The Irrational is NBC’s newest—and one of only a handful—scripted new dramas this season, putting Jesse L. Martin in the hot seat as Alec Mercer, a behavioral science professor who lends his set of skills to law enforcement agencies and corporations to help solve mysteries by getting into the mind of the suspect. In the series premiere’s case, he got into the mind of Dylan, the Senator’s son, who was considered a suspect in the murder of his ex-girlfriend, but who Alec was not convinced was the killer.
Alec’s ability to figure out a person’s motives and deduce whether or not they’re telling the truth is an asset, not only to those being wrongfully accused of a crime they didn’t commit but even to those who are convinced they did the crime, as Dylan confessed to the murder.
What Alec was able to pick up was that Dylan had a very vague recollection of the incident in comparison to very vivid memories from his time spent at AA, which led him to believe that those memories were planted; his mind was essentially playing tricks on him. In one moment, Alec declares that memory is the great conman of human nature as it has the ability to lie to us and make us believe something that didn’t actually happen, which, if you think about it, is somewhat of a scary thought and an interesting concept for a TV show to explore… correctly.
The series is a police procedural in the most straightforward of ways with evidence somewhat falling in Alec’s lap as breaks in the case come without much heavy lifting. This may be a make-it-or-break-it for you, though I think many people will appreciate the simplicity of a series where the case is solved in the fourth act, especially amid such a complex TV landscape nowadays.
THE IRRATIONAL — Episode “Pilot” — Pictured: (l-r) Jesse L. Martin as Alec Baker — (Photo by: Sergei Bachlakov/NBC)
Alec was determined to prove everyone wrong who accepted Dylan’s guilty confession at face value—if he confessed to being innocent, we wouldn’t believe him, so why should we believe him when he says he’s guilty (it also begs the question: why can’t the police and other agencies do their job properly without external help? And how many times do they get the wrong guy and look the other way?)—but the investigation seemingly moved itself along. He knew Dylan didn’t do it, but he didn’t necessarily have another suspect until Lila was caught breaking into Jasmine’s place. He didn’t believe Lila’s story in the slightest as he paid attention to the little things and was able to call out her bluff trying to use one of her lipgloss’s as Jasmine’s. When she finally came clean, Lila had a motive, but she also had an airtight alibi, which made her innocent.
During that interrogation, Alec found a 5-year sobriety chip, which helped him pinpoint Ray, the only member at AA who achieved the milestone. He confronted Ray without so much as waiting for backup—because it’s clear that Alec is a bit of a thrill junkie and wouldn’t pass up finding out exactly why Ray committed the crime, and he wanted a front seat to see what he’d do next.
Of course, there seem to be moments of human nature that still take him by surprise; he was convinced Ray was the killer, however, he never expected him to point the gun at him and try to get away.
No one was too pleased with Alec’s thrill-seeking escapades, including his ex-wife, Marisa, who is conveniently an FBI agent, and Elise, the DA who seems smitten by Alec’s skills and determination. Is a love triangle bubbling up? Yes. But as Alec’s little sister underscored, Elise may be hot but she’s still shipping the “OG.” And it’s evident that while Alec and Marisa’s relationship may have hit a roadblock, there’s still a lot left to be explored between them, particularly when it comes to the overarching mystery of how he got that burn mark.
Alec plays with the story he shares publicly about his scar, but in reality, it goes back to a pretty dark moment in his life, one that triggered his obsession with the human mind—a bombing at a church that left him as the lone survivor.
As someone who enjoys the heck out of a murder mystery, or, any kind of mystery at all, I love that this is a bigger-picture focus woven throughout the cases of the week that paints a better picture of Alec and allows fans to get to know the intricacies of his person and what makes him tick. We’ll get to know him better by exploring weekly cases, but digging into his past and what shaped him into the man that he is today is also important and necessary, especially as he desires closure. Marisa was also a significant part of his life at that time since we saw that she was the responding FBI officer when he woke up in the hospital room, so we’ll also get insight into the beginning of their relationship—and what led to their seemingly amicable divorce.
The parole hearing for Wes Banning, the alleged bomber that Alec cannot place and has no memory of, didn’t go as planned as a mysterious figure peered through the door—going undetected by a whole courtroom—and forcing the suspect to tell the judge that if released, he will continue committing crimes and putting people in danger.
As Marisa underscores, someone else is pulling the strings, someone with enough pull that they scared Banning behind bars again, and it’s up to Alec to figure out who it is and why.
The series, which delivered a solid pilot episode and has a good foundation to build on, has promise—and given the NBC audience’s affinity for police procedurals, it definitely found the right home.