As the opening episode of The Irrational begins, Alec Mercer (Jesse L. Martin) talks about how people are predictably irrational. He explains that people rely on instincts even though they’re almost always wrong. One error in judgment leads to another which is why someone usually ends up calling Alec. Outside a barricaded suspect scene, Alec calls Clay (Teach Grant) who was smart with the baby and all. Clay says he wants what he asked for. Alec lies while telling the man they authorized a helicopter and asks what kind he wants. After helping Clay pick a helicopter, Alec tells him he is going to need a plan for the baby.
Alec convinces Clay to throw away his gun. Once things calm down, Marisa (Maahra Hill) asks Alec what he did back there. He begins telling her about paradoxical persuasion. He says it works around 95% of the time. Marisa argues that his ability to completely divorce emotion from reason is why she married him and why they split up. The next day, Alec goes to the psychology department at Wylton University where he works as a professor. He is introduced to Rizwan (Arash DeMaxi) by Phoebe (Molly Kunz). Then, Alec goes to his class and welcomes everyone to Applied Psychology 101. He says he was burned on over 60% of his body many years ago and that’s what happened to his face.
Alec tells them how he became intrigued with the idea that people repeatedly and predictably make the wrong decisions in many aspects of their lives. When one of the students asks how the burns happened, we see quick flashes of the event in question. Alec claims he ran off the road while drag racing and a gas tank exploded. After the call, Phoebe asks why he didn’t just tell the truth. Alec says he will when he remembers all of it. He receives a call from the mayor. Once he meets the Mayor, he is told that a young woman named Jasmine Curtland was murdered last night. The suspect is her ex-boyfriend, Dylan Hayes, who is the son of Senator Laura Hayes. The Mayor doesn’t want the allegations to blow up Laura’s campaign because she is a political ally.
Alec doesn’t want to be involved because he believes Dylan (Caleb Ruminer) is getting preferential treatment. The Mayor changes his mind by telling him that Dylan is a war hero. She explains she needs to find out whether he is guilty. If he didn’t do it, she’ll do whatever she can to keep his name out of the press. Otherwise, she’ll tell the DA to move forward with full force. Dylan immediately says he killed Jasmine so Alec questions where his lawyer is. He reveals he was having a rough night because it was the anniversary of the attack that killed his friends. He got beers at several bars before ending up at Jasmine’s place. Dylan claims they had sex. He thinks he used a condom.
They got into a fight with Jasmine (Soma Chhaya) saying it was really over this time. Dylan believes he must’ve snapped. Jasmine had a gun for protection because she had a stalker once. Dylan says the gun just went off. He can’t remember anything else since he blacked out. Dylan claims he woke up in his car and was scared because he saw all this blood. When he went to Jasmine’s place, he found her. Alec asks how it felt when he shot her. Although Dylan doesn’t know, he remembers pulling the trigger. Outside the interview room, Alec tells Detective Bryan Chou (Ash Lee) why doesn’t think Dylan did it. He wonders why someone would confess to a murder they didn’t commit.
Next, Alec meets Marisa who learns about Dylan’s case. When they enter the latest crime scene, they encounter DA Elise Bowen (Sara Canning). Bowen says she shot in the chest at short range and probably knew her attacker. The bullet went through her chest and into a display of pressurized hair mousse. When Marisa notices an AA sobriety chip, Alec tells her that Dylan said he and Jasmine met in AA. He notices a camera and learns that Jasmine was an influencer. Elise Bowen thinks the case is cut and dry because Dylan confessed. Alec knows where he’d start investigating. Later, he watches Jasmine’s videos with Kylie (Travina Springer) who says Jasmine has over 250,000 followers.
Alec does an experiment to show her how easy it is to trick people into remembering things. He tells her that the living arrangement is temporary. Kylie asks if he is waiting for Marisa to take him back. Next, Alec meets Bowen to say he ran an experiment to see how easy it’d be to convince someone they had committed a crime they hadn’t. Alec tells Bowen about the experiment. If Dylan didn’t do this, the murderer is still out there. Later, Alec tells Kylie that Wes Banning is up for parole. The suspected lone wolf attacker was suspected of two counts of federal hate crimes for possessing explosives and building the bomb that killed 13 people and injured one. Alec says they have to consider letting him out because he was never convicted of the murders.
Alec admits he couldn’t place him at the scene. Kylie tells him he has to let that go after almost 20 years. She says alcoholics tend to lie, but Alec says there is one place where they don’t. He meets Rizwan and prepares to attend an AA meeting. They’re going to see if anyone knows who Jasmine’s stalker is. Dylan’s sponsor, Ray (Kaj-Erik Eriksen), introduces himself to them. Ray feels like he let Dylan down. Detective Chou calls Alec to say he might want to swing by Jasmine’s place because there is another suspect in her murder. Once he gets there, he learns that a woman broke in because she wanted something of Jasmine’s so she could remember her.
