[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for The Irrational.]

The Big Picture

In the NBC series ‘The Irrational,’ Alec Mercer, played by Jesse L. Martin, is a behavioral scientist who uses his expertise to solve complex cases by understanding human behavior.
Season 2 explores Alec’s personal growth as he helps others while gaining a deeper understanding of himself.
The show delves into mental health, relationships, and human behavior in various contexts, offering a fresh perspective.

The NBC series The Irrational follows behavioral science professor Alec Mercer (Jesse L. Martin) as he uses his expertise to provide insight for law enforcement and others in his life who are looking for answers. His human behavior based approach comes in handy with the FBI, but also for everyday people in situations that might not otherwise be so easy to explain. And when he enlists the help of his research assistants Phoebe (Molly Kunz), Rizwan (Arash DeMaxi) and Simon (Max Lloyd-Jones), they make the seemingly irrational more understandable.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Martin talked about returning for Season 2 after having had a season to learn about the world of the show, the challenge of Alec’s cadence, how solving great mysteries in your life often leads to new questions, the advantage of having a longer network TV run to explore a character, the list of actors he’d love to see guest on an episode, shining a light on mental health in a variety of ways, what he loves about the brother-sister dynamic between Alec and Kylie (Travina Springer), and whether Alec might ever make the move to get rid of his scars.

The Science of ‘The Irrational’ Has Helped Jesse L. Martin Understand His Character

Collider: The first season of any TV series has to figure out what it is, who the characters are, and what the relationship dynamics will be. When did everything really click for you, as far as having a real sense of who this guy is and what his world is, and how he fits in with everybody?

JESSE L. MARTIN: I’m grateful that we had a first season, so that it could eventually click. Working day to day on a television schedule, you get so consumed with the hours and you rarely have a moment to actually reflect on things. It’s only moments like this, where we actually get to sit down and talk to somebody about it, that you realize, “Oh, yeah, it did actually click and I did actually get into that space.” Fortunately, we had a whole season to dive into these characters, myself in particular, and to get used to it.

There’s a cadence involved with Alec, obviously, that I am not used to, at least not used to on television. I certainly get involved with cadence on stage, doing Shakespeare and things like that. But in this case, getting into the world of a science cadence where I’m meant to express many big theories and scientific terms that are based on real moments and real people, has been the thing that has actually cemented the character for me. And by cemented, the cement is not dry yet. I’m learning every single day, as to who this guy is, how he expresses himself, and how he even behaves. My job on the show is watching others behavior, but the big revelation for me is the fact that I am entirely irrational in my behavior as well, which makes for great drama.

Related ‘The Irrational’ Cast Takes a Quiz To Find Out Which Character They Really Are [Exclusive] The procedural drama airs new episodes on Tuesdays.

Because he does have that cadence that is very specific to him, does he always feel a little bit separated from you?

MARTIN: Oftentimes, I’m not sure which is first, the chicken or the egg, because there’s so much of me in there and there’s so much of Alec that isn’t me. Luckily, we’ve gotten a chance for those things to blend beautifully. Oftentimes, I’m like, “Wait, is that more Jesse than it was Alec?” I’m learning a whole lot about the character, and learning a whole lot about science and behavior, that affect Jesse. And then, Jesse comes to work every single day with those things in his head and those things in his body. It’s all blending, which I think is a really good thing. It keeps me interested and keeps me humble. I am having a great time with this mélange. That was a fancy word.

Alec was on the hunt for answers about himself in the first season. Did it feel different to go into Season 2 with those answers? Does Alec feel like a little bit different of a guy, now that he has filled in some of those missing pieces of his life?

MARTIN: Yeah, you’re onto something there where, if you have great mysteries in your life and you solve them, all they tend to do is open up more questions. That’s what makes things interesting on television and that’s what makes things interesting in life. You think you saw something, and I dare say you think you’ve learned something, and all you’ve learned is that there’s more to learn and more to know. Luckily, in the television scope, we’ve been given another whole season to go there with more learning, more discovering, more behaviors to be analyzed, more behaviors to be penalized. I certainly get into spaces where my behavior is a big question. So, it’s great to get the opportunity to push it as far as we can possibly push it.

