L'irrationnel

My first encounter with the talented Jesse L. Martin was in the 2005 movie of the stage play "Rent." He is a very talented singer and has also proven to be an accomplished actor. I enjoyed him more recently in the weekly series "The Flash."

Here he is a producer of the new "The Irrational" weekly series and stars as Alec Mercer. My wife and I watch it streaming on Peacock a day or two after the episode airs, that fits our schedule better.

The concept of a weekly 30-minute or 60-minute TV series is as old as TV. Very few of them over the years have been outstanding but they are competent, they serve a purpose, as mostly light entertainment where we can enjoy the actors and an interesting story line.

Alec is a professor, his theories involve the fact that given certain circumstances people often do irrational things. He uses this when called upon to help solve a crime. In the second episode, which we watched last night, a well-know author comes to him asking help to solve a murder, her own. Seems she was poisoned with Polonium 210 and is dying. (In the story, I found out tobacco can contain small concentrations of Polonium 201, a deadly radioactive substance.)

Anyway, I see there are a few very negative reviews of this show, in my opinion each of them is off base. This is a pleasant show and pretty well stands up to the hundreds or thousands of weekly TV shows over the decades. No one needs to watch it but there is also no reason to bash it.

Alec Mercer (Jesse L. Martin) teaches and does research in Behavioral Science at Wylton University. He is sometimes called in to consult with law enforcement when they need his professional talents.

This show has the bones of a police procedural, but it is more than that. Mercer can help solve cases because he is observant and he understands human psychology. But he also deals with criminals in hostage situations or any time the police think an understanding of human psychology might help in dealing with a crisis. Because local government officials know of him, he may also be used behind the scenes in delicate situations where public relations are top priority.

But one of the most interesting facets of this series is that Mercer explains the psychology behind his decisions, often citing well-known behavioral experiments. And he can use his academic resources to help conduct his own experiments to test theories.

Jesse L. Martin is perfecting suited to this role. And he is surrounded by a good cast. The first two episodes were about interesting cases, but viewers who like learning about human psychology may enjoy this series most.

The first few episodes made the show seem compelling, but by episode 4, the show started to become less adult focused and more cartoony. The characters seemed to be slowly becoming flat, yet stereotypical and the writing seems to increasingly insult my intelligence with each successive episode. Initially I expected this to be a bit more of an Americanized and more exciting, stylized version of a Professor T. Certainly, casting the charismatic Jesse Martin in this role could more than pull that off. However the supporting characters are exaggerated and the side story arcs feel like time fillers. This is really a shame - I was really excited for this series.

Too many tropes in this show to enumerate. There's the brilliant college proffessor who does this crime-fighting thing as a sideline. Of course he has a dark past with some damage, in this rare case visible to the naked eye. He drives an oddball car that stands out. He is well respected by his (naturally) ex-wife and students, but not so much by other professionals in various disciplines. And on, and on, and on.

This thing is kinda predictable, like a not-well-written Columbo episode with the clowns all dropping their hints flat on the floor in front of the audience -- and the coppers. I don't think I'll have the patience to struggle through another episode of this show. The first one was enough to turn me away.

Conclusion: not terrible, but not good either. I just don't have the time in my limited entertainment budget to waste on bland pate like this.

Ever since Tim Roth stopped playing Cal Lightman in Lie to Me (2009) I've been craving a smart psychologist fighting crime.

Then came Perception (2012), but Erick. McCormacks character was just a tad too crazy.

I had big hopes for. Mind Games (2014), but Christian Slater played an extremely annoying role, so it was cancelled as no one could stand watching it.

Enter The Irrational (2023) where an expert in human behavior helps law enforcement. We are immediately exposed to his backstory, which I am sure we will further explore in forthcoming episodes.

The crime he solves in the pilot is okay. We are not as audience convinced that he's a genius (yet), but he does drop a few interesting tidbits from time to time.

My wish list for future episodes: Writes, take a look at "The Mentalist" and "Lie to Me" and see if you can add a bit of that magic to the show.

I will continue watching.

... and so I did. Just finished watching episode 10 of season 1, which is the weakest so far. Something has been bugging me and that's how the writers makes professionals do or say things that a real professional would never say or do. These kind of shows works because they have a foundation. There really is such a thing as behavioral science. But it''s not just the science - sometimes law enforcement agencies are involved, and there we see a multitude of small errors. Calling CIA officers for agents. Wrong use of weapons and tactics, etc.

Both Lie to Me and The Mentalist had real, bonafide professionals helping them with the science. That would be a great step going forward if this show should have a future.