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Critic’s Rating: 4.7 / 5.0
4.7
The Irrational Season 2 Episode 4 got Alec out of his classroom and onto a different type of case — one where he and Marisa were both supposed to be guests, not the lead detectives.
A wedding is a classic setup for a murder mystery, so naturally, two people ended up dead.
This case was more of an old-fashioned whodunit than most episodes of The Irrational, but the change of pace was fun.
The Irrational Season 2 Episode 4 Could Have Had A Political Motive
This case would have fit perfectly on FBI: International.
We had a wedding at an Italian embassy, a would-be victim who was a Romanian with a shady past, and an ambassador who didn’t want to take Lewis’ murder seriously until someone shot at Cosmo.
Lewis himself was a distraction who ironically ended up dead, but the bride’s father was the real target, and the clues were carefully built up to make it seem as if the murder was political.
The biggest red herring wasn’t the petition to remove Cosmo from the embassy, though. It was the head of security for the ambassador.
Moments before the first attempt on Cosmo’s life, he refused to protect Cosmo because Marisa was “only a guest” when she asked him to.
Moments later, he tried to pin the attempted murder on Alec because he reported finding the gun in the hallway, something that nobody believed.
Until Alec figured out that the killer disguised himself as one of the paramedics helping Lewis, I was sure that security guy shot at Cosmo himself on The Irrational Season 2 Episode 4.
That’s the best kind of red herring — someone who is completely plausible but ultimately has nothing to do with the crime.
That red herring — and the one Rizwan uncovered about the political movement to get rid of Cosmo — was only the beginning of what made this such a perfect mystery.
It moved quickly, had plenty of suspects, and featured strong detective work from everyone, including Rizwan’s undercover stint as a waiter.
It also connected well to the lesson Alec was teaching at the beginning of the hour. The case always does, but I didn’t figure out how until it happened.
The Actual Motive Was Somewhat Confusing
Alec and Rizwan figured out the ambassador’s relationship with his secret boyfriend using the same principles of nonverbal communication they’d discussed with Alec’s class.
At first, though, it didn’t make sense why their relationship would be a motive for murder. Cosmo wasn’t threatening to out them or otherwise interfering with their relationship.
It made sense after Alec confronted them in the climactic scene of The Irrational Season 2 Episode 4, so I guess the confusion was intentional, as it left Alec with something more to explain before the episode wrapped up.
Still, not wanting the ambassador to keep working didn’t seem like as strong a motive as the political stuff, but maybe that was just me.
I was also fascinated by the original murder. I like a good poisoning story, especially if it involves using someone’s food allergies against them, and was looking forward to learning how that happened.
For that reason, it was somewhat disappointing that Lewis’ murder turned out to be a distraction and wasn’t investigated further once the real story was apparent.
Still, the twist that the poisoning was meant to distract everyone from the real crime was well done.
Inattentional blindness — the tendency not to notice things you aren’t paying attention to — is one of my favorite neuroscience concepts, so I loved that Alec referenced it as the reason the phony paramedic was able to sneak into the hotel and attempt to kill Cosmo.
Phoebe’s Dilemma Was Well Done
While Rizwan was busy helping Alec investigate, Phoebe dealt with a dilemma of her own.
This conflict over Rachel’s unethical behavior, which started on The Irrational Season 2 Episode 2, will drive Phoebe back to Alec’s employment soon.
It has to, as she likely won’t have a job with Rachel for much longer.
Either Rachel will realize that Phoebe is the one who ratted her out and fire her or Phoebe will end up jobless because Rachel is suspended or fired.
Even if that doesn’t happen, there’s no reason for her not to return to Alec’s office.
She left that job because she felt it was too risky, but it’s obvious that’s where her heart is.
Even before learning about Rachel’s questionable activities, she didn’t want to just be a receptionist or secretary — and she certainly didn’t want to meditate or otherwise waste time,
This is the second time that Phoebe has turned to Kylie for advice about this Rachel situation.
I hope that even if Phoebe gives up on Rachel, she’ll continue to seek advice from Kylie.
There aren’t enough female friendships on TV, and I especially like that Kylie is mainly the one giving advice.
Friendship is a give and take, and there will surely come a time when Kylie asks Phoebe her opinion on something, too.
But Kylie deserves to be treated as the expert that she is, and she’s a far better mentor for Phoebe than the unscrupulous Rachel!
Kylie: Just because it’s the right thing to do doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences. You might lose friends, and you’ll be lucky if that’s all you lose.
Phoebe: This is not a great pep talk.
Kylie: I’m just being real. There’s gonna be fallout either way. You just have to decide what you can live with.
Kylie put her horrible experience with the coding club to good use by advising Phoebe that doing the right thing has consequences, but so does NOT doing it.
Being a whistleblower is never easy, and I hope that Phoebe did it in a way that doesn’t make it obvious that she ratted Rachel out.
Still, in the end, she made the right choice. It was surprising exactly how low Rachel had gone, but since she was using student work to line her own pockets, someone needed to take a stand.
Phoebe seemed to have done it in the most tasteful way possible.
Part of me was petty enough to hope that Phoebe had messed with the presentation slides so that Rachel’s theft of Ava’s work would be projected onto a big screen, but that probably wouldn’t have been the best idea if Phoebe wanted to save her career.
Over to you, The Irrational fanatics.
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The Irrational airs on NBC on Tuesdays at 10/9c and on Peacock on Wednesdays.
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