‘The Irrational’: Jesse L. Martin on Bombing Answers & Alec’s Complicated Relationship With Ex-Wife Marisa (VIDEO)
The Irrational is getting closer to giving Alec (Jesse L. Martin) and the audience answers about the church bombing that left him scarred and has him and his ex-wife Marisa (Maahra Hill) digging for answers.
When TV Insider recently caught up with Martin during the break between new episodes (the last one aired on November 6, and the next one on January 29), he admitted he didn’t want to know too much about what’s next. “I want the mystery to be a mystery to me, and I got a feeling that Maahra Hill, who plays my wife—ex-wife, sorry, that’s one of the things I get confused about as the character and as a real person—knows probably more than I do.” That’s “absolutely” very different from his character. With Alec, “it’s in his nature to know it all,” the star agrees.
Watch the video above for the delightful Martin’s thoughts on Alec’s relationship with his sister Kylie (Travina Springer) and tendency to get into dangerous situations, as well as what he wants to know about his character. Then read on for more from the star delving into his professor of behavioral science.
As the show is getting closer, though, to all these answers that Alec has wanted for all these years, how do you think that’s going to change how he reacts to things? Do you think we’ll see more irrational behaviors from him?
Jesse L. Martin: It’s quite possible. One of the things I’ve always said about the show since we started is, yes, I may be an expert on other people’s behavior, but I’m certainly no expert on my own and what informs my behavior.
What informs my logic, what informs me as a human being—by me, I mean Alec—has a lot to do with what happened to him, the trauma that he went through, and oftentimes, other characters on the show have to tell me like my sister Kylie, like my ex-wife. Even my students have to tell me about my behavior as it stems from what I’d gone through, which makes the character quite interesting because it’s not that fun just being the smart guy. It’s way more fun to be the guy who’s really good at what he does, but his life is still a work in progress.
Speaking of a work in progress, Alec may be moving on from Marisa because his successful 24-hour date turned into an investigation with Rose (Karen David). But then she did have to leave for work, and they talked about meeting up again and doing something when she got back. How does he feel about her?
What I can say is Rose is a great professional match, first of all, and I think that’s why we set up that date the way that we did. Shout-out to Karen David, who is a fantastic person and an excellent actress. I was so glad that they brought her in because we hit it off like gangbusters and had so much fun with the back and forth, the cat and mouse of it all. I do know a little bit about her coming back. I don’t know that much. I don’t know how it’s going to progress. I hope it does because I think it’s a very interesting match.
I think it also makes for great stories between me and my ex-wife, and I love the back and forth that we get into, particularly when it comes to behavior, when it comes to observation, because she’s got her own set of skills that I could certainly learn from and frankly find sexy.
And I feel like even if it doesn’t necessarily work out with Rose, she’s the perfect person for Alec to realize that he can be with someone else.
That, I think, was the initial idea: Can you move on? Can you learn what went wrong from your previous relationship? What were my faults? What could I do better in this life? I think for Alec, it’s truly baby steps, which is why—who in real life sets up a 24-hour date where all we’re going to do is basically work together?
But it worked for them.
It did. It totally works for them. I’m not such an intellectual, but I kind of imagine that there’s probably an intellectual couple out there who’ve done something similar or continue to do something similar. And maybe there’s a secret somewhere in their relationships.
Alec and Marisa have that history, and they’re working together on this case that’s a very personal case to both of them, which has to stir up emotions. At this point, though, how does Alec feel about Marisa? He also has to deal with a little jealousy earlier in the season when he finds out about her relationship.
What I do know is that Alec will always have feelings for Marisa. Always. How that plays out, I have no idea. I don’t know what Alec thinks. I don’t know what Jesse thinks because I don’t ask too many questions. The television landscape sort of gets piecemealed, and I actually enjoy it that way. I don’t know much more than the audience knows, really. And I’m hoping that it just gets more complicated, more in-depth. [Laughs] And I think that she will always be a part of my life, which also means that Maahra will always be a part of our storytelling, which is a great thing. She’s fantastic. So I just want to see how complicated it can actually get emotionally, even just physically.
Sergei Bachlakov/NBC
And it seems like that’s where the season is heading, with the answers coming about the church bombing because of how mixed up they are in their relationship, given it’s what brought them together.
It’s what brought us together, exactly.
Do you think we’ll see how he approaches his classes and those experiments change as he’s dealing with all this stuff with the church bombing? Or is that kind of the consistency that he needs in his life, that he wants that to remain the same?
I think—very astute, by the way—a little bit of both. I think one of the more interesting things for me as an actor is going on these excursions where I’m helping with a case, or I’m solving a mystery, but being able to bring that directly to the classroom and turning that into a lesson for my students is the most interesting thing to me about this character and is what I hope to inspire the writers to continue to do because in a way, the students are my audience and therefore our audience, the television audience will get to be students in that regard, too. They’ll learn, just like I learned. They’ll get to see how I learned that behavior, how I learned what it is, how I learned to even coin phrases for it, and my students will get to do the same thing.
The Irrational, Returns, Monday, January 29, 10/9c, NBC