Related Alec Mercer Tackles More of ‘The Irrational’ In Season 2 Trailer The new season debuts on October 8.

You did almost 200 episodes of Law & Order, and then you did another almost 200 episodes of The Flash. So much has changed in the TV landscape with shorter seasons and shows rarely getting enough seasons to even have that many episodes. The CW doesn’t even look anything like it did in its previous form. Does that kind of a run seem impossible these days? Does it feel like a show can still make it for several seasons?

MARTIN: I’ve always lived in the landscape where there was a lot more story to explore. Thank goodness that I’m here at NBCUniversal where they still live in that space. It gives us a lot more room to tell these stories and it gives the audience a lot more stories to consume. I’ve always been in that space, so I’m quite used to it. I don’t even know what it would be like to work on a story where everything has to be told in very few episodes – six or 10 episodes. I don’t know what that’s like, at all. I can imagine actors who have been working in spaces where those stories were truncated into six or 10 episodes having to do 18 or 22, and that might be absolutely overwhelming, but it’s entirely within my wheelhouse. I’ve been doing it most of my career, so it feels normal to me.

Do you enjoy really getting to live in a character for that long?

MARTIN: It’s fun. Again, I don’t know any different. That’s how I’ve always worked, particularly in television. It feels entirely normal to have this time and this scope to explore and to figure things out. One of the funny things that used to happen when I worked on stage is that you’d open the show, and then you’d do a week of performances. And then, you get to the second week and suddenly realize, “Oh, now that joke makes sense.” The same thing happens in television where, if you get this grand scope, like 18- or 22-episode seasons, you get more opportunities to crystallize story, crystallize characters, and crystallize relationships. It’s actually a fortunate situation to be in because you do get those opportunities. Thank goodness NBC has given me and everybody involved with The Irrational the opportunity to do it, week after week after week. I’m grateful and I’m here for the challenge. I love it.

‘The Irrational’ Is a Procedural That Lends Itself to the Possibility of Memorable Guest Stars
Image via NBC

You’re working on what is essentially a procedural, which means you have all these opportunities for guest cast to come in, and you’ve worked with a lot of great actors over the course of your career. Is there anyone you’d love to get as a guest for an episode, to reunite with and act with again on this series?

MARTIN: Absolutely. You can probably guess some of them, and almost every one of them are people who I’ve either worked with on stage or would have loved to work with on stage. One of them is a mentor of mine, Stephen McKinley Henderson. Anybody who knows him, knows him to be a stellar human being and a powerhouse of an actor. I’d love to work again with S. Epatha Merkerson. I, of course, spent all that time with her on Law & Order and she is a dear friend of mine. I would do anything to be in any medium with her, be it television, film, the stage, a street corner, I don’t care. I would work with her in any capacity.

There are certainly actors that I have never gotten the chance to work with and a lot of them are from the theater. I’m such a huge fan of Audra McDonald. I think she translates so many mediums, so flawlessly. If I ever got a chance to work with her, I would jump on it. There are certainly characters coming up on our show. We’ve never met Alec’s mother. We’ve met Alec’s dad, played by Ron Canada, another theater powerhouse who I was beyond grateful to have worked with us. I’d love to work with an old pal, Whoopi Goldberg. Who knows how that would happen, but I would love to be in a space with her where we get to play, as actors. I could literally go on. There are so many fantastic actors, particularly from the Broadway world and the theater world, that I would love to spend time with on the small screen.

Related ‘The Irrational’ Star Teases “Surprising” and “Frustrating” Developments in Season 2 New episodes air Thursdays on NBC.

The amount of possible stories exploring human behavior seems endless. What have you most enjoyed about the kinds of cases you’ve been able to explore on the show?