Alec notices that she took a different lip gloss brand than the one Jasmine endorses. He tries to get the woman to explain why she is really there. The woman, Lila (Ella Cannon), says Jasmine ruined her life. Alec watches a video of Jasmine talking about Lila who has a product line that is tested on animals. Alec tells Bowen that Lila wrote threatening notes to Jasmine so she broke in to get them. He suggests others were burned by Jasmine’s influence before asking about the five-year sobriety chip found at the scene. Later, Alec visits Marisa to ask whether any prints were found on the chip. After she says she’ll check, Alec is allowed to come inside. Marisa asks if the nightmares are back. Alec admits he’s had one or two.
He tells her about Wes’s upcoming parole hearing. Alec thinks he should be at the hearing because his injuries could sway the parole board. Marisa insists she will never regret the day they met or anything after that. She gets a message confirming they’ve found something on Jasmine’s laptop. In a video, Jasmine says lives will be ruined when she reveals names. Then, she questions about her own life. She told him they weren’t right for each other but he wouldn’t accept it. AA saved her, but it wasn’t safe anymore because of him. Marisa says it was on her hard drive although she never got the chance to upload it.
Marisa believes it is the boyfriend. Next, it is confirmed that charges were filed against Dylan. Alec visits him at the jail and learns that he doesn’t have a five-year sobriety chip. Dylan eventually says she stopped coming to St. Mel’s because some guy kept hitting on her during the meetings. The guy came to every meeting. Alec and Rizwan attend another AA meeting. Alec admits he doesn’t remember exactly what happened to his face. A flashback shows him leaving a campaign speech for Sanford. His friend goes back in to get his backpack just before the church explodes. During the meeting, Alec says the person responsible for the bombing could walk free because he can’t remember.
Then, he talks to a man about a traumatic event from his past. Jeff hasn’t reached his five-year mark yet. The only one he knows who is past five years is Ray. Alec returns the five-year chip to Ray who says he has been looking for it. Alec asks Rizwan to call his ex-wife and tell her to get there as soon as possible. Alec goes outside to keep Ray there by telling him about his visit with Dylan. When Alec tells Ray they never found the murder weapon, Ray pulls out a gun and points it at him. Alec suspects that is where it went. As Alec drives, Ray tells him not to start that shrink crap with him. Alec begins going through the pros and cons of killing him even though Ray tells him to shut up.
Ray says he just wanted Jasmine to go out with him but she kept saying no. She was going to go online and call him a predator. Ray alleges that Jasmine pulled out the gun. Alec believes he tried to pin the crime on Dylan since the police would blame the ex-boyfriend. He suspects Ray planted all that stuff in Dylan’s head and Dylan didn’t have a beer or go to Jasmine’s place. Ray admits he got everything right, but he is wrong about him going to jail. When the car crashes, Alec remembers someone fleeing in a van after the church explosion. He wakes up in the hospital. Marisa tells him that they took Ray alive. Bowen arrives to tell Alec that Dylan has been released. She asks if he’d ever consider doing work for their department.
Once Bowen leaves, Kylie tells Alec he is a magnet for powerful women in law enforcement. Later, Alec thinks about the bombing and tries to write down what he remembers. Dylan visits him to thank him. He admits he still remembers doing it. Alec tells him that your memory can lie to you. He explains how Dylan can possibly make those memories go away. Dylan says he has been meaning to go back to school. After that, Alec goes to the parole hearing for Wes Banning (Ben Cotton). Marisa enters near the beginning of the hearing. Wes apologizes to the family members. He notices something near the door and stops talking. When asked if he’d likely commit crimes again, Wes says yes.
Alec notices the door closing so he runs out. A vehicle speeds away before he can catch up. Marisa asks if he saw the face or place, but Alec admits he didn’t see anything. He doubts Banning was a lone wolf.
The Irrational Review
National television channels, such as NBC, CBS, and ABC, seem to have a serious problem creating compelling television. Back in the day, these networks created some of the best content. Unfortunately, The Irrational is just part of the long-running trend of less-than-stellar network content.
For the most part, the performances are good enough although some aren’t great. Jesse Martin will stand out as the lead and he does good with the role. The script is one of the primary problems for a handful of reasons. For starters, there isn’t anything that sets The Irrational apart from so many other shows on these big American networks.
It has the same formulaic script with a lead who has experienced something traumatic in the past. The past event and Alec’s personal troubles will loosely interlink the episodes while each will feature a murder with varying levels of success. The primary difference is that Alec focuses on psychology and isn’t actually a member of law enforcement.
The idea is interesting, but it didn’t flesh out during the episode. The predictability was an issue considering I knew Ray would be the killer the second I saw him and I probably won’t be the only one. With the recent strike, there may be little available so viewers might be starved for content that they can view affordably or with an antenna. Otherwise, it is hard to imagine The Irrational will be a memorable experience.
The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of The Irrational can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.
