The Irrational Season 2 Episode 8 suggested Alec’s risk-taking goes too far, but were certain people’s concerns hypocritical? Our review!
The post The Irrational Season 2 Episode 8 Sidelined Alec To Make A Point, But Were Rose And Marisa Any Different? appeared first on TV Fanatic.
Alec’s promise to cool it was never going to last.
The Irrational Season 2 Episode 8 took him out of the main action but couldn’t stop him from taking risks with his health even after he made himself sick doing so.
Still, Rose and Marisa’s idea of taking over seemed to be for them to be the ones doing unreasonably dangerous things, making their concerns seem somewhat on the hypocritical side.
After Alec collapsed from appendicitis-related pain, I was worried that this was the series’ way of writing him out for an episode.
A lot of NBC shows write people out in spurious ways so they can rotate active cast members and save money, but that wouldn’t have worked well for The Irrational.
Alec is a huge part of the series’ premise. No Alec means no neuroscience, plus it would make the series nothing more than yet another police procedural.
Fortunately, The Irrational Season 2 Episode 8 didn’t quite go that way. Instead, we had the fun of Alec trying to run an investigation from his hospital bed while Marisa and Rose did all the risk-taking.
I wish he’d have stuck to speaking with witnesses and suspects from his hospital bed, though, so that we could have avoided the trope of him trying to leave against medical advice and collapsing again.
Did Alec learn his lesson after his wound reopened? I doubt it, though Kylie isn’t about to let him try any more tricks like that!
The Irrational Season 2 Episode 8 was all about Alec’s mental health issues, which prevented him from staying in bed and completely leaving the case to Marisa and Rose.
However, Kylie’s reactions cracked me up, even though they weren’t meant to be funny.
I especially liked her reaction to discovering Alec was doing witness interviews when he was supposed to be resting.
She should have known Alec would never completely unplug from a case, no matter what, but her bemused reaction was hilarious.
Their final scene was more serious but also strong.
Alec: Weren’t you being inducted into your band honor circle thing tonight?
Kylie: Don’t worry about it. It’s just a silly little party with my college friends, that’s all.
Alec: They want to honor you. That’s an important part of your life too.
It’s interesting how Kylie also built her life around putting her needs last. She sacrifices a lot to take care of Alec while he does the same thing to save the world.
I’m glad Alec could at least recognize that self-sacrificing trait in his sister and encourage her to go spend time with her friends.
Hopefully, he’ll listen to his own advice one of these days, though Alec and Kylie probably both think that it’s “different” when it’s their situation, and the other person’s tendency to not take care of themselves is a more serious problem.
Although Marisa’s warning to Rose that Alec is a lot to handle and takes too many risks in the name of helping others was well-intentioned, it was also somewhat hypocritical.
Marisa and Rose didn’t take any fewer risks than Alec would have.
Is ignoring the forest rangers’ warning and searching through woods that might soon be on fire that much different than Alec standing in front of a train to stop it?
It was an interesting role reversal, with Alec stuck in the hospital worrying about whether the women he cared about would come back alive instead of them worrying about his latest stunt.
Still, Marisa was the first to lecture Alec about taking too many risks and also the first to insist they go into the potentially burning forest.
She and Alec are alike in that way, and that’s probably what attracted her to him in the first place. She did say that after her son was born, she decided to channel her attraction to danger into working for the FBI, after all.
However, Rose is closer to being the right woman for Alec because (at least at this point) she understands his need to sacrifice everything to help others and is not scared away by it.
Having Alec stuck in the hospital while Marisa and Rose went on a dangerous hike in the woods sounds like a hard sell on paper, but it turned out to be brilliant — and Rose and Marisa’s bonding was a big part of that.
The two began the episode as Alec’s two big love interests, and even though Marisa isn’t into Alec anymore that way, it seemed like that was a harder adjustment for her than she admitted.
However, by the end, they were best friends. I love that for them.
There are too many stories on TV of women fighting with each other over a man, so it’s refreshing for a current and ex-lover to become best friends.
We got to learn some of Marisa’s backstory on top of it.
Marisa’s story of how she got pregnant and went on her own to a shelter for teenage mothers-to-be brought tears to my eyes.
I also wondered if something more would come of this later. She said she closed the adoption because she doesn’t want to be tempted to search for her son, but come on — a drama like The Irrational can’t bring something like that up without the son reappearing!
My favorite aspect of The Irrational is the way it uses neuroscientific and behavioral psychological principles in connection with the mystery.
“Lost Souls” did this especially well with the Ulysses pact idea — putting yourself in a situation where you’re forced to take actions you normally would be resistant to.
Shanae nearly killed herself before David and his gun ever showed up by putting herself in a situation where she was forced to run 26 miles when her body couldn’t take more than 18.
Her Ulysses pact wasn’t much different than Alec’s standard operating procedure. He, too, pushed himself too hard and got seriously ill as a result.
His body did its own Ulysses pact, though, shutting down and putting him in a situation where he was forced to rest… even if it didn’t take the first time.
Over to you, The Irrational fanatics!
What did you think of The Irrational Season 2 Episode 8?
Hit the comments with your thoughts, and don’t forget to vote in our poll to rate the episode.
The Irrational airs on NBC on Tuesdays at 10/9c and on Peacock on Wednesdays.
Watch The Irrational Online
The post The Irrational Season 2 Episode 8 Sidelined Alec To Make A Point, But Were Rose And Marisa Any Different? appeared first on TV Fanatic.