MARTIN: My work as an actor has always been about human behavior. The mark of a good actor is how much they’re able to reflect humans and their behavior. In this case, not only do we have to do that as actors, but we’re talking about the very same behaviors in others and using it in a scientific context. My character not only goes out on the field and helps in conjunction with law enforcement and others to solve mysteries and to solve crimes, but also takes those mysteries and crimes to the classroom and works with younger people, with students, to flesh these things out to create experiments that help us understand why people behave the way they do and why people can be irrational in what seems like it should be in a rational space.

There are so many possibilities when it comes to just concentrating on how we think and how we behave. Mental health is a big topic on everybody’s platforms these days, and our show explores it, certainly in a scripted context, but in so many different ways with so many different people. The more interesting actors we get in, the more that behavior surfaces. It’s not just about the behavior and mysteries, or what causes people to commit heinous acts or commit crimes, but also how people behave, in general, in their relationships, be it family or romantic relationships. In some cases, in this season, you see how people behave with animals. There are so many places to get creative. There are so many stories that can get told when you’re just talking about behavior, in general.

I’m also so thrilled that we get to see more of Alec’s sister this season because we just didn’t get enough of her last season.

MARTIN: Yeah, I never get enough of her.

What’s been the best part of finding, developing, and exploring that relationship, both on screen and off?

MARTIN: Let’s just start with the actor, Travina [Springer]. She’s fantastic. She’s a fantastic human being. She’s absolutely a beautiful spirit. So, when you start there with an actor, you’re already good. The minute they say go, she’s gonna go. And the dynamic that they’ve created between Alec and his sister Kylie is one where Alec is working all the time, whether he’s working in the field, in the classroom, or in his own office, creating new books, writing down his stories, and creating experiments, the one place he gets to go to take off his shoes is at home. And it’s not even really his home, it’s his sister’s home. So, if there’s anybody that can tell Alec everything he needs to know about his behavior, and I dare say quite bluntly, it’s his sister. I appreciate that relationship so much. I appreciate Travina for filling that character so beautifully. It is the most grounding thing on the show for Alec. I’m grateful that the writers wrote it the way they write it because it solidifies and grounds the character and the show, and oftentimes the stories, in a way that brings things home.

Who Is ‘The Irrational’s Alec Mercer if He No Longer Has His Scars?
Image via NBC

I also think the relationship Alec has developed with Izzy is so sweet. What have you enjoyed about the time they’ve spent together? Will he give any more thought to her idea that he consider laser therapy for his own scars?

MARTIN: One of the most fantastic things is, when Izzy first came into the show, the actress (Megan Best) was so fantastic. It was the first time Alec got to reflect on another human being about what happens when someone suffers an extreme burn like that. It moved him beyond belief. He can live in his own space with his own tragedy and his home trauma, when it comes to being burned, but to see it particularly in a young person is entirely moving because he knows exactly how that feels, physically and mentally, and how you have to live with those scars for the rest of your life. The notion that, when he suffered his tragedy, the science and technology hadn’t gotten to the point where the scars could be minimized, allows him to see that, not only does she have a bright future ahead of her, it’s an even brighter future than he could have ever dreamed of.

The idea that she reminds him that technology has changed for him too, and he can still take advantage of it, the big quandary for Alec is how much those physical scars, the outside scars, matter to him. If they are minimized, does that make his life better? He can see that it makes her life better, and he certainly encourages her in that way, but he’s lived so long with his scars. Are they a part of him? If he minimizes them, does that minimize him, in any way, shape, or form? These physical scars, that are also mental and emotional scars, stay with us, whether the physical representation of them is there or not. So, is it worth it to go through what is essentially a painful process to minimize them? In the second season, he goes to very prominent figures in his life, including his father, to honestly ask, “If you had the chance to minimize the scars on your person, would you do so?”

The Irrational Alec Mercer is a world-renowned behavioral scientist who lends his expertise to an array of high-stakes cases involving governments, law enforcement and corporations with his unique and unexpected approach to understanding human behavior.Release Date September 25, 2023 Cast Jesse L. Martin , Maahra Hill , Arash DeMaxi , Molly Kunz , Travina Springer , Brian King Seasons 1

The Irrational airs on NBC and is available to stream on Peacock. Check out the Season 2 trailer:

Watch on Peacock