‘The Irrational’ Star Maahra Hill Previews Next Episode: ‘Everyone Is In Danger’
Q&A
The good news: Marisa (Maahra Hill) is probably getting close to solving the mystery of the church bombing that left her ex-husband Alec (Jesse L. Martin) scarred years ago. The bad news: We can only deduce that because someone has bugged her house!
The latest episode of The Irrational ended with Marisa telling Jace (Brian King) that though their suspect, Senator Sanford (James Tupper), had been up in the polls and therefore had no reason to bomb the church in hopes of getting the sympathy vote, it’s possible that someone from his team who had been designated for clean-up of his campaign event was the target. But as she showed him the space she’d made for him in her closet—after being hesitant when he brought up the subject earlier—we saw that someone was listening in.
Below, Hill talks about that, Marisa’s complicated feelings for both Jace and Alec, and what’s to come in the action-packed February 12 episode.
Someone has Marisa’s house bugged. What can you say about who’s listening and what it means in terms of how close Marisa and Jace are getting in their investigation and how much danger they might be in?
Maahra Hill: I can’t say a lot. I think the fact that her house is bugged says that they are pretty close, that someone wants to keep tabs on how close they’re getting. We don’t know who that is yet, but I think it speaks volumes to the progress that they’re making. I think that if they were way off base, then they would be like, “Alright, whatever. It’s not that big a deal.” But I think because they’re making progress and they are getting pretty close to figuring it out, somebody is in the shadows watching.
And that makes me think that they were right about Sanford and maybe they shouldn’t be off his trail just yet because that bug was in place before Marisa gave her latest theory.
I can say that—how do I not give spoilers? I think she was left feeling like he’s an old friend, so she wants to believe that that’s not the case. And after meeting with him, his poll numbers were up. There was no real motive to have bombed a church at his own event. So I think right now, Marisa anyway does not know that her house is bugged and she does not suspect him just yet. But are you saying that you suspect it is him?
Sergei Bachlakov/NBC
Possibly. Right before that reveal, Marisa gives Jace closet space after initially being hesitant about him bringing anything over. Is she ready for that step with him or is it more that she wants to be ready for that step?
I think that she wants to be ready for that step. She really wants to move on, and he’s been so persistent. They know that they have chemistry. They know that they have a solid friendship. I think she’s intrigued by—he’s very good at what he does, and he’s been very helpful on the case. That’s, I think, heartwarming in a way because of how much the case means to her. I think she wants to let her guard down a bit. I think she’s questioning whether keeping him at arm’s length so much is good for her or not and probably also questioning how good for her he is. And right now, I think she’s deciding that he is good for her and this is a way to move on.
But how does Marisa feel about Alec at this point? It can’t help that their relationship continues to be brought up and she’s seeing him all the time to discuss one of the most painful parts of their history that brought them together.
Right. It’s definitely difficult. The things that writers create so that you can have some difficult emotional tension in a relationship… I think they’ve done a wonderful job of that. She’s divorced, but it’s recent. It feels recent, but it’s been a year. So what happened prior to a divorce? You didn’t just get divorced right when the marriage started to dissolve a bit.
I think that she always expects to have him as a part of her life because of just the bond that they have. But this case is when she was introduced to not just her career, but also the love of her life. And I think similarly for Alec, it’s introduced him to his career and potentially the love of his life. So the space that she’s in right now is just trying to honor the decision that she made to get a divorce, but also acknowledging the fact that this is the person that she’s not just been married to and in love with, but she’s worked with for the last 20 years and has been so helpful and she’s gleaned so much from his level of expertise and just the natural gifts that he has. I don’t think that’s easy to part with either. I think she kind of feels like she needs him to help her figure out certain cases and things like that, and especially any insight into his own case is helpful until it becomes a conflict for professional reasons.
The promo (above) for next week’s episode shows Wes Banning (Ben Cotton) on the loose and targeting the FBI and Alec. So what can you preview? Who’s most in danger?
I think this next episode is going to take you for a ride from the very beginning through the end. It is the most action-packed episode that we’ve had so far, and everyone is in danger really. There’s probably someone who’s most in danger for sure, but I’d say that every single person is in danger in one way or another. Whether it’s from an internal experience that they’re having or some external threat, everyone is being challenged quite a bit and in some sort of danger.
I have to say how much I love Marisa and Kylie (Travina Springer) together and that we’ve got some great stuff there. Is anything else coming up with those two?
I hope so. Kylie is such a wiz and she is sorting through her life in a way that she’s coming to some conclusions about what she wants to do and how she wants to see herself professionally in the world. I hope that they get to work together more. I hope that they get to spend more time together and just be in the friendship and the sisterhood that they have. So naturally I hope that they explore much more of that. I think they will. And we’ll see this next episode will bring them a little bit closer together for sure.
How does the season end to set up Season 2?
It’s an exciting end. It is an unexpected twist. It is, hopefully, I would imagine something that no one sees coming, because even as we read the episodes, we’re like, oh my God, from 10 through 11, everything is so twisty and turny. I can’t say much about that final episode, but I will say that it’s definitely an unexpected twist and it will send us on a whole ‘nother journey to figure out who’s behind something.
What else is coming up for the rest of the season? You said the next episode is action packed. Will you be doing any stunts in the remaining episodes of the season?
I would love to do stunts. There’s not a lot of stunts that I’m doing, but there are some devastating moments that happen for her and then closure to this case that began where the season began. So there’s a lot of culminating moments and terrifying moments for her ahead, but no stunts, unfortunately. I wish.
Fortunately, we already know there’s a Season 2, so hopefully you’ll get that then.
Yes, maybe we’ll get stunts then.
The Irrational, Mondays, 10/9c, NBC
