Besides the weekly cases that require the services of “The Irrational” hero Alec Mercer (Jesse L. Martin), the behavioral psychology expert is also trying to solve his own case: Who was responsible for the bombing several years ago that left him horribly scarred?
Monday night’s episode of the NBC procedural, “Dead Woman Walking,” in which Mercer figured out who poisoned an investigative journalist with polonium, ended with him remembering something vital from the night of the bombing, of which he has almost no memory. Using different scents combined with fire, he remembered the logo on the vehicle the bomber was driving.
Series director and producer Jesse Warn recently spoke with TheWrap about Mercer’s own mystery and why the show absolutely depends on the charm of the former “Flash” star.
At the end of this week’s episode, Alec remembers something from the bombing. I assume we’re going to see more clues that will come back to him throughout the season.
Yes, he’s slowly putting together some of those memories of the past that he’s forgotten and that’s gonna play out through the rest of this season.
You previously worked with Jesse L. Martin on “The Flash.” How does working on “The Irrational” differ?
I was really excited to work with Jesse again. It’s so different from “The Flash.” Those superhero shows are obviously elevated and larger-than-life. Something like “The Irrational” is much more anchored in the real world that we, as viewers, recognize as being our own world. It’s elevated a little bit, but not nearly as much as the superhero genre.
Jesse’s character is very charming, and he kind of overwhelms people with information, in a sense. If he wasn’t so charming, I don’t think it would work. It all kind of rests on him.
I really think you’re right. The thing about Jesse Martin, he’s such a strong charismatic presence. And he’s playing the part of someone who’s quite analytical and cerebral. So in the wrong hands, that type of character might come across a little bit of a know-it-all or just not have the charm that Jesse manages to portray. He is very good at that. So I agree, we’re lucky. In less capable hands, I don’t know that this character would have been as charismatic as he comes across. Jesse really pulls that together.
He can be a little reckless on occasion, like when he puts himself at the marina and doesn’t wait for Marisa (his ex-wife who’s also an FBI agent) to get there.
Yeah, Alec is a cerebral character that sometimes gets swept away by his excitement at having figured something out, it can sometimes cause him to jump in there and get involved. That’s kind of one of the fun elements that balances him. He’s a professor but also this person that ends up in pretty crazy situations. So that’s a dynamic he deals with within himself a lot. From episode to episode, there might be situations where he kind of looks for a bit of excitement.
How long does the makeup take for Alec’s burns?
I don’t know the exact amount of time. It was a lot longer on the pilot. They did develop a new technique to make it a little quicker. Then, as you get to the rest of the season, we managed to save them some time by introducing [a treatment for] the scars.
Season 1 wasn’t fully completed before the strikes, is that right?
We have three more episodes to go. We were definitely hoping for the end of the writers’ strike and now the actors’ strike. We were obviously disappointed not to finish the season, but we also recognize the importance of strike.
