‘The Irrational’: Jesse L. Martin & Karen David on the ‘Magic’ of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ Musical

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Irrational Season 2 Episode 17 “Suddenly Alec.”]

The Irrational‘s musical episode — Alec (Jesse L. Martin) and Rose (Karen David) investigate a murder at a community theater production of Little Shop of Horrors — isn’t all fun and games. After all, there is a case, Alec does narrowly avoid getting seriously injured (or killed!), and there’s a shocking reveal at the end about Rose.

But Martin and David did have a lot of fun filming the episode, they share with TV Insider. Alec ends up auditioning and securing the part of Audrey II, the plant, and Rose, with a drama school background, at first only helps him prepare. But when the murderer turns out to be the actress playing Audrey, someone needs to step in … and fortunately, Rose knows the part well, leading to the couple’s duet on “Suppertime II.” She’s thrilled to do so.

Alec, on the other hand, Martin notes, is off to the side in the sound booth. “Not only does Alec feel a little bit more comfortable not being on stage, not seen while he’s playing the plant, but it also gives Alec a chance to watch people in his normal capacity,” he says.

Martin also points out that singing isn’t entirely new to Alec. “In the original description, when he was in college, back when he had the accident that scarred him, he was part of an a cappella group,” he says. “But it was a long, long, long, long time ago, and Alec certainly isn’t that guy anymore. You do see in the episode that I’m obviously quite terrified to even do anything like this, and Rose does a lot to try to bolster my confidence in just getting up there and doing it.”

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He continues, “But there’s something magical that happens in the theater. And if you’ve ever done theater or at least even sat in a theater to watch a play or a musical where the suspension of disbelief happens, magic is possible, and suddenly it feels so great to be a part of it that you become not only overwhelmed, but absolutely inspired to do the best you can possibly do at that very moment. So that’s what you saw when you saw me absolutely enjoying what I was doing.”

Martin and David both agree the latter had the most fun with this episode, “although I was petrified because I had to put a New York accent on in front of professional New Yorkers,” she adds. “That was utterly frightening for me. But you put that gorgeous blonde wig on and that wonderfully delightful pink floral rose robe, and everything just fell into place. Rose is very vocal about the fact that she trained at drama college with the best of the best and takes this very seriously, and that she’s got the experience and, in so many ways, Rose totally wanted this to happen, but she was just thrilled that she was living vicariously through Alec. Whether he initially wanted to do it or not, she was living vicariously through him. And so it was such a bonus when the timing of the whodunnit and who got arrested, she could [step in].”

David calls the duet for Alec and Rose “a magical moment because goodness knows, we’ve seen them throughout these past two seasons having to navigate through some really dangerous and traumatic events. So to see them have this wonderful moment of levity, this lightness, whilst solving a crime, of course, and just perform together on stage is, it’s like all the stars aligned.”

She used the fact that Rose was a last-minute addition to the cast for her performance as Audrey. “She’s going to be a bit rusty, and it’s good to have those nerves in a way, too, going on. And she’s obviously loving every minute of it, but she’s absolutely petrified at the same time,” says David. “And I love that vulnerability and that juxtaposition because certainly if we’ve seen anything with her relationship with Alec, he has created this wonderful safe space for Rose to begin to open up for us to learn more about Rose, as we certainly do at the end of the episode. ‘By the way, FYI, there’s something I probably should have told you, but I can explain.'” She’s referring to the fact that the episode ends on the shocking reveal that Rose is married! What’s that going to mean for her and Alec’s relationship?

What did you think of the musical episode, Martin and David’s singing, and that shocking Rose reveal? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Irrational, Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC