Critic’s Rating: 4.2 / 5.0
4.2
The Irrational took on the world of K-Pop stardom — that is, Korean pop stars who have made it big and have thousands of adoring American fans.
It was a glorious episode with a warning about losing yourself to hold onto fame and an engaging mystery about who killed an obsessed superfan.
However, this wasn’t just an episode of the mystery series. The Irrational Season 2 Episode 7 was the midseason finale, and unfortunately, it left me wondering what was left to discuss over its hiatus.
(NBC/Sergei Bachlakov)
The Case Wasn’t Strong Enough To Be A Two-Parter, Which Would Have Provided A Cliffhanger
Most episodes of The Irrational involve a case that is wrapped up at the end of the hour, so I can’t fault “Stan By Me” for only lasting the hour, even if it was the midseason finale.
There weren’t enough suspects for the story to stretch over two episodes, and it wouldn’t have been realistic to delay arresting Yunni until the end of the episode just to provide a jaw-dropping cliffhanger.
Still, that would have been one way to give this story more of a midseason finale feel.
The mystery didn’t even last the entire hour.
The last ten minutes were taken up with Rose and Alec moving forward with their relationship and a time jump of a month so that we could learn that Yunni had dumped her record label and was going independent so that she could live life on her own terms.
It was an inspiring message, but it lacked the excitement needed for a fall finale. Everything was tied up in a far too neat little bow by the end of The Irrational Season 2 Episode 7.
(NBC/Sergei Bachlakov)
Marisa’s conflict with her new supervisor would have been the best choice for a cliffhanger at the end of The Irrational, Season 2 Episode 7.
Marisa was irritated with her throughout the hour. She didn’t appreciate being told she would burn out because she worked long hours on her cases, and she had no interest in the escape room idea.
I’ve worked with supervisors like that, and they tend to be the kind that don’t like it if you don’t go with the flow.
Refusing to do social activities because you want to focus on work is often a recipe for being let go for “not being enough of a team player.”
Of course, in Marisa’s case, that would be stupid because of her high case closure rate, but still.
(NBC/Sergei Bachlakov)
Instead of any serious problems because of Marisa’s conflict with her new boss, the two talked it out as the credits rolled and agreed to work together.
I wish more supervisors were open to the idea that they’re doing things all wrong. If this wasn’t the midseason finale, I would have loved this scene.
But again, I can’t help thinking that this was no cliffhanger at all.
People aren’t going to be talking for the next month or so about what Marisa and her new boss will get up to.
That’s not the focus of The Irrational and not exciting enough to ponder for more than a few minutes.
(NBC/Sergei Bachlakov)
I had to laugh at Kylie and Marisa’s exchange about why Marisa didn’t like her boss’ idea about the escape room, though.
Kylie: This could be coming from Other’s Ideas Bias.
Marisa: Okay, Alec Jr. How about you tell me what that’s all about?
Kylie was right; if Marisa had come up with the escape room idea herself, she probably would have loved it.
It seems that this is leading Marisa to realize that she should have taken the supervisor’s position herself when it was offered to her.
However, she wouldn’t have been happy not being in the field. She’d have to do an Olivia Benson and run around after criminals when she’s supposed to be directing other FBI agents to do so, or she’d never feel fulfilled.
(NBC/Sergei Bachlakov)
The Irrational Season 2 Episode 7 Didn’t Feature As Much Neuroscience As Usual
“Stan By Me” only featured one small experiment, and the results were confusing.
After recalling that Phoebe once did a study that showed that people feel compelled to call out wrong information on surveys, Alec decided to have a fake trivia event where Rizwan provided misinformation, which led to only one person calling out the “mistakes.”
The suspect then fled for no apparent reason, especially since it turned out he had nothing to do with the murder and had been trying to get Mia to come party with him that night.
The whole incident was strange. Usually, the experiments proceed logically and help solve the case, but this one was just weird.
(NBC/Sergei Bachlakov)
I was also surprised that Phoebe’s original study had the results that it did.
There have been other famous studies that show that people are likely to go along with misinformation if others in the room do, too, as they don’t want to be the only ones to disagree.
In Phoebe’s original experiment, the surveys were filled out anonymously, so maybe that was the reason the results were different — and why the person of interest was the only one who spoke out about Rizwan’s “facts” being wrong.
He didn’t care what other people thought of him, so he could risk being laughed at or treated like a troll.
It was surprising that Alec didn’t comment on this factor when setting up the sting, as it could mess up the results, and he’s usually pretty much on the ball about that.
(NBC/Sergei Bachlakov)
Yunni’s Inspirational Ending On The Irrational Season 2 Episode 7 Came After A Strange Showdown
Yunni was too worried about losing her record label — which would mean losing the income she sent to her family in Korea — to admit that her alibi was that she was with her ex-boyfriend.
That didn’t make a lot of sense to me. If she went to jail, wouldn’t she lose her label anyway?
In the end, it didn’t matter because her manager turned out to be the killer, which is probably the real reason she decided to go independent.
The ending showdown was strange, but I liked it. I’ve always wanted to see a story where a hostage calls the bad guy’s bluff and he realizes he can’t bring himself to shoot her, and we got one.
It was an earned moment, too, after Alec pointed out all the ways that Yunni’s manager was being abusive and controlling. Her whole life was about maintaining her image, and that was sucking the enjoyment out of her music career.
(NBC/Sergei Bachlokov)
Will Rose Ever Run Out Of Excuses For Why Her Relationship With Alec Will Fall Apart?
The closest thing we got to a cliffhanger was Rose trying to convince Alec that things wouldn’t work out between them… again.
This is getting old fast.
It was a nice change of pace for Alec to work a case with Rose instead of with Marisa, but Rose needs to stop searching for reasons why she and Alec can’t work out.
I know she’s dealing with the trauma of her kidnapping and probably other things she saw or experienced as an MI5 agent, so I’m trying to be patient, but I don’t enjoy the same beat over and over.
It seems like every Rose episode ends with Rose explaining why Alec needs to dump her NOW, Alec telling her why she’s wrong, and the two kissing.
It’s a shame we have to have this all the time because they’re a cute couple otherwise. I loved their no-tech date — people in real life should try that sometime!
(NBC/Sergei Bachlakov)
I’m not into the idea of celebrities taking responsibility for someone else’s crimes to preserve their reputation, so I don’t like what Rose did.
I also think it was stupid for Yunni’s boyfriend to allow himself to be arrested for her crime, and even stupider that he tried to do it again when she was charged with murder.
Still, that’s not a reason for Rose and Alec to break up.
I liked Alec’s explanation that most people consider themselves honest even when they lie and cheat a little bit, but could this please be the last time he has to reassure Rose that he’s not going anywhere?
(NBC/Sergei Bachlakov)
Over to you, The Irrational fanatics.
What did you think of The Irrational Season 2 Episode 7? Did it bother you as much as it bothered me that there were no real cliffhangers?
Vote in the poll below to rank the episode and then hit the comments with your thoughts.
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The Irrational airs on NBC on Tuesdays at 10/9c and on Peacock on Wednesdays. It will return with brand-new episodes on January 7, 2025.
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