Jesse L. Martin and ‘The Irrational’ Cast Preview Alec’s Blind Spot (VIDEO)

Damian Holbrook October 15, 2024, 5:06 pm

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The doctor is back in! And our excitement for it borders on, well, The Irrational.

The charisma factory that is Jesse L. Martin is back as Dr. Alec Mercer, a professor of behavioral science at a fictional D.C.-area university and in Season 2, he’s got crime and passion on his genius-level mind.

Last week’s premiere picked up shortly after the Season 1 cliffhanger, which saw his ex-MI6 girlfriend Rose (Karen David) being abducted by a band of black-clad strangers, and Alec realized something is amiss and called in the troops: His FBI-agent ex-wife Marisa (Maahra Hill) and tech-savvy sister Kylie (Travina Springer), who recently joined the Feds as a consultant. As they pieced together who could have orchestrated the kidnapping, a surprisingly reckless side of the usually logical Mercer emerged.

“[That is] where he becomes irrational,” says Martin of his character’s loyalty to a woman whose past could put his entire family at risk. (Watch the full video interview above.) “He can be blinded just like anyone else…his behavior cannot speak to any kind of rational senses.”

Maahra Hill as Marisa, Jesse L. Martin as Alec Mercer — 'The Irrational' Season 1 Episode 10

NBC

So even though he’s got a big brain, it will take Alec some time before he realizes that not only has he put a possible target on his loved ones, but that he’s also caused them concern. “There is a point in the second season, it’s a small moment, but there’s a moment,” Martin admits, “where I realized how much I’ve may have put them in danger, how much I worried them.”

While we all wait for him to reach that epiphany, Marisa and Kylie will continue to provide us with one of the most rare friendships on TV: the ex and their former in-law. “We both love him so much, so we both have a good sense of who he is,” explains Hill of the bond between the two. “Alec and I were married for 15 years, so of course I developed a great relationship with Kylie… She’s like a sister to me.”