells his father that he wants to be cop. Greg tries to talk him out of it, and Dean angrily leaves the house, saying, "I thought you'd be happy."
Friends[]
Clark Lane and Dean are childhood friends. They used to hang out together before Dean moved to Dallas. After Dean begins living with his father, they attend the same school and even share classes. In Lawmen, they accompany their fathers on the job and leave the police car to get a closer look. In the end, they obtain valuable information about a police officer and save a man's life, but they are still in trouble because they did not follow orders.
Relationships[]
In Keep The Peace, Part II, it is revealed that Dean has a girlfriend named Mira whom he intends to take to prom. She is comfortable dating him, despite his reputation as a 'human polygraph'.
Dean and his Girlfriend