By Julian
Okay! We are here at the end of NBC’s The Irrational Season One. It has been a validating experience since the first episode last September. The show already has a second season meaning there’s more irrational stuff on the way. That alone is exciting to hear about. Now, let’s talk about how the 20-year-old church bombing case gets wrapped up.
The finale ‘Reciprocity’ begins with the funeral of Marissa Clark’s FBI partner/romantic interest, Jace Richards (Brian King) due to the mysterious ‘Matthias’. Alec Mercer (Jessie L. Martin), and his tech-savvy younger sister Kylie (Travina Springer) came to comfort Clark’s time of mourning. Later, they get back to work on tracking down said mysterious person. Mercer not shaking the feeling that his friend Senator Kevin Samford (James Tupper) might be involved in the church bombing.
Mercer calls in his new girlfriend/ex-MI6 agent Rose DinShaw (Karen David), to help with the investigation. She and Mercer track down a man named Silmar who was the undercover CIA agent at Samford’s campaign event on a yacht. He reveals that Samford is a notorious womanizer who also made his campaign aide Natalie Price (Millian Tesfazgi), come to his private room with him. Silmar discovers that Price is foaming at the mouth with Samford looking guilty.
Mercer attends Samford’s campaign party to learn more about Samford and how he could be ‘Matthias’. His research assistants Phoebe (Molly Kunz) and Riswan (Arash DeMaxi) happen upon a photo of Samford’s unit during the Gulf War. Clark learns that ‘Matthias’ is her boss at the FBI Intelligence Division, Bob Caswith (Garry Chalk). She becomes heartbroken at the man who trained her, and then decides to murder her boyfriend because they got too close. Mercer thought Caswith needed to repay his debt to Samford to save his life in the Gulf War years ago.
She and Mercer confront Caswith outside the rebuilt church to make him confess the truth. Caswith seems to drop his guard until Samford shoots Caswith, insisting that the former had a twisted sense of loyalty. However, Mercer ends up exposing Samford before he starts to announce his run for President of the United States. Thus closing the book of the 2002 church bombing case and resolution for the relatives of Natalie Price.
Phoebe gets a new research apprenticeship with Professor Rachel Myers whom Alec recommended. She does indicate that she needs to live a more predictable life and distance herself from tracking criminals which affected her mental health in the previous episode. This leads Riswan to possibly look for his next research partner in the next season.
Kylie gets a job at the FBI cyber division, taking Alec’s advice from two episodes ago to sometimes ‘break the rules’. Maybe this will spark further character development between her and her new detective girlfriend Morgan Hall (Paloma Nozicka) in the next season.
Mercer and Clark decided to remain as ‘unique friends’ with the former having a date with Rose. Before he does, he slips off his marriage ring and listens to his former acapella group as the last reminder of his friends who died in the church bombing that day.
Six weeks later, Rose appears to be ambushed by a couple of men who are up to no good posing as a towing company. They put a black bag over her head leaving audiences to wonder ‘What is happening?’. Something to think about for the next season premiering this fall.
Well, that was a fun ride that audiences enjoyed. Luckily, we’ll get to pick up with Alec and Co. coming this fall. With that being said, I enjoyed this series. And I can’t wait to pick it back up again.
The Irrational Season One was a thrilling introduction to a new type of investigative procedural that deals with the psychological effects of the human condition. A concept that was a delight to watch every Monday from beginning to end.
