With Irrational being on its mid-season break, Tuesday night was already too quiet.
I love neuroscience and am a huge fan of Jesse L Martin, so I’m glad this show about a behavioral science professor and detective is getting a second season.
While it’s not perfect (which show is?), it’s a lot of fun. Let’s jump right into the Irrational Season 2 midseason transcript and discuss what’s great about this series.
“Irrational” burst onto the scene during a writers’ and actors’ strike when it was one of the only shows to film episodes before the shutdown began, which meant the first season’s schedule was very fluid.
NBC aired what it had and then waited months to see the rest.
Luckily, Irrational Season 2 has a similar schedule to other NBC shows, so we don’t have to wait until March or April to watch the second half of Season 2!
Best TV Series – “Anatomy of a Fall” (“Irrational” Season 2 Episode 5)
In some ways, the show’s “Best Drama Series” category is meaningless.
“Irrational” doesn’t have a bad plot. Even my least favorite stories were very enjoyable, even if they had a lot of plot holes that made them feel like they were made of Swiss cheese or weren’t as exciting as other stories.
That said, Irrational Season 2 Episode 5 inspired me more than any other story this season.
I’m fascinated by mysteries on college campuses. I write them, read them, and enjoy seeing them on TV.
I especially love when the detectives have to navigate the politics of the agency, which Alec does to some extent in Anatomy of a Fall .
The episode tells the story of a girl who allegedly jumped to her death from a college building, but was actually pushed to the ground, and Alec has to work with a college administrator who isn’t willing to push too hard for answers because She didn’t want the school to look bad.
She also doesn’t want her son involved in the investigation, even though he’s Alec’s newest research assistant, which makes things even more interesting.
This episode earned high marks on Irrational Season 2’s midseason report card due to its brilliant set-up. Strangely, there was no reaction from Simon’s mother when she discovered that her son had continued the investigation despite her instructions.
However, this is the only hiccup in a perfect episode.
I loved this story, which exposed the dark side of (certain) sororities, the impact of academic stress on some students, and other serious issues related to college life in 2024.
It also uses Wilton University, where Alec works, rather than the fictional Hudson University, which has the highest crime rate of all time, as it appears in all crime dramas involving college campuses.
Best of all, Anatomy of a Fall ends with Phoebe back in Alex’s lab, where she belongs, instead of trying to work for an unscrupulous professor whose last name we finally learn.
Now we just need Rizwan’s!
For all of these reasons, this story scores extremely high on our Irrational Season 2 midseason report card.
Worst Episode – “Stan By Me” (Irrational Season 2 Episode 7)
As much as I enjoyed “Irrational,” the fall season finale was underwhelming.
Irrational Season 2 Episode 7 breaks from the usual mold by having Alec spend most of his time working with Rose instead of the FBI.
There was nothing wrong with that in itself, and Alec and Rose had already crossed paths on a previous case. Still, something about this episode didn’t work very well.
There was no class lecture at the beginning to solve the mystery, and this week’s case wasn’t all that exciting.
The ending is as inspiring as ever, with the wrongly accused K-pop star realizing she can succeed by being herself rather than listening to her manager, but something feels off about this episode.
It doesn’t help that Marissa has a silly subplot revolving around a new boss who’s overly eager to prevent burnout by cutting her hours and forcing her to attend social events.
Thankfully, the story wrapped up by the end of the episode, but it was a waste of time, resulting in an unexpectedly low score on our Irrational Season 2 midseason report card.
Best Story – Phoebe searches for her way back to Alec
Before the season started, there was a lot of speculation about what would happen to Phoebe.
She quit her job as Alec’s research assistant because she felt the dangerous situations he often had to put himself into to solve this week’s cases were bad for her mental health, but Molly Kunz has promised she won’t be leaving the show, And there is more to her character.
Phoebe’s journey back to Alec doesn’t drag out too ridiculously and is a compelling story in its own right.
At first, Phoebe is just bored at her new job. Her new boss wanted her to relax, so he didn’t give her anything to do.
It’s weird, but it seems to make sense in the world of Irrational, so okay.
However, the second half of the story is even more intense. Phoebe discovers that the professor lets the research assistant do all the work, while she takes all the credit.
Sadly, this situation is so common in academia that it’s not clear whether the professor did anything wrong. Ava, the student involved, doesn’t care that she’s being used as a ghostwriter, but it bothers Phoebe, and she’s no less anxious than she was when she was working for Alec.
The short version of the story is that Phoebe became a whistleblower, got her boss fired, and then couldn’t find a new job because the plagiarizing professor made sure no one would hire her. So she ended up back in Alec’s department.
However, this story ranks so high on our Irrational Season 2 midseason report card because it gives Phoebe a new best friend and ally: Kelly.
Alec’s sister is getting a bigger role this season, which is a good thing. Her relationship with Phoebe is one of the funniest parts of the show.
Kelly helps Phoebe understand the cost of being a whistleblower, later convincing her that she can’t escape her anxiety and that it would be best for Alec to get his old job back.
These two have been so close this season and I hope for more of this in the second half!
Worst storyline ever – Alec tries to stop a train from crashing by standing on the tracks
I enjoyed most of the story in Irrational Season 2 Episode 6, but the climax needed some work.
This case is very different but interesting. A woman who uses datasets to predict disasters and other major events is worried that a train collision is likely due to a hacker attack on the system that is supposed to keep trains safe.
Alec is able to get online and subtly warn people to evacuate the commuter train, but the problem persists because the freight train is still moving and an engineer interviewed by the FBI refuses to slow down or stop no matter what Alec says.
Exciting, right?
However, due to Alec’s ridiculous solution, Irrational Season 2’s climax on the mid-season report card is, at best, a D grade.
He played a high-stakes game of chicken with the engineer, climbing onto the tracks where the train needed to stop and hoping the engineer would blink first.
This feels unrealistic and dangerous.
It’s hard to believe that a train traveling at extremely high speeds would stop immediately, especially since the engineer won’t even slow down until it becomes clear to him that failure to slow down will kill Alec.
The episode redeems this by having Kelly yell at Alec for taking unnecessary risks and making him realize that such dangerous behavior is the wrong way to deal with the trauma of surviving the explosion he had years ago. a little.
The ending is also strong, with Alec deciding after a conversation with Kelly that he would rather keep his scars than have them surgically removed.
Still, the chicken-on-the-train scene felt dangerous. There must be another solution!
Honorable Mention: Rizwan’s Growth
In the first season of Irrational, Rizwan suffered from severe stage fright. He enjoys doing research behind the scenes and helping Alec solve cases, but he’s afraid of teaching his students himself.
When asked to take over for one of Alec’s classes, he froze, stammered, and was incoherent, his lackluster performance sending students to sleep.
This is no longer the case. Rizwan now regularly presents Alec’s ideas to the class, sometimes even performing them to help demonstrate.
His increased confidence makes him a more enjoyable character. I really like Rizwan this season. A+!
Over to you, irrational fanatic.
How would you rate the midseason score for Irrational Season 2?
Vote in our poll and have your say!
Irrational airs Tuesdays on NBC at 10/9c and Wednesdays on Peacock. New episodes will return on January 7, 2025.
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