In The Irrational, professor Alec Mercer teaches us why we do seemingly irrational things, while trying to solve a bombing that has affected him personally. A lot of human behavior seems to make no sense. This is why psychologists have come up with all kinds of fascinating experiments to make it make more sense. In this show, such a psychologist uses his insights into the human psyche to solve violent crimes. Cue in, prof. Alec Mercer (Jesse L. Martin, Law & Order), a university professor hired by all kinds of organizations to help understand people that are difficult to understand. He is supported in this by his two research assistants, Phoebe (Molly Kunz, Finding Carter) and Razwan (Arash DeMaxi, Partner Track), who in practice mostly serve to help the viewer understand the science. At home, his sister Kylie (Travina Springer, Ms. Marvel), an activist hacker, sometimes helps him through the more difficult cases.
Mercer’s appetite for fighting crime does not come out of nowhere; he actually has quite some skin in the game (pun intended), as he was also the victim of a church bombing some twenty years ago, which left him with scars on large parts of his body. While that case seems solved at the beginning of the series, we quickly learn in the first season that there is more to it than meets the eye. That is why Mercer and the FBI agent assigned to the original case, Marisa Clark (who later became his wife, and even later his ex-wife, played by Maahra Hill (Delilah)), decide to reopen the case.
Every episode in this first season therefore consists of a mix of two aspects; a case of the week, and some progress in the old church bombing. Given that this season only has eleven episodes, there is quite some speed in the developments of this background case, even though most of each episode is dedicated to the case of the week. The quality of those cases differs per episode, but is in general quite okay. And every week, we learn something new about the human psyche.
We have seen it all in other shows, but it is a fun watch
But this (pseudo-)science is not what makes the show. Rather, what makes it a decent success is the charismatic Mercer/Jesse L. Martin. He carries this show. This type of show has nothing new under the sun; rather we have seen it all in shows like Lie to Me, Perception, and The Mentalist (all shows that I liked), in the combination of (pseudo-)science and crime-solving, mixed with some flashy experiments. But it is a fun watch, like those others.
So is this the most realistic or innovative show out there? No, definitely not. But I enjoyed it. The pacing is good, the acting decent enough, and the cases kept me intrigued. In the end, that is really all what another crime show needs to survive; and this one did, as it has been renewed for a second season. So did you like any of the shows mentioned before, give this one a try. If that is not your cup-of-tea, you’d do well to skip this one, because it is just the same old same old.
About the writer, Nienke de Boode
She started with watching NCIS, CSI and Bones, but over time her passion for TV shows has grown to what it is today, with dozens of shows that need to be watched. You can always wake her up for a good crime show, but she is also open to different things. Comedy and fantasy are on her list of favourites as well. Since October 2014, she also writes for MySeries to combine her love for TV shows and writing.
